Attorney Business Growth: How Lawyers Attract More Clients Online
Why Most Lawyers Struggle With Marketing (Even When They’re Excellent Attorneys)
Being a skilled attorney is not the same as being visible — and being visible is not the same as being trusted.
In today’s competitive market, effective marketing for a law firm requires more than a website and occasional posts. Whether you’re exploring digital marketing for law firm growth, hiring a law firm internet marketing company, or implementing your own strategy, success depends on one thing:
Credibility.
Visibility gets you found.
Credibility gets you hired.
The most successful firms understand how to align law firm search engine marketing, content strategy, and authority positioning so they’re not just seen — they’re chosen.
Strategy #1: Build Authority Through Content Marketing
One of the most powerful forms of lawyer advertising and marketing today is strategic content creation.
Search engines and AI-driven platforms reward:
Clear answers to legal questions
Consistent publishing
Practice-area authority
Structured, educational content
This is why many firms work with a law firm content marketing agency or invest in lawyer content marketing site SEO.
Why Content Works
When you publish:
Blog posts
FAQ pages
YouTube videos
LinkedIn thought leadership
You build trust before a consultation ever happens.
For example:
A personal injury firm should invest in personal injury lawyer digital marketing and create detailed content answering injury claim questions.
A family practice benefits from family lawyer digital marketing strategies that address custody and divorce concerns.
An employment attorney can leverage targeted employment lawyer marketing agency tactics focused on workplace rights.
The key is consistency and search alignment.
Strategy #2: Optimize for Law Firm Internet Marketing & AI Search
Modern law firm internet marketing services go beyond traditional SEO.
Today’s client journey includes:
Google search
AI summaries
Review platforms
Social validation
Website authority evaluation
To compete for terms like:
law firm marketing near me
best lawyer marketing company
internet marketing for lawyer
online marketing for law firm
Your content must:
Use clear headings
Answer common questions
Demonstrate real expertise
Avoid fluff
Search engines and AI tools prioritize structured, educational, experience-backed content.
Strategy #3: Leverage Lawyer Social Media Marketing Strategically
Many attorneys misunderstand law firm social media marketing.
Social media is not about posting selfies or firm celebrations. It is about authority positioning.
Effective lawyer social media marketing includes:
Explaining legal concepts in simple language
Sharing case lessons (without violating confidentiality)
Posting short educational videos
Repurposing blog content into LinkedIn posts
This strengthens visibility, trust, and referral relationships.
When combined with digital and social media marketing principles, social platforms amplify your credibility engine.
Strategy #4: Develop a Distinct Legal Brand
Whether you run a boutique practice or a multi-attorney firm, branding matters.
A strong legal brand answers:
Who do you serve?
What problem do you solve?
Why should someone choose you?
If you’re focused on:
criminal defense lawyer marketing agency strategies
estate planning lawyer digital marketing
digital marketing for divorce lawyer services
marketing for personal injury lawyer growth
Your messaging must reflect your niche.
Firms that rank among the best law firm marketing companies are clear about their positioning. You should be too.
Consistency across your website, LinkedIn, YouTube, blog, and email newsletters creates authority reinforcement.
Strategy #5: Collect Reviews, Testimonials & Authority Signals
Social proof dramatically impacts conversion.
Encourage:
Client testimonials
Google reviews
Peer endorsements
Case study summaries
This strengthens your law firm marketing agency presence and increases conversion from search traffic.
When someone searches for:
best law firm internet marketing
marketing services for law firm
personal injury lawyer marketing agency
family lawyer marketing agency
They are evaluating trust signals — not just services.
AI Is Changing Legal Marketing — Here’s What That Means
AI-driven search tools now summarize legal content before users even click.
To stay competitive in law firm digital marketing agency environments, your content must:
Directly answer questions
Avoid vague generalities
Include structured headings
Demonstrate depth
This is the new frontier of internet marketing for law firm growth.
Key Takeaways for Marketing a Law Firm
Visibility without credibility does not convert.
Content marketing builds authority.
AI-optimized structure improves discoverability.
Social proof drives trust.
Consistency compounds authority over time.
Whether you hire a law firm internet marketing company or implement small law firm marketing tips internally, your focus should be the same:
Move from being found to being chosen.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most effective marketing for a law firm?
