Let Your Light Shine: Media Relations, PR, and Branding

Episode Notes

Transcript

Announcer:
So if I was starting today as a new solo, I would Have to change the way they’re practicing Leaders. Make it easy to work with Tiffany. New approach, new tools, new mindset, new solo. And it’s making that leap, making that leap, making that leap.

Adriana Linares:
Welcome to another episode of New Solo on Legal Talk Network. I’m Adriana Linares, your Petite host. And with me today is a good friend, Karen Korr who is an expert in media relations, PR, and branding. Hi, Karen.

Karen Korr:
Hi, Adriana.

Adriana Linares:
Thanks so much for coming on the show. The topics that I want to ask you about are the following, and there’s a reason that I’m actually going to list them off and why I called myself Petite, which I am in case those of you who have been listening for a long time have never seen me. I want you to talk to us about why some of the best lawyers are invisible. We’re going to talk about branding and media relations. But I really loved the topic that you gave me of why some of the best lawyers are often invisible. And a lot of times, because I’m little, I always feel invisible. I’ll say to someone as they’re bumping me or I’m getting bopped around in a crowd, I’m like, “My God, am I invisible?” When you gave me this sort of topic, I though, oh, that’s just such a good topic for lawyers too because there are so many great lawyers that in the world of lawyering in their community and in their city, maybe they are invisible or maybe they feel invisible like I do.
My God, I just won millions of dollars from my client. Am I invisible or what? So why don’t we start there? But before we do that, I want you to tell everybody a little bit about yourself. And specifically, I’ve always loved the name of your company, which is Full Core Press. Your last name is K-O-R-R, Karen Core. And your company’s called Full Core Press. And I just though that alone was such a brilliant branding strategy for you. So it just kind of fits. Tell us about yourself.

Karen Korr:
Perfect. Well, I’ll start by telling you about Full Core Press because it’s kind of a funny story. I was the communications director at the San Diego County Bar Association for over a decade. And one of the bar presidents, Richard Hoover, knew that I was sort of upset with a vendor. And he asked me, “Oh, are you going to give them the Full Core Press?” And it was just an aha moment where I said, “Oh, if I ever go out on my own, that’s going to be my company name.” So I changed it to my Twitter handle and Instagram and now my business is Full Core Press.

Adriana Linares:
Oh, I love that story. And little did that guy know the seed he was planting for the empire that you have built. So you mentioned that you worked for the Bar Association, San Diego County Bar. And I know you do a lot of work with NABI, which I just want you to mention quickly because there might be a lot of attorneys who not having been active in their bar associations don’t know about NABE, but I know that you love that organization and you have done a lot of work for them and with them.

Karen Korr:
Yes. So NABE is the National Association of Bar Professionals. It used to be the National Association of Bar Executives, which is why it’s N-A-B-E, but they changed it to professionals a few years ago so that it could encompass really anybody who works in any sort of role in a bar association. So it’s an organization of national, local, all kinds of bar associations. Some that are practice specific, some that are region specific, some that are diversity based. And their executives all belong to this great organization and network with one another and share ideas. And it’s a really, really cool community.

Adriana Linares:
Right. So listeners, if you ever get involved with your local or your state bar organizations, chances are you’ll be more involved with NABI. And they do a lot of, like you said, networking and communicating and helping each other. But it’s also a great way to learn leadership skills, which I think is something that all lawyers can always, we can all use some help with. And then tell us just a little bit more about just your general background as far as journalism and then with the Bar Association.

Karen Korr:
Sure. Well, I started my career in Chicago where I’m originally from, and I was working for a small public relations firm, a boutique that did mostly investor relations type work. And we had Deloitte and Touche as a client, but then the entire Enron scandal happened.

