Finding Time for Marketing, How to Structure Your LinkedIn Posts and Improve Dwell Time and Upcoming Webinars

Is your to-do list the length of a typical CVS receipt (6-feet long) leading you to put off marketing yourself? Here’s how to find the time and why you should make marketing a priority.

People often ask me how I have the time to market myself and create social posts every day when I’m running my own business and marketing law firms and other companies.

The simple answer is I don’t have the time but I make it because it’s important for my business and personal brand.

And I’ve created systems and processes that enable me to be efficient at doing it. Also marketing is my wheelhouse and if it’s not easy for you, you should outsource it or delegate it someone so you can focus on what you do best.

When you’re busy serving your own clients it’s understandable that you don’t have time to market yourself, but don’t put your own marketing on the back burner.

Marketing is an investment in yourself and your business. Anything can happen. Marketing creates leverage in your business and helps you line up future work.

Also your competitors are marketing their services and businesses so you should do the same. One of my clients blocks out time in her calendar the same way she does for client meetings to write an article or focus on networking so that may work for you.

To start efficiently marketing yourself, create a short marketing plan with the things you actually like to do, but also things that move the needle. So if you don’t like to speak at conferences or write articles, simply don’t do those.

Outline your goals in this plan such as generating more leads, increasing brand awareness, cultivating clients and referrals, building your reputation with search engines, becoming a published author/speaker. etc.

ROI needs to be front and center. Take a look at your current marketing efforts: are there activities you keep doing despite never seeing measurable results? Quit doing them. Only focus on putting energy into what actually helps your business grow.

And finally, set up a social media and email marketing funnel. The more you create content, repurpose what you have and automate by creating a sales funnel, the more you’ll focus on getting new people into your funnel (via social) and let your funnel take care of the rest.?

Remember that marketing yourself is an investment in your business.

How do you find the time to market yourself?

Seven Ways to Structure Your LinkedIn Posts to Get More Views and Engagement

Great content can get lost in long, dense paragraphs. Most people skim their newsfeeds, especially when their viewing LinkedIn on their smartphones. Here’s how to structure your LinkedIn posts to get more views and engagement.

• Try breaking up your content into short one or two sentence paragraphs. Use breaks, bullets, numbers or headers to help the reader find a connection point as they scan the post.
• The first two to three lines of your LinkedIn post are the most important to capture your reader’s attention. After that point the post is truncated and says “show more.”
• You need to give people a reason to click "show more," which you can do with an engaging first three lines. Think of it as your headline. Draw them in. Sometimes emojis work well here too. Storytelling does too.
• Keep it simple - we sometimes try to include a lot of into one post and they get lost because people skim content. Your best bet is to delve into one topic per post.
• Write LinkedIn posts in the first person. "I" and "we" help you sound like a real person talking to real people. It builds a personal connection with your audience..
• Always write with your audience in mind. For lawyers and law firms that means no defined terms. No formal language. No jargon. No skipping two or three spaces between sentences.
• Also, put all hashtags at the end of your posts and don’t use more than five or LinkedIn can flag your post as spam. I find them hard to read when they are interspersed in the body copy.
• Don't put links in your posts - LinkedIn wants to keep people on its platform and will penalize you if you send them off of it. That's why people put links in the comments.

People skim content when they scroll their newsfeed. Your job is to get them to stop the scroll.

So remember, the way you format your LinkedIn posts is just as important as what you say.

Are You Focused on Dwell Time?

Dwell time?is a signal to the LinkedIn algorithm on how a user engages with someone's content. It occurs when a viewer slows their scrolling or clicks “see more…” on a post and is also based on the amount of time they spend on a post.

So how do you improve your dwell time? Create content that engages your readers and provides helpful information, so they stay longer on your posts.?That's it.

More with Less Webinar on May 3: Effective Marketing and Business Development Strategies for Small and Mid-Size Law Firms

Deciding where to invest your limited time, money and other resources when marketing a smaller or mid-size law firm can be a tricky balance – so it’s critical to evaluate your marketing goals to know where to start and determine which methods will be the most effective.

In this webinar on May 3 at 12:30pm ET,?Chris Fritsch, CRM and marketing technology strategist and consultant to many top Am Law firms; and?I will help legal marketers devise marketing strategies and tactics to market their firms to get a big impact without having to dedicate a big budget.

Chris and I will share information, ideas and best practices, including how to:

• Use marketing to attract and retain clients and laterals
• Leverage law firm marketing and business development software, including CRM and emarketing solutions
• Leverage social media and content marketing for lead generation and brand building
• Choose the right marketing technology and tools
• Ensure you have good data and keep it clean and updated

Register for the May 3 webinar.

Women Who Wow Webinar - May 4 on Using Your Clothes to Connect with Image Coach Melanie Lippman

The way we dress says helps others form impressions of us. It’s a big part of our personal brand. Having an understanding and control of the messages we send with what we wear so that our personal style can be a tool for our success, not a pain point, is important.

Utilizing your wardrobe as an extension of your brand is not some frivolous task only possible for those that love shopping and reading fashion magazines. There is science: An easy-to-follow formula that makes showing up with confidence uncomplicated, every single day.

Join image coach?Melanie Lippman?and Women Who Wow on May 4 at 1pm ET for a webinar on how to use your clothes to connect with referral sources and ideal clients both in-person and virtually.

The information shared in this session can be used to prepare yourself for photoshoots, speaking engagements and every professional interaction, no matter the situation or audience.

During this session you will learn how to:

• Align the messages your clothes are sending with your values and goals
• Demonstrate consistency, clarity, and confidence in your professional environment
• Define your unique, personal brand to engage and convert your social media following and other leads into paying clients

Register for the May 4 program.