Why do lawyers, accountants and other professionals need content marketing more? Convey useful information and attract target customers

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What is content marketing

When talking about “Content Marketing” (Content Marketing), what do you think of? Do you know how it is different from traditional marketing?

To put it simply, we can think of “Content Marketing” as a way for companies or individuals to use content for marketing, and this is also one of the popular marketing models at the moment. “Content marketing” generally refers to producing content that the target audience finds useful and interesting. It not only promotes sales, but also allows consumers to build a sense of professionalism and trust in the company. In addition, it also has the advantages of lower cost than traditional marketing, measurable results, and suitable for managing brand image.

To implement “content marketing”, you can make good use of content elements such as text, videos, photos, hand-drawn drawings, or sounds, and present them through official websites, blogs, or audio-visual platforms, and then spread and spread them externally through social media or keyword searches.

I saw an article (opens in a new tab) on the Forbes website before. Mention how lawyers should execute content marketing the right way (https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/04/12/how-lawyers-should-execute-content-marketing-the-right-way/#692e5c9c2959 (opens in a new tab)). After seeing this title, are you also wondering—shouldn’t this be the job of marketers? Why do even professionals such as lawyers and accountants need to understand “content marketing”?

Why professionals need content marketing

This question is actually very simple. First of all, we have already entered the era of “all-employee marketing”. Anyone who wants to sell or promote certain goods, services or concepts should best understand some marketing concepts and tools. Secondly, in order to promote their own business, professionals sometimes need to be on the front line to communicate with customers or potential customers.

Different from traditional marketing techniques, “content marketing” focuses on sharing useful information rather than just selling the product itself. Therefore, if a lawyer wants to use marketing skills to promote legal knowledge or increase the business of his or her own law firm, in addition to advertising online, he can actually cultivate more content.

Forbes mentioned that content marketing for lawyers includes three points:

1. Create a buyer persona

Create a “Customer Persona”

Create specific content that’s aimed at a particular type of client.

2.Create a plan

Plan marketing plans, content and channels

- You must release content on a regular basis so that clients are used to reading your new releases.

- Distribution channels should include email newsletters, social media channels and even guest-posting on relevant websites.

3. Avoid common mistakes

Remember the lessons learned

(X) Place quantity over quality (X) Being too promotional (X) Being too general

Simplify proper nouns to assist marketing

For example, if you open the official website of any law firm, you will easily see that it is full of professional terms. These proper nouns are often both difficult and difficult to remember. There are terms at your fingertips, such as: real estate registration, payment order, promissory note ruling, false seizure, false disposition, auction of collateral, enforcement and contract witness… etc. Can you imagine that you can explain it clearly in simple words?

Many people should be dizzy just seeing it, let alone quickly understand the logic and game rules of the legal world. Therefore, even if a lawyer spends a lot of money to hire a professional design company to create a beautiful web page, the promotion effect may still be ineffective. If we can look at it from the perspective of “content marketing”, we will know that there are many ways to assist marketing.

Divert customer needs in advance

For another example, if you happen to run an accounting firm, in addition to stating your firm’s services and expertise on your official website, you should also understand the profile of your target customers in advance, understand their specific needs, and understand what these potential customers want to know. For example, as May is approaching, tax issues may be bothering everyone.

Do these customers who come here actively or are guided by search engines need financial visas, tax visas, accounting services or business registration services? Or would you like to inquire about tax review, payroll management, transfer pricing or work permit application?

We must first clarify our positioning, resources and customers’ possible problems and needs, and then provide various useful information in detail. This can effectively reduce everyone’s wariness and allow visitors in need to quickly find useful information through the official website, blog or fan page.

Two successful content marketing cases

After reading this, I believe you can understand that professionals also need the help of “content marketing”, but how to start implementing it? Here I would like to share with you two examples, which happen to belong to the fields of law and accounting and taxation. They both use original content and professionalism to provide more delicate services.

Actual implementation platform: Blog, Facebook, LINE@ or Medium

The first case is the “Lawyer Wife Whispering (opens in a new tab)” community hosted by Ms. Lin Jingru (opens in a new tab). Not only does she have a legal background, she is also a lawyer’s wife. In recent years, through my blog, Fan Page (opens in a new tab) and LINE@, I have worked hard to write and operate articles, and often share with everyone a lot of common sense about legal life, which has also helped many people overcome their fear of the law and understand many seemingly difficult issues.

Today, she has not only successfully published the book “[The world is so cruel, but we are still gentle: Written for every one of you who was a girl]” (https://www.books.com.tw/exep/assp.php/vista/products/0010776812?utm_source=vista&utm_medium=ap-books&utm_conten (opens in a new tab) t=recommend&utm_campaign=ap-201805)”, and also successfully built a personal brand, transforming from a lawyer to a writer, lecturer and Internet celebrity (opens in a new tab). What’s even better is that she can also use her identity as a lawyer’s wife to highlight the law firm business run by her husband, which can be said to complement each other.

The second case is “Ear-Plucking Tax Law Classroom (opens in a new tab)” run by Tower Chen (opens in a new tab). As the name suggests, this blog on the Medium platform mainly shares articles related to corporate taxation, and the inspiration for her articles came from the accounting firm she opened.

It turns out Tower Chen inherited the business from her mother and now helps her family run the business. When she has free time, she writes some [articles] in easy-to-understand terms that ordinary people can understand (https://medium.com/@tow (opens in a new tab) erchen/%E6%8E%8F%E8%80%B3%E6%9C%B5%E7%9A%84%E7%A8%85%E6%B3%95%E5%B0%8F%E6%95% 99%E5%AE%A4-%E7%82%BA%E4%BD%95%E5%BA%97%E5%AE%B6%E5%8F%AF%E4%BB%A5%E5%85%8D%E 9%96%8B%E7%B5%B1%E4%B8%80%E7%99%BC%E7%A5%A8-5a959fdead48), helping everyone quickly understand the complex world of accounting and finance. Writing these articles doesn’t take much time, but the benefits are huge! Not only can you share professional knowledge with friends in need, but it can also directly or indirectly help your own firm increase its visibility and inquiries. It can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

Professionalism and trust can be said to be the two keys to success in content marketing. After reading these two practical cases, have you become interested in “content marketing”? Now, let’s get started (opens in a new tab)! ★ Featured image credit: Domenico Loia (opens in a new tab)

★This article (opens in a new tab) was originally published in the May 2018 issue of “English Island (opens in a new tab)” magazine