Adriana Linares:
And

Karen Korr:
So we got hired by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants to kind of do some PR work and some message development during Enron. So I really kind of had a front row view to that scandal. And I think that working with the AICPA sort of laid the groundwork for my association work that followed because the AICPA is huge nationwide. And at the time I was responsible for putting together a newsletter daily that talked about what the major publications were saying about the accounting industry and getting that out to all of the branches of the AICPA. So that was my work in Chicago. And then I ended up in San Diego because Chicago is really cold and though I would stay there for one winter and ended up there for 20 something years. Oh my God. I was at a PR firm in San Diego and my clients were really all over the place.
We had hotels, restaurants, consumer product manufacturers. And then my big client was at the time the biggest law firm in San Diego, which was Luce Forward with about 200 attorneys. It’s now part of Denton’s after a series of mergers. But I loved doing the law firm work because there were so many different stories to tell. And one day I could be talking about workplace issues and the next day I’m talking about family issues. So I went from there to the Bar Association.

Adriana Linares:
Okay. Amazing. So you’ve got all kinds of great experience. And since then, of course, you’ve worked strictly with lawyers or mostly with lawyers and have done all the things that we’re going to talk about next. So let’s start with this idea of becoming less invisible and more visible. And you’ve got some good tips and suggestions that attorneys can do that. I think we hear a lot about branding. I think at this point, I would hope that many attorneys understand the idea of branding. Although I think there is still a lot of stubbornness about marketing, branding, positioning yourself and networking. No matter as old as this profession is, I feel like we still get some pushback on that. So give us some ideas. As far as basics for building your brand as a solo or a small firm, what do you suggest typically? Just you’re at a meeting and an attorney comes up and goes, “Hey, give me some three or four ideas of ways that I can better build my brand.”

Karen Korr:
Well, the first thing I always say is to be consistent. And the second thing I always say is to be human, right? Because most of the attorneys that I work with are fairly established in their careers and their clients come from referrals for the most part. While they might do some advertising, the majority of their clients are coming from knowing other people. So finding ways to connect with people, whether that’s online or in person and over professional things or personal things is a way to sort of get out there a little bit more and have your name attached to your practice. I find that a lot of the attorneys that I work with that are “invisible” are really the ones that just work really hard and put their head down and do the work and think that branding and marketing takes a ton of time.
And it really doesn’t. It really just takes a ton of consistency. Doing a little bit.

Adriana Linares:
We constantly have, speaking of consistently, consistently have attorneys that come on and say networking and meeting people is just far and away the best use of time and money. What about things like when it comes to a bar association? Let’s just start there because hopefully most members or most listeners are members of a bar association. Let’s say the bar association is hosting a golf tournament. Is it a good idea for me to host a hole and have my law firm name there? Even though chances are that most of the people attending the tournament are lawyers. I think that’s where sometimes we hit a speed bump, which is I don’t need to market to lawyers. But what you’re saying is, no, you do need to market to lawyers.

Karen Korr:
You need lawyers to know your name and your practice. You need other lawyers to know what you do and to know that you’re good at what you do. So I can make the argument both ways. If you’ve got your name, the whole, there’s some visibility, there’s some visibility for your firm, but it’s really more important that you have relationships with those people. Because again, going back to this point on consistency, if that’s the only time you’re advertising all year, no one’s going to remember it. So they used to say in advertising that you needed to see something six times before you remembered it. But now with all the content that we get from every single source, they say you need to see something at least 15 times I

Adriana Linares:
Believe

Karen Korr:
Before you actually remember it. Before it actually registers

Adriana Linares:
In your

Karen Korr:
Brain. So seeing the firm name at a hole on a golf tournament is great, but if that’s the only time you see it all year, it doesn’t really mean anything.

Adriana Linares:
I’ve recently done some advertising on TikTok and Instagram, not for my legal technology consulting company, but for a little side of business that we have. And it is so cheap, dare I say, and so easy to boost a post. And so easy to target a specific demographic or interest group that it’s just something I don’t know why more lawyers don’t try when you’ve got a good post. It just seems so easy. And that’s a really easy way to be consistent at a quite affordable price, I think. Anyway, all that to say, right, being consistent is going to be the key. What about things like awards and submitting those or talking about those? Does anyone still need to hear that you’re a super lawyer? I think most of us know that the super lawyer thing is paid. I think maybe not that one. But what about awards?
Lawyers get thrown those all the time. They get mail about them all the time. Do they decide to do those? And then do they actually put them in those advertisements? Do they put them on their website? Should they put them on their signatures?

