Spread the cheer! How to do holiday marketing the right way for B2B and professional services

November 20, 2019

Spread the cheer! How to do holiday marketing the right way for B2B and professional services

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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Boo! Five scary pitfalls to avoid during law firm marketing budget season

October 24, 2019

Boo! Five Scary Pitfalls to Avoid During Law Firm Marketing Budget Season

*Foreboding, creepy music plays*

Our law firm marketer hero is alone in the office, at her desk. Everyone else went home hours ago. It’s deathly silent, aside from the echoing sound of her keystrokes as she sets up tomorrow’s social media posts on Buffer. She’s just about done. She can go home after a long day of helping build the financial future of her firm.

*Ping*

An email? At this hour? Annoyed, she switches windows to look at the offending message. Annoyance morphs slowly into creeping dread and then abject horror as she reads the name of the sender and the subject line. 

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From blah to ah-ha! How to write law firm case studies that win new business

September 24, 2019

From Blah to Ah-Ha! How to Write Law Firm Case Studies That Win New Business

This post was first published on Law Journal Newsletters.

Visit any law firm’s website and you’ll find bulleted lists of representative matters and deals that look like this:

  • Represented leading international retailer and several of its officers and directors in securities class action and shareholder derivative suits.
  • Represented an investment fund in connection with a $500 million secured credit facility.

This might be the most wasted opportunity in the land of wasted opportunities called Law Firm Marketing. While laundry lists of every single matter an attorney has ever touched may be helpful on a resume, it’s much less effective for law firm marketing goals. 

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What to do when the media gets it wrong

July 17, 2019

What to do when the media gets it wrong

You carefully craft a press release. You go through rounds of internal edits and approvals. The quote is massaged more than LeBron James’ ego. You send it out to the media… and the published story has errors.

Sigh.

Unfortunately, this scenario is becoming all too common. In today’s web-driven, social media-centric news landscape, some journalists can prioritize being first more than being accurate. The reality is that reporters are forced to do more with less and crank out stories faster than ever before.

At the same time, misinformation now spreads faster than measles at an anti-vaxxers convention. And, once people are exposed to misinformation, it’s incredibly difficult to remove its influence. As the saying goes, mud sticks. So what can you do if the media gets your facts wrong?

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13 blogs legal marketers should follow

July 2, 2019

13 blogs legal marketers should follow

I love a good Stephen King book — and not just because I’m into spooky stories and horror movies. The man can write. He knows how to develop characters, build suspense and illuminate intricacies of the human condition.

Like a lot of things in life, great writing comes with practice and learning from others.

King’s advice? “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”

So, if you want to be a better legal marketer and produce results that get noticed by your supervising attorneys, don’t stop learning. Stay current by following thought leaders and reading blogs that share what’s new and what’s next in legal marketing.

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The hidden costs of cutting your legal marketing budget

June 19, 2019

The Hidden Costs of Cutting your Legal Marketing Budget

Note: This post was first published on the Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute blog

It’s the classic chicken-and-egg problem: You don’t have money to invest in marketing, but you need marketing to grow. And while there are plenty of studies clearly demonstrating a direct link between law firms’ marketing investment and financial growth, many firms still choose to cut back on marketing when money gets tight.

This was one of the findings from a recent study by the Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute. In the 2018 Dynamic Law Firms Survey, law firms categorized as “static” (no growth or contraction) reduced their marketing spend by 1.7% in 2017. That’s a 5% point difference from “dynamic” (high-growth) firms, which grew their marketing spend by 3.4%.

So why do many law firms still axe the marketing budget first when looking to save money? My guess is that there’s a lack of understanding surrounding the many hidden costs of cutting marketing. Below are seven of these tangible, day-to-day losses and how they impact a law firm long after the financial crunch is over.

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7 decisions to make before beginning a content project

June 6, 2019

7 decisions to make before beginning a content project

Content projects — such as website updates and new bios, practice group descriptions, case studies and project descriptions — may seem simple at first glance. Just figure out what needs to be written, do the research, conduct subject-matter-expert interviews and start writing…. Right?

Not so fast.

Before you ever set fingers to keyboard, you must first make several key decisions that will guide your content project, saving you from future headaches, disagreements and inconsistent (and thus unprofessional) content.

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Differentiate your law firm marketing with personality and a unique voice

May 22, 2019

Differentiate your law firm marketing with personality and a unique voice

What does your law firm’s marketing content say? Does it have a voice? Is anyone listening?

Nowadays, all of us — yes, that includes your firm’s clients and potential clients — are inundated with emails, advertisements, notifications and social media posts around the clock.

That means standing out is more important than ever… but that can be hard for a buttoned-up law firm.

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Law firm diversity: How to showcase your efforts (and not be fake)

May 7, 2019

How to showcase your law firm diversity (and not be fake)

The issue of diversity in the modern law firm is a hot issue right now, and rightfully so: Recent figures from the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) show that in 2018, just one in five equity partners were women (19.6%) and only 6.6% were racial/ethnic minorities.

And just earlier this year, the all-white partner class at an elite law firm stirred a national debate on law firm diversity, including in-depth coverage in The New York Times. (Yeah, you can’t exactly sweep them under the rug.)

This conversation has left numerous managing partners, diversity committees and legal marketers asking:

  • Just how diverse is our firm?
  • Do we do enough to showcase our diversity?
  • What does diversity truly mean at its core?

Spoiler alert: Simply having an inactive “diversity committee” isn’t enough.

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Lessons from the 2019 Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference

April 12, 2019

This week, more than 1,500 attendees gathered in Atlanta, Georgia, for the 2019 Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference. I try to attend the conference every year, as it’s one of the best networking and educational opportunities in the legal marketing profession.

While I couldn’t attend every session (I’m good, but I ain’t that good), I wanted to give you a brief overview of three sessions covering three different, but critical topics: diversity, economic trends and marketing technology.

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