HHM’s Alan Wenger, here on Vindy Talk Radio, is frequently consulted by news professionals.
One of the region’s oldest law firms has relied on new-era content marketing to become the top legal voice for landowners in this part of the Utica Shale.
Lawyers from Harrington, Hoppe & Mitchell, Ltd., established in 1834, have used blogs, an email newsletter, seminars, presentation slides and handouts, media interviews, bylined articles and networking events to demonstrate their expertise in the many legal issues associated with oil and gas development – lease negotiations and amendments, easements, contract disputes, taxation, estate planning and more.
“Sharing knowledge can be very time-consuming, but it is the best way to show value to potential clients who need good lawyers,” said Alan D. Wenger, who has practiced law for 36 years and leads HHM and its oil and gas law group.
“At times we have felt as if we were giving away legal service. But we would prefer to err on this side of the issue and have found this approach to be productive.”
Starting up
As oil companies escalated the pace of land leasing in 2010, HHM started hosting seminars to educate landowners and landowner groups.
The first such seminar, held in October 2010 at the Dutch Village Inn in Columbiana, drew so much response – with very little promotion – that HHM added a second session at the venue. Hundreds of landowners attended the two seminars, and many took home HHM literature and/or signed up for the firm’s quarterly newsletter, The Solutions Letter.
That session also hatched one of HHM’s foremost business-development strategies – working through landowner groups. Such groups, like the Associated Landowners of the Ohio Valley, or ALOV, and Standing United Really Excels, or SURE, act as representatives for landowners and can spread the cost of legal services, research and other must-haves over many landowners.
Largely as a result of its work with ALOV, HHM has participated in negotiations for oil and gas leases involving thousands of landowners.
HHM stays in touch with landowners through the Solutions Letter, guidance pieces on its Solutions@Law blog, seminars on a variety of legal topics and of course its now-voluminous book of oil & gas work. The firm has also reworked its seminar presentations as educational booklets for agricultural and government leaders.
Wenger has spoken frequently at seminars for other lawyers and has been quoted extensively by local news reporters.
The future
HHM’s approach provides a blueprint for other professional services firms that want to be known for their expertise, says Dan Pecchia of Pecchia Communications, the public relations and marketing firm that has supported HHM since 2006.
“Sharing content is a great way to convey knowledge,” Pecchia said. “It can also help shape decisions by advanced consumers who are comparing whatever content you’re sharing with the information your competitors are sharing.”
Content that demonstrates expertise could include blogs, FAQs, client memos, case studies, videos, images or other documents a company creates on its own. It can also include content from others — testimonials from customers or links to news coverage, published works or interactive forums.
As time passes and more people who grew up with the internet move into company leadership positions, the importance of content will increase, Pecchia said.
“The internet has leveled the ivory towers,” he said. “Many consumers are making assessments about who is an expert and who is not, based on information they can find on their own. Professionals who realize this and have strategies for developing and sharing good content will be more successful than those who do not.”
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