Karen Korr:
I’m not kidding when I tell you at least once a week I get an email from one of my clients or a friend that says, “Should I apply for this?” And it’s usually some sort of spam that says you’re the who’s who of whatever practice area it is. I myself get them all the time and I am not a practicing attorney. So never went to law school. So I can’t be one of the best lawyers, but I get a lot of solicitations to add my name to these who’s whose lists and book. So the first warning sign is anything that asks you to pay for the ranking is not legitimate. So anytime there’s a writer’s fee or application fee, that’s not something that has a lot of credibility. I will say, and I know that this is more, I don’t know if it’s more known on the East Coast or just with some of the bigger firms, but I still think that Chambers is legitimate and that Chambers rankings are important.
I actually just met with someone from Chambers last week who said they’re trying to make the application process a little less tedious. So they’re not just getting the giant firms with big marketing departments where they’re getting more people to actually submit. And they started something in Southern California called the Chambers Spotlight Guide. And that’s intentionally for firms with five attorneys or less. And I know they’ve done it in other cities as well. So that might be a good thing to look into in your area. It really only involves an interview and I think submitting one form.

Adriana Linares:
Oh, that’s very good.

Karen Korr:
But I will say this, that Chambers, as well as all the other organizations, once you get the listing, they’re going to try to sell you enhanced listings and advertisements and other opportunities when really the listing is the important part. So I would say chambers is one that’s legitimate. Super lawyers is a legitimate process, but I get asked a lot about how you get in there because I do think some of the best attorneys I know are not super lawyers. And it’s a peer-to-peer nomination and then a peer-to-peer vote. So if you want to be in super lawyers, you’ve got to make sure someone is nominating you. And there’s a rule with super lawyers where you have to nominate the same number of people from another firm as from your own firm.

Adriana Linares:
Oh, interesting. That’s

Karen Korr:
Fair. So it’s a difficult process. Yeah. And best lawyers, I like primarily because if somebody Googles or searches or goes to ChatGPT and says, Best Malpractice Attorney San Diego, best comes up. And you may be listed in best lawyers. So I like the idea of submitting to best lawyers. And that one’s also free and not super tedious and also peer to peer. So I like that. And other than those three, the only ones I would recommend really submitting to are in your local area. I submit a lot to the San Diego Business Journal and the Daily Journal, which is our statewide legal publication in California. So if it’s local and it’s a well-known publication, that makes sense. I’m sure there are some national ones that make sense as well. And also in your area of practice. So if you do transportation law, then there’s publications that list the best attorneys or the best people in that profession.
And I would suggest applying there as opposed to some of these broader

Adriana Linares:
Lawyers

Karen Korr:
Nominations.

Adriana Linares:
I don’t think we’ve ever had that type of advice on this show. So this is exciting. It’s new and fresh. Look at you. Okay, great. Anything else you can think of as far as publications, newspapers, associations? I think you’ve rattled off a lot of them, but if something else comes to mind in the middle of the conversation, feel free to say, “Oh, I just though of this because I think that will be helpful.” The last thing I’ll ask you about in this segment, because I sort of just threw it out there very quickly with social media. I think most of us just don’t know what to do with social media when it comes to advertising. Like I said, I have this little side business and that’s pretty easy to create a post for and then boost it. But from an attorney’s perspective, how important is social?
Where should they be doing things like this? And again, it’s not hard. I’m going to say it’s not hard, but not being hard doesn’t mean you should just do it because you want to do it well. So any advice there?

Karen Korr:
That is exactly right. And I will say that most of the time when I ask attorneys why they don’t do social media, they tell me they don’t have the time. But yet all of us, I mean, globally are spending four and a half hours scrolling on our phone. I think that’s the average right now. So it doesn’t take a lot of time and it doesn’t take a lot of time to do it well. And again, I’ll go back to this point. It’s really about consistency. And so here’s a good analogy that I give to people. It’s kind of like you’re passing by a billboard on the highway. And so everybody is scrolling. Again, people are spending four hours scrolling. So you want them to see your billboard every so often. It doesn’t have to be every mile, but maybe every 60 miles as an analogy.
There’s a bail bondsman in San Diego, King Stellman Bail Bonds, whose slogan is, “It’s better to know me and not need me than to need me and not know me.”

