So I am going to be honest here.
I advertise.
Yup, that’s right. I actually shell out money for people to know I exist and what it is I do. It’s true. It’s not major. I mean, I am not a superlawyer yet or anything like that, but I’ve got some money out there in the legal marketing world. There, I said it. Whew. If you stick with me, you will see why this is important. I promise it becomes relevant, eventually. Would I lie to you?
This blog, though, has never been a money maker. It isn’t for advertising. Never has been, never will be. That’s not to say this blog hasn’t helped me make money. I write things in here, people google me and then this stuff comes up and people think “oh, she is really a lawyer and has thoughts and thinks things and then, sometimes, writes about them.” So, while I don’t make money directly from here, it’s helped me snag a client or two.
And it’s helped me make friends and enemies. I don’t love making enemies. It feels a little uncomfortable and well, the nature of this business is antagonistic anyway, why make it worse by using yet another forum to pick fights? But sometimes, it can’t be helped. This might be one of those times.
I was on twitter today having a conversation of sorts with a couple of real blogging friends of mine. I call them ‘real blogging friends’ not because they are real friends but because they have blogs that are real, meaning they are vibrant and updated more than once every three months. Keith, the real blogging friend, has turned his blog into something more and I am exceptionally proud of him. But that’s also not the point. The point is that I was chatting with him about twitter and how it is shallow, fine for what it is, but ultimately doesn’t cause change. I disagreed with him (black lives matter, anyone? Arab Spring?) but I got what he was saying. The blogs caused a ruckus. They made people talk and think and the blogs made waves. There was the Streisand Effect and the folks who wrote could actually get people to think about things differently. It was a great community.
Keith, during this twitter ‘conversation’ specifically talked about an individual who he called Zarrelli. I didn’t know anyone named Zarrelli and had no idea who he was talking about. Well, a quick google search of this name led me to none other than Scott Greenfield at Simple Justice. Scott wrote a blog post about this Zarrelli which is fairly interesting to those of us who are cautious about advertising. It explained the background of the Zarrelli dispute. It’s a good read. But the best part of the blog is the voicemail this guy Zarrelli left wherein he tells Scott – one of the most prolific and popular bloggers in the legal world – that he can help him make his blog better. Yes, that is a real thing this Patrick Zarrelli said. He then goes on to talk about how his family are all high powered lawyers. And some other stuff that is truly mind blowingly moronic. It is. Well, it’s worth a listen.
You don’t believe me? Listen to it here.
So why does the confession of my advertising come into play with all of this? Well, if you go to Scott’s post you can see how all of this came about. A guy wants to make money. They guy happens to be a lawyer so he advertises and says some things that are bordering on ridiculous, someone calls him out on how ridiculous it is, and then his feelings get hurt and he hires that someone to make phone calls and harangue people to make them stop saying mean things about him. I get it. Most people don’t like to have the world saying terrible things about them. It sucks. People’s feelings get hurt and they want to lash out and MAKE THOSE PEOPLE PAY. But you can’t ever really make anyone pay. That sort of I WILL SHOW YOU is a myth and is the stuff of fictional novels where the one who is wronged manages to exact revenge through some convoluted and complicated plot. The Zarrelli’s of the world can’t manage that kind of revenge because, well, you simply can’t control that other people think you (or your client) is a moron.
Let me take that back. You can control it to the degree that you can stop acting like a moron, or advise your client to do the same. But I am pretty sure that calling people with popular blogs and leaving (pretty hilarious) voice messages will do the trick.
