This blog is not about advertising. But a forwarded link from a collegue caught my eye and since it holds many lessons for other sorts of image and messageing and media relationships I'm including it [below]. Plus, you know, the examples are funny.
Ahhhh.... Attorneys advertising. Love it. Hate it. Attorney advertising is still controversial many years after most professional prohibitions were removed.
Advocates say it is only fair that attorneys can advertise as other business people do. They claim ads make their critical services known to more people.
Opponents rail against ads and claim they diminish the profession and give false impressions of 'jackpot justice' to both the public and lawmakers.
This group of ads will give ammo to the latter camp.
Take a look. Even if you *never* do *anything* like this [and of course you never will] note these extreme examples and how they plug in to the advice in this blog about professionalism, message, myth, theme, media relationships and just plain decent common sense.
'List Of The Day' collects bad attorney ads
Showing posts with label Your audience. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Your audience. Show all posts
Media and myth
This is normally a staid, conservative, by-the-numbers blog. Tips. Lists. Real world examples.
This entry is a bit different.
I'm going to encourage you to think about how your story, your firm's story, your clients' story, fits into an existing myth.
Before you panic and assume I'm off my meds, let me explain.
People are attracted to stories. Story telling is among the oldest human art forms and one of the most effective forms of communication. Most people have an almost infinite capacity for digesting stories. Movies, TV, fiction, gossip.... People love stories and a significant portion of your fellow citizens consume almost no other form of information.
There is a certain class of stories, myths, that are especially effective vehicles for communicating information. Myths not only take ordinary human events and project them as larger than life so as to show them in greater detail, myths also plug into universal truths.
Again: I like examples. Here are some examples.
Is your story a 'Rags to Riches' story? Did your firm start from nothing and end up being the largest firm of its type in the city, or the state? Did you bootstrap yourself up from a deprived background through law school? Did your law partner overcome a handicap? Did your client beat incredible odds only to face an unfair accusation or fall victim to an avoidable tragedy?
Are you or your firm classic 'underdogs?' Maybe your story should spotlight that? Americans love underdogs who keep trying and never give up.
Or maybe you or your clients are 'rebels?' Are you different somehow? Did you succeed by ignoring the naysayers and bucking conventional wisdom?
By finding such universal stories and framing your media exposure in those terms you will find many advantages. Journalists will already 'know' how to write such a story. They know what a rebel is, or an underdog. There will be icons and symbols readily available for comparison. Your story will be more memorable. And perhaps most important, you will reduce the chance that your story will be misconstrued as a 'bad' story. If you can, for example, convincingly portray your firm as an 'underdog' you will have also necessarily painted your firm as plucky, persistent, likable, determined, hard-working and worthy of notice and admiration.
With such a frame your new, inexperienced firm can positively glow.
Without such a frame you might instead just come across as just new and inexperienced.
Think about your story. Think about how it might be plugged into a myth. Use those images and words to sell your story to the media.
This entry is a bit different.
I'm going to encourage you to think about how your story, your firm's story, your clients' story, fits into an existing myth.
Before you panic and assume I'm off my meds, let me explain.
People are attracted to stories. Story telling is among the oldest human art forms and one of the most effective forms of communication. Most people have an almost infinite capacity for digesting stories. Movies, TV, fiction, gossip.... People love stories and a significant portion of your fellow citizens consume almost no other form of information.
There is a certain class of stories, myths, that are especially effective vehicles for communicating information. Myths not only take ordinary human events and project them as larger than life so as to show them in greater detail, myths also plug into universal truths.
Again: I like examples. Here are some examples.
Is your story a 'Rags to Riches' story? Did your firm start from nothing and end up being the largest firm of its type in the city, or the state? Did you bootstrap yourself up from a deprived background through law school? Did your law partner overcome a handicap? Did your client beat incredible odds only to face an unfair accusation or fall victim to an avoidable tragedy?
Are you or your firm classic 'underdogs?' Maybe your story should spotlight that? Americans love underdogs who keep trying and never give up.
Or maybe you or your clients are 'rebels?' Are you different somehow? Did you succeed by ignoring the naysayers and bucking conventional wisdom?