Adriana Linares:
Oh,

Karen Korr:
Brilliant. Isn’t it brilliant? And so I use that a lot because I feel like that’s a really great billboard. There’s also a jingle that I won’t sing, but I feel like that’s kind of my theory on social media is that you want a billboard so people know who you are. And in case they ever do need you or hear from somebody that they’re looking for a family law attorney or someone who does this kind of estate planning, that your name is out there and they immediately associate your name and your firm. So again, I don’t think it’s difficult. I think it’s about posting consistently. And that may be once a week to start and then you build up. And I think that there are a lot of platforms that are effective. I think for lawyers, the best place to be is really on LinkedIn. That’s where your network’s going to be.
That’s where you’re going to get referred to other people and that’s how you’re going to connect with other people. The other platforms I like are BlueSky and Twitter, now known as X. I only like them because there are a lot of journalists on both platforms. So if you have something newsworthy, you’re kind of running into them. So for example, I posted something the other day for the California Judges Association’s retired judges initiative on BlueSky and Rachel Maddow posted it. So we took our audience and magnified it by a million people just from that BlueSky post. So I think it’s a good way. If you’ve got a newsworthy story, if you have something that might garner local or national media attention, I would recommend using one of those platforms as well. But for the most part, I think attorneys should be on LinkedIn. And even if you’re not super comfortable posting, react to things.
Every day LinkedIn gives you notifications of what’s happened within your network. And it’s job anniversaries, it’s someone’s promotion, all sorts of things that you can send a quick note that says congratulations or even like it. Again, just kind of keeping your name out there. And then when you do have something to post, if you are active on LinkedIn, my understanding is that the algorithm rewards you for being an active participant.

Adriana Linares:
So

Karen Korr:
If you’re going to take 10 minutes a week to do something, I would take 10 minutes and go through your LinkedIn notifications and write some notes, send some emails, give things a thumbs up, that sort of thing.

Adriana Linares:
I mean, I feel like life rewards you for being an active participant. And LinkedIn is just art imitating life, if you will. I’m so glad that you mentioned media newsworthy and press relations and stuff because when we come back from this break, I’m going to ask you about media relations 101 specifically. So we’ll come back and talk a little bit more about that. We’ll be right back. I’m here with Karen Core, a full core press. And we’re talking about communications, PR, media relations, branding yourself. And I wanted to ask you, Karen, the reason I had this aha moment that I wanted to have you on the podcast, and I’m sorry that we’ve been friends for a very long time and I’ve never invited you to the podcast, is because I recently in my personal life, well, my business life, personal life, but again, not legal, discovered the power of a press release.
So here I am, 53 years old, having owned a company, having done. I’ve done so much shit at this point that I’m good at a lot of things. And I’m always kind of amazed at the shit I know and how to handle and what to do. And this moment I had where I was like, oh, this is probably something that a press release would be good for. And then I called you, asked you for some advice on the press release and got it out there. It was a little bit of a hassle by the way, Business Wire and creating your account. You guys don’t try to do this last minute, do this now. But it was amazing the power that this press release had to get the news and the word out about an event that we were hosting in New Orleans. Again, not having to do with legal.
And I thought, wow, this is like a secret weapon for Google and for finding things. And that’s what I want you to help us learn more about. So let’s start with, tell us what a press release is. And I know it’s obvious, but again, I’ve been around the block a few times and I’ve seen them, but I never had thought about creating one and putting one out there and what it’s for until you helped me outline how to create a good one.

Karen Korr:
That is such a great question. And I think it’s a great question because a lot of people think they know what a press release is and they don’t. It’s not a narrative. It’s not an editorial. It’s basically, here are the facts. And you write a press release in the way that you want the journalist who’s receiving it to cover it. So it’s not necessarily a nonpartisan operation because you’re writing in a way that’s favorable to your organization, but you’re writing the who, what, when, where, how. And that should all be in the first paragraph. You can include a quote from somebody, but it’s really sort of the facts. And you want to have a gripping headline if you can, but a press release doesn’t need to be long. It actually shouldn’t be long. Professional journalists are looking for PR people or people that send them press releases to give it to them in a very succinct way so they can come back to you and ask questions.
They can request an interview if they want more information, but you should give them everything they need to know at a glance about your project, your event, your case, whatever it is. It should be really succinct and really clean.

