#168: Storytelling In Legal Marketing: Why You Need It, How To Do It

[00:01:20] Hey there, everybody. This is Heather Moulder, host of the Life & Law Podcast, and today is one of my favorite topics. I love, love, love to talk about storytelling. This is something that I help my clients with. This is something that I do a lot in my own marketing, and it’s something that I’m hoping to convince you that you can and should be doing more of. So let’s get right into it.

Why Use Storytelling In Legal Marketing?

You’ve likely heard at some point in time that storytelling and marketing sells. I’m here to tell you it’s true. It does sell. In fact, it’s probably one of the most effective ways for you to sell your legal services.

What do I mean by storytelling, and why is it so effective?

I want to show you through an example, because let me be clear, this is not about telling prospects and clients what you can do for them, or about mentioning a big win you recently had. It’s a lot deeper than that, and better as a result.

The Point of Storytelling In Legal Marketing: Show, Don’t Just Tell

[00:02:19] What I want you to start doing inside of your legal marketing is to show, not just tell. Here’s the difference of showing versus telling:

When I was a baby lawyer, I went to client lunches with partners. Often one partner, who I will call partner A, would say things like:

• I closed a big deal last week;
• So and so is so happy with a recent contract negotiation.

These statements massively fell flat every single time. They never went anywhere. And honestly, they kind of felt awkward. There was often this weird silence, like, okay, what am I supposed to do with this? You’re bragging. This is not showing. This is telling. And it’s a cringy way to try to sell.

[00:03:02] Another partner who took me to lunches, who I will call partner B, would ask a lot of questions about:

• current struggles,
• upcoming deals, and
• hot button issues in the field.

Anytime something came up that he had experience with, where there was a good story with valuable information or a lesson within it, he would tell the story.

So this would sound something like, oh, that reminds me of a deal last June where we came across that very issue. We considered options a, b, and C, and ultimately went with b because the client was most focused on X and Y. Here’s what that did. And then he would go into an explanation of the business and legal impact for the client as a whole. And I say business and legal because the business impact and the legal impact, often, it wasn’t just one thing, right?

So guess who had the bigger book of business? Partner B had a much bigger book of business than did partner A.

Now, I realize that these are networking examples. Back then, hardly anybody did LinkedIn writing, article writing was often kind of boring. Bar journal writing. It was very in depth, and it, it wasn’t aimed at business publications. That’s changed a lot. Speeches were not the best back then either.

This person actually did give speeches, and he was very different. He would use these types of examples within his speeches, too. So he understood the value of storytelling.

[00:04:26] And the same holds true within all of your legal marketing, both in your networking and then also the marketing. Right?

Whether in a written blog post or article online, on your blog, on your firm’s blog, in a speech, in a LinkedIn post, in a third party article that you’re writing. For some, you know, third party publication, storytelling is much, much more impactful. And here’s why:

Stories create relatability.

It enables the client to see themselves within the story. And also, this is a big benefit to you, by the way. It creates trust and credibility in you, in your expertise, in how you think and what you bring to the table, because it’s showcasing your approach, your style, your strengths, very naturally within the story.

[00:05:16] All of this is what makes you attractive to perfect fit clients. And frankly, it’s going to also help to repel the wrong fit clients. That’s the best part of this.

This is selling you without overtly selling you to the right people. Because when you tell stories:

• you’re showcasing your strengths,
• you’re showcasing the way you think,
• you’re showcasing your style, and
• you’re showcasing your knowledge,

Without doing it in a braggy way.

It’s Telling People – Why You? – And Attracting/Repelling the Right People

It’s not cringe and it’s selling “Why you?” Why would you be a good fit for specific types of work and clients?

This is why storytelling is so powerful. And I’m going to mention again, it’s going to really showcase who’s a good fit client and who’s not.

Because some people are not going to like the way you do things. Some people are not going to like your way of thinking, your way of organization, which gets showcased in these types of stories. That’s okay. Those are the, those are the wrong fit clients. You don’t want wrong fit clients. You want right fit clients. That’s what makes building your own practice so much more interesting and fun.

So what that means is that you need to be sprinkling within your writing, whether it’s on LinkedIn, whether it’s in articles, within your speaking, if you speak at conferences or really anywhere – and even when networking – you need to be sprinkling in stories that showcase your expertise and the results your clients get.

It is an easy, authentic way to sell.

Now, note that I’m not talking about your bigger picture why here – what one of my clients calls their capital S story. Which is kind of the bigger why behind the firm, the why behind the attorneys working at that firm, the why behind the work they do, why they’re doing it there, with whom, and so on. We’ve talked about that already when we discussed what’s your why. And if you haven’t listened to that, you’re going to want to go back and listen to that because that’s a compelling branding piece to your story.

