Content marketing and web analytics: the Yin and Yang of any successful law firm marketing campaign.

• Author: Raasch, Janet Ellen

Good content has always been one of the best ways for a lawyer to establish and maintain a professional reputation. In the hands of potential clients, good content demonstrates your understanding of the law and your ability to do what you claim to do.

Let's say you write an excellent article on the recently signed patent reform bill. Prior to the Internet, your options for distribution of that article would be limited. You could submit it to print publishers who could decide whether to publish it and how to edit it And by the time it appeared on a client's desk, it might be three months out of date

In addition, you could snail-mail a copy of your article with a cover letter directly to your list of clients, potential clients and referral sources. You could include it in the firm's print newsletter You could mail it to reporters covering the patent law beat and hope that they give you a call next time they are writing a story on that topic.

And that was about it. You really had no way of knowing what happened to that hard copy--if the publication was read or if the envelope or newsletter was even opened.

Today, thanks to the Internet, the options for distributing a well-written and informative article (and all kinds of content) to a wide range of interested parties are vastly expanded. So, too, are the options for finding out if the article was opened, read and prompted further action on the part of the reader.

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"In the Internet age, online content marketing is the best way for lawyers and law firms to establish their reputations and attract new business," said Per Casey, founder of web technology consulting firm Tenrec. "And web traffic analysis is the best way for lawyers and law firms to measure the success of a content marketing campaign and move forward based on that information. Content marketing and web analytics are inseparable parts of the same strategic process. "

Casey discussed strategic content marketing and web analytics in October at the monthly educational program of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association (www.legalmarketing.org/rockymountain).

Tenrec (www.tenrec.com) is a web technology consulting firm that focuses on the legal industry. Throughout the years, Casey has collaborated with dozens of well-known law firms on successful web technology projects. He also serves as member-at-large on the LMA International Board of Directors and as co-chair of the LMA Technology Committee.

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