#260: How to Use Content for Business Development

How to Use Content for Business Development

This is going to be a fun episode.

I’m a total marketing geek, and I loved learning about marketing while I was starting to grow my business.

A lot of lawyers I work with own their own practices or are partners who get their time under control, and then they want to focus on building their practice.

Where are you with this right now?

Maybe you’re thinking about using content to build your business too.

Or maybe you’re already seeing it, but you’re not seeing the results you’d hoped for.

You might even have tried it in the past but have up because you thought it took too much time with too little return.

Wherever you are in this process, this episode is for you.

One caveat though before you get into using content for business development.

If you want to build your practice, but you feel like you’re underwater in your current workload, I invite you to book a Strategy Session with me. You want to build a foundation for what’s currently happening in your practice before you build it.

Think about building a house. If it’s not built on a strong foundation, when you build on top of that weak foundation the house is going to crumble. I’ll help you shore up that foundation before you take on building your business.

You can book a Strategy Session with me at dinacataldo.com/strategysession

Alright, let’s talk how to use content for business development!

One of the first thing to keep in mind is that content is about service. It’s a long game. You serve without expectation. That doesn't mean that you don’t invite people to a consult.

It means putting in the work for months and being willing to not see results.

If you consider yourself a perfectionist, this is especially important for you to pay attention to. You may feel uncomfortable on camera or think you’re a bad writer.

At the end of this episode, I’m going to offer some questions that will help you move through some of the insecurities that may come up while you’re creating content.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• What content is (you may be surprised)
• Why publishing regular content helps you AND your potential clients
• The mindset you need BEFORE you publish any content. Mindset is essential and is the foundation you want to build your content on. So we’re going to spend some time here.
• And finally, I’m going to give you questions to get you started thinking about content to create for your potential clients.

What is Content? (You may be surprised.)

It’s anything you create and put out into the world.

My definition of content for purposes of business development is anything that will help your people and gives insight into who you are. You’re giving them value in exchange for their attention.

You have to put value into the world before you receive value. Think of it as the law of reciprocity. If you’re not seeing the results you want in your business, it’s always based on the value you’re putting out into the world. There’s a direct link.

Content can be a post on social media, a video of you talking about a case that just wrapped up or a win you or your client had, this is the copywriting on your consult page or any page of your website, it’s an email you send out to your email list, it’s a testimonial from a client, it’s a webinar, it could be a response to someone's post answering their question. All of these have value.

Quick note on email lists:

If you have a business, but you don’t have an email list, this is something I suggest my clients do. You’re not in control of who gets to see your post on Instagram, but when they become your email subscriber, you have direct access to them. Also, Instagram or FB or Linked In could shut down tomorrow, and then how would you connect with your audience?

Creating and publishing regular content is essential for business development.

Yes, you can network in person and one-to-one, but creating content does a few more things for you and your business.

Here’s why it helps you personally – especially if you feel hesitant to publish content:

1. It allows you to practice putting yourself out there.
2. Publishing content help you practice your messaging, so you can refine it over time.
3. You begin changing your identity. It helps establish you as a thought leader. You may be thinking, “I’m not a thought leader,” but when you start creating content, your identity will begin to change. This is necessary because you want people looking to you for the answers in your particular industry.

Here’s how publishing regular content helps your business:

1. You’re giving your potential clients what they need to take the next step to work with you, which is getting to know you. They want to know how you can help them and what kind of human you are. The more they feel like they know you, the easier it is for them to take the next step with you because they like and trust you. I publish my content each week because I want to help people and give them an idea of who I am, so they know whether or not they want to work with me even before they book a Strategy Sessions with me.
2. If you have a website for your business, regularly posting content will drive traffic to your website. People searching for answers to their questions can be taken to your website. This is a product of SEO, which I’m not going to get into here. Just know it’s a thing.
3. You let them know more about how they can work with you. I mentioned this in a recent podcast: I started my business and wasn’t making calls to action in my posts or emails, so people didn’t know how they could work with me. Adding a line saying, you can work with me by booking a consult and providing the link can work wonders! I’ll link to that episode — Starting a Business — in the show notes.

Let’s talk mindset.

This was something I ignored when I first started, and it showed in the results I was getting.

Years ago, I thought content was a pretty picture with a quote.

That wasn’t a bad place to get started, it just wasn’t consistently valuable content that would catapult my business.

To create valuable content to grow my business, I needed to understand a few things.

It mattered what I thought about:

• Myself
• My potential client
• The results I could give them with my offer

I go in depth with this when I’m working with lawyers who want to leverage creating content to build their business.

Here’s a few questions you can ask yourself as you start creating content.

Ask yourself what you think of yourself as an attorney.

Do you believe you’re an exceptional attorney?

Do you believe you can help anyone in your industry get the results they want?

Do you believe people want to work with you?

Ask yourself what you think about your potential client.

How many people do you believe are out there who can use your help?

Do you believe they want help?

If you’re talking to people who aren’t looking for your help, then you’re talking to the wrong people. You want to talk to the people who are actively searching for your help.

It’s a very different energy. If you think you’re talking to people who don’t want your help, you’re going to try to convince them. Drop into your body and feel how convincing energy feels. Imagine you’re trying to convince someone of your point. Doesn’t feel great, does it? It puts you in a defense position.

Now imagine that you’re talking to your ideal client – they are looking for your help, and they want to pay you for your services. How does it feel in your body when you’re talking to them?

The energy you feel in your body matters. I know it may sound woo to some of you listening, but that’s reality. That’s something I work on with my clients because most of us — including myself — weren’t taught to feel feelings. I felt detached from them for most of my life until coaching. Once I could tap in, it made life easier. It’ll make creating content easier too.

Ask yourself on a scale from 1-10 how confident you are that your offer will give your client the results they want.

Then ask yourself why it’s that number. If it’s not a 10, ask yourself why not. Those are the beliefs you need to work on.

Here are a few questions to think about when you’re creating valuable content for your potential client.

1. Talk about the problem they have right now. Ask yourself what they’re ruminating about when they’re sipping their morning coffee or what’s keeping them from sleeping at night.
2. Ask yourself why this is a problem. What issues is this problem creating for them? What’s the cost of them not solving this problem?
3. What’s the solution to this problem?
4. What might your ideal client be putting off taking action?
5. What action do you want them to take from this content? To book a consult? To message you if they have questions? To register for a training?

As you were listening to this episode, I’m curious to know if you felt uncomfortable or this felt overwhelming to you.

If it did, that’s normal. I want to leave you with a question though.

Would you rather feel comfortable or would you rather help more people?

This is a question I ask myself sometimes when my brain tells me it’s too much or it’s too hard or I just want to sit on the couch and watch TV instead of do the work planned for my day.

Would you rather feel comfortable or would you rather figure out how to help more people?

Your people need you.

They need you to show up and help them with what you put out into the world.

If this episode resonate with you, and you want help growing your law practice without growing your overwhelm, book a Strategy Session with me.

Find a time on my calendar that works for you at dinacataldo.com/strategysession

Hope you have a wonderful rest of your week, and I’ll talk to you soon.

Bye