Content writing for single entity business (The use of I)

[donsilvernail]

Most of my clients consist of single entity law firms in which my clients repeatedly use the pronoun "I" to describe every service they provide.

I have always preferred using the business name The Law Office of..." put lawyer name here".

Is it ok to repetitively use the pronoun "I" in the content. To me it feels lack luster and childish not very professional, however I have a hard time convincing the lawyers of this.

What are your thoughts? Can good content be written with the repetitive use of "I"? If not is the business name sufficient or maybe another pronoun?

I will be showing responses to my clients if that is ok.

[MiriamEllis]

Hey Donald,

What I'm understanding is that your clients use

"I offer estate planning services"

as opposed to

"At Adams Law, comprehensive estate planning services have been designed to help you ..."

And that you feel the second example seems more professional. I can see where you're coming from. I can also see that overuse of the word 'I' can start to look rather narcissistic. There's an anecdote about Teddy Roosevelt writing a book so full of the word 'I' that his typesetters had to purchase more of that letter! And, interestingly, this same topic has been coming up in the 2016 primary cycle in which pundits are counting the number of times one Democratic candidate is using the word 'I' vs. the other using the word 'we'. The upshot is, at least in my view, that pronouns definitely set a tone and say a lot about a person or a business. Here's what I think:

1. Legal firms are supposed to sound professional because they deal in matters of serious import for their clients. Most people would not want to entrust their legal affairs to a law firm that seems sloppy or careless. So, a small but significant signal of professionalism is the company's name. Adams Attorneys At Law sounds very official, right? More so than "I do law and stuff like that." would. Then, too, web copy should always be modestly optimized with a brand's name, just for the sake of associating the brand's content with the brand's name in the user's mind.

2. However, mention of the brand's name does not need to exclude use of personal pronouns like 'We' or 'I'. As in, "I want every client of Adams Law to be empowered with accessible, affordable counsel." Or "We will make sure you feel comfortable at Adams Law from your first phone call, to your first meeting, to your final settlement." You can use both. A key point of using first person pronouns is to indicate that a human being or group of humans are communicating something. This is meant to engender a sense of approachability - of someone manning the ship, right? "We are here to help you" is more indicative of a personal communication than "Adams Law exists to help clients".

3. But how far you go with with this depends on the culture of your business. A lawyer who deals with family law may want to project more personal empathy than one who deals with taxes. Or, one who is managing wealth may want to project more of an energetic, hip vibe than one who is trying to appear aggressive because he takes criminal cases.

4. I've written copy for so many different industries over the past 10+ years and my preferred pronoun for nearly all business models is actually not 'I' or 'We'. It's 'YOU'. For most business models, I advocate that 'you' be the most frequently used pronoun, and that 'I' or 'We' come second to that and the brand comes third. How you finesse this relates to how formally a business interacts with its customers. From stuffy to downright laid back, knowing the preferred tone of a client's culture is what should set the tone for all copy, creating consistency and a clear message.

Hope this helps!

[AHC_SEO]

The client can still write their content using the pronoun 'I'. Your copywriters could adjust that content using pronouns such as 'they', and then see if your client prefers the amended content.

[donsilvernail]

Trevor,

I am very much in agreement with you.

[AHC_SEO]

Personally, I think readers of content written in the first person are less likely to trust and like what is being conveyed. A person or company that talks about themselves is much less credible than that person or company being talked about by someone else. Show your clients examples of first-person writing vs. third-person writing and see which they prefer. As you say, client is boss.

[donsilvernail]

Many of my web design clients like to write their own content instead of having my copywriter do it. Sometimes this works out, most times it does not. I ask this question because many of my lawyer clients love to write their own content and this "I"  is consistent amongst all of them who do write their own.

It is not how I would write it and I recommend other options but the client is boss!

[EGOL]

I don't think that there is anything wrong with using the word "I" in these situations.  I believe that it is a matter of personal style.    I see it as more "transparent" than if the attorney used "The Law Firm of..." as that might convey to some people that there are multiple attorneys at the office and that my work might be given to associates.  It would make me feel that my work is going to be done by "The Man" or "The Woman" who is the face of the firm.

The only downside of this, is if the attorney does take on associates or partners in the future, then these articles would need to be edited for any service for which the work will be shared or for which the primary attorney will not be determining the philosophy and methods that will be used and holding signature authority over each job.

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Applying this to SEO...  If I hired someone to work on my websites and they were outsourcing that work to others, I would not be happy with that being done undisclosed.   If others are being used, I would want to know who is making changes to my site and be able to have full faith in their work, integrity and competence.   I realize that this is common practice by many individual SEO providers, just saying that I would not like it.