Storytelling In Legal Marketing (The How-To)

This is about specific client stories, events, outcomes and experiences that you’ve been involved in, that you can showcase what happened, what was done, what did you learn, what was the impact on you and your client. So it’s important to log wins as you go so that you can share them in a very authentic way, which is step number one for effective storytelling and marketing.

Step 1: Log & Keep Track

[00:07:46] Take some time, maybe just 20 to 30 minutes initially, to think back on your big wins as a lawyer. What were they? What occurred for whom? Why was this important for the client, not you, but the client? Again, this is very client focused. The way we tell these stories need to be based on the client and what they care about. That’s what you want to capture.

So first start by going back for the past year or two and start recording these things and then go back even further. It does not matter how long ago it happened if it’s relevant to the client. You can tell a story about something that happened ten years ago, so long as it’s relevant to the current situation, to the current client’s issues, goals, etcetera. And I guarantee there are plenty of those. So don’t be afraid to go back too far.

[00:08:37] But the first time you do this, you might feel a bit overwhelmed if you’re looking at the entirety of your career and you’re 20 years in. So maybe start with the last year and then the last two.

There is something about doing this. You get started and then all of a sudden things start flowing and you start remembering more and more and more. Once you do that, you want to start calendaring time every month or at least every quarter at a minimum to take 15 minutes to think back. Okay. What happened this past month? I want to capture what were my big wins.

Now, note that this is your starting point. You are capturing this for you. Okay? Do not have to worry about remembering too much, too many details, especially the things you can’t disclose because you’re not going to. This part is for you to remember to think about, how do I keep track of the stories that one day I may want to tell?

And note also that sometimes this is especially true for some of my litigators where they’re like, oh, my gosh, there’s so much going on in the current moment that I want to be able to highlight, but there’s no way I can highlight it immediately because my client would know I’m talking about them. And although this is going on public record, I don’t think it’s right for me to talk about this right now.

This is why you do this, though, so that you can capture it and not forget about it. So that a year from now you can utilize it. Okay? Because I guarantee, and we’re going to go through this, there are ways to utilize this without divulging too much or without your clients even knowing or talking about them.

If you’re doing it in the moment, it’s going to be more obvious, but if you’re doing it a year out, they’re going to, like, not realize it’s them. If you’re doing this the right way, because there is a definitive way to share this stuff without divulging too much information and just getting to the relevant piece that people care about. That’s relevant to a new client. Okay?

[00:10:27] So if you recall, we’ve already talked about a little while back how to capture some ideas for topics on LinkedIn marketing and even other marketing purposes.

[00:10:41] You can utilize that process to help you with this too. Okay? And you can use the same spreadsheet to capture stories as well and things that you want to remember that were wins and that you think will be applicable.

Tip: Focus on Common Problems, Issues and Questions (Things That Come Up Again & Again)

And here’s what you want to focus on. The random, really weird win that’s never going to be applicable again is probably not going to make for a great story like this because what you’re trying to capture are the types of things that typically happen.

So the type of roadblocks that people get into, the mistakes people make, the way that you go about winning something. So maybe it is a novel idea or a novel argument that may or may not be utilized again, but that’s what you want to highlight because this is what you do and this is why people hire you.

Tip: Showcase Your Strengths, Approach & Way of Doing/Thinking

[00:11:32] So you’re highlighting your strengths and how that helps your clients. You’re highlighting your way of thinking and how that helps your clients. You’re highlighting the questions you tend to ask and how that helps your clients. You’re highlighting your organizational skills.

I have one client who’s super organized, and she utilizes that in huge, complex cases that are multi jurisdictional. Well, she captures some of that and tells stories about it.

Okay, so this is, this is for you initially. So don’t worry about capturing too much information because you’re not going to share it all with everybody else. This is for you so that you can remember it.

[00:12:12] Now to step two.

Step 2: Identify What Is Truly Relevant

[00:12:14] As you look at each individual story, ask what is most relevant about this story to your perfect fit clients.

[00:12:24] Start with what made this such a win for your client within that story. Maybe it’s a question that needs to be asked at a specific stage of a deal. Or perhaps it’s knowing a common mistake most companies make when putting a compliance policy together.

There is something specific that is relevant. That is what the story is about. Identify that so you can keep the story to the bare bones minimum. Because you do not need to share all the details. You only need to share what is relevant to the point you are trying to make within that story.

