Reuse Your Articles and Presentations
Yesterday, I wrote about "the strength of weak ties." I heard from several readers that my discussion gave them ideas they had not considered.
The story I told yesterday demonstrates four points:
1. More often than not, clients hire lawyers rather than law firms.
2. Client development is about relationship building.
3. You will be considered by a new client based on recommendations or based on something you have written or presented.
4. The recommendations more often than not will come from weak ties.
I want to keep your creative juices flowing. In this post I want to focus on how to be considered based on something you write or present. One important tip is to find ways to reuse your content. In marketing that is called repurposing.
Have you handled a complex matter recently? If so, how can you reuse materials you created to educate other potential clients, referral sources and weak ties?
I have always urged lawyers to create content (books, guides, articles and presentations) and find ways to reuse the content. I have always done that. Let me share an example.
In the early 90s, the Federal Highway Administration received permission from Congress to "experiment" with Design-Build construction of complex bridges and highways. I knew the experiment would lead to states wanting to construct more and more projects by design-build contracts. I also knew contractors were unprepared for this change. I decided to do workshops across the country to educate contractors. About 100 contractors attended. I had taken many hours to prepare the detailed handout materials. I offered those materials to 100s of other contractors. When it became possible, I had my marketing department put the materials on my website where they could be easily downloaded. Next, I broke out sections of the handout materials and created several articles that were published. The net effect was I reached a much wider audience by repackaging the materials I had worked so hard to create. In some cases I put materials in front of perspective clients three times.
Later I was hired by a state in New England to help draft their first design-build contact. A couple of years after that, I was hired by the contractor to help put together a proposal to install a very complex electronic toll collection system in the Northeast. Because of the writing and presentations I did on design-build, I was hired by several contractors to handle disputes arising from design-build contracts. All of these opportunities and engagements came as a result of creating content and reusing it.
Think about how you can reuse materials you create.
By the way, have you begun planning for 2009? If you would like some ideas on the planning process let me know.
