Law firm PR & communications should move to micromedia

Law firm PR has traditionally been about getting the firm and its lawyers in main stream media, whether as the source of a quote or the subject of a story. Often done through press releases and press kit folders with accompanying brochure, lawyer bio’s and suggested story ideas. Unfortunately for many law firms, that’s where the heads of their PR people are still at.

Small problem. Micromedia, whether it be news websites or blogs are more likely to publish your stories. Plus those websites and blogs reach just as many people as do the traditional media.

Search Engine Watch’s Greg Jarboe researched media coverage of two very large high profile search technology conferences. He conducted several searches on Google News and Yahoo News and found more than 150 stories from the past month.

Only 1 percent of the more than 150 stories were written by the traditional trade press. 88% of the coverage came from online publications and group blogs. The other 11% came from press releases themselves which were put out by PR professionals.

Jarboe also found out that the number of visitors to those online publications and blogs was the equivalent of the circulation of print publications that could be expected to cover the story.

His advice? At least one of your PR and communications people should be focused on blogs and online media.

Bet you my house, there aren’t five law firms with a PR person dedicated to blogs and online media. The part that’s really a shame is that they could get a talented person to do the job for less than $50,000 per year.

That’s right – $50,000 for a young person who gets social media and online publishing to monitor blogs and online media for stories relevant to the law firm, its lawyers, and its clients; to id blogs and online media to network with; and with the guidance of senior folks, to create and execute an effective blog marketing program for a few of the firm’s practice groups.