By finding such universal stories and framing your media exposure in those terms you will find many advantages. Journalists will already 'know' how to write such a story. They know what a rebel is, or an underdog. There will be icons and symbols readily available for comparison. Your story will be more memorable. And perhaps most important, you will reduce the chance that your story will be misconstrued as a 'bad' story. If you can, for example, convincingly portray your firm as an 'underdog' you will have also necessarily painted your firm as plucky, persistent, likable, determined, hard-working and worthy of notice and admiration.
With such a frame your new, inexperienced firm can positively glow.
Without such a frame you might instead just come across as just new and inexperienced.
Think about your story. Think about how it might be plugged into a myth. Use those images and words to sell your story to the media.
What is "news" anyway?"
"I know it when I see it" might serve as well to define "news" as it served Justice Potter Stewart to define pornography.
Some media pros cynically say that "news" is whatever an editor or news anchor says it is that day [sort of like the old saw about the law being whatever the last judge said it was]*.
There is truth in that perspective and you can learn something critical from it: News is not necessarily information that ranks high on any objectively measurable scale of historical significance or importance.
But, true or not, that isn't very useful in your quest to make your firm's stories into "news." So here is a more helpful definition to help guide your media and public relations strategy and frame your messages.
News is information of particular interest to the audience of the media outlet you are targeting.
Look at that a bit closer. Notice the key criteria is not any external definition of importance or value: instead it is audience-dependant. If the audience doesn't care about the information then it really does not matter if you care, or if I care. It isn't news.
The other variable in the definition is also critical. News is only news to the particular audience of the media outlet you are targeting. Doesn't that seem obvious? But it is often overlooked. The audience for USA Today is not the same as the audience for the New England Journal of Medicine or MSNBC or The O'Reilly Factor or The New Yorker.
A misunderstanding of those two points accounts for the bulk of failed media outreach. This is just as true for professional publicists as it is of people like you who just want to spark a story about their firm. Each day tens of thousands of press releases are sent to the wrong media outlets and an equal number of phone calls are placed to the wrong busy journalists.
In a previous post I noted that your new associate hire is not news to the largest TV station in a city of two million people. Neither is your remodeled board room, your new marquee sign or your charity golf outing with the local Lions Club.
On the other hand, any one of these firm events might be news to your local weekly community shopper paper or local bar association.
Remember: "information of particular interest to the audience of the news outlet'
What about your brilliant 2500 word article on the latest developments in the right of publicity? Not news to the TV station nor to the weekly shopper. But your state bar association or a special interest bar journal might decide that article is just what they have been looking for.
Target your media audience and your news toward one another. Aim them at one another and correct course en route.
What is trash to one media outlet might be a front page, above the fold, #1 story hit to another one.
You want that other one.
*["News" isn't even necessarily new, as we all know from annual stories like "back to school" and "tuition is rising" and similar. Sometimes people like to hear about things they already know.]
Some media pros cynically say that "news" is whatever an editor or news anchor says it is that day [sort of like the old saw about the law being whatever the last judge said it was]*.
There is truth in that perspective and you can learn something critical from it: News is not necessarily information that ranks high on any objectively measurable scale of historical significance or importance.
But, true or not, that isn't very useful in your quest to make your firm's stories into "news." So here is a more helpful definition to help guide your media and public relations strategy and frame your messages.
News is information of particular interest to the audience of the media outlet you are targeting.
Look at that a bit closer. Notice the key criteria is not any external definition of importance or value: instead it is audience-dependant. If the audience doesn't care about the information then it really does not matter if you care, or if I care. It isn't news.
The other variable in the definition is also critical. News is only news to the particular audience of the media outlet you are targeting. Doesn't that seem obvious? But it is often overlooked. The audience for USA Today is not the same as the audience for the New England Journal of Medicine or MSNBC or The O'Reilly Factor or The New Yorker.
A misunderstanding of those two points accounts for the bulk of failed media outreach. This is just as true for professional publicists as it is of people like you who just want to spark a story about their firm. Each day tens of thousands of press releases are sent to the wrong media outlets and an equal number of phone calls are placed to the wrong busy journalists.
In a previous post I noted that your new associate hire is not news to the largest TV station in a city of two million people. Neither is your remodeled board room, your new marquee sign or your charity golf outing with the local Lions Club.
On the other hand, any one of these firm events might be news to your local weekly community shopper paper or local bar association.
