MARKETING Case Study: K&L Gates Demystifying Blogs K&L Gates’ chief marketing officer Jeff Berardi shares the pioneering firm’s insights and experiences in creating successful blogs key points 1 Blogs can effectively develop and strengthen client relationships 2 Blogs in niche practice areas can provide a true competitive advantage 3 Successful blogs require relevant and targeted content, frequent updates and even management oversight 4 Carefully consider the business case before developing new blogs 44 Blogs are not a panacea – they are a means to an end. The end goal of an effective law firm blog should be to develop and strengthen relationships with existing and potential clients. One of the great advantages of blogs is the ability to adapt the content and message depending on the evolving interests of web visitors. Furthermore, writers can actively seek out comments from blog visitors on suggested improvements. This continuing dialogue enables law firms and lawyers to respond to clients and prospects in a much more meaningful way than can be done through more traditional media outlets, such as print ads or even electronic newsletters and client alerts. However, in order to be most effective, blogs must contain relevant and targeted content that is updated on a frequent basis. A thorough assessment of the various pros and cons of specific law firm blogs is a highly recommended step before deciding whether to proceed with the development of this technology-based marketing tool. Growth of law blogs K&L Gates was a relatively early adopter of law firm blogs, having launched our electronic discovery law blog in January 2005. Focused on legal issues, news and best practice related to the discovery of electronically stored data, this blog (www.ediscoverylaw.com) received 3,000 unique visitors in its first month alone. It is now averaging over 9,000 unique visitors a month and is well known in certain legal circles for its frequently updated content. Our global firm currently maintains five active blogs and we have plans to develop several more this year. Additionally, we have thousands of subscribers who receive email notifications from our blogs or who follow our postings via RSS and through search tools like Google. As opposed to growing our blogs at an exponential pace, we have chosen instead to develop firm-sponsored blogs in a steady pattern of growth, a strategy that we expect to continue in future. In contrast to the steady growth model, it appears that many peer firms are launching blogs at a rapid pace. A March 2010 posting from Kevin O’Keefe of LexBlog indicates that 96 of the 2009 AmLaw 200 law firms are now blogging. This represents a 149 per cent increase from August 2007, when only 39 firms in the AmLaw 200 maintained even a single blog. O’Keefe estimates that 20 per cent of this growth occurred between July 2009 and February 2010, demonstrating a rising trend towards greater acceptance and usage of law firm blogs. Managing Partner, october 2010 So what exactly accounts for the sudden boom over the past few years? Although the increase can partly be attributed to the rise in media exposure of law firm bloggers who invariably tout the vast benefits of blogs as an exciting and ‘new’ business development tool, another compelling explanation is that a greater number of lawyers are actively seeking new ways to connect with clients and prospects. Rather than the traditional and more passive ‘push’ method of sending newsletters or electronic alerts to contacts, a blog enables clients and prospects to determine which information they find most relevant, thereby ‘pulling’ visitors in an active manner to content or services and engaging blog subscribers in a deeper and more meaningful way. In essence, blogs enable visitors and subscribers to access and follow content on their own terms. Setting blog policy At K&L Gates, we believe that there are certain situations in which a blog can be an effective tool for connecting with clients or contacts. A critical step before proceeding is to carefully weigh the business case for each proposed blog, as the benefits of developing such a site may be outweighed by the costs or risks involved. For that reason, we conduct a rigorous and thorough analysis to assess whether the creation of a firm-sponsored blog is justified, using a clearly defined blog policy as a guide in the decision-making process. In addition to including detailed information relating to content management and firm approval protocol, the policy also stresses the high level of time invested on the part of lawyers or practice areas that are interested in blogging. This section helps to ensure that the site is as effective as possible by setting reasonable expectations with lawyers on the need to frequently update content. As opposed to the policy at some law firms, K&L Gates requires that all blogs be established as branded firm sites, rather than as individual lawyer blogs. This requirement enables the marketing department to brand the firm in a consistent way across our numerous practice areas and geographic regions throughout the firm. Although this strategy has been found to be effective for us, there may be viable reasons for why another law firm chooses to allow individual lawyers to develop their personal blogs. I recommend that all law firms develop a blog policy and approval protocol that works for their unique organisation based on financial, cultural or other key aspects of firm management. “By creating and managing a blog on a particular area of legal practice, a firm can position or promote itself and specific lawyers as thought leaders in their fields.” www.mpmagazine.com Case for blogging There are numerous benefits to establishing a law firm blog. A good blog facilitates some form of active dialogue between its writers and visitors, in stark contrast to the one-way conversation that many lawyers embark upon with newsletters and other traditional law firm communications. Another benefit is the speed at which lawyers can post content. Compared to standard electronic communications such as client alerts, which need to be written, edited, and perhaps loaded into a branded firm template prior to distribution to some designated electronic mailing list, a blog entry can be 45 marketing Case Study: K&L Gates completed easily and quickly without any need for external distribution. Blogs are becoming much more readily accepted as providers of authoritative commentary on all manner of subjects, and legal issues are no exception to that general trend. By creating and managing a blog on a particular area of legal practice, a firm can position or promote itself and specific lawyers as thought leaders in their fields. The development of a blog in a niche practice area can prove to be a competitive advantage for lawyers, separating the firm in a positive way from others that may practice in the same field. Perhaps most importantly, a blog can improve search engine optimisation for the firm or for specific lawyers – essentially the process of raising the visibility of a website or blog via online search engines. For example, if you type in the search term ‘e-discovery law’ in Google, you will invariably see the K&L Gates e-discovery blog as the first item