Adriana Linares:
So I’ll tell you the things that I learned from Business Wire, which is everything you’re saying. I’m just going to add a couple more details. They wanted the name of the organization and who, again, who and what. They wanted it to be 400 words or less. And then the email at the bottom couldn’t be a Gmail or a Yahoo. So all you lawyers out there who are still sitting around, Gmail, email, this is another good reason that you need to stop. They want it to be legit. So you have to have who the media contact is. And they wanted written email permission from anyone else that was mentioned also. So we were co-hosting an event in New Orleans, a little festival. And my co-host, we needed to get permission from them to mention their name. So those were just a couple of the very specific things that came out of my exchange with Business Wire.
Okay. So we know what it is. I’ll add

Karen Korr:
One thing. Sorry.

Adriana Linares:
Oh, please do.

Karen Korr:
I’m sorry. I just want to add one thing on that too. And it’s very. BusinessWire and PR Newswire are probably the two biggest wire services. There’s a couple others as well. But if you are doing a press release on a case or something that has to do with a publicly traded company, there are even stricter regulations. So make sure that you talk to Business Wire or whatever service you’re using in advance to make sure that you’ve got the right permissions to send that press release.

Adriana Linares:
Well, I think they won’t submit it for even review until you have checked off all their boxes, which was amazing that there was actually a real human that was helping me. And when I was like, “Oh, sorry. I’ve never done this before. Sorry to create so much trouble.” They were like, “No, it’s cool. It’s cool. I mean, obviously they’re used to the pros like you, but they’re also used to the dummies like me because I’m paying. They want my money.” Yes, of course I had ChatGPT write this thing. I mean, I was not going to sit there. And so lawyers, again, are looking for another reason to try and figure out how to use AI if you haven’t yet, this is a good way to get started. I feel like this is one of the things they’re really good at because like you said, there’s no emotion.
It’s just the facts, it’s just information, and it’s doling it out in a very metered and specific way. I feel like there’s definitely a formula for press releases, which you gave me when you and I were texting. But the next obvious question is, what is newsworthy? What would a solo attorney or a small firm do or have to share that would be worthy of a press release and the money? Because I think at a minimum you’re spending $400, but you can spend up to as much as 4,000. And

Karen Korr:
That’s a good point. And I just want to share too, you can distribute a press release without putting it on the wire, which I’ll do, let’s say for my law firm clients that hire a new partner or bring on three new associates. And they’re announcing it because there are some publications that will cover that. So I don’t want to put that on the wire because it’s going to cost a lot of money and it doesn’t make sense. No one’s going to cover it outside of their county. I mean, some big partners may be statewide, but for the most part, USA today doesn’t care.

Adriana Linares:
This is such good advice. And I want you to talk a little more about it because of course, duh. Me, I don’t do anything small. So this was going to be big and it had to be big, but you’re right. Okay. So to just elaborate a little more on my question, I’m a solo or I’m a small, or maybe we’re two solos and smalls that are merging and creating a mega mini, but we want our community to know about it. So we still create a formal press release, but then how do we know who to send it to if it’s not going to be on one of the big wires, as you called them? I feel so cool. I’m not going to put on the big wire. How do I find the little wires, the mini wires?

Karen Korr:
So you’ve got to curate a list of local media contacts. And I think this is important for solos just in general is to form relationships with the media. But every TV station has an assignment editor or an assignment desk. So that email address is usually fairly easy to find. But look at the reporters whose columns you read. So if there’s someone that specifically speaks to law or the area of practice that you work in, go to those reporters. And a lot of times they will have their email addresses in their byline or at least in their online profile. And you can get it that way. ChatGPT can be very helpful. Although like with anything AI, double check,

Adriana Linares:
Want

Karen Korr:
To make sure that you’re sending it to the right place. But I would gather the email addresses of anyone you think might be interested. So I have a super giant media list that I can filter by different places, but that’s been something that I’ve been curating for a really long time. But if you’re in a community that’s got two major publications, then find out who the editors are or the reporters that are covering what you want to talk about and send the press release directly to them.

