While ranking directories are rarely the only tools used to find a firm or lawyer, in-house counsel and CEOs often turn to them as informative research sources. For these reasons alone, preparing materials and references for submission, even though time-consuming, may make sense under the right circumstances.
In nearly 30 years as a legal marketing professional, I have seen firsthand so many changes and developments in law firms' perception and treatment of business development and marketing as a business practice. Here are a few takeaways that I trust will be uplifting as you continue to pave your professional journey in legal marketing.
Conventional business development methods ignore an important part of the legal services selling process: the legal services buying process.
It is vital to have effective marketing and communications, but if legal and business professionals don't listen for — and hear — the Voice of the Client, we risk missing the mark in our strategy, messaging and positioning.
In just one hour, would it be valuable to have at least nine pieces of content that your lawyer clients may use on your website and on social media?
Reputation is everything. It only takes one misstep to cause irreparable damage to a law firm and its attorneys. As we get into 2019, it is imperative for law firms to plan for the effective management of myriad incidents that may have an adverse impact on the business of law and the reputation of the firm.
What Lawyers Can Learn From Dentists Attorneys have historically let the client lead the payment dance. Lawyers do the work and hope/expect to be paid without waiting too long or discounting the invoice too steeply. Yet, here we are at the beginning of another year with many law firms still waiting anxiously for overdue checks to arrive. Shame on us for letting this happen. What can we do differently?
"You have to spend money to make money." Or, so holds the well-worn cliché. For those firms struggling to find meaningful growth in today's market, where do they find the funds they need to spend in order to spur growth?
Finally, it has happened. You have reached the stage in your career that others want to hear from you and learn what you know in your area of expertise. You have been invited to speak at a conference. What now?
While we can't always create the need; we can work to identfy a need. Clients buy because they have a need or want, and successful salespeople do their homework to uncover this intelligence.
![Competitive Intelligence: The Wolf of Law Firms — Sell Me This [Insert Legal Service Here] Image](https://images.law.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,fit=contain/https://images.law.com/contrib/content/uploads/sites/382/2018/12/wolf_wall_st.jpg "Competitive Intelligence: The Wolf of Law Firms — Sell Me This [Insert Legal Service Here]")