Remember: "information of particular interest to the audience of the news outlet'
What about your brilliant 2500 word article on the latest developments in the right of publicity? Not news to the TV station nor to the weekly shopper. But your state bar association or a special interest bar journal might decide that article is just what they have been looking for.
Target your media audience and your news toward one another. Aim them at one another and correct course en route.
What is trash to one media outlet might be a front page, above the fold, #1 story hit to another one.
You want that other one.
*["News" isn't even necessarily new, as we all know from annual stories like "back to school" and "tuition is rising" and similar. Sometimes people like to hear about things they already know.]
"Blogs" [Web logs] --should you have one?
A large and growing number of attorneys and law firms host a "blog" [short for Web log]. Like this one.
Blogs can resemble a journal or diary. They might be thought of as halfway between an email or forum post and a more permanent Website. Blogs have been described as "real-time media." Their immediacy is compelling.
Such informal immediacy also presents its share of problems worthy of pondering.
Though there are many types of legal blogs all share certain characteristics. Attorney or law firm blogs exist primarily for the purpose of practice building and rainmaking though they might overlap into other areas.
Some legal blogs might fall under the heading of "legal information." Such a blog might provide facts about causes of action or the workings of the legal system. They may offer links to resources such as bar organizations, or serve as an interface with Legal Aid or Access to Justice programs. Some offer live feeds or links to news media concerning the law. Some feature photos or other non-text content.
Other legal blogs might better be labeled "law and politics." Such blogs venture in the direction of the volatile nexus of law and public policy. Little about the practice of law is unaffected by political change and these attorney bloggers dare to offer commentary and critique.
Some legal blogs straddle the line between the law and some other subject. One example is this attorney who blogs about law, public policy, and the history and architecture of the city where he lives and grew up.
Some legal blogs are the effort of one person using simple and readily available Internet software. Like this one you are reading. Other legal blogs are part of special purpose national networks that offer a powerful and resource-rich opportunities for spreading a specific message. [i.e. this network for personal injury attorneys.]
All legal blogs present certain hazards you should be aware of before joining the ranks of legal bloggers.
1) Blogs are public. Blogging your critique of --for example-- a judge you feel is biased or less than competent, or chiming in about some controversial political topic, present the same hazards as putting that same opinion in a letter in the local newspaper. Do not allow yourself to be fooled into thinking of your blog as "private" unless you do not publish it on the Internet at all.
You may decide you don't mind offering such critique in public. And that is your decision to make. Just don't post on a blog under the mistaken impression that what you write is less than public.
2) Blogging about anything at all will almost certainly reflect upon your law practice. You can be and will be judged by clients, prospective clients, other bar members, senior partners, the legal profession and the public based on your blog. Even if your blog concerns NASCAR, modern architecture, cooking, your pets or your martial arts hobby.
3) Blogging is communicating information and you should view your blog through the filter of professional ethics. Are you answering questions or offering legal advice that might create [in reality or just subjectively] the appearance of an attorney-client relationship? Do your offered opinions cross the line regarding any applicable limitations on "attorney free speech" under your bar associations guidelines? Is it advertising? Are your publicly available comments going to create any conflict of interest with a client?
4) The Internet is forever. Anything you write in a blog [or publish anywhere on the Internet] can be accessed, viewed, linked, archived, copied and otherwise spread like virus. Once posted your blog content is almost impossible to eradicate as it echoes across the vast realms of the Internet.
As you consider topics for your blog think not only about current concerns but about the future. Do you ever contemplate running for office or seeking a judicial appointment? If so you might want to choose topics for your blog according to the old saw regarding attire: "Dress for the job you want." In this case you should blog with an eye towards the career you want to have.
Might you ever leave your insurance defense firm and join a plaintiff's practice? Maybe you are a 26-year old new associate who hasn't looked that far down the road. I suggest you stop and think about your future before posting comments that might work to limit your future career choices. Maybe you are a happy, secure mid-career junior partner who has never really given much thought to your firm breaking up and having to seek a new position. Look around you and talk to your peers; firms dissolve all the time, even well-established firms like yours. Don't unnecessarily burn any bridges, a priori.
Life is volatile and ever-changing. Do not plant a blog seed now that could grow into the reputation ruining equivalent of poison ivy later.
[NOTE: After this post was written the ABA Journal featured an article on legal blogs: "The Blawg 100 Best of the Blogosphere".] This is a wonderful resource for experiencing the many facets of legal blogging.