listed. That coveted online search placement is truly a testament to the power that a blog can have to showcase a law firm’s knowledge within a narrow subject area. Tread carefully One must consider some potential drawbacks associated with law firm blogs. Legal marketers often work with lawyers who undertake their marketing and business development activities in fits and starts. For example, a lawyer who is suffering from a decrease in his pipeline of billable work may turn his focus to marketing activities; however, as soon as the billable work returns, those marketing efforts cease. A blog is not a wise undertaking for lawyers who conduct their business or client development in waves. Blogs need to be frequently updated and managed; otherwise, there will be no clear incentive for readers to visit the site on an ongoing basis. In addition to the time needed to develop and maintain content, the writers, editors and marketing team will likely need to invest a significant amount of time to increase awareness of the site as well as to drive traffic to the blog – establishing a web presence and readership. There should also be a consideration of the costs involved to build, host and update firm-sponsored blogs. Although these expenses are usually quite reasonable compared to other media opportunities, they should nevertheless be factored into the overall decision-making process of whether or not to pursue a blog. The cost aspect is yet one more reason why it makes sense for firms to carefully vet each blog proposal to determine which initiatives will 46 Developing new blogs There are certain fundamentals about effective blogs that are consistent across industries. For example, the target audience needs to be able to find, or be directed to, the blog, and the content needs to be relevant and interesting to the intended visitor. If those two key tenets are not met, it will be difficult for blogs to either a) generate enough traffic, or b) keep visitors coming back. In addition, there are unique aspects that contribute to the effectiveness of law firm blogs. The writers need to find a way to balance between posting content that is interesting and content that is non-controversial – no easy feat. The blogs should be branded as firm blogs but the content should ideally be focused on a narrow enough topic of interest that allows for some differentiation from the scores of other firms and lawyers that may already be expounding on related topics. One blog which we developed that we believe is particularly effective in delivering a pertinent subject to a defined audience is Global Financial Market Watch (www.globalfinancialmarketwatch.com). Focusing on legal, policy and regulatory analysis related to global financial markets, the blog posts links to firm-sponsored webinars, alerts and other relevant information. Originally devised as a weekly newsletter, the global financial market (GFM) concept was developed during the global economic downturn in response to the flurry of government actions in the financial services industry. Our financial services lawyers wanted to share updated information regarding timely issues affecting clients. The marketing department compiled weekly articles written by lawyers and began to circulate the electronic newsletter to a large list of email recipients – those who had already opted-in to receive client alerts and other information from the firm. Over time, we realised that the GFM newsletter was a perfect candidate for a sponsored firm blog. By switching from a weekly newsletter to a blog, we were able to achieve numerous efficiencies. First, we didn’t have to compile articles on a weekly basis, which was a time-intensive, resource-consuming activity on both the part of lawyers and marketers. Second, the transition to the GFM blog enabled us to post content on a regular basis – not just once a week but every day and sometimes even more frequently – in response to critical and time-sensitive issues. Third, because we had already built up a list of interested email recipients of the GFM newsletter, we had a willing audience that was eager to subscribe to the blog. Managing Partner, october 2010 K&L Gates was one of the first successful adopters of law firm blogs. provide the best return on investment. If a firm sets aside the budget to develop five new blogs for a particular year, it is simply good business sense to focus on those five blogs that the firm expects to be the most valuable. Finally, a firm should offer clear guidance to lawyers on the type of content that is acceptable on the blog. The most heavily trafficked blogs, legal or otherwise, are typically those that offer an opinion or commentary on controversial (read: interesting) topics. This statement flies in the face of the standard operations of most conservative law firms, which take enormous strides to stay away from any public discourse that might be perceived as divisive. Law firms are wary about posting controversial content for a number of reasons, not least of which is legal risk – lawyers need to be extremely cautious about unwittingly providing legal advice to web visitors, and there is a large measure of risk involved in maintaining an individual or law firm blog. At the same time, firms need to strike a proper balance between posting interesting and relevant content, steering clear of posts that clients or prospects might find offensive for any particular reason. Therefore, the content for any particular blog should be discussed in depth prior to developing the site, and proper approval mechanisms should be carefully created in advance to enable ongoing review of appropriate content. This process will help limit potential “The most heavily trafficked blogs, legal or otherwise, are typically those that offer an opinion or commentary on controversial (read: interesting) topics.” risks for both the firm and those lawyers who are posting content on a regular basis. Measuring results We strive to make each and every firm-sponsored blog as effective as possible, keeping in mind that the overall goals and objectives for each blog might be vastly different from one another. In addition to measuring web traffic to our blog sites, we also track the number of active blog subscribers during a specific period of time. This allows us to follow the fluctuations of visitors, which may be based on posting of content, weekly/monthly factors or other considerations. We can determine the type of visitors to our blog sites and track which portals our visitors use to find the blogs. Not surprisingly, the search engine Google is by far the biggest source of referrals for our blogs, but it is interesting to track and note some of our smaller portals of entry. In addition, we prominently note our blogs on our firm’s website (www.klgates.com), providing another source of web visitors to our blogs. At the end of the day, we measure results by looking at macro factors such as whether we think our blog subscribers are getting value from the sites we have created. We also monitor whether the amount of work that our lawyers put into posting and updating relevant content is justified by the number of blog visitors who appreciate the information offered. – jeffrey.berardi@klgates.com www.mpmagazine.com 47