Law Firm Marketing and Business Development

We hear more and more that exceptional client service and in-depth knowledge of the clients' business and industry are the differentiators in keeping current clients and winning new ones. Value far outweighs cost when it comes to long-term client relationships, bet-the-company work and ongoing client success.

Technology is changing more rapidly than ever impacting our work, and personal lives. With technology playing such a huge role, it is important for legal marketers to be familiar with technology trends to understand the potential impact on our clients and law firm.

With the intense competition for new legal work, demands on lawyers' available time and the increasing discounts clients demand, it's getting harder for law firms operating under a billable-hour business model to support the consistent development of new legal work by investing in and maintaining a marketing department alone.

As more and more attorneys realize that turning to mental awareness education and consulting is a sign of strength and not weakness, the ship of despair is beginning its turn toward better days of mentally strong and agile teams. So, where does one start this new practice? Enter emotional intelligence.

Law firms are clearly in important player in the legal services value stream; as the legal operations movement continues to take hold in corporate client organizations, in-house teams are looking to outside law firms to join them in their efforts to reduce operating costs, improve staffing, take greater advantage of technology, and improve project management processes.

One of the most effective components of legal marketing is thought leadership content. With today's available palette of media tools, law firms are able to design, build and customize the content that their client's experience like never before. Ensuring that this "content experience" is profound and impactful is a necessary and critical endeavor.

Requests for discounts have become a routine step in the legal services purchasing process. Lawyers face the uncomfortable task of defending their billing rates in both RFPs and client pitches. But too often, lawyers don't make an effort to resist giving a discount when asked. Mostly because they haven't been trained in how to do it.

In an era of "what's in it for me," leaders seeking to ensure the long-term well-being of the firm and its talent often find change initiatives especially challenging.