Blogs can resemble a journal or diary. They might be thought of as halfway between an email or forum post and a more permanent Website. Blogs have been described as "real-time media." Their immediacy is compelling.
Such informal immediacy also presents its share of problems worthy of pondering.
Though there are many types of legal blogs all share certain characteristics. Attorney or law firm blogs exist primarily for the purpose of practice building and rainmaking though they might overlap into other areas.
Some legal blogs might fall under the heading of "legal information." Such a blog might provide facts about causes of action or the workings of the legal system. They may offer links to resources such as bar organizations, or serve as an interface with Legal Aid or Access to Justice programs. Some offer live feeds or links to news media concerning the law. Some feature photos or other non-text content.
Other legal blogs might better be labeled "law and politics." Such blogs venture in the direction of the volatile nexus of law and public policy. Little about the practice of law is unaffected by political change and these attorney bloggers dare to offer commentary and critique.
Some legal blogs straddle the line between the law and some other subject. One example is this attorney who blogs about law, public policy, and the history and architecture of the city where he lives and grew up.
Some legal blogs are the effort of one person using simple and readily available Internet software. Like this one you are reading. Other legal blogs are part of special purpose national networks that offer a powerful and resource-rich opportunities for spreading a specific message. [i.e. this network for personal injury attorneys.]
All legal blogs present certain hazards you should be aware of before joining the ranks of legal bloggers.
1) Blogs are public. Blogging your critique of --for example-- a judge you feel is biased or less than competent, or chiming in about some controversial political topic, present the same hazards as putting that same opinion in a letter in the local newspaper. Do not allow yourself to be fooled into thinking of your blog as "private" unless you do not publish it on the Internet at all.
You may decide you don't mind offering such critique in public. And that is your decision to make. Just don't post on a blog under the mistaken impression that what you write is less than public.
2) Blogging about anything at all will almost certainly reflect upon your law practice. You can be and will be judged by clients, prospective clients, other bar members, senior partners, the legal profession and the public based on your blog. Even if your blog concerns NASCAR, modern architecture, cooking, your pets or your martial arts hobby.
3) Blogging is communicating information and you should view your blog through the filter of professional ethics. Are you answering questions or offering legal advice that might create [in reality or just subjectively] the appearance of an attorney-client relationship? Do your offered opinions cross the line regarding any applicable limitations on "attorney free speech" under your bar associations guidelines? Is it advertising? Are your publicly available comments going to create any conflict of interest with a client?
4) The Internet is forever. Anything you write in a blog [or publish anywhere on the Internet] can be accessed, viewed, linked, archived, copied and otherwise spread like virus. Once posted your blog content is almost impossible to eradicate as it echoes across the vast realms of the Internet.
As you consider topics for your blog think not only about current concerns but about the future. Do you ever contemplate running for office or seeking a judicial appointment? If so you might want to choose topics for your blog according to the old saw regarding attire: "Dress for the job you want." In this case you should blog with an eye towards the career you want to have.
Might you ever leave your insurance defense firm and join a plaintiff's practice? Maybe you are a 26-year old new associate who hasn't looked that far down the road. I suggest you stop and think about your future before posting comments that might work to limit your future career choices. Maybe you are a happy, secure mid-career junior partner who has never really given much thought to your firm breaking up and having to seek a new position. Look around you and talk to your peers; firms dissolve all the time, even well-established firms like yours. Don't unnecessarily burn any bridges, a priori.
Life is volatile and ever-changing. Do not plant a blog seed now that could grow into the reputation ruining equivalent of poison ivy later.
[NOTE: After this post was written the ABA Journal featured an article on legal blogs: "The Blawg 100 Best of the Blogosphere".] This is a wonderful resource for experiencing the many facets of legal blogging.
Websites --should you have one?
The simple answer is: "yes!"
But as with everything in the world of media and public relations the full answer is more complicated than that.
Every attorney or law firm that solicits clients from any source should have a good professional, well-kept Website. Such bar members and their firms need a Website not only for direct and indirect rainmaking, but to present a face to the world, and to provide such mundane but critical information as a phone and fax number and business address.
Others may not need a Website. Attorneys who work for the government, or who work in non-law firm environments like non-profits, or others who do not have direct relationships with a public clientele may not need a legal Website. The organization likely has a purpose-built Website and any public information concerning your activities will be included there. For this group the answer is: "it depends."