The most effective strategy combines law firm search engine marketing, educational content, and structured authority positioning rather than isolated ads.
Should I hire a law firm digital marketing agency?
If you lack time or expertise, a reputable law firm digital marketing agency can accelerate growth — but credibility-building content remains essential.
How important is social media marketing for lawyers?
Strategic law firm social media marketing strengthens visibility and referral relationships but should support a broader authority-based marketing plan.
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Andrew Colsky (00:12)
Welcome to be picked the podcast where we talk about how attorneys in small firms solo Practices and others can get themselves found on the internet and build their business I'm your host Andrew Colsky and today we are talking with Chantal Williams She is a business development and marketing expert in the legal industry and she's been doing this for 20 years So Chantal welcome to the show
Chantal Williams (00:38)
Thank you, Andrew. Thank you very much. And it's a pleasure to be on the show and hopefully we'll be able to add value for all of your audience. All
Andrew Colsky (00:48)
on.
Chantal Williams (00:48)
the lawyers that want to do a better job, that want to be able to grow their practice and become better lawyers and have more interesting matters to deal with or transactions.
Andrew Colsky (01:00)
Yes, yes. Well, you know, and that's sort of the genesis of this show in the beginning is that I recognize that there were a lot of lawyers out there who were working very hard to be good lawyers, but you can be a great lawyer if you don't have any clients. It doesn't really matter. So client development does not tend to be the highlight of a lawyer's career. I learned nothing about it in law school. I don't know if anybody else did, but it's important.
because without the client, there's no work. So these days, we've got social media, everything from YouTube to LinkedIn to Facebook, et cetera. We've got websites, we've got networking events, so many different things and so many places for people to focus their attention. It can become overwhelming. And also, nobody's really trained in...
How do you do an effective YouTube video if you were gonna go that route? Or what is LinkedIn best used for? So I'm curious, I'm gonna give you
an opening question, which is in your experience, what types of things should people really be thinking about if they had to start somewhere? Where do they start?
Chantal Williams (02:12)
Okay, well, for me, it's a it's a very simple way to think about it. You have to figure out where you are, who you are, what you like to do, and where you would like to be. And then you have to make a very brief analysis. It doesn't have to be like exhaustive. And it's basically, you know, these are the things I'm good at. I want to make sure the next two like before it used to be, you would think five or seven or 10 years in advance.
Now I think you have to think, where do I want to be in two or three years? What am I good at? Where am I? And then you have to start trying to say, okay, I'm a lawyer and I love, you know, practicing law. didn't study business development or marketing. And there
Andrew Colsky (02:57)
Mm-hmm.
Chantal Williams (02:57)
may be many things I don't know how to do, but I've got to take it slowly. And it's like slowly, but surely start adding certain activities. So for instance, one of the things that I've talked to,
A lot of lawyers that have become very successful and very good at this is don't become overwhelmed. okay, so you are starting your practice or you're five years into the practice, but you want to make a certain amount more of money or you want to have more people on your team. You've got to decide what your goals are and you have to be able to visualize that. And then after visualizing, which sounds, you know, very, very, silly. have to be able to visualize it. You have to be able to say, I know I can do this.
And then you have to start creating the plan of how you're going to do this. And many, many times what you need to do is say, so I don't have a limited time to focus on business development or marketing, but I know myself enough to know that either I like to write and I can write, you know, I can commit to a certain amount of writing, maybe one piece a week, whether it's an article or it's a post. So you have to decide that.
You have to decide, my personality is I like giving conferences and I can do it. And I'm part of a certain association, which has to do with my industry or has to do with a certain practice or the type of clients I have and would like to have more of. And then of course you can say, okay, do I like podcasts? Do I feel okay going on a podcast? If I'm going to write an article, I'm going to write it for myself on LinkedIn, or am I going to reach out to a third party? Right. And who would that third party be?
And obviously that third party thinking strategically, it's got to be part of your plan. Like, are they talking about the industry you're trying to move in or trying to get more clients? Are they going to help you not only with visibility, with credibility?
Andrew Colsky (04:49)
Mm-hmm.
