Creating a biography or profile for marketing professionals on websites or in printed materials is often given very little thought and invariably done in a hurry. Worse still are those that the lawyer or accountant has not been involved in creating and some poor soul has scraped together from a resume.
If this is true of your firm or your profile then you have a very real flaw in your law firm marketing strategy. Always remember that marketing for professionals is based around the principle that the person is the product.
That’s why the team page of your website is almost certainly the page most visited after the home or landing page. If you charge an hourly rate for your time – you are the product – and your prospective clients want to know what
they are buying!
Its true that some firms base their marketing on a general sales pitch, or branding in one area of law, but for most firms the success of your marketing strategy will come down to whether the client believes they are getting good value when they buy the time of the individual that is doing their work.
So, hopefully having impressed on you the importance of a well crafted bio here are 5 quick tips for putting one together:
1. Provide all the obvious information
Its surprising how many websites have profiles of their team that neglect to include relevant information. And I don’t mean what law school you went to. Make sure you start out the bio with a full name, position within the firm, any other firm responsibilities and the type of work you do. The reader doesn’t know how great you are at this point – spell it out for them.
2. You’re not writing this to impress your colleagues
As a lawyer I was pretty pleased the day I was admitted. But frankly most clients don’t have a clue what this means. So remember to include information that may be of interest to your client, not just what will impress other professionals. By all means mention qualifications, positions on committees and the like but unless its something your clients will understand and consider important leave it to the end of the profile.
It may help your drafting efforts to involve a third party. Have someone outside your profession read your profile and give you some feedback.
3. Your client is looking for a solution
Hard as it may be for your ego to accept the client is not fascinated in you as individual. They are looking for whoever they think can best solve their problem or most successfully undertake their project. So give them information that proves you’re the person for the job. In printed documents you should aim to include actual examples of how you’ve helped people but online profiles are often too short for case studies or real life examples.
So try to cover this one with phrases like “More than 10 years experience in…”, “Recognised within the X business community for assisting with…”, “A certified specialist in the area of…”, “Successfully negotiated more than 200 rural property contracts…”. If you’re struggling to think of how to phrase this, just ask yourself, “What is I do that makes my clients really happy?“ The answer will fit this purpose nicely.
4. Connect with your audience
If your firm or practice provides services that are based in a particular city or region you can help your marketing efforts by demonstrating a connection to that community.
Being considered a “local” by your prospective clients or demonstrating a connection with the region’s major industry can be valuable eg. “…from a family with a long involvement in the local cattle industry…” may help to build an immediate connection with the reader.
5. Add a little personality
Don’t be afraid to add a little personality to your profile. And this doesn’t just have to be the usual “Married with 2.5 children.” By all means include personal information if it helps with point number 4 above but more than that you should
think about how you practice and the “client experience” you provide. Are you a “…fiercely determined approach…”, a “…collaborative practitioner focussed on keeping costs down…” or a “…down to earth, with a knack for easing clients concerns…”
Finding a genuine point of difference in how you practice communicates that you are a real person with a real personality that the prospective client can trust.
And you can always ask for help. You know where to find me.
