Observed

Chances are that each of us has a soft spot somewhere. For something we celebrate. Whatever it is, an interviewer might have to find a way to touch that spot in order to get a subject to relax. Which can be a step in the right direction.

Almost all of the lawyers I interview for their bios or practice descriptions want good or better-than-good results.  It’s just that some are simply not wired or are otherwise determined not to relax.

Which is, in my experience, not helpful.

Oh, well.  A stiff, preoccupied or tentative interview subject is better than no subject at all.

No matter how they’re predisposed, I do my best to help them relax.  The results can be amazing.

I learned this when I was scripting a corporate anniversary video a while back.  This was for an international manufacturer based in the US and owned by a Japanese holding company.  I had prepped the corporate communication person who, in turn, had prepped her boss, the US company’s CEO.

He was, of course, a very bright fellow.  And, he was board-room-ready.

The good news was that he was prepared.  The bad news was that he was prepared.

Mind you, not horrible news.  He gave bright, coherent, strategically practiced responses to my questions.  I just wanted more — more life, more engagement, and so on.

So, I tried something.  I said, “You’re from New York City, right?”

“Yes.”

“Mets or Yankees?”

It’s as if someone hit his Thaw button.  Without missing a beat, he and I doubled back to a couple of key issues, and he simply and naturally talked.  He came across beautifully and totally on message.

Then, I relaxed.

I got a great question recently from a student about three attorney Web bios. I had brought them with me earlier this month as part of a presentation to a marketing communication class at Emerson College. Silvia Hodges had invited me to talk about how to create more client-facing content.

Here they are:

• Bill Klein, Hopkins & Carley
• Lisa Adams, Nutter McClennen & Fish
• Dori Yob, Hopkins & Carley

The question was, Did you interview each of these attorneys?

I said that I did and that this was how I was able to add strategic value to their pages and, by extension, to their firms’ sites.

Talking with lawyers typically creates an energy and opportunity that results in better sources of content.  (Far better than even the best of what I’m usually able to get in writing.)  And, this tends to result in content that’s more engaging for the reader and focused on what they need.

Creating humankind may be one of the Divine Spirit's greatest acts of faith. It's comparable (in a small, small way) to the hope you and I demonstrate when we risk rejection, uncertainty and everything else that comes with sales and business development.

Cathe Dykstra recently began an excellent essay about the organization she directs with an analogy.  She wrote in Louisville’s Courier-Journal that the things that make the rooftop garden at Family Scholar House grow and prosper can be likened to the things that the single, working, college-going participants at Family Scholar House need to grow and prosper.

I’ll extend Cathe’s wonderful analogy.  In addition to support and guidance and patience and so on, many things we do also take hope.

Or, perhaps, faith.  As in, leap of faith.  As in, be prepared, minimize your risk and then…jump.

I realized that what Cathe wrote about is also true of sales, fund raising and business development — and of many, many other things many of us do every day.  Such as having a child, matriculating to law school or making a cold sales call.

So, while I hope my readers get this far in this post (148 words), I know (from plenty of user-habit studies) that a lot of you won’t.

Nevertheless…

1. I write and post anyway, confident that if I don’t (or rarely) post anything, I predictably reduce my chances of Getting Found.
2. I make what I write as engaging as possible.  Such as leading with an interesting bit about Cathe’s rooftop garden and how it’s like the worker-scholars she plants and tends to.
3. I leverage the visual and ensure that I bake my main message into the caption under my post’s main image.

Get it?  I hope so.

Of course it's important to take bar rules on client communications seriously. However, there are plenty of effective ways to offer evidence that you're thinking about your prospects' needs without risking your license.

When I think about the three main reasons why clients and prospects visit your law firm’s Web site, I imagine that I also hear, “Yeah, but” in response.

As in, “Yeah, I realize studies say that clients want assurance that I can fix their problems and that I can make their lives easier (and that they’ll like working with me), but I have a professional code of ethical conduct.  I could be reprimanded or endanger my license if I make claims like that.”

My advice?  Don’t.

• First, back up.   Your state’s code of conduct probably isn’t a priority for most clients and prospects.  So, remember that they’re far more worried about their needs, not yours.

• Second, how you address Can you fix my problem? and Will you make my life easier? is more nuanced than a simple yes or no.

For example, a strategically-written case study can speak volumes about your abilities without ever promising a result.  Same with testimonials, rankings and other third-party endorsements.

Your bio is not merely a resume.  It’s the principal destination for most of your site’s visitors, one that offers you an opportunity to tell your story…in terms that matter to your visitors’ stated needs.