Chantal Williams (04:49)
So it's basically saying, this is where I am. I know what my objectives are. This is where I want to be in two or three years. I have to do things consistently, have discipline and decide where I feel comfortable doing it. Right.
whether I'm gonna focus, and I normally tell people, your first six months, start doing one thing monthly. Like start writing an article for a third party or start having more visibility on LinkedIn. Decide your activity and make it something that's doable that you don't feel overwhelmed. And then start adding other things that make sense that give you visibility, but not just visibility because sometimes people say, you've heard.
Like I've throughout my life visibility, know, it's never a negative thing. I don't agree with that. think you can have negative visibility that takes away your credibility, especially as a lawyer. So what you
Andrew Colsky (05:38)
Mm-hmm.
Chantal Williams (05:38)
want to do is every single piece of content or interaction that you have that helps you generate visibility and for people to know
that you exist has to help you with credibility. You're an expert or you have a lot of experience in a certain area, you know, what type of clients you have. It has to help.
it all, I don't think it always has to be that the opportunity has to be like, is this going to generate always more clients for me? You also have to think, and I've learned this the past couple of years, sometimes it's other types of opportunities, right? It's a speaking opportunity where it's some other opportunity that comes along. And then a lawyer is at a conference where they're speaking on a panel and, know, talking about a specific.
topic and then all of a sudden the client might not come from there, but they may have a new opportunity that's not business related, but that it's important later on and it helps you get business.
Andrew Colsky (06:40)
Mm-hmm.
Chantal Williams (06:41)
So just because an opportunity you say, Oh, I might not be able to, you know, get a client here and I'm not, I'm not going to see something immediately, which is also important. You've got to put in the work. If it's a good opportunity to create credible visibility and it's something you feel comfortable doing either.
speaking or writing or whatever the activity is, you might think, you know, it's a good option to do. And you also have to be willing to get out of your comfort zone. Super important, right? Because lawyers are like, and I know a lot of lawyers, a lot of them are friends and a lot of them are like, yeah, you know, I'd like working. like being in the office. I don't like to, you know, I don't want to be networking too much. I want to focus on what I want to do. I want to talk to the clients. I want to see that everything
is going well and they're very good lawyers. But like you said, today it's not enough to be an exceptional lawyer. There are a lot of exceptional lawyers all around the world and in every city. So what you have to make sure is you're a great lawyer, you're a fabulous lawyer, but you get yourself out there and you need to let people know that you exist. Currently I'm in Mexico City and I think that a very interesting Mexican phrase
works very well for this concept and it's basically the translation is if a saint is not seen, he cannot be adored, right?
Andrew Colsky (08:04)
Hmm.
Chantal Williams (08:04)
So it's this concept of I need people to know I exist. I need people to know what I can do for them and how I add value and why they should hire me. Develop that connection with possible clients or with current clients and integrate a plan that continues to create that
visibility, credibility that gives you opportunities, direct business opportunities or opportunities to get yourself out there. Yeah.
Andrew Colsky (08:34)
Yeah.
Yeah. So you used two words there, one more than the other. And I want to focus on that. You talk about visibility and you talk about credibility. And this is something that I talk about a lot. And I spend time, I read different lawyers forums and places where people talk about how to market their practice and all. And the thing that I consistently see is this hyper focus on visibility, which is important.
but no focus or almost no focus on credibility. So for example, I will see post after post after post about, I know a great SEO guy. You gotta do SEO, SEO, SEO, everything is SEO. Okay, SEO is important for visibility of getting to be a little less important now with AI coming in. So you have a totally different approach that has to be done. But if somebody finds you and you have a beautiful website, that's great.
But if you have no credibility, because you've done no outreach, like you were talking about, written nothing, no blogs, no articles, no speaking, no nothing, people don't know anything about you. And if you've got a competitor
who also has good visibility but has great credibility, who do you think people are going to hire? So it's such an important piece that I think is missing out there.
Chantal Williams (09:58)
No, I totally agree. And lately, I was thinking about something I was talking with a friend that's also in the industry and we were talking about how it's really interesting. And I just actually wrote something about this because I was like, this is actually very, very obvious and very intelligent, but very obvious. But sometimes we forget the obvious. If you have a lawyer, like you say, that's like a very good lawyer and then you have
competition that it's a really, really great lawyer. And one of them has visibility and they've articles and they've gone to conferences and you know, I don't know, they're ranked in chambers or legal 500 or depending on your practice because you have obviously chambers and legal 500 are very important. But if you're in Latin America, you have a Latin lawyer. And if you're in arbitration, you have global arbitration. I mean, it depends. They're very limited. The really important ones, at least the ones that I'm seeing right now.
in Latin America. But what I think is really interesting is somebody that has been developing that relationship, because you are developing a relationship specifically for lawyers on LinkedIn, you could also do it on YouTube if you're giving a great informative session or on a panel. But the time that somebody will take in giving you an opportunity to handle their matter or their transaction.