Which brings us to step number three.

Step 3: Craft your clear, concise story.

Now note, you do not have to give all the gory details. You barely need to give any. Just what is relevant. Again, this is what someone I know who is an amazing copywriter and teller of stories calls slices of life or slices of work. You can storytell effectively in just a couple of sentences, sometimes even in just one sentence, although I have to say that’s sometimes very hard to do, especially in the legal context.

[00:13:26] This is where most lawyers go wrong. You assume that storytelling has to include too much information, TMI, which could then breach confidence or divulge more information than a client would like, even if it’s not an ethics or confidentiality issue. No.

You can even take a real life story and craft a fake one around it. Now that doesn’t work quite as well, but you can take the bare bones, the lesson, and create a fact situation that you see again and again and tell that story if you need to, so that you can be careful not to divulge stuff that you don’t want to divulge again.

Again:

Step one, brainstorm your wins. Keep track of them over time. Step two, ask what is most relevant? What’s the actual relevancy of this story?

[00:14:15] And then three, how would you explain this very clear and concise without divulging too much information? Remember, there’s a point to the story. Start there and work backwards.

Storytelling Examples

[00:14:26] So let me give you a couple of examples before I let you go.

Example 1

[00:14:31] Okay, so first example.

[00:14:33] Imagine spending millions to acquire a business only to discover the employment agreements and restrictive covenants with key executives were unenforceable by you, the buyer.

[00:14:42] That’s telling a story, y’all. This was a post on LinkedIn that tried to get people to sign up for a workshop that I thought was brilliant.

[00:14:51] You could utilize this when networking. Someone starts talking about purchasing a company. That’s awesome.

[00:15:01] Do I have a story for you. Imagine….

And then you go into what actually happened, all because they wanted to keep due diligence legal fees down and did their own in house due diligence. Unfortunately, they missed something pretty big. So my advice to you, be sure you do a really in depth review of all key agreements with a fine tooth comb.

Example 2

Let’s say you’re writing an article about when to pull the plug as a lender and stop lending money when a company is in default. So you share the following story.

When a company is in distress, you need to identify the root reason as to why quickly, because sometimes that reason isn’t fixable. Other times it is.

For example, lending money to a company who accidentally terminated their main Chinese maker of one of their products and then was assigned another one who couldn’t make the product to the specifications that are required makes zero sense. That happened once, and it took eight months for the lender to figure that out, which meant eight months of money thrown away and receivables that were not collectible or sellable because by then everybody in the market knew they weren’t collectible.

But if that reason is because there was a storm that caused damage to the vendor’s facility, but there was a plan in place to be back up and running in a few months, perhaps it does make sense to keep lending to them when in distress. I’ve seen that happen too, and I’ve seen continuing to lend be incredibly beneficial for the long term. You see the difference?

[00:16:35] These are both real life examples that have happened that you can utilize in storytelling and the theme of the story.

Example 3

[00:16:46] Let’s give you one more example.

[00:16:48] Let’s say you’re a litigator who deals with the False Claims act, and a lot of your clients don’t like to involve counsel early enough after receiving notification of a potential claim and investigation, partly because they’re embarrassed. They don’t like to. They don’t like to admit there could be a problem. So you write a post about how that can bite you.

Here’s what it says.

You’ve responded to a civil investigative demand and have been cooperative because you don’t believe you’re a target or should be a target. But then the government requires your testimony, and so you start to wonder, am I a target or am I just a fact witness? If you’re uncertain, it’s important to speak to counsel, because testifying without advice of good counsel can negate potential defensive strategies. I once had a client who hired me after she testified. Unfortunately, getting that case resolved was challenging for that very reason.

[00:17:41] That’s a story. It’s giving a very clear point. It’s using very specific things, and it’s pretty short and sweet. And guess what? This happens all the time in the False Claims act space. So this person was not divulging anything that they shouldn’t. And nobody is going to think, oh my gosh, is that me?

Okay, so moral of the story?

[00:18:03] Use storytelling in marketing, and use storytelling in your networking. Ask more questions when you’re networking too. Get behind what’s going on, and if you have a story you can tell, tell it. That’s something I learned very early on from that partner. I talked about partner B earlier.

[00:18:21] Also, if you are ready to build your ideal law practice to support the lifestyle you actually want, I have something for you. I want you to consider joining the next level lawyer newsletter. Inside of the newsletter, you’re going to get weekly tips on how to cultivate the mindset, leadership and business skills needed to get you and your practice to the next level without working more or pushing harder. All right, that’s it for today. We will be back next week. Bye for now.