Still others likely should not have a law-related Website, except in special circumstances. This list would include judges and prosecutors [except during election campaigns of course, and in any event campaign Websites are not "legal" Websites.]. In most circumstances corporate counsel should not maintain a separate legal Website unless, and again, there are special circumstances.
Some judges or government employees may even be prohibited from maintaining a Website that has anything to do with their legal career. When in doubt, find out.
For the vast majority of us a solid professional legal Website is as much a necessity as an office phone line.
Such a Website should accomplish at least these four objectives:
1) Identify your practice or firm, provide complete up-to-date contact information, spell out your client base and practice area, give your location, and list your firm members/employees.
I have gone to firm Websites that did not include a contact email for the firm [only for the Webmaster]. I know of a practitioner Website that listed an outdated phone number that now belonged to --you guessed it-- a phone sex operation. I've gone to law firm Websites that failed to list the city or state where the firm's office was located; evidently those attorneys assumed the Internet only worked in their ZIP code and no one else in the wide world would see their Website.
2) Provide information in a compelling professional fashion.
Tacky, ill-made or hopelessly outdated Websites are a liability rather than a benefit. No used-car-lot gimmicks. No photos of pets or kids [unless they are relevant to your practice]. Do not post dated information if you do not intend to keep it updated.
3) Persuade any who arrive at your Website that your firm is a top-notch professional practice.
Not everyone who arrives at your Website will be a potential or current client. Members of the public who are looking for answers to simple legal questions may end up at your firm Website. Other practitioners may see it. Local judges searching for information may see it. Your state attorney disciple authority may visit as a result of an unrelated complaint. A media outlet might happen upon it. A Website is very much like the marquee sign hanging outside your office: anyone may end up seeing it.
4) Conform to any and all rules of professional conduct including limits or prohibitions on attorney advertising.
Maybe the best way to determine what constitutes a "good" legal Website is to visit the Websites of firms you respect. Along the way you will also likely run across Websites of the bad example ilk and you will learn something there as well.
These guidelines apply whether you are building your own Website for your small town solo practice or hiring a vendor to create linked Websites for your firms multi-state practice.
Your Website is your public face. Once it is available on the Internet almost anyone might see it. Ponder carefully how this public face will appear to others.
But as with everything in the world of media and public relations the full answer is more complicated than that.
Every attorney or law firm that solicits clients from any source should have a good professional, well-kept Website. Such bar members and their firms need a Website not only for direct and indirect rainmaking, but to present a face to the world, and to provide such mundane but critical information as a phone and fax number and business address.
Others may not need a Website. Attorneys who work for the government, or who work in non-law firm environments like non-profits, or others who do not have direct relationships with a public clientele may not need a legal Website. The organization likely has a purpose-built Website and any public information concerning your activities will be included there. For this group the answer is: "it depends."
Still others likely should not have a law-related Website, except in special circumstances. This list would include judges and prosecutors [except during election campaigns of course, and in any event campaign Websites are not "legal" Websites.]. In most circumstances corporate counsel should not maintain a separate legal Website unless, and again, there are special circumstances.
Some judges or government employees may even be prohibited from maintaining a Website that has anything to do with their legal career. When in doubt, find out.
For the vast majority of us a solid professional legal Website is as much a necessity as an office phone line.
Such a Website should accomplish at least these four objectives:
1) Identify your practice or firm, provide complete up-to-date contact information, spell out your client base and practice area, give your location, and list your firm members/employees.
I have gone to firm Websites that did not include a contact email for the firm [only for the Webmaster]. I know of a practitioner Website that listed an outdated phone number that now belonged to --you guessed it-- a phone sex operation. I've gone to law firm Websites that failed to list the city or state where the firm's office was located; evidently those attorneys assumed the Internet only worked in their ZIP code and no one else in the wide world would see their Website.
2) Provide information in a compelling professional fashion.
Tacky, ill-made or hopelessly outdated Websites are a liability rather than a benefit. No used-car-lot gimmicks. No photos of pets or kids [unless they are relevant to your practice]. Do not post dated information if you do not intend to keep it updated.
3) Persuade any who arrive at your Website that your firm is a top-notch professional practice.