If they feel they know you because they've read you what you think, what your values are, where you're strong, your insights and you're adding value, it's going to be basically all the time. You're going to have a very short moment of I'm looking for a lawyer that does exactly that. I know who it is. I've been following this person in social media or in conferences or different activities, whatever those are. And I feel I know them. feel
I know how they think, I like what they're talking about, I like their personality. It's gonna be a lot easier for that person to immediately get an offer, know, mandate, than somebody who has very little visibility, obviously, or somebody that has visibility, but you're like, I see your visibility, but it's really not adding value. It doesn't help me to see what your strengths are as a lawyer. So I think that's also really, really important. So, yeah.
Andrew Colsky (12:17)
Yeah,
you know, mean, basically, you know, what you just said, the way that I look at that is when a lawyer has a lot of credible information out there that is addressed, addressing the actual need that the client has, then the client is going to be looking at that. And then they're going to reach out to that attorney specifically because that attorney has shown that they know how to solve that client's problem. That is entirely different than a cold call.
from a client who just saw a website that says you do this type of law and they know nothing about you. They're gonna have a lot of questions, they're gonna be concerned because they're gonna be putting out money and they wanna make sure that you're gonna give them value and they have no way of knowing what your credibility is other than, you have a really nice website but that doesn't tell me anything. So to be pre-qualified and to have the client search you out, you're already hired before they even call you.
Chantal Williams (13:14)
Yeah. No, and you mentioned something about AI, which is interesting. It's not just obviously very traditional types of media that you can use and or social media with AI. Obviously AI, I did an exercise and I looked myself up. Obviously Chantal Williams is a very popular name. I've basically seen a lot of it in the United States and I've seen a lot of it in the UK. I mean, it's, can be everywhere, but those are places where I've seen it.
And I looked myself up on different AI tools and it actually hit me. what I mean by hit me, it's like it found me and it said, you know, this is a person that knows about BD. It's a person that knows about marketing and the legal industry. And it said a lot of things that I said, okay, so I'm doing the work I need to do. Putting myself out there and working with AI so that if somebody looks me up, AI will also give them a recommendation of, yeah, it's becoming, I think it's kind
Kind of like a third party right now. I don't know how it's going to transfer in the future, but it's kind of like a third party saying, yes, I validate this information. This is what I have on this person from everything I'm gathering, from everything I'm seeing. So it's interesting you said AI because it's something that lawyers need to start considering. It's not enough to be on social media. It's not enough to give a conference. It's not enough to write an article. You have to make sure that as the world changes, you're innovating as well. And you're making sure.
that any tool anybody can use to look for you, you know, it's in good shape. It's going to find you and it's going to, it's going to help you out to get the business you want to get and to work with the clients and the deals or the transactions that you want to work on.
Andrew Colsky (14:55)
Yeah, yeah. you know, mean, I, know, a simple way, I guess, that I can get across the difference to the audience between SEO and we don't have the right, we don't, have not come up with an agreed upon term yet for AI search. I call it AEO, answer engine optimization. Who knows if that'll, you know, catch on. But the difference is SEO says, let's take a look at all the searches on the internet and see the terms that people search.
most. So best restaurant near me, for example. AI is more about looking for questions and answers to those questions in a format that's easy to reproduce to the user. if somebody says, know, will bankruptcy take care of my student loans? AI
will give you a question and answer format versus SEO, which will give you a website where somebody talks about student loans and bankruptcy.
Chantal Williams (15:58)
Yeah. So, yeah, I think it's important that you're aware that the world is changing and that you're to have to change your strategy and where you're putting your attention and your energy. So I
Andrew Colsky (16:10)
Yeah.
Chantal Williams (16:10)
totally agree with what you said. And I think that's a great definition because since AI is changing so quickly, it's interesting. We have to keep up and the concepts and how it has an impact on our, you know, on careers and
on how we live the world and how we're processing everything that's happening at the same time.
