I recently spoke with Guy Alvarez, Founder and CEO of Good2bSocial on his Legal Marketing 2.0 podcast. We discussed the common pitfalls firms face around thought leadership and how they can best implement successful thought leadership programs. You can listen to the full 20 min conversation here or if short on time, please see the summary below;

Despite the need from clients - the thought leadership bar is set very low. Research conducted by Passle revealed that in the top US firms, attorneys create on average 0.5 pieces of content a year. In the top UK law firms this slightly higher, with lawyers creating on average 1.1 insights a year. 

Time & inspiration are the biggest hurdles and can only be overcome through feedback. Lawyers are extremely busy and do not have time to write long thought leadership pieces. Often if too much time is spent on a piece it reaches the market too late. It can also be hard work to start with a blank page and think what is my thought leadership today? And finally, there is often very little feedback given to lawyers when they do create content.

It's critical to build an understanding of the value thought leadership delivers. When thought leadership programs are run effectively, fee earners see the value of thought leadership and understand why they do it. You establish an efficient process for creating and sharing thought leadership - compete with Feedback to the individuals who created the content. When it's going right, You also empower everybody across the firm to have a voice, every lawyer has their expertise and something to say.

To sum up, the bar is set very law in the Legal space, so there is a massive opportunity to put yourself head and shoulders above the rest, simply by regular demonstrating your expertise through thought leadership.