Driving Business Development with Strategic PR
Notes taken by Elora Schatzker, Freelance Law Firm Marketer
This highly informative and interactive session featured a lively interaction between panellists Stephen Hastings (Fasken Martineau), Liz Wall (Pryor Cashman) and Drew Hasselback (Financial Post) and moderator Vivian Hood (Jaffe PR).
Some of the valuable observations and tips that came out of the session include:
- Stephen Hastings noted that PR can be an effective component of an integrated business development initiative, giving audience members the example of his firm’s Supreme Court initiative. This project included seminars, newsletters, social media and public relations to build the firm’s brand as an expert source on SCC matters.
- Drew Hasselback noted that a good relationship between a firm and the media flows both ways. While he appreciates having access to Fasken lawyers, he also telegraphs upcoming story themes to Stephen.
- On the subject of speed, Liz Wall shared a cautionary tale about one of her lawyers who was not only pre-empted on a story, but lost a chance to share his side effectively because he didn’t want to move too fast with it. Stephen concurred, noting that in the Twitter age, the difference between new and old is growing shorter and shorter.
- Drew noted that since law firms can now be named in class action suits, “That’s going to be a sexy story” and any law firm who is a party to a class action should be prepared to be named in the headline.
- Liz reminded the audience that social media allows any member of a firm to comment or become involved in a story, making it critical to ensure that everyone knows the identity of the firm spokesperson.
- Stephen and Liz both agreed that while clippings and other media mentions can be useful as recruitment tools, stories and articles should be crafted to suit each media vehicle, rather than simply repurposed.
- Stephen and Liz agreed that PR efforts should be tracked, measured and analyzed just like any other business development tactic. Although Stephen stated “there is no straight line from coverage to business” he did explain that there is great value in tracking the firm’s coverage to quantify a return on effort. He also noted that he had recently used the results of a pilot project to successfully argue his case to add another staff member to his team.