As most of us are staying close to home as the pandemic continues to affect all areas of the world, here are a few ideas in the marketing and business development areas to keep you busy.
- Show genuine care and concern for your clients and don’t only rely on email to communicate. This is the time to call your clients and ask how they are doing. It’s not business as usual.
- Update your bio and LinkedIn profile. Add representative matters to your bio and fill out all the sections on your LinkedIn profile to achieve “All Star Status.” Create a strong LinkedIn headline and profile cover image. Make a list of your top matters and achievements – you’ll need this down the road.
- Make a list of upcoming conferences that you’d like to attend and even better, speak at, and reach out to the conference organizers to express your interest. Offer to help make the conference virtual if they plan to postpone or cancel.
- Create a virtual CLE program for clients and prospects. You will become a trusted and invaluable resource if you offer your clients with CLE credits and learning during this time.
- Write legal alerts, articles and blog posts. Explore how the current crisis affects your clients’ businesses and report on updates in the law. Look to see what your competitors are writing about for inspiration and competitive intelligence. Also, think about what the post-COVID-19 world looks like for your clients and write alerts and blog posts to explore the future implications of the pandemic.
- Get involved with a bar association, pro bono organization or industry committee. There is plenty of work you can do virtually to help out organizations you care about.
- Speaking of pro bono, volunteer to do more pro bono work – again, much of this work can be done virtually, so raise your hand to help out those who need you the most – there will be a lot of pro bono opportunities as this crisis continues.
- Set up Google alerts for yourself (so you know what’s being said about you) as well as your top clients and VIP contacts so you can keep abreast of significant news about them
- Set up at least three video conferences and virtual happy hours/coffee breaks each week – these are great outlets for you and others to maintain relationships while social distancing.
- Create your own intimate virtual group of key former colleagues and classmates from former educational institutions to build relationships and stay connected. Get together by Zoom every other week. The best part is that you will be connecting individuals in your network to each other, which will be appreciated by everyone.
- Reach out to five contacts with whom you haven’t been in touch for six months or more, including referral sources and former clients. This is a great time to rekindle relationships.
- Read the great networking bible Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi. If you’ve already read this book, choose another business book or podcast – reading is a great outlet and learning tool during this stay at home time.
- Create a podcast or video series related to the coronavirus crisis – this does not have to be a high-budget production -right now no one expects that. Speak from the heart about how the coronavirus affects your clients, invite special guests to provide insights. Podcasts and video engagement was growing before the COVID-19 outbreak, and it will only continue to do so with so many people looking for a way to break up their days at home.
- Engage on LinkedIn in some way every day – comment on a status, share an article or “like” someone’s post.
Remember this too shall pass and things will return to “normal” – your job now is to lay the foundation for when that does happen and also to be ready, willing and able to assist your clients during this time of great change, confusion and stress. Empathy is the single most important characteristic you can have right now to build stronger relationships.
I hope I’ve given you some ideas for enhancing your marketing and business development efforts. While we may not be able to gather in person and in groups, online networking and content marketing are the most powerful ways we have to build relationships and market your firm and yourself. There’s no time like the present to start.