In their January LMA Midwest presentation titled “Leveraging Ongoing Market Intelligence to Initiate and Sustain Thought Leadership Strategies,” Mark E. Young, president and Paul Kavanaugh, client development manager of ShiftCentral discussed how to turn a firm’s market intelligence” into action.
They began by discussing the importance of developing a strategy and defining your audience. Attorneys need to understand their client’s needs and help educate them. It is important to find your sweet spots. As a “thought leader,” figure out industry trends, know the market, know your competition and understand your brand. Involve your attorneys early on with your plan and “find your champions,” meaning find those attorneys who are good marketers. Partners are almost universally the best option.
As a marketer, it is crucial for you to figure out what is most valuable to your client and what will represent opportunity for your firm. Start by doing a discovery and needs assessment. Once that is complete, your next step is building a map to help bring new team members up to speed. This will be a valuable tool for everyone involved.
Next, put all of this content in an editorial calendar. Make sure what you are doing is relevant, focused and targeted to your audience. Make sure what you do is timely and current. Be consistent so your client knows when to expect more and remain engaged.
There are several ways to disperse information to your client. Firms can send clients weekly or monthly email blasts, write blogs, tweet, build a microsite, etc. All these options will provide exposure as long as the content is current, consistent and pertinent to your client’s needs.
Remember to use all sources available to you, including Google News, TweetDeck, Law360, Thomson Reuters, etc. If you have news that only makes sense for a specific client, send it only to them, rather than sending an email blast. Encourage your partners to blog, but only if they show interest and will publish posts a consistent basis. If you tweet, re-write headlines and tweet other’s articles, but again, keep in mind what is important to your clients.
Create an action list for your attorneys. Coach them on how to share pertinent information with clients. Be sure to recycle content after presentations so you can recreate and redistribute them when appropriate.
Once you have reviewed your market intelligence, attorneys can reach out to prospects and share this information. If they read something impressive, they can contact the journalist and share their opinion. Developing that relationship will increase your firm’s visibility.
Dispersing your ongoing market intelligence consistently will bring your firm results. Good measurements of ROI include more meaningful face time with clients, positive feedback, media attention and increased speaking engagements. These actions will make your firm more respected, recognized, and profitable.
Sheri Wolfe has been with Traub Lieberman Straus & Shrewsberry since July, 2008. She is the marketing coordinator for TLSS and focuses on the firm’s business development efforts, social media, website development, corporate event planning and communications. Prior to joining TLSS, she spent 12 years in the advertising industry.