Home » The “Lisa Bloom” Secret for Getting Your Law Office in the News
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Do you want to get you and/or your law office in the news?
Not through paid ads or “advertorial” content. But actually featured in the media, as an expert voice and a respected pillar of the community?
If so, here’s what you need to know:
Journalists and editors are HOT and they know it.
Because just about every solo professional, small business owner, and corporation wants their grace and favor. Consequently, their inboxes are inundated with press releases, media one sheets, and cover letters.
There’s a way to cut through all this noise.
A way to transcend it, and have journalists and editors add you to their personal black books as a trusted and esteemed resource — even when there’s a long line of other attorneys clamoring for their attention.
I’ll share it with you in just a moment.
You won’t be disappointed.
First, a quick recap is needed. Because we covered a lot of ground in my previous article (“3 Words That Explain Why Many Attorneys Struggle”). And what I’m about to share in a second builds on it.
The problem with most attorneys:
For better or for worse, whether deserved or undeserved, they are perceived as “just another lawyer”. This is the de facto positioning they have.
It’s not only journalists who see them this way.
Potentials do as well.
Referral partners (and would-be referral partners) do too.
Even some of their paying clients.
It’s why they struggle to attract enough quality cases to sustain a healthy practice. Potentials view them as one of several options, all interchangeable, and so they have to compete directly with every other desperate lawyer.
This is commodity positioning. And it’s near the bottom of the totem pole. (The only attorneys “below” them are the pimple-faced juniors.)
Above those attorneys with commodity positioning are those experienced attorneys who have a strong line-up of accolades and accomplishments.
For example, they’re one of the few attorneys to have obtained a presidential pardon for one of their clients. Or, they have published opinions.
These attorneys have a slight edge.
I call this “superior” positioning. It’s better than being positioned as a commodity. But it’s not a game-changer. As you probably know.
(Most of the folks who read this newsletter and become Jacobs & Whitehall clients are superior attorneys who want to get to the next level.)
What is the next level?
Authority positioning. This is where potentials (and referral partners) perceive you as the attorney for a certain type of person with a certain type of need. The attorney who literally wrote the book on that person’s situation.
For example, the lawyer for injured truckers in Illinois.
This kind of positioning is a game-changer.
However, there’s another level. One that’s even more powerful. And one that suddenly makes you very, very attractive to journalists and editors.
It’s what I call “hero” or “champion” positioning.
This is where potentials, referral partners, media professionals, and, eventually, ordinary members of the public see you as the attorney for a specific cause. The attorney who “not only” wrote the book on a certain type of personal with a certain type of legal need, but also stands up for them.
A great high-profile example of this (whatever you think of them):
Gloria Allred and Lisa Bloom.
These two are always in the media. And whenever news of another scandal breaks, the biggest newspapers and TV stations in the country beat a path to their doors with cameras and mic booms, eager for a quote and a photo.
Now, we can’t make you the next Gloria Allred or Lisa Bloom.
(Would you even want that?)
However, you absolutely can position yourself as a smaller, local version of that. As the attorney in your metro people immediately think of when news breaks of a story related to your area of practice — or when someone’s daughter, nephew, or neighbor needs the best lawyer they can afford.
As the attorney who gets the first (and often only) call, before they start shopping around on Avvo or FindLaw, or searching Google.
How? By championing a cause or an ideal.
Ra’s al Ghul (played by Liam Neeson) from Batman Begins, said it best:
“If you make yourself more than just a man. If you devote yourself to an ideal. You’ll become something else entirely. A legend, Mr. Wayne. A legend.”
I call this “hero” positioning.
It’s the secret to getting you and/or your law office in the news.
And when you have it working for you, when you make it your asset (rather than waiting around for a competitor to beat you to it) — you’ll be able to build a personal brand that’s so powerful, every man, woman, and legal person in your metro wants you fighting their corner, even if you can’t help them.
In my next article, I’ll show you the best method I know for achieving it.
For creating this shift in perception, so that potentials, would-be referral partners, and media contacts start seeing you as this attorney.