It’s difficult getting traction on any new endeavor, whether personal- or business-related. Of course, when it’s a business endeavor, the stakes are higher. Whether your technology product succeeds or fails ultimately depends on whether you can sell it. And, selling your product starts with your marketing. In a technology startup environment, what essentially amounts to your first marketing plan for your business is called a ‘go to market’ strategy. Basically, it’s a detailed plan about how you intend to launch your product into the legal ecosystem.
Before we talk specifics, it’s important to note that there is a timing component in place here. As a startup founder, there’s a lot of hurry up and 
wait; and it’s difficult to be patient, when you’re trying to achieve, what is essentially, your most fervent hopes and dreams writ in real life. But, understand that you cannot create brand awareness from a clear blue sky. It takes time for people to begin to associate a brand with the thing it represents. So, you’re in this for the long haul, like 2-3 years before you achieve any pertinent level of brand recognition in the legal industry. And, that’s true even for those technology startups that include already well-known legal technologists. Because this is not solely about attaching a brand to an idea, it’s also about attaching people to that brand; and, if you’re shifting from one brand to another (which most people of any level of experience are), the public learning curve still applies. So, while it absolutely pays to be proactive, remember that you’re not going to create Standard Oil overnight.
What you do for a go to market strategy depends, in large part, on what can afford to do. No one legal tech startup is just like another. Some get significant early traction and funding, some don’t. Some have founders with money, who can float early paid marketing efforts. Some are bootstrapping, and have very little to spend on marketing outside of product development. If building your product is the #1 requirement, then marketing your product is the #2 requirement. And, after you get an MVP together, marketing becomes job one. It’s like any other business: you’re not gonna make it if you can’t produce revenue.
If you don’t have capital to dedicate to marketing, then you’re going to spend time building your brand online and on social media by using content marketing. Write about, talk about your expertise in relation to your product. Now, this is not the same thing as writing about your product, mind you. Lawyers often tighten up when you engage a hard sell too soon. If you’re starting a document automation company, talk about efficiency. If you’re pushing a learning platform, talk about the value of expertise. If you’re launching a lawyer placement firm, talk about delegation. Figure out your message so that you can sell your product indirectly. Starting out, the founders of the company should begin to build, or expand upon, their in-field expertise. The easiest way to start is to try to figure out what your potential client’s major pain points are, and write or speak to those. Think of ten problems you solve for your clientbase, and create ten pieces of content addressing those problems, and solutions. And, since consistency is important in marketing, you should aim to repurpose everything you do. So, a blog post becomes a presentation. A presentation becomes an ebook. A video tutorial becomes a drip email campaign. Change up what you do subtly, but stick to a few central themes. Repurposing and staying on message also saves you time.
Once you have content, the next step is doing something with it. So, you have to figure out the dissemination process, as well. Although blogs are often maligned these days, attorneys still write them and read them, and it makes sense to create and publish to a blog at your website, on a weekly or biweekly basis. At the time same time, you should push to get published in other online media, that will link back to your website, and build your domain authority. Videos are compelling and usually generate more clicks than text, so you could create a YouTube channel. Lawyers love podcasts because they can listen to them while doing other things. Record in-person presentations you make and publish them later. Set up social media accounts on the major providers and repost everything you do, everywhere else. If you can get to critical mass where you’re producing enough of your own content, and appearing in others’ content, that’s probably the most effective thing you can do to build traction online. Over time, it’s even better than paying for marketing, or paying for someone to do marketing for you.
That being said, if you want to grow your business, and grow it quickly, you should absolutely pay someone to help you market it. This is not to say that you shouldn’t do everything I just wrote about above — you should do it in conjunction with paid marketing, in order to increase your chances for success. Ideally, you should pay someone skilled to create a logo and website for you. Of course, how much you can pay them depends on how much capital you have. But, even if you start out with a placeholder logo and website, you’ll eventually want to define the graphical representation of your brand in a truly compelling way. If you have the money, and if you don’t have a team that already has expertise in the legal field, you’ll want to consider a consultant who can get you acclimated, so you’re not making mistakes that would be obvious to someone with experience in the industry. You should identify events and conferences where you can display your wares, and potentially hire someone to help book you for high-profile speaking engagements. You should engage paid online advertising in an aggressive fashion. If you want to grow your business at a national level, you should hire an SEO/SEM consulting firm that can help you to manage a significant marketing spend, at least $5,000-$10,000/month. If you’ve already created an effective content marketing scheme, a competent marketing agency will help you to bolster those efforts, as well. Whether you’re at a hard or soft launch, also think about hiring a PR agency, to help bring you to market. If you’re a lawyer who is considering starting a legal technology company, understand that this is not like starting a law firm, where you can rely on your personal network, and are limited in where you can sell your product. You’re worldwide now.
I Love It When a Plan Comes Together
Whether you’re doing content marketing or paid advertising or a combination of both, you’ll need a precise and granular plan of action for moving forward. Your go to market plan is essentially your business marketing plan for your launch period. Start by going three months out, because things change quickly in a startup environment. Build out a content production schedule, and a content release schedule, and stick to it. Be consistent, and you will gain a following if you have something valuable to say. Create a list of target events, and a realistic budget for exhibiting at those. Set aside budget line items for consultants and paid marketing services. Build a list of influential media members you want to reach out to, and figure out your approach to them. Set broad goals, but be specific in their execution. The form of this document doesn’t so much matter, as long as your go to market plan is highly specific and rigidly scheduled. If you need to dress up the document for purposes of sharing it with interested investors, you can do that as necessary.
Once you get your plan together, it’s time to test your market viability. And, while your product is not guaranteed to succeed, having a defined plan about how to tell people more about what you’re doing significantly increases your chances for success.
Jared D. Correia, Esq. is the CEO of Red Cave Law Firm Consulting, which offers subscription-based law firm business management consulting services for law firms, bar associations and corporations. Red Cave also works with legal vendor to develop programming and content. Jared is also the COO of Gideon Software, Inc., which offers intelligent messaging and predictive analytics software built exclusively for law firms. A former practicing attorney, Jared has been providing services to lawyers and law firms for over a decade. He is a regular presenter at local, regional and national events, including ABA TECHSHOW. He regularly contributes to legal publications, including his column, ‘Managing,’ for Attorney at Work, his ‘Law Practice Confidential’ advice column for Lawyerist and his column for Above the Law focused on the legal technology startup community. Jared is is the host of the Legal Toolkit podcast on Legal Talk Network. Jared also teaches for Concord Law School, Suffolk University Law School, Solo Practice University and Becker College. He loves James Taylor, but respects Ron Swanson; and, he tries to sneak Rolos when no one is looking.