Adriana Linares:
And please send it as a PDF, my friends, not as a Word document. I was thinking this, I was having dinner with our friend Jill Epstein, who’s, by the way, she was on the podcast not that long ago. And I was trying to describe this and I couldn’t figure out. I’m like, “I don’t know how to describe it, but I’m looking for the little news.” And she said, “They’re gazettes. It’s like the local gazette.” I said, “Yeah. Okay. So what you’re saying is find your big news sources, but also think about your local gazette that goes out in your little local community. The ones that still get delivered advertising the local handyman and stuff like that.” And I will say this in my experience having put on this festival, which is a lot of times these little publications are looking for information because their goal is not only to report what’s big and important and what the local community wants to know about, but they’re also looking to fill space so that they have headlines that will draw hits to their own website or to their own newspapers.
So one of the things that I did, and this is not relevant to just an announcement, but is let’s say you’re doing a talk. You’re going to the law school to give a talk about how to hire an attorney and have a good relationship with them. That’s something that you could list on a local community’s calendar if it’s something that’s free or you want to get out to the masses, I guess I would say. So I had not really ever worked with or considered the power of local community gazettes, newsletters. In New Orleans, we’ve got the Gambit, Where Yap Magazine, New Orleans Magazine. And those were all incredibly important to the success of our festival. And a lot of it was free. I did spend a little bit of money. And then on Eventbrite, I found that once I had posted this thing and put it on the wires and added it to Eventbrite, whether paid or not, that was also very powerful.
Eventbrite exists to put stuff into Google and to put into people’s faces. So if you are using an event as a way to market your service, these are just a couple of random and weird ideas that I think can be very, very powerful. Any other weird and random sources and ideas you can think of?

Karen Korr:
So this is going to sound very weird and random, but

Adriana Linares:
Sometimes

Karen Korr:
In the same vein, Reddit. Reddit is, if you’re doing something that’s consumer focused, for example, when I was doing some work for the California Judges Association, we were doing online town halls and they weren’t meant for other attorneys. They were meant for the general public to learn about the branch and that sort of thing and understand some of the important tenets of judicial independence. And so I posted in Reddit

Adriana Linares:
And I

Karen Korr:
Posted also in Facebook groups

Adriana Linares:
By

Karen Korr:
Region. So California politics or California parents or Sacramento parents or whatever it is. The Facebook groups, if they’re open for the most part, you can go ahead and post something there.

Adriana Linares:
Give us some idea of what are these newsworthy types of events or happenings in a law firm? I mean, it seems so boring. I’m trying to think of. I’m good at making up examples and I’m having a hard time, but you won’t.

Karen Korr:
If you have a published decision, right? If you’ve got a case that sets a precedent or if you’ve got a case that the general public should be interested in knowing about. So for example, in San Diego, a lot of times it’s about ABUs.That’s something that the general public is concerned about and wants to know updates on. So that sort of thing. If you’ve written a book or if you’ve done something sort of extraordinary or won a big award, if you won a big award from the ABA, for example. Yeah. Yeah. Or any national organization or even a local organization, it’s worth putting out the press release. And I’ll share this too. The intention of a press release is to get media to pay attention. But the press release is also something that goes on your website. So that

Adriana Linares:
Again,

Karen Korr:
When the Google crawlers look, they know that you’ve won this award, ChatGPT sees it, but it’s also something that gives you fodder for a social media post. You then take that and talk about that case or that incident and link back to the press release. So again, the intention of the press release is to get the media to take a look at it and see what’s interesting about your firm, but it also is a promotional piece for your firm as well.

Adriana Linares:
Yeah. I feel like I had never thought about a press release as a promotional piece, but the truth is it is. And it sounds fancy. It sounds like, oh, this merited a press release and I think it’s impressive. So, okay. Well, great. I love all those tips.

