Marketing Legal Services to Sophisticated Business or Specialty Audiences

This  post is intended to serve as a very basic guide to any professional writer approaching the creation of a legal marketing website targeting a business audience.

 

Like any legal services website, the best approach to writing effective B2B legal marketing content is an ability to understand the concerns and priorities of the potential clients in order to craft appealing language and calls to action to which they will respond.

 

Our success in doing so depends in large part upon how we approach the initial interview and to what extent we use language and appeals that conform to the B2B firm’s expectations.

 

Some common B2B legal services topics might include:

Approaching a Business-Oriented Legal Services Web Site

 

When conducting the initial client interview for a B2B site (or any site with a more sophisticated audience), it is vitally important to make a rapid determination of the actual audience the site will be written for:

 

Depending upon the circumstances, our client’s clients may have different goals, needs and concerns. It is important to identify what these may be. Asking the right questions during the initial consultation is crucial to identifying the types of appeals that the potential client will likely respond to.

 

Some Things to Consider During the Initial Interview

 

Are the potential clients more concerned with achieving a rapid settlement, minimizing negative publicity and bolstering shareholder confidence or is their goal to win at trial to prevent opening the floodgates to future litigation?

 

Is there a proactive component to the firm’s services? How can they help potential clients reduce the risk of costly litigation?

 

Cost and return on investment are important considerations for many potential business and professional clients. Addressing this concern may involve a discussion of how the firm can handle complex litigation efficiently. Are the firm’s fees responsive to the potential client’s economic and budgetary constraints? How would the firm describe their approach to maximizing return on investment?

 

Complex business and commercial litigation and high-profile personal injury and insurance defense cases often involve truly massive amounts of evidence and tens of thousands or even millions of documents. How would the firm describe their ability to handle discovery and manage documents in these cases?

 

Media savvy is an important consideration when hiring a firm to handle high-profile cases, especially when the decision-maker is an executive with responsibilities to shareholders and a board of directors. How would the firm describe their approach to managing media attention?

 

Setting B2B Firm Expectations

 

Having a frank discussion with the firm’s representatives regarding what works and does not work in Web writing is essential to avoid surprises and outright rejection of the draft. Many B2B firms are receptive to the notion that the way we format text is specific to the Web and has great benefits for usability and conversion, but may also equate our format with a less professional, advertising-style approach.

 

The goal should be to give the firm a “heads up” regarding the way we use headings, subheadings, bulleted lists, links and calls to action. We should provide them with a sense of security in knowing that we can write for the Web and still maintain a very professional tone.

 

One of the frequent sources of confusion and complaint from B2B firms upon first reading a draft stems from the fact that they don’t understand why we’ve made the choices we have regarding layout, language and linking. Most of these firms are more than willing to accept our recommendations as long as they understand that there is a solid underlying rationale.

 

Discussing these matters up front (and perhaps including a reminder in the note with the draft) can go a long way toward encouraging B2B firms to rely on our expertise.

What About Tone and Style?

Many B2B sites are written in a more formal and professional style, although this is by no means an absolute rule. The firm’s wishes are paramount, although we have some latitude to make educated and authoritative suggestions. We are the experts, after all.

 

A tone and style that is straightforward and dispassionate and that relies on specific examples rather than vague generalities can often be a good default approach when writing B2B sites. The best way to convey experience and skill is to talk specifically about experience and skill. The marketing aspect is in conveying the benefit of that experience and skill to potential clients.

 

Some B2B Web content tone and style suggestions:

·          Use subtle marketing messages that are “under the radar” rational, not over the top “emotional”.

·          Smart language is good. It makes the firm look smart. Firms expect us to make them look good in the draft. Just remember that smart language does not necessarily mean 40 word sentences, abstruse language and construction, or SAT study words like “abstruse”.

·          Remember that B2B sites are like business presentations, in that while they can be friendly and relaxed, they should never be overly familiar or presumptive.

 

Marketing to Other Lawyers: B2B or Not?

 

It’s a big fish/little fish dilemma. Is the firm interested in attracting referrals from smaller practices and solo attorneys without substantial experience in a particular area of law? Or is the firm interested in acting as local counsel for a much larger national firm?

 

Understanding the type of referral the firm wishes to attract is crucial in determining how these appeals should be pitched. Regardless, an approach that stresses professionalism and making the firm look good is unlikely to fail.

 

B2B Sites and Emotional Appeals

 

Emotional appeals are often problematic in B2B sites. They ring false to the potential client and do not convey the desired sense of professionalism. Our B2B and professional-audience customers tend to react strongly and negatively to statements like:

 

• We know how hard it is when your company is faced with environmental litigation.
• We understand that clients charged with insider trading are afraid of losing their jobs and going to jail.
• Complex commercial litigation can be frustrating and confusing. We handle the legal matters so that you can go about running your business as usual.

Stating the obvious in an attempt to appeal to the reader’s emotions is probably not a good idea. The firm’s wishes rule, of course, but relying on overly personal, general consumer audience-style emotional appeals without a clear understanding of the firm’s clientele can be a recipe for rewrite.

 

B2B Legal Web Site Dos (and one Don’t)

 

1.  Preparing for the interview

 

• Do make an extra effort to prepare. Make mental or written notes of important questions regarding the firm, the area of practice and, most important, the potential clients the site will be pitched at.

 

2.  During the interview

 

• Do take a little time to set expectations. Discussing up front why the pages won’t be huge, undifferentiated blocks of text with no links and no subheadings is a good idea. Plus it gives us an opportunity to establish our expertise and create a truly consultative context for the interview.

 

• Do make extra effort to clarify the intended audience for each page, not just the site as a whole. Discuss the potential client’s needs, concerns and goals in relation to specific areas of practice.

 

• Don’t try to sell a B2B firm on the idea that casual style, emotional appeals or writing at the 9^th grade level is appropriate for their site. This may demonstrate a fundamental lack of understanding of the firm’s goals and clientele. Remember, even if we’re right and a more informal, aggressive approach might work better, the chances are good that a draft written in this manner won’t be approved.

 

• Do be sure to ask for any marketing materials. Many B2B firms have client brochures that can be useful as an indicator of what the firm thinks of itself and how it likes to be characterized.

 

3. Writing the Draft

 

• Do remember that, especially for more sophisticated audiences, talking about skill and experience is not nearly as effective as demonstrating these qualities through the use of examples.

 

• Do keep in mind that B2B firms can get caught up on sloppy, informal language that they feel doesn’t make them look smart. Make your word choices intentional and your style impeccable. We know that conversational style works best; just remember that conversational does not automatically imply casual, unprofessional or colloquial.