Not everyone who arrives at your Website will be a potential or current client. Members of the public who are looking for answers to simple legal questions may end up at your firm Website. Other practitioners may see it. Local judges searching for information may see it. Your state attorney disciple authority may visit as a result of an unrelated complaint. A media outlet might happen upon it. A Website is very much like the marquee sign hanging outside your office: anyone may end up seeing it.
4) Conform to any and all rules of professional conduct including limits or prohibitions on attorney advertising.
Maybe the best way to determine what constitutes a "good" legal Website is to visit the Websites of firms you respect. Along the way you will also likely run across Websites of the bad example ilk and you will learn something there as well.
These guidelines apply whether you are building your own Website for your small town solo practice or hiring a vendor to create linked Websites for your firms multi-state practice.
Your Website is your public face. Once it is available on the Internet almost anyone might see it. Ponder carefully how this public face will appear to others.
Giving the media what they want
I previously noted that when you are trying to earn media coverage you really have two audiences. First, the media outlet itself. Only after you convince them to broadcast or publish your message are you faced with controlling what message is sent to your second audience, the public.
Persuading your first audience is easy if you keep in mind a few simple guidelines.
1) Keep your ego in check. Be realistic. Admit that hiring a new associate is not newsworthy to the TV station in your city of 2 million. Would your neighbor care about your "news?" Would your brother-in-law? If not then it is likely not news at all.
If you pester the big TV station with such annoying non-news notices you are wasting your time. Worse, you are very likely to annoy the producers and journalists sufficiently that they may unofficially blacklist you and go elsewhere when real news is afoot.
2) The media is a business not a public service or your personal bulletin board. They pay their bills largely by selling ads. If no one is interested in their stories, their advertisers flee and they go out of business. Your job then is to convince the media that your story is something that will interest their target audience. Help editors and journalists do their jobs. Give them news. [See item #1]
3) Know your media outlets. The local weekly community paper is not going to publish your academic sounding article on the public policy implications of restricting punitive damage awards [So save that for the legal trade press if you are trying to build a reputation as the go-to attorney on punitive damage awards]. But the local community shopper paper might publish a notice of your firm's golf outing with the local Rotary Club or Chamber of Commerce.
4) Take time to find the "hook." A "hook" is the perspective on the information that makes it news. A major market TV station is not going to broadcast that new-associate-hired notice. But they might be interested in more well-developed story about how your law firm is the fastest growing firm in the area and how your new hires contribute to the local economy.
Beware! Do not be tempted to employ "spin" or dishonesty to create a news hook. Make certain of your facts. Never, ever invent or exaggerate to make your information more interesting. Your deception will revealed and you will embarrass yourself and sully your reputation. Just take a minute to brainstorm and find the most interesting angle on the facts. Look at the paper. Listen to the evening news. What is topical? How can you tie into that?
5) Think in terms of relationships. Creating a media presence as part of your firm's overall public relations strategy is a long term goal based on credibility and your relationship with journalists and editors. Help the editors and journalists do their jobs.
In the long run you'll accomplish much more if you exercise some self-restraint and stop yourself from faxing that clumsy News Release about your remodeled boardroom to every TV station in the state.
Persuading your first audience is easy if you keep in mind a few simple guidelines.
1) Keep your ego in check. Be realistic. Admit that hiring a new associate is not newsworthy to the TV station in your city of 2 million. Would your neighbor care about your "news?" Would your brother-in-law? If not then it is likely not news at all.
If you pester the big TV station with such annoying non-news notices you are wasting your time. Worse, you are very likely to annoy the producers and journalists sufficiently that they may unofficially blacklist you and go elsewhere when real news is afoot.
2) The media is a business not a public service or your personal bulletin board. They pay their bills largely by selling ads. If no one is interested in their stories, their advertisers flee and they go out of business. Your job then is to convince the media that your story is something that will interest their target audience. Help editors and journalists do their jobs. Give them news. [See item #1]
3) Know your media outlets. The local weekly community paper is not going to publish your academic sounding article on the public policy implications of restricting punitive damage awards [So save that for the legal trade press if you are trying to build a reputation as the go-to attorney on punitive damage awards]. But the local community shopper paper might publish a notice of your firm's golf outing with the local Rotary Club or Chamber of Commerce.
