Archives for Doug Isenberg

As a young associate at a large law firm, I remember a senior associate with whom I was working on a newsletter article tell me that we should provide enough information to clients to showcase our expertise but not so much as to educate the client to make his or her own decisions. It was obviously a self-serving endeavor that — in theory — could work, if clients read the article and called us, their lawyers, for more information or assistance.

At the time, nearly two decades ago, I derided this perspective. Having joined the practice of law after a short career in journalism, I naively thought the purpose of all writing should be to explain in a manner that adequately answered all of the readers’ questions.

Some time later, however, I realized that my mentor was right about the content we were creating.

If I only knew then what marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuk now writes in his new book, Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World. He says:

[S]top thinking about your content as content. Think about it, rather, as micro-content — tiny, unique nuggets of information, humor, commentary, or inspiration that you reimagine every day, even every hour, as you respond to today’s culture, conversations, and current events in real time in a platform’s native language and format.

In other words, think of content as a marketing tool. Just as many book authors never get rich from their writings but instead use them merely to reach an audience that might buy other services.

As Vaynerchuk says, this type of content marketing must be used regularly (“jabs,” by his analogy) before you eventually take your shot (the “right hook”).

Although, as Vaynerchuk knows and explains, the content marketing “jabs” can be delivered by any of numerous methods, I was intrigued to hear him tell author and blogger Michael Hyatt recently that e-mail marketing in particular is “very effective” for him.

Boxing analogies might not immediately seem appropriate for how to market professional services. But it’s obvious that frequent and regular delivery — of content or punches — can indeed be a winning combination.

“We’ve always tried to build loyalty with people, and we can no longer rely on that technique. Now, we must build loyalty with information.”

Well said, Jay Baer.

That’s just one bit of helpful advice from the marketing consultant and self-described “digital pioneer” in his new book, “Youtility: Why Smart Marketing Is About Help Not Hype.”

Baer’s book is a testament to the power of content marketing, that is, providing customers or clients with helpful — not just promotional, self-serving — information. Baer’s guidance also reaffirms our perspective at cc:Clients — that educating clients with timely, relevant, easy-to-read news updates (via e-mail newsletters, microsites, blogs and news feeds) is smart marketing.

As Baer writes:

There are only two ways for companies to break through in an environment that is unprecedented in its competitiveness and cacophony. They can be “amazing” or they can be useful….

While being amazing can work, it’s difficult to do and doesn’t produce reliable, linear results….

What if instead of trying to be amazing you just focused on being useful? What if you decided to inform, rather than promote? You know that expression “If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime?” Well, the same is true for marketing: If you sell something, you make a customer today; if you help someone, you make a customer for life.

I call this Youtility. Not “utility,” because a utility is a faceless commodity. Youtility is marketing upside down. Instead of marketing that’s needed by companies, Youtility is marketing that’s wanted by customers. Youtility is massively useful information, provided for free, that creates long-term trust and kinship between your company and your customers.

Some law firms and other professional service companies traditionally have held back when it comes to providing useful, free information. In the past, these professionals feared that doing so might undermine their ability to sell their advice and intellectual property. But, as Baer points out, just the opposite is true: Providing “massively useful information,” for free, is a great marketing tactic that can lead to more, not less, business.