JD Supra just published their inaugural Readers’ Choice awards, featuring top authors and top content across 26 categories in 2015. The
accompanying report provides critical insight into who’s reading what – and in
which industry – that every lawyer should know. Some observations:
Clients Read What They Need To Know
First, the awards make clear that the “secret” of leading
authors on JD Supra is to give the people what they want. These authors are
writing about the issues relevant to the companies they want to reach. That may
seem self-evident, but it’s not. Because it means you have to step away from
your perspective as advisor, as someone who knows what her clients SHOULD be
worrying about, and step into the shoes of those clients trying to understand a
hundred different and diverse legal issues all at once. Of course you can (and
should) write about issues you think your potential clients need to know. But
if you’re not analyzing the developments they think are important, you’re not
going to gain the credibility that will lead them to take your word for it.
This is particularly important because the issues keeping
your clients up at night may not always be the ones you think. A top concern of
Silicon Valley, according to the report? Immigration. Of insurance companies?
Cybersecurity and data breaches. Of businesses in the broadcast media industry?
Employer liability. And of course you may already know this (200 lawyers
writing on JD Supra did…), but the point is the same: you’ve got to drill down
and figure out what’s important to the people you’re writing for, if you want
them to read your work.
Content Marketing Works
Second, the reader analysis done by the folks at JD Supra
demonstrates that content marketing is working: industry insiders really do
read the legal analysis and insight that you post online. A quick look at the
“notable readers” makes that clear: people from Chevron, Johnson & Johnson,
Amazon.com, Time Warner Cable, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Microsoft, Texas
Instruments, Bank of America, Office Depot, Medtronic, etc., are going to the
Internet for guidance on understanding and responding to the legal and business
issues they face every day.
Less Is Definitely Not More
And finally, while it may seem obvious, the awards really
drive home the point that you shouldn’t ignore a topic because you’ve already
written about wage and hour law, or because your competitors have covered data
breaches in the insurance industry, or because there’s nothing more to say
about the Affordable Care Act. Your job – like every other lawyer – is to
demonstrate expertise on the subjects that matter to your clients. A single
article does not do that: you must write about the topics you know again and
again and again. People are going to read your work when they need it, so your
job is to make sure that when they are trying to understand an issue, your
analysis is available to them. You do this the way almost every author in these
awards did it: by turning up again and again and writing what matters to your
readers and clients.
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First published on JD Supra
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