Andrew Colsky (16:31)
Yeah, yeah. I mean, if someone's listening to this podcast and they look at one of the blog posts that I have, I typically would do a blog post related to each episode, you'll notice in each blog post, I end up with a frequently asked question section. And the reason for that is because that's what AI looks for. So, you know, the content is important.
But to put it in a format that AI can find is even more important these days because everything is shifting. Even if you go on Google now and you do a Google search, what's the first thing that comes up? An AI blurb from Google, you know, Google Gemini that talks about, you know, the answer to whatever your question is.
Chantal Williams (17:14)
That's interesting.
Andrew Colsky (17:16)
yeah. So let me ask you this. What truth about success do most people realize too late?
Chantal Williams (17:26)
that you have to fail a lot. mean, sometimes we hear it about painters or Michael Jordan said it, you know, I failed a lot and that's why I was able to be really good. You have to be able to be vulnerable, to have the courage to be vulnerable, to make mistakes, to not be perfect. And obviously I'm not speaking, if you're a lawyer, you know, you're not going to study whatever you're talking about and you're going to say something.
That's not correct. What I'm saying is if you don't have all the exact words, if you don't look perfect, if you're tired, if it's okay. The important thing is do things correctly, have the correct information and put yourself out there. Like in that instance, for that example, but you have to be willing to be yourself to make certain mistakes that don't affect your credibility. Like, you know, she, she looks really tired or
It's fine. You don't have to be perfect. But you have to learn from all of those mistakes or from all the things that you wish you could improve. And that way you start realizing, okay, so this doesn't work for me. I'll give you like an example, like what I've seen with lawyers. You know what? I'm going to write an article. Okay, perfect. Great. Let's, let's create your whole plan. We're going to start with an article a month or an article a week. And we're going to write for whatever editorial. Perfect.
And then, you know, the week we're on week two, I'm like, okay, well, you still owe me like an article for like last week and you're going to have to give me this article like in 24 hours. Yeah. But you know, I've been writing it and it's not perfect and it's not exactly, you know, what I want. And I'm like, okay, make it simpler. You need to make it simpler and you need to commit to it's not perfect, perfect, but is it accurate? And does it have the points or, you know, are you completing your objective and offering value, correct information?
to a possible client or to a client or to whomever is reading it. Yes. You need to let go of the perfectionism because you can stay there and then we're not going to have one article. We won't have the second one. We won't have the third one. And if we do the same exercise with a podcast or with a panel or whatever you want and you're not able to let go of, I want it to be so incredibly perfect. You're never going to get there and it's going to be an excuse for not getting things done. So
I've seen a lot of lawyers that obviously, you know, want everything to be perfect, but they're willing to go out and be like, okay, so something may not come out perfectly. It's okay. And they learn from what worked and they learn more importantly about themselves. You know what? Writing is really not for me. I would rather make sure that I go to a conference once a month and I network and I talk to people and I add value. Okay. That works for me. Okay. Well, clearly the writing of the article wasn't exciting or
It was too difficult for you, but you're better at networking. Okay. So let's start scratching out the articles and let's start doing networking. Right.
Andrew Colsky (20:21)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Chantal Williams (20:23)
Or start doing interviews of interviews work better for you because you feel that you're more committed to being prepared and to be on camera and to be with a third party offering value. Basically, I think it's that is you have to have the courage to fail a lot, a lot, and to be like, I'm learning every single time and I've become better.
And you can actually see it. And a lot of the lawyers that I've worked with have done that and their practice or their firm has grown incredibly. They're like, you know, yeah, okay, the video wasn't perfect. I didn't look as, you know, as, as handsome as I wanted to look, or I realized that I wasn't as eloquent as I wanted, but it worked. Yeah, it worked. It worked fine. Keep going, you know, next time figure out what you need to do so that whatever errors or things you didn't like.
you don't repeat them or you repeat them, you know, very, little until you don't repeat them at all. So
Andrew Colsky (21:19)
Mm-hmm.
Chantal Williams (21:20)
I think that's important. And a lot of people I've talked to think, no, you're successful because you know, it's just innate. No, most really successful people put in a lot of work and make a lot of mistakes to be as good as they are. And that's perfectly fine. That's how we learn how to walk, to talk, to do anything. And so that's one of the things that I tell the lawyers I work with.