Biographies of the prophets of Islam had been popular for a couple of centuries by the time the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles rolled around in the late 9th Century. Here's the first page of one of the earliest -- the one recorded at Petersborough Abbey.

Nothing on a law firm Web site or app is more important than the bios.  Survey after survey report that these are the pages that are most often visited.

Why so popular? Because users’ interest in attorney bios recognizes that people buy from people.  Along with Can you fix my problem? and Will you make my life easier?, most Web site visitors want some assurance that they’ll like working with you.

I cover these and other bio-related tips in an October 18 podcast produced by Australian marketing guru Dan Toombs.

Have a listen and tell me if you agree.

Dan Toombs is a lawyer and law firm marketing guru based in Australia. His podcast has thousands of listeners worldwide.

I’ve been invited to participate in an upcoming podcast produced by the Australian lawyer and self-styled change agent, Dan Toombs.  The subject of my interview will be best practices for on-line attorney bios, and I’ll be featured on Dan’s law firm marketing podcast site.

Here’s what Dan said to me:

Doug, really liked your recent guest video post on Larry’s site, and would love to interview you for the podcast on how Attorneys should configure and promote their bio’s. Would only need 20 – 30 minutes of your time.  Although I broadcast from Australia, my subscriber list has approximately 600 US Attorneys and Practice Managers and a strong listenership on iTunes.

More as I know more.

My buddy, Colleen Wainwright, shared several awesome tips yesterday on how to make you and your writing sound more natural and down-to-earth.  Here’s one suggestion that really jumped out at me:

Some people can avoid slipping into their Plastic-Man Voice by using dictation. One terrific way to sound more like yourself in your writing is to have someone interview you.

She’s right.

I like to read what I’ve written out loud.  It makes it MUCH harder for anything too lofty or unnatural or unintended to get by.

Scriptwriters do this all the time.  The Table Read is a major step in the script editing process, when the entire cast gets together and each actor reads their part.

Here’s what that looks like:

Visitors come to law firm Web sites mostly to check out lawyer bios.  It’s a fact.

Here’s a quick video offering five simple tips to improve yours:

Want more?

Your Web site is like a grocery shelf. How does it display your products? Does it make your readers feel like foreigners?

Yabancı

As a recent foreign exchange student spending four months in Istanbul, I didn’t need to be reminded that I was a foreigner.

Yet, virtually wherever I went, I overheard yabancı, the Turkish word for foreigner.

I knew I was different, but having others remind me was uncomfortable.

For example, the first time I went to the grocery store, I forgot my dictionary.   As a result, I got home with lumpy cottage cheese, a jar of tomato paste, and moldy vegetables.

This feeling of being an outsider might be how Web site visitors struggle upon encountering unfamiliar content.  They, too, can feel like yabancılar.

Readers visit sites, particularly sites in the professional services sector, looking for assurance and solutions.  Users look for providers who can fix their problems and make their lives easier.  They’re also seeking some kind of personal connection to feel like less like a yabancı.

So, sites should encourage visitors to relax and stay put.  Consider how well your site engages your visitors and if it is…

1. Coherent: Well-organized content is attractive and inviting, encouraging readers to spend time on your site.
2. Down-to-Earth:  Readers are often put off by jargon.  Use simple, clear language.
3. Brief: Remember the Nielsen effect.  Long looks hard, and hard doesn’t get read.

Eventually, I didn’t need a dictionary.  What I remember best, however, were the times that my Turkish neighbors  welcomed me and helped with my broken Turkish.  They made me feel like less like a yabancı.

As a business writer, I like to think I'm a LEED-certified Dunkin' Donuts. I want to make my customers feel welcomed and engaged...and eager to come back.

What kind of building are you?  Or, better said, what kind of architecture best represents the way you express yourself — particularly in business communications.

I got to thinking about this after I recently wrote an article about a new Dunkin’ Donuts store in Louisville’s vibrant and upmarket Highlands neighborhood.  (Really.  I’m not kidding.)

The Dunkin’ is a descendant of the street-loving polemics pioneered 50-plus years ago by Jane Jacobs.  It’s the kind of building that does a great job of connecting with its surroundings, including the tons of people walking up and down Bardstown Road, the commercial heart of the area.  The new Dunkin’ fits in while a few of its neighbors — including a nearby Dairy Queen from an earlier generation of commercial architecture and urban design — step away from street like little islands in an asphalt pond.

So, think about it.  Are you inviting in the way you write?  Do you engage your readers in the way a doorway or porch might invite a building’s users to come in or to set a spell?

Or, do you surround yourself with stiff and difficult words?  Do you present a turgid monolith or long, dense blocks of copy, or do you format your content to be more accommodating?

Just wondering.