Most firms have some form of database, whether it's a CRM system, an experience database, and/or a proposal/packet generator. Although valuable on their own, these systems will do much more for you if they are integrated with each other.
What is an "Integrated" Marketing System?
Think of clients/prospects as the hub of all marketing data. Contacts, proposals, professionals, and representative experience should all link to clients. By integrating the process from capturing prospective clients and contacts through providing proposal or packet materials, to tracking information about completed projects, including the project value and case highlights, you can find out what type of work is the most profitable, and where that work is coming from.
At the top level, it should track your success stories as well as your failures from cradle to grave. You should be able to identify what the firm does well and what it doesn't do so well. You should be able to identify what marketing efforts have been successful and what efforts have fallen short.
What Are the Benefits?
- When you have an integrated database, you can avoid a lot of duplicate data entry.
- A well-designed and fully-integrated software solution will ensure that your firm's data is appropriately cross-linked while minimizing the effort to do so.
- By tracking your marketing efforts over time, you'll be able to measure the effectiveness of those marketing activities.
- Best of all, you'll be building a history of relevant experience that can be mined for future proposals and quantified for senior leadership.
By Elaine Noble, Partner and Creative Director for Noble Pursuits LLC, providing legal marketing software (www.noblepursuits.com), websites, and graphic design (www.noblecapture.com) for the March/April 2012 Issue of the Capital Ideas Newsletter.