4) Take time to find the "hook." A "hook" is the perspective on the information that makes it news. A major market TV station is not going to broadcast that new-associate-hired notice. But they might be interested in more well-developed story about how your law firm is the fastest growing firm in the area and how your new hires contribute to the local economy.
Beware! Do not be tempted to employ "spin" or dishonesty to create a news hook. Make certain of your facts. Never, ever invent or exaggerate to make your information more interesting. Your deception will revealed and you will embarrass yourself and sully your reputation. Just take a minute to brainstorm and find the most interesting angle on the facts. Look at the paper. Listen to the evening news. What is topical? How can you tie into that?
5) Think in terms of relationships. Creating a media presence as part of your firm's overall public relations strategy is a long term goal based on credibility and your relationship with journalists and editors. Help the editors and journalists do their jobs.
In the long run you'll accomplish much more if you exercise some self-restraint and stop yourself from faxing that clumsy News Release about your remodeled boardroom to every TV station in the state.
Media Interviews --your two audiences
Whenever you are being interviewed by a journalist you really have two distinct audiences: 1) the media outlet itself, and; 2) the public.
Audiences.
At some point in your education you likely recall having a teacher or professor lecture you on the importance of "identifying the audience" you want to communicate with.
It is a simple idea and we all are guided by a version of this advice every day. For example. You talk to your peers differently than you talk to a client or an elderly relative or a child or your doctor. You use different language for each. You stress different points. You frame your message differently.
The reason you tailor your message to your audience is not merely make sure you are understood [i.e.: your 8-year-old niece will not be able to fully appreciate the concept of an expanded liability exception to governmental immunity no matter how many times you read to her from that amazing Motion and Brief you just drafted].
Maybe the most important reason for addressing a specific audience is to create interest and empathy --you want the audience to care as well as understand.
Preliminary Audience.
The media outlet itself can be seen as a preliminary audience. The journalist and the editor are the gatekeepers to the public you want to reach. They hold the keys to the door you want to enter.
In some ways dealing with this audience is analogous to the procedural steps you must follow before presenting your facts to a jury. If you don't accomplish the preliminary process [Timely filing, establishing standing, etc] correctly you will never make it to closing arguments [or even opening arguments ...or even voir dire]
The good news is that your task relative to this preliminary audience --the media outlet itself-- is simple compared to establishing standing or undertaking Discovery.
How do you do that? You have to give the media a product they can sell.
Final Audience.
Once you have won over the media gatekeepers your final audience is the public.
Using the analogy above the public is like your jury. You want this final audience to hear your persuasive take on the facts.
You accomplish that by crafting and using a set of simple "talking points" that summarize your message in the light most advantageous to you. And you convey your talking points repeatedly and almost exclusively so they become the message that is quoted in the story.
Audiences.
At some point in your education you likely recall having a teacher or professor lecture you on the importance of "identifying the audience" you want to communicate with.
It is a simple idea and we all are guided by a version of this advice every day. For example. You talk to your peers differently than you talk to a client or an elderly relative or a child or your doctor. You use different language for each. You stress different points. You frame your message differently.
The reason you tailor your message to your audience is not merely make sure you are understood [i.e.: your 8-year-old niece will not be able to fully appreciate the concept of an expanded liability exception to governmental immunity no matter how many times you read to her from that amazing Motion and Brief you just drafted].
Maybe the most important reason for addressing a specific audience is to create interest and empathy --you want the audience to care as well as understand.
Preliminary Audience.
The media outlet itself can be seen as a preliminary audience. The journalist and the editor are the gatekeepers to the public you want to reach. They hold the keys to the door you want to enter.
In some ways dealing with this audience is analogous to the procedural steps you must follow before presenting your facts to a jury. If you don't accomplish the preliminary process [Timely filing, establishing standing, etc] correctly you will never make it to closing arguments [or even opening arguments ...or even voir dire]
The good news is that your task relative to this preliminary audience --the media outlet itself-- is simple compared to establishing standing or undertaking Discovery.
How do you do that? You have to give the media a product they can sell.
Final Audience.
Once you have won over the media gatekeepers your final audience is the public.
Using the analogy above the public is like your jury. You want this final audience to hear your persuasive take on the facts.
You accomplish that by crafting and using a set of simple "talking points" that summarize your message in the light most advantageous to you. And you convey your talking points repeatedly and almost exclusively so they become the message that is quoted in the story.
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