Email Works, Y’all: A Case Study Starring Us!
Some of the best discoveries are accidental, from penicillin to Post-it notes to Velcro. In our case, we recently saw incidental proof of something we already knew: Email is a fantastic way to inform your clients, prospective clients, and referral network that you’re out there doing good work.
Muse Communications was recently named the #1 legal public relations firm in Dallas by the readers of Texas Lawyer, which publishes an annual ranking of the state’s top legal vendors. Of course, we were excited to get the word out, so we published a blog post and social media messaging about the news in early October.
We earned a few likes and comments, but, like many small professional services firms (including law firms), we don’t have a huge social media following, so the response was fine, but nothing to write home about.
Normally, we would have sent out an email about the honor around the same time the blog and the social media went up, but for whatever reason (we saw something shiny, there was an election, etc.), we didn’t send that email until the second week of November.
And that’s when the congratulations and kudos came pouring in. (By the way, thank you to everyone who sent us nice emails and text messages.) In fact, one of our pro bono clients, Attorneys Serving the Community, surprised us by creating a separate social media post congratulating us on the news and sharing it with their (more sizable) social media network.
Need help turning your legal marketing to-do list into reality? We can help with that! Muse Communications was named Dallas’ best legal public relations firm by the readers of Texas Lawyer (although we represent clients all over Texas). Just drop us a line.
Filtering Out the Noise
If we had sent out our email at the same time we published the blog post and amplified it on social media, we wouldn’t have known whether it was the blog post, the social media messaging, or the email that prompted the well-wishes. But the unintentional lag between communications made it clear what the most potent medium was.
When we communicated the news via email — the most low-tech, inexpensive, least-appreciated method of sharing news — the people we care about most heard about it. These are the people who already like us, send us business, refer us work, and generally say nice things about us on their Facebook groups. These are the people whose radar we want to stay on.
We’ve written a lot about email newsletters (here and here are some excellent examples), and we continue to advocate them as great ways to stay in touch with your referral network. But it’s nice to have further validation.
What’s Your Good News?
If you have good news to communicate — a recent award, a client success, a new lawyer — or if you’ve written a meaty, informative blog post everybody MUST read, don’t just publish it on your blog or post it to your social media.
Even if your blog is amazing, unless you’re incredibly prominent, it probably doesn’t get all that much traffic. And social media is ephemeral; If your target audience isn’t logged in around the time you post it, or if the algorithm isn’t working your way, it might not get seen.
Email gets in front of the people who know you. Don’t leave this important tool out of your marketing toolbox.
Amy Boardman Hunt is all about helping lawyers find their voice and showcase their expertise. When she’s not doing that, she’s trying to find great hiking spots in Dallas. If you know of any – or you need a legal marketing muse – drop her a line at amy.hunt@muselegalpr.com.
Very informative, thanks for sharing!!