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Editor: Ben W. Glass
Profession: Attorney at Law

Category: Marketing Advice

What do you think about when you read the morning paper? When you read those weekly news magazines you subscribe to? Or magazines and books and articles you read that have nothing to do with the news or with the law? (You DO read outside your profession, right? I mean if you are trying cases in front of juries they've been telling you THAT for years.)

Lawyers typically spend time every day keeping up with what's going on in the world, in their neighborhood and in their profession. It's one way we educate ourselves so we can better represent our clients. But, do you ever think about marketing as you spend time reading your "ordinary" materials?

Here's the lesson: There are thousands of magazines and other reading materials (even tabloids) out there that your prospective clients are reading that you would not ordinarily read. And, if you want to be able to talk to them in their language, in a way they understand, you have to know what they're thinking and what they're reading and even what they're watching on TV. Be very, very careful not to make value judgments about what your prospects read and watch, because you have to get inside their heads and talk their talk.

And, your job is enormous. Here's is a VERY short list of some of the magazines published in the U.S. and some interesting articles published in 2006:

Harper's, "The Blind Man and the Elephant"
Bicycling, "The Secret Life of Asphalt"
Philadelphia Magazine, "Soccer Moms Who Shoot Up"
Marie Claire, "I Surfed Naked for a Pair of Manolos"
More, "Moms in Menopause, Daughters in Puberty, Dads in Hell"
Rolling Stone, cover photo of Kanye West with a bloody face and crown of thorns
Esquire, announced that "hip bones are the new cleavage"
Blender, "Fake Is the New Real!"
New York, "Exclusive: Baby Brangelina! First Photos" (NB: before the baby was born)
People, published pictures of the Brangelina baby after it was born
Runner's World, readers surveyed on whether they would rather go for a run or have sex
Stuff, published an interview with murdered rapper Tupac Shakur - after his death
Us Weekly, "My Plastic Surgery Nightmare" (the author complained that she got C's instead of B's and she didn't want them)
Newsweek, "Freud Is Not Dead"
Hallmark (YES - the greeting card company!), article about hardships of camping in Mexico ("We guessed there would be no showers, but the No Toilet Paper rule came as a surprise")

Do you know what your prospects are reading? You should. You must.