Articles discussing misconceptions that people or organizations have about the law or legal issues build your authority in their eyes. Here’s how to write one.
If I had to bet on the single genre of thought leadership article most likely to generate inquiries from prospective clients and referral sources, I’d bet on articles concerning misconceptions.
They’re not produced nearly as often as other forms of thought leadership articles, but you’ve probably come across one or two of them at some point in your professional reading.
They normally cover misconceptions regarding areas of the law (such as divorce or complying with a particular statute) or misconceptions about how to do certain things (like litigate or investigate certain matters, or handle certain types of transactions).
The reason why misconceptions articles can be so effective at generating inquiries from prospective clients or referral sources is that by explaining what people are likely to get wrong about an area of the law, you demonstrate knowledge and wisdom regarding that area. You’re so good at what you do that you know the kinds of issues that tend to trip people up. Obviously, clients and referral sources want to work with and send clients to attorneys who are good at what they do.
So, how exactly do you write the kinds of misconceptions articles that are likely to land with clients and referral sources? By doing these six things.
First, decide who you’re talking to
The first task at hand with a misconceptions article is to determine who the article is talking to. Who will be the audience? Are you talking to clients? Are you talking to referral sources? Are you talking to both?
Whether you serve individuals or organizations, misconceptions articles can target clients or referral sources.
For example, a personal injury attorney could talk to other personal injury attorneys (i.e., potential referral sources) about what they often get wrong when litigating traumatic brain injury cases.
Or, a complex commercial litigator at a corporate defense firm could discuss how corporate/M&A attorneys often have misconceptions about complying with a statute or avoiding litigation arising out of particular types of transactions.
With that kind of article, the litigator could be talking to in-house counsel at an organization or corporate/M&A attorneys at other law firms that don’t have a go-to litigator to refer cases to or consult with when their clients might have a litigation issue on their hands.
Second, decide the category of misconceptions your audience cares about
This sounds like common sense, but if your audience doesn’t care about the misconceptions you’re covering, they’re not going to read or even skim your article. If they don’t read your article, it can’t do its job positioning you as an authority regarding the work you do.
For this reason, even if there are misconceptions about an area of the law that you’re dying to talk about, you’ve got to be sure that your audience will care. To ensure they do, put yourself in their shoes and consider whether the misconceptions you plan to discuss would be relevant to them. If you don’t think they will—pivot to a new set of misconceptions.
For example, if you’re a personal injury attorney who handles complex cases referred by other attorneys, you know that PI attorneys who don’t handle those kinds of cases might be concerned about mishandling one, leaving money on the table and possibly exposing themselves to a malpractice claim.
Or, if you’re a commercial litigator, you know that corporate attorneys at law firms and inside organizations worry about screwing up deals and transactions that could lead to litigation, them getting fired, and maybe even a malpractice claim.
Focus on misconceptions about these issues: the kinds of legal and business issues clients and referral sources worry about. When you do, you’re subtly saying to them, “I got you. I know how to handle these issues if you’re uncomfortable handling them yourself.”
Third, decide on the number of misconceptions to cover
Now that you have an idea of the direction you’re going in terms of who you’re targeting with a misconceptions article and the misconceptions they likely have, the next step is to determine how many misconceptions to cover. I would focus on three to seven.
You’ll have to balance covering a decent number of misconceptions with the depth you’d like to go into about them.
If you want to cover six or seven, your analysis of each one should likely be a paragraph long. This number of misconceptions is appropriate for ones for which there’s not much to say.
If there are misconceptions you’d like to cover in depth, you could certainly do so, but I’d recommend covering three or four.
If you go deep with too many misconceptions, you’ll suddenly have a 2500-word article that could be tough to read. If you can’t help yourself and want to cover many misconceptions in depth, consider turning your one article into a two- (or if you really want, a three-) part series with each article topping out at between 1500 and 1800ish words.
Fourth, make sure your misconceptions reflect your real-world experience
The misconceptions you cover should be based on your experience hearing and seeing clients, attorneys, and others actually having these misconceptions.
That way, you can show, subtly or not, that you’ve seen these misconceptions (frequently?) occur in the past, which means you have a long track record of handling the kinds of issues and matters that are the basis for these misconceptions.
You could talk about high-level misconceptions, but it’s better to focus on “in the weeds” misconceptions that demonstrate your judgment, knowledge, wisdom, and experience handling those matters.
Fifth, stick your neck out a bit
In a misconceptions article, don’t be afraid to tackle issues that aren’t black and white. Stick your neck out by challenging conventional wisdom.
Why? By doing so, you show through your misconceptions article that you are so knowledgeable and wise about the area of law you’re discussing that you can call out when the majority gets things wrong. In other words, don’t be afraid to cover misconceptions that reasonable people could disagree about.
For example, you could discuss a misconception about the experts to be retained for a particular type of litigation or a negotiation style for certain types of deals.
The reason why it doesn’t hurt to cover misconceptions where people could disagree is that when you do, you suggest that you know so much about the underlying legal issues and business issues for which these misconceptions arise that you’re able to stand above the fray and point out where you think the majority is getting things wrong.
Sixth, use this three-step structure when discussing misconceptions
When you finally sit down to write your misconceptions article, here’s the structure I suggest you follow for each misconception.
First, describe the misconception.
Second, explain why people likely think that way.
Finally, explain to the audience why those people are wrong.
This structure forces you to “show your work,” which more persuasively demonstrates your knowledge and wisdom. You’re making clear that not only do you know why people are wrong for thinking a certain way, but you know why they think that way and you know why they’re getting it wrong.
Sure, a misconceptions article that focuses on what people think—that is, you describe the misconceptions and why they’re misconceptions—is probably serviceable and could still demonstrate knowledge and wisdom on behalf of the author.
But covering why people think a certain way—why they have this misconception—signals a next level of knowledge, wisdom, experience, and judgment that’s going to persuade current and prospective clients and referral sources to turn to you to help them with the legal issues and the business issues for which people have the misconceptions you discussed.
Add misconceptions articles to your thought leadership article arsenal
If you were to tally the most popular types of thought leadership articles that attorneys and other professional services providers write, I’m not sure that misconceptions articles would be in the top five or even the top 10. But they’re an immensely persuasive form of thought leadership.
You needn’t write a misconceptions article every time you write a thought leadership article; the novelty will wear off quickly. But you should consider working these articles into your thought leadership article rotation by writing them a few times a year.
By talking about the misconceptions that clients, referral sources, and other people are likely to have regarding particular legal and business issues, you’re positioning yourself as the first person they should call when those issues arise.
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