South Carolina Criminal Defense Blog

I've been following Scott Greenfield's debates with the legal marketing crowd, although I admit I have been skimming most of the posts, and I completely missed the debates that were happening in the comments (I usually don't read comments on other people's blogs, too time consuming). I'll weigh in, or at least dip my toe in the water before it's over.

Week before last, Scott posted his opinion on legal marketing and the blawgosphere, essentially that marketing has taken over, it is annoying, and it demeans the profession.

What I'm seeing is that the "how to" of marketing, the advice on self-promotion and, worst of all, the language that pervades blawgospheric discourse has become increasingly directed to open, notorious marketing. Many of the most popular blawgs around are solely directed toward marketing. Many of the best writers in the blawgosphere post only about marketing. How to snag the last client on earth will be the final post in the blawgosphere.

In the comments, some legal marketing blogger types took offense and Scott told them what he thought, as he is quick to do. Subsequently, the resulting controversy caused Scott to resign (and then be fired) from Solo Practice University (I'm not sure what this is and I'm still not motivated enough to look it up and see).

After much soul searching and self-analysis, Scott finds his sea legs and decides that he will continue to do what he has always done with his blog:

I've leraned that Simple Justice has gone far, far astray of its purpose, an outlet for me to write about things that interest me. Nothing more. I will continue to write about things that interest me whenever the mood strikes. I will continue to respond to comments in whatever way I chose. I will continue to take the position in which I believe, even if it's unpopular or, God forbid, boring to others. Simple Justice will no longer be an institution. Just a blog.

I agree. Seriously, if you are going to be blunt in criticisms of others, you have to expect a backlash. F*** em. And, don't worry about this "institution" crap; its a blog. You blog about topics that you feel like blogging about, and if you do it in an interesting way people are going to read it because its interesting. It doesn't matter how other people think you should blog. Be yourself, be prickly, and if the damage done to the legal profession by legal marketing is an issue that is important to you then, please, blog about it.

I'm not familiar with any of the people that have been arguing about the legal marketing issue with Simple Justice. My opinion is that legal marketing is a necessary evil in this day and age. There is a line that should not be crossed, but of course everyone has a different opinion as to where that line is. When it comes to online advertising, I don't see a problem with it. I have a website that I believe is well written and conveys the services that I offer. Scott also has a website.

It was explained to me how to blog to drive business to my site (parrot news articles, use lots of keywords, end every post with "if you need a xxxxx attorney, call me now" etc.), and I chose not to do so. Personally, I just wanted to blog and I wanted a forum to express my opinions. I enjoy blogging - I'm sure if I was following the marketing "format" it would seem more like a chore. Blogs that follow the marketing format get a lot of hits, and come up in search engines, which is fine - they serve their purpose well. I doubt that they have much of an audience, but they are not geared towards gaining an audience, they are geared towards bringing in clients. I have no problem with that, personally.

There is no doubt that the best legal marketing is word of mouth - doing your best for your clients in and out of the courtroom and getting results. But, with the sheer number of practicing attorneys these days, it does not hurt to get your name out there in other ways, so long as the attorney doing the marketing is staying within the minimum standards of the ethics rules.