A local law firm has been sending me well-written articles for ten years. I have enjoyed reading them as they are highly applicable to financial planning, and I’ve often have wanted to share. However, they are never uploaded to any public website. It’s direct email access only for some reason…
Today, I on a hunch googled a passage and found the exact same article on another lawyer’s LinkedIn profile over 1,000 miles away.
Apparently, it’s a paid ghostwriting service, but there is nothing that explicitly shares that in their emails.
I feel duped.
At least this explains why it’s not on their website; it’s no doubt a rule in the paid contract that the other lawyer is breaking. I tracked down the source, and I too can get these articles for the low low price of under $400 a year!
This is a common marketing practice in other professions like real estate, heck even financial advising. But I have always felt like paying for canned content isn’t authentic, and frankly, it’s usually pretty transparent, too.
Full disclosure, in the past we have used some of this stuff, and our website comes with a library of references and even email marketing that we don’t really use. The argument is, the content might be helpful and why re-create the wheel.
But I was still absolutely mortified when I got a “Happy 4th of July” from the automated system recently. Thankfully, I don’t think many people are signed up for the list.
If you are checking into hiring a real expert or thought leader, Google passages of some of their claimed content with quotes around it.
If it shows up somewhere else, they might be taking other shortcuts too.
Thanks for taking a look!
Tom
This article represents opinions of the authors and not those of their firm and are subject to change from time to time, and do not constitute a recommendation to purchase and sale any security nor to engage in any particular investment or legal strategy. The information contained here has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable but cannot be guaranteed for accuracy.