Karen Korr:
And on the other side, attorneys need to be careful to not be too aggressive with the media and insist that they are the only source. Attorneys need to make sure that they are only trying to speak on the areas where they are an expert, an actual expert. Attorneys should also not send out a press release just for Everything. There’s an example I used to use at the Bar Association where we’d say, let’s say a law firm caught on fire downtown. A downtown firm’s office catches on fire. It’s not our job to report that because there are news outlets that are going to report that. There’s the San Diego Union Tribune, there’s TV stations and all of that. But if that law firm or if that building has displaced a hundred attorneys that’ll now be working temporarily at the Bar Association, that’s my story to tell.
So don’t really tell somebody else’s story. Don’t insert yourself into a narrative that you’re not a part of. But if you have something that adds value, that’s when you should reach out to the media. If you’re adding value to an existing conversation or starting a new and important conversation.

Adriana Linares:
Excellent advice. I like to insert myself in every conversation. One more thing for you, Karen. I know that you have helped a lot of lawyers sort of position themselves as becoming the source for media and information and just a trusted resource. So talk to us about that concept and then becoming that attorney. Or one, I mean, you can’t be the attorney, but you can certainly become an attorney that, or maybe you can, that becomes a good source, a trusted resource.

Karen Korr:
Well, going back to what we were talking about earlier and certain attorneys that are invisible, it’s because they may not be seen on TV or interviewed by the publications. And I know a lot of attorneys will get frustrated and say, I see that same guy on the news, or so-and-so is always being interviewed by

Adriana Linares:
Whatever publication it is. Why isn’t it me? It could be me. I’m better.

Karen Korr:
Right. But they don’t know you. So you have to introduce yourself and you have to introduce what it is that you can speak to that’s different than the other attorney. And this is really, really simple. Most of the TV stations, many of the newspapers, they all have databases with sources. So really you’re just asking to be added to that database, but you’re saying it in a nice and polite way and say, “Hey, I’m an attorney. I specialize in X, Y, Z. Here’s a couple things that may be coming down the pike, some new laws that are getting passed or things where you may do a story and I can be a resource.” That’s it. You can attach a copy of your bio and just say, “If you are ever looking to talk to someone on these three subjects, feel free to reach out.”

Adriana Linares:
I know that’s hard sometimes for us to think about like, “Oh God, am I being too pushy?” But back to the little I’ve learned here about creating this event, sometimes these journalists, these writers, these sources, they’re hungry for information. Maybe it’s a slow news day. Maybe it just so happens that that’s the topic that comes up next week. And holy moly, there you were. So I would definitely not be shy about doing something like that.

Karen Korr:
And I would say there’s something too about sending a timely pitch to be a resource. So for example, when Aretha Franklin died and she didn’t have a will, I got a bunch of reporters calling me that day saying, “Hey, can you put me on the phone with a trust and estates attorney? Why wouldn’t you have a will?” So if I was a trust and estates attorney, I might send a pitch to the local media and say, “I saw you covering this story on Aretha Franklin. Here’s three reasons why it’s super important to have a will.” And then you’re sort of the source on it. Or say, “If you need someone to come and talk about the importance of having a will, I’m happy to speak to your reporter, come on the air,” whatever it is. But really being opportunistic.

