Law Firm Administrators Boost Readership, Win Award with e-Newsletter By: John Toth, johnmtoth@earthlink.net

"If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got." Taking that bit of folk wisdom to heart, the Atlanta Chapter of the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) saw the opportunity early in 2003 to completely transform the way it prepared and used its member communication tools. The largest ALA chapter in the South, with nearly 230 members, went to an all-electronic format for production and distribution of its quarterly chapter newsletter.

Within a matter of months after making the decision, the chapter was able to:

• Reduce newsletter production and distribution costs by more than 70%.
• Integrate the newsletter with the chapter Web site for comprehensive online services that range from chapter meeting notices to member record updates.
• Expand newsletter distribution substantially while tracking circulation and article popularity.
• Make the newsletter a more attractive and interactive vehicle for outside advertisers.
• Create instant feedback mechanisms for the newsletter editor and the chapter officers.

This impressive record of success was recognized at the ALA National Conference in May 2004, when the Atlanta Chapter received first place among all chapter newsletters in the country. The Award was the fifth consecutive first or second place showing by "AtLAnta" in the national organization's annual award competition for its newsletter or Web site.

Making the switch

The decision to switch to an electronic newsletter format came early in 2003 as three important events converged simultaneously:

• Chapter President Michael Stephens of Troutman Sanders LLP began searching for ways to reduce the $35,000 newsletter cost budgeted each year;
• The 35-plus vendor sponsors of the print chapter newsletter had just renewed their advertising agreements for the coming year, and were seeking more flexibility in the logistics of sizing and submitting their ads;
• A past president of both the Atlanta and national ALA organizations and now a representative of a global provider of legal support materials and services, recommended to Stephens the capabilities of eLawMarketing, a New York City company specializing in online marketing services for law firms (http://www.elawmarketing.com).

Stephens investigated eLawMarketing's strengths and found them to match the chapter's needs The chapter Board approved the change to electronic publishing in April 2003. "The comprehensive solution to what we needed virtually fell into our laps," Stephens says now.

Developing the infrastructure

Debbie Goldman of Goodman McGuffey Lindsey & Johnson, who was then newsletter editor, worked with eLawMarketing to develop the colors and page templates for the electronic newsletter format, which reflect the look of the chapter Web site. "The big advantage of electronic publishing is that it gave us far more flexibility in layout and content," Goldman notes, "which is particularly important with a volunteer operation like our newsletter." Newsletter content was structured to emphasize human resources, finance, community service and similar topics relevant to the profession. Story ideas were solicited from members, and in each issue a vendor sponsor receives the opportunity to submit a substantive, non-promotional article.

Creating active newsletter links were critical to the success of the venture. Each issue has links for reader interaction with the chapter President, Board members, committee chairs and the newsletter editor. Vendor sponsors receive links from the newsletter to ads residing on the Chapter's Web site (the online ads are sized according to the dollar volume of each vendor's sponsorship level).

Stephens contacted each vendor sponsor to explain the reasons for and benefits of the switch to e-publishing, and notes that "their acceptance was phenomenal. If even one had said 'no,' we wouldn't have gone ahead; but everyone bought in." Despite numerous requests from additional companies asking to be added as advertising sponsors once the advantages of the electronic format became known, only those vendor sponsors who had signed up at the beginning of 2003 were allowed to place ads during the year.

Standardizing the production

The first issue of the new electronic newsletter was distributed in August 2003. It and all subsequent issues are archived on the chapter Web site, www.atlanta-ala.org, and available for viewing and forwarding at any time. The newsletters actually reside on the server of eLawMarketing, which handles the electronic distribution and archiving.

All stories, illustrations and vendor ad artwork are now submitted electronically to Cohen Pollock's Todd Wiggins, who assumed responsibilities from Goldman earlier this year. Each issue takes approximately 20 hours to prepare, and is done with formatting help from eLawMarketing. The chapter Board reviews the stories before they are used. With four issues now completed, member enthusiasm is such that each issue brings offers to write stories.

Wiggins notes that because the full text of articles is accessed by "read more" links on the newsletter cover page, "a good article doesn't have to be limited-it can be as long as it needs to be." The electronic format also allows for ease of correcting typos, adding additional material (such as a link to a model exit interview form contained in one recent issue), and inserting ads. Stock photos supplied by eLawMarketing add visual impact.

Leveraging the capabilities

Stephens asserts that "there are bells and whistles to the newsletter format that we haven't yet begun to explore," but those that the chapter is utilizing illustrate the tremendous capabilities of Web-based production and distribution:

• Regular interactive communication with members is carried out through the newsletter and its chapter Web site links. Meeting notices, dues notices, calls for election of officers, Board and committee news are just some of the items handled electronically.

• Because eLawMarketing handles the entire distribution process, cost and time are both dramatically reduced. Web-based distribution also allows for statistically assessing the readership of each issue: number of copies opened, how often they're read, and number of click throughs per issue. (Interestingly enough, the most popular article in a recent newsletter issue was a tongue-in-cheek look at suggested office pranks - suggesting that law firm administrators are always looking for new ways to have fun on the job.)

• Electronic bounce-back of returns allows instant correction of the distribution list-and chapter members can correct their own information online.

• With the ease of electronic forwarding, the reach of the newsletter (and its publicity for the chapter) extends well beyond the 260 copy quarterly distribution

Assessing the change

With his second and final term as chapter President drawing to a close, Stephens firmly believes that the change to electronic communication has been a success. Cost savings, member interaction, sponsor support, production quality and efficiency, and distribution effectiveness all have met and exceeded expectations. The biggest unanticipated challenge of electronic distribution has come from the filters that the firms of many members have installed to block bulk spam emailers. "We constantly urge members to contact their IT people and give us clearance, but the fact that we have bulk electronic distribution still sometimes catches us in spam-blocking mechanisms," he says. The pros of going paperless still far outweigh the cons, however, and Stephens sees a not-too-distant day when all chapter membership communication is paperless and centered around the newsletter and Web site.

John Toth is an experienced writer, editor and researcher working with legal marketers and law firms nationwide. John can be reached at johnmtoth@earthlink.net or 414.332.7437.
(Originally published in Legal Marketing Technology - August 15th, 2004)

Editor: Debra F. Goldman (DGoldman@GMLJ.com) (This publication is the property of the Atlanta Association of Legal Administrators. Reproduction or reprint without prior permission is strictly prohibited. Click here to request reprint permission.)

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