Show Notes:

Different is better. “Usually when consumers make decisions, they either rely on a referral from someone they know and trust who referred them to a lawyer, or it’s the brand recognition of a firm they see through billboards, TV commercials, or social media ads. They hear about them consistently and observe their community involvement. Then, when the need arises, they reach out because they remember the firm. So how do you differentiate yourself in this competitive, saturated, commoditized market? Essentially, you need to determine your unique value proposition, which is the answer to why someone should hire you over your competition.”

Less is more. “You don’t have to appeal to everyone, and I think that’s probably the biggest mistake you could make. Trying to cater to everyone in the case of personal injury, for example, might seem logical because anyone can get injured. However, this approach will make you generic, like vanilla, without standing out. It’s better to resonate strongly with a niche audience than to not resonate with anyone, especially in such a competitive and saturated market. It begins by asking yourself a series of why questions: Why did you decide to practice law? Why is that important to you? Keep asking until you distill down to a clear message of how you’re different and why someone should choose to hire you over somebody else. Most importantly, if you cannot answer this question, consider searching online for your type of firm, such as criminal defense attorneys in your market. Then, look at the websites of the first 10 or 20 firms listed. If you think, ‘Those are some great options,’ then the onus is on you to become a better option. Just because someone does something well doesn’t mean you can’t do it well or even better.”

Build and share goodwill. “Whatever you want to be known for, create content around that and showcase that. Some business leaders are kind of averse to that because they think that if they have people filming them or documenting them out in the community or giving back that it’ll be perceived the wrong way. I used to think that way too. I didn’t want it to come across as me having malicious or self-serving intent. I was worried that people would assume that just because I was doing something good and recording it that it would take away all of the goodness of it. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Changing this perception requires you to rewire your mindset. If you’re doing good things that are helpful and give back to your community and you want to impact more people, then you need to show that. You can’t serve more people in your community if you’re unknown. If you’re trying to be the best-kept secret, it’s going to be very difficult for you to grow your law firm, and if you can’t grow your law firm, you can’t impact more people in your community. You have to show people what it is that you’re doing and what you want to be known for.” 

How to be a thought leader. “I’ll tell you what makes someone a thought leader. Step 1: have thoughts, and step 2: share those thoughts. It’s really that simple. If you’re wondering, ‘Who’s going to want to listen to me?’ then you have to think about what you’re going to talk about. Determine what you’re passionate about or what you have deep knowledge and expertise in that’s valuable to somebody else. Take this podcast, for example. I’m not talking about gardening on this podcast because I don’t know jack sh*t about gardening. The only things we really talk about are business, leadership, culture, brand, operations, and marketing. I don’t really know or am good at anything else, so I don’t talk about anything else. You have to think about your skills and your areas of expertise. If you don’t have those, you’re not ready. Nobody will care or get value from you. You have to be able to actually build up some expertise in something before you can start having thoughts, let alone sharing them.”

Play the long game. “If you really want to build your thought leadership and become an authority figure, you have to have a minimum 3-5 year commitment to doing it with no expectation of any results. If you’re not willing to do that upfront because you need the money or the cases or the clients today, then you’re never going to build that thought leadership. It’s coming from the wrong place.”

RESOURCES & REFERENCES

The Game Changing Attorney by Michael Mogill
LinkedIn
Taylor Swift
Facebook
Instagram
TikTok
YouTube
Timothée Chalamet
Timothée Chalamet’s YouTube Channel (@ModdedController360)
Joe Fried
David Craig
After the Crash Podcast