Adriana Linares:
Yes. And I mean, there are other examples where people haven’t died where you could certainly be as opportunistic, but this also sounds like a great resource for creating an ad, creating some social, anything that comes up in the news. So do you remember a few weeks ago when this crazy couple got arrested for climbing the top of the Empire State Bill? Yes. Okay. And then of course, as the internet does, everybody started creating memes from that. And I thought they were so funny. I think I sat around for like 20 minutes giggling at all these. And I said to the kid that does the social media for us, “Create one of those. Jump on this bandwagon because they’re funny and it’s only going to be hot for about 15 minutes.” I think that’s another idea that attorneys could certainly use when you’re trying to figure out what to create and what to post and what to boost is you can be lighthearted and funny about it.
Okay. So I love that idea. Sorry, a little side tangent there because when the ideas come out, I want to say them out loud. They can’t stay in my head. So it sounds to me that what we’ve got to get people to do here is use ChatGPT to create a well-written press release for something newsworthy, which you will then forward to and share with the local and the bigger media if necessary, but then also create a social media post that you can then boost for very low costs on TikTok, Instagram. I was going to advertise on Reddit, by the way, because I think that is a totally untapped resource for advertising. And threads, by the way, I did a little advertising on threads and I thought that that was really helpful. Okay. So these are all great ideas. Let’s take a quick break, listen to some messages from some sponsors, and when we come back, I’m going to ask you about how to take all of these ideas and also add maybe a little help from your bar world and being able to take advantage of some tools and services that they might also have available to help you become less invisible and more important out there.
Which isn’t that what we all want? We’ll be right back. All right. I’m back with Karen Core of Full Core Press. We’ve been talking about communications and PR and what to do and what not to do to help get your name out there, both in the local community, but also in the legal community. So Karen, let’s bring it home a little bit to a place that you and I both love, which is bar associations. You have some advice. Now, not every bar is going to be the same, but chances are that there are a lot of programs that they all offer. What are some tools that attorneys can use that are offered by a lot of bar associations to help make them more visible, get better branding and known throughout the community?

Karen Korr:
I would say not all, but most of the bar associations that I’m familiar with have publications and they have CLEs. And they are always looking for speakers and they’re always looking for writers. I think that attorneys are often intimidated, not by the idea of writing, because I know a lot of attorneys enjoy writing and are skillful writers, but adding something else to their plate. But if you’ve already done a presentation on something, or if you’re doing a client alert on something, a change in the law, that can easily be transitioned into an article that may be of use to the Bar Association or one of your local papers. But it’s really easy to write for the Bar Association’s blog. If you’ve got an area of expertise, speak to it. It doesn’t need to be super long. You can do 500 words most of the time or less.
But the bar associations often are hungry for content and

Adriana Linares:
Especially

Karen Korr:
In diverse practice areas because there are certain attorneys, and I don’t know what it is in every bar, but that tend to write more or want to submit more. And diversity and perspectives that represent the entire bar are really important. And so they’re hungry for that content in speaking and in writing.

Adriana Linares:
And I will say again, like I always do, that the Grand Puba of Bar Associations, the American Bar Association, and specifically the law practice division where I spend a lot of time, we are dying for fresh voices and writers. And it has a podcast and we’re always looking for attorneys that are willing to do that. And I would assume that you could take a topic that you’re using for your local bar association and repurpose it for other organizations or media outlets as well.

Karen Korr:
Absolutely. And I want to add this. There’s an untapped resource, I think, in bar associations too, and I think that’s the new lawyer publications. So if you’re a more senior attorney, you’ve got great information to share with them. And the new lawyer publications need content as well and will be very grateful for anything that you can provide. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be advice for new lawyers. It can be something substantive about law, just again, to position yourself in your area of practice with a different group of attorneys. I

Adriana Linares:
Love it. This has been such a great conversation and so helpful. At least I think so. As your petite host, I think this was a huge podcast. Karen, tell everybody how they can find friend or follow you and get to know you a little bit better and hire you. Are you for hire? Do you get hired by lawyers? I am

Karen Korr:
For hire. Yes. I get hired

Adriana Linares:
By

Karen Korr:
Bars and law firms and consultants to law firms primarily.

Adriana Linares:
So yes. Well, how can somebody just keep an eye on you if they want to learn more about you or do any of those things?

Karen Korr:
Most of my social media handles are my name, Karen Korr, or my business name, which is Full Core Press. Korr spelled K-O-R-R. And my website is fullcorepress.com.

Adriana Linares:
And I know you spend a lot of time on LinkedIn as you should, so that’s probably a great way to connect with you as well. And let them know that you met Karen through New Solo. Well, everyone, thank you so much for staying with us for another episode of New Solo. I hope this was helpful and that you have a wonderful afternoon or evening wherever you are. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next month on New Solo. I’ve been

Announcer:
Running from nine to five. Tongue for all this time. Won’t let anyone clog me short. I was thinking this was the way to go and you put up your puppet show. I say she’s too laughing.