It's okay. You know,
Andrew Colsky (21:45)
Right.
Chantal Williams (21:45)
as long as you're not lying or saying something that's like, no, I was completely incorrect. Someone's going to catch you. That's, that's not good. I think that's it. Go out there, make mistakes, do it better. Get up again, make another mistake.
Andrew Colsky (21:59)
Right.
You know, you remind me of something when I was starting out myself. I had a friend who was a very good marketer. He went into mediation. He was very good marketing his mediation practice. And he said to me one time, and I always remember it, he says, you know, it's really easy to become an overnight success after 10 years of hard work. And
He's very good at putting out the newsletters and being visible and writing the articles and speaking at places and all that. And without that, it would be very hard to build anything. You know, I have another question related to that, which is there's some attorneys who have a smaller practice, so they have a limited amount of time, right? And some attorneys are very good on camera and those types of things, others...
don't like it at all. If you have someone who is trying to do the best they can, they're not comfortable on camera, they don't have the time to write the articles and things, they're
busy with so many things, and they look into hiring like a ghost writer or a social media expert, what are some of the pros and cons that people should look at there?
Chantal Williams (23:19)
wow. Well, the first thing I say, you have to check that whomever you're hiring actually has experience in the legal industry because the legal industry, I've been in different industries, is a completely different thing. you could, you know, people could say, yeah, but every industry is different. Yeah, of course, every industry is different, but the legal industry is such an interesting industry because it's basically a people business.
And the focus of everything is around people and people giving you opportunities. but many lawyers, it's changing now, I think too slowly, but it's changing. Don't get any of this and they get all of this wonderful technical knowledge, but all of this, you know, how they're called soft skills, which I think they're really not soft at all. They're, they're super important. Everything that has to do with emotional intelligence, I think is going to be more of a determining factor of whether you're successful in life or not.
you know, normally sometimes there are a couple of courses, some universities, maybe in the States or in Europe or in different countries where you see, okay, we're teaching lawyers some of the stuff that they need so they can develop not to be technically good, but to be really good at generating, you know, clients developing their practice, being a good boss, being a good mentor. And I think it's, it's very interesting that
You know, it's not something that's being taught. So I think it's super important to focus on that as well. I don't know if that like answers the question. That's one thing. And then the other thing is if you don't have a lot of time and you want to hire somebody, you have to make sure the person has legal experience, like legal experience in the sense of working at a law firm or having worked with lawyers. You have to be able to check their content and you have to also make sure that
there's chemistry with the person. And what I'm referring to is you trust the person, you've seen their work, and you can work in an effective way with them, right?
Andrew Colsky (25:26)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Chantal Williams (25:28)
Sometimes people are like, no, I hired this person. They seemed really great. I didn't really do my due diligence, I realize now, because they have a really bad personality or their way of work wasn't very clear to me. So you have to make sure if you're a lawyer that you have somebody that's been in the industry or has experience.
It's somebody that you can work with. And then I think another thing that a lot of people don't think about that's extremely important is that the person has a flexible way of work. And what do I mean by that? Not that they're going to lower, you know, what they charge you, but they're going to be smart enough to say, okay, I'm listening to my client and my client says he wants to write a book. Okay. I don't think he wants to write a book. think what he should do is he should write an article a month.
and you know I can help them with that. It's gotta be somebody that can call you out on, know this is what you want and maybe we can build towards that, but I think that a more effective way would be to kind of change the plan a little bit and do it this way and then explain why, right? And assist in that way. I think those are important things to consider.
Andrew Colsky (26:36)
Yeah, No, it's, it's, you know, when it, I'm sure you must receive, because I know I receive them all the time, these, these spam emails of these people who are going to do the perfect SEO for me and get me on the first page of the, you know, all this stuff. Of course, none of it ever happens. and
It is really important to be very careful, especially as an attorney, because you're talking about your reputation, you're talking about your credibility, like you said. And if you're going to find someone who is valuable, you're going to have to be willing to pay for the value that they provide. But also, like you said, having your own input, because someone else
They may be really good at what they do, but they're not going to be thinking about solving the problem the way you would solve the problem. And you want to be able to impress upon potential clients. This is how I do it. This is what my focus is. So it does require some editing and reviewing and, you know, rewriting and things like that at times. So if, if, if you were to be giving a talk to a
group of new attorneys and they're just starting their practices and we're talking about people that are starting solo practices or small firm practices now. What would you say
to them if they had to pick one thing to start with? What would you say would be the most important thing for them to start with?
