Content is relationship currency for law firms

I talked to a large law firm today about speaking to their lawyers on what the firm originally characterized as business development through content marketing.

Not again was my first thought when I received their email to talk about content marketing. Too many large law firms look at content for the sake of content.

How can we get our lawyers to write content? How do we distribute the content? How can we get the content to appear high in search engines? How can the content draw traffic to our website? How can we use social media to broadcast content?

As we spoke I was asked if I could relate content, blogging and the like to building relationships. “You see, a major initiative we have under way at the firm is to use the Internet with everything else we do to build and nurture relationships. Relationships are how we drive business development.”

I am liberally paraphrasing, but you get the point. Rather than content being used to grab attention and mindshare, content will be used to engage people — and build relationships.

I responded “What a breath of fresh air.” Asked what I meant, I explained that some firms their size are throwing all of their blogs onto their website, as opposed to independent blog sites, in an effort to draw traffic with the expectation that people will fill out a contact from. “Wow,” was their response.”

I shared that other firms want to know what words their lawyers should use in their blog posts. The hope is if they use popular words their posts will rank higher in search. “Really, that’s strange,” they said.

So when I shared that though I do see content as establishing thought leadership, I saw content as relationship currency that was music to their ears.

Think about it. When we go to a networking event, you talk and use words to facilitate engsgement and the building of relationships. But you’d sound like a darn fool if you told your law partner you were he headed out to do some “verbal marketing.”

The Internet is about communication. You listen, respond, and engage. Relationships ensue, especially in the case of true blogging.

Relationships do not ensue when the Interent is used as a broadcast medium to “shout content.”

So when headed to the Internet, think how you are building relationships using content as currency, not how do I market with content.

What a great way to start my day to be on that call — especially hearing it was the managing partner and another leading partner at the firm who were leading this firm’s initiative.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Peasap