'Professional Development:' Those Were the Days: Lessons from Silicon Valley's Marketing Culture

And, while being in the heart of the technology sector during that exciting time certainly had its share of challenges and frustrations, there were elements of the corporate culture and characteristics of the passionate employees that helped shape my perspective on the critical role marketing could (and should) play in driving tangible and bottom-line business results. Further, I am confident that those shaping influences, when applied to law firms, can help us legal marketers realize even greater returns for our internal and external clients.

Results. Results. Results.

Hall of Fame basketball player and coach John Wooden said: “Don't mistake activity for achievement.” His words highlight the difference between work and honest to goodness getting stuff done. Phrased differently, just because you are busy does not mean you are accomplishing anything.

Far too often, legal marketers use metrics that show activity, not results, and even fewer connect the results to bottom-line metrics that matter to firm leadership. In addition, marketers frequently frame discussions in terms of costs. This approach simply perpetuates the perception that marketing is a cost center. From my experience in successful technology environments, every effort should be made to use return on investment justifications for every marketing endeavor, to forecast short- and long-term results, and to demonstrate marketing's impact on hard metrics such as revenue and growth. By talking about marketing in the same financial language as that used by firm leadership, CMOs may establish and elevate the marketing function as a key revenue driver alongside other mainstay business development activities.

Outside-In vs. Inside-Out Thinking

For some time, there appears to have been two ruling paradigms in business: the inside-out approach and the outside-in approach. The inside-out approach is guided by the belief that the inner strengths and capabilities of an organization will make the organization prevail. The outside-in approach, the one embraced by most successful technology companies, is instead guided by the belief that client value creation, orientation, and experience are the keys to success.