Legal Marketing & PR

Law Firm Marketing Advice: 7 Steps to Getting Your Bylined Articles Published

By Larry Bodine, Esq.

My colleague David M. Freedman of Financial & Legal Communications in Highland Park, Illinois, just released the 2008 edition of his handbook, “Under Your Byline: 7 Steps to Getting Your Bylined Articles Published.”

David has worked as a financial and legal journalist since 1978, and has served as a media relations consultant to professional advisers since 1999.

You can download the handbook free download (37 pages, 825 KB) at www.byline7.com.

Part A: The seven steps

1. Define your target audience (consistent with your marketing strategy).

2. Identify publications for which to write articles.

3. Select topics that are appropriate for your selected publications.

• An interpretation or explanation of a law or a legal trend, and how to exploit it or comply with it
• How to avoid or manage disputes in certain situations
• How to deal with regulatory or law enforcement agencies
• How to navigate the judicial system or communicate with courthouse personnel
• How to get along with lawyers (written in self-deprecating style, of course)
• More topics

4. Conduct research, focus and organize the article, and create an outline.

5. Query editors and get the assignment (or at least some assurance).

6. Compose the article (or collaborate with a coauthor or ghostwriter).

7. Submit the article and work with the editor through the editing process.

Part B: Writing op-ed pieces and columns

Part C: Writing letters to the editor

Part D: Leverage your bylined works for maximum exposure

Full post as published by Larry Bodine's LawMarketing Blog on May 20, 2008 (boomark / email).