Wendy Merrill is the Founder & Chief Rainmaker of StrategyHorse Consulting Group, providing leadership, professional and business development training and support to lawyers. We talked to Wendy about how lawyers can continue to nurture and develop their networks during the coronavirus crisis.
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As COVID-19 sweeps the world, our economy is quickly going down the toilet (along with stockpiles of toilet paper). Unfortunately, we are likely already in a recession. For marketers, recessions have historically been scary times. Often, marketing seems like the easiest thing to cut. But is that wise?
As a marketer, if I wrote a blog post telling you to increase marketing during a recession, I’d look a little self-serving (to say the least). So instead, I decided to look at what the research tells us about marketing during recessions.
What I found is overwhelming evidence that it pays to maintain — and in some cases increase — marketing expenditures during an economic downturn. As Peter Fader of the Wharton School said, “As companies slash advertising in a downturn, they leave empty space in consumers’ minds for aggressive marketers to make strong inroads.”
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Unless you’re living under a rock (which might be a good place to be right now), you know we are living through a global pandemic, as the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, spreads throughout the world.
While this isn’t a time to panic, it is a time for thoughtful, deliberate action. While I can’t provide technology, human resources or other operational advice, there are some crisis communications best practices that are helpful to remember when considering your firm’s approach to communicating about the virus.
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Name any major metropolitan area in the United States and it more than likely has a local edition of the American City Business Journals. Birmingham, Alabama is no exception. The Birmingham Business Journal keeps local entrepreneurs and professionals up to date on the trends and issues that affect their bottom line.
While not every Business Journal has a dedicated legal reporter, most have someone covering law firms as part of their beat. For the Birmingham Business Journal, that’s Angel Coker. She joined the publication two years ago. Before that, she was an editor at a small paper in Mississippi, and also worked at the Tuscaloosa News for three years.
We asked Angel about her beat, how she finds sources and story ideas and what she’s looking for when working with law firm marketing and PR folks.
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Bloomberg Law is known for its coverage of the business of law, particularly Big Law. It has become a go-to source for information on the legal industry as a whole, as well as specific practices with newsletters published under the Bloomberg Industry Group banner.
Rebekah Mintzer is a Deputy Team Leader with Bloomberg Law. For our Meet the Legal Media series, we asked about how she finds sources and story ideas, her preferences for working with law firm PR professionals and what tips she might share for getting coverage.
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Law firm advertising and social media. These two subjects are complicated enough on their own, not to mention when you put them together.
Unlike radio ads and the Yellow Pages of yesteryear, today’s social media platforms allow marketers to appeal to users in a more targeted and personal way than ever before.
But how much is too much? And where does that leave law firms?
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Referrals and relationships are the lifeblood of law firm marketing and business development. Thus, it makes sense that law firms request and promote client testimonials, endorsements and reviews. Instead of saying how great you are, let a client say it for you. What’s more powerful than that?
Unfortunately, it’s not that simple in the legal world, which is governed by rules of professional conduct that vary from state to state.
A majority of states have adopted the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Model Rules of Professional Conduct in various forms, including Rule 7.1 on Communications Concerning a Lawyer’s Services.
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Let’s say you’re a marketer at a regional law firm, with offices in six states. Being a consummate professional, you know that the legal profession is governed by ethics rules, which vary state by state, but are all based on (but not identical to) the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Model Rules of Professional Conduct.
Among many other things, the rules cover all forms of advertising, from the content on your website to social media and blogging. However, they are:
So, how do you market your law firm while complying with all these aggravating rules?
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It’s hard to fathom that it’s 2020. Where the heck did a decade go? I guess it’s true — time flies when you’re having rum (maybe that’s just me).
And, yes, we know you’re just now recovering from the holiday season, which can be a blur of budget planning and executing holiday marketing ideas. But, as we jump start this new decade, it’s time to get ready for what’s next.
For 2020 there are four trends that have caught our attention: the growth of niche marketing, an emphasis on consistency, the rebirth of LinkedIn and the continued dominance of email as an essential content channel.
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Ah, the holidays. A time when we’re surrounded by warm wishes, those we love — and a never-ending sales pitch to get us to spend, spend, spend. The holiday fervor seems to start earlier every year, too (I swear I saw toy Santas alongside the American flags in one store this past July 4th).
This is the noisiest time of year in consumer marketing, with brands of all kinds clamoring for attention. So why would B2B companies and professional services firms — which have much different sales cycles — choose to enter that fray? Wouldn’t it be best to just lie low and go big in January?
Unfortunately, that would mean disappearing from view for weeks, maybe even a couple of months. In today’s connected environment, that can be a death blow when you’re trying to maintain a consistent brand.
Done tactfully and in line with the spirit of the season, holiday marketing for B2B companies and professional services firms can help you maintain awareness while leaving a warm feeling behind that clients and prospects will remember all year long.
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