Chantal Williams (28:11)
Okay, that's a good question because it depends on everyone's personality. I'm a big fan of LinkedIn. I've seen that on an international level, it's where most lawyers are seeing what's happening. You know, what are they doing? What are different law firms doing or the competition? I think LinkedIn is important on an international level because you get to see a lot of what's going on, what's working, what your competition is doing. And you can decide
How much you want to invest in that? Do you want to write like an article or do you want to write it or are you going to put an interview up or what? I mean, you can invest, you know, an hour a week or you could call out and spend six hours creating content for, for LinkedIn where you're going to see other lawyers, which could be general counsel at other firms or
Other executives that could hire you. depends what your practice is, right? It could be somebody from human resources, the CEO in human resources or not the CEO, sorry, the human resources, C-suite, or the CEO or whatever. But I, I think I have to answer this in two different ways. The first one is I have to choose when I'd say LinkedIn, because it gives you a lot of opportunities to get yourself out there. You don't have to be in the room for people to see you or.
you know, for you to create that credible visibility if you do it correctly.
Andrew Colsky (29:36)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Chantal Williams (29:37)
and I think that's really important because we have limited, a limited time, you know, every single day, you know, and the energy we have. and you were able to reach a lot of other, many people than if you were just in a room or, or in a conference. However, I would say, if you ask me, that would be my, that I would say focus on LinkedIn and be disciplined
Andrew Colsky (30:00)
Okay.
Chantal Williams (30:01)
because it can give you very good results.
But if there's no way that you want to do anything that has to do with social media, specifically LinkedIn, I would say, okay, well, it may give you higher quality relationships. You're not going to reach as many people. And if you're in a place like Latin America, it could possibly make more sense because people are more about being in a space and talking and touching, probably getting themselves out there once or twice a week.
to different conferences or panels. But if you say there's only one, I'd have to say LinkedIn, right? Because of the reach you can have.
Andrew Colsky (30:41)
Right.
Chantal Williams (30:41)
But if you're focusing on quality and you're gonna be very disciplined and you're gonna make sure you do this and you're gonna reappear in these circles so that people see you again, hi, how are you? You start really developing trust, credibility. That's also another option. And then build from there, right? Just, you're like, okay, now I've gotta do this and.
what we said in the beginning, start building your plan, have your strategy, here I am, here's where I wanna go, I wanna start doing this. So yeah.
Andrew Colsky (31:11)
Yeah, yeah. So basically, like you said from the very beginning, it's got to match your personality. It's got to match your reality, you know, in terms of your time commitment, your interest level, your, your focus, all those things, they have to be true to you so that they come across as, as true and honest and, you know, credible. So, well, we have actually reached our time here. This went really, really quickly and I appreciate
all of the tips and information that you shared. It's great to hear from someone who's been working in this field for quite a while, so you really have your finger on the pulse, and I appreciate you sharing that with our audience.
Chantal Williams (31:53)
No, of course, of course, anything that can add value so that lawyers feel more comfortable with their BD marketing efforts. I'm happy. I'm happy to help because I do feel bad that, you know, lawyers are not taught any of these skills that they need to be a successful lawyer, not just a very good lawyer, but to be successful and to grow and to reach their dreams. I think, yeah, it's great to be able to, to support help.
Give tips. Yeah.
Andrew Colsky (32:26)
Yeah. So, so if you're listening to this podcast and you want to hear additional episodes from other experts, we talk about LinkedIn specifically, we talk about writing books, we talk about all the different aspects of getting your practice out there and building your credibility. Take a look at bepicked, B E hyphen P I C K E D dot com. You'll find the podcast episodes, you'll find blog articles and additional.
I want to thank you all for listening and encourage you to come back for more episodes and Chantal Williams. Thank you so much for your time
Chantal Williams (33:02)
Thank you very much, Andrew. And great. This is great. I have seen your content and I think it's great and it's helping a lot of people. So I think it's great. A lot of lawyers.
Andrew Colsky (33:11)
I appreciate that. Thank you.
Chantal Williams (33:13)
you