by Mike Mellor
Each time I go to the LMA 2017 Annual Conference, I am inspired and excited (though a bit weary from all of the fun and learning!). While I couldn't attend every breakout or pre-conference session, there seemed to be a ton of good content this year, mostly centered on the use of technology and data to improve our marketing, communications and business development initiatives. I geeked out on a lot of it! Here were a few emergent themes I saw during this year’s conference.
Collect Data, and Use it Wisely
Whether it's through the use of platforms such as Google Analytics and Lead Forensics, or tracked internally through CRM lead scoring and social media, you need to be measuring, A/B testing, and realigning with how your clients and prospects are consuming, sharing, and engaging with you and your brand. While it can be difficult with a lack of resources and limited data technologists on your team, it makes sense to develop at least a few KPI's across each channel so that you can optimize content and add maximum value to your clients. David Brady from Vuture led a great roundtable with Jeff Berardi and Erin Meszaros, who were candid in sharing their joys, pains and priorities with us. It seems like we are all getting in the water at about the same time, and it was great to see everyone sharing best practices.
Integrate Your Strategies
In today's world, you can't have a digital or a social strategy – it all needs to be under a single umbrella and tied together to gain momentum across all of your channels. Recent developments in academia reflect that – you have seen integrated marketing communications programs popping up at Northwestern and Columbia (go Lions!), and there is a big push towards the use of integrated omnichannel strategies rather than wholly focused campaigns. Kalev Peekna of One North had an insightful (and amusing) program, where he discussed the difficulties of rolling out a big new initiative each year (i.e. the year of SEO), and got everyone thinking about systemic improvement across the board every year. The idea is that thoughtful, incremental investments in your initiatives flatten the budget, keep all items top of mind and can amplify success over time.
Engendering Cultural Change
A timely tweet from my friend Megan McKeon, who pretty much nailed one of the hardest issues that we face as legal marketers: cultural change noted, “Culture shift relies on leaders to communicate and effectuate change, and if you don’t have that, the shift can’t happen.”
I often say (and have heard from many others) that these days, we are not really so much in marketing as we are change agents, which essentially means that we spend a lot of time influencing key stakeholders and changing behaviors across the firm. How do you drive your business development agenda, effect behavioral change with staff and attorneys, and get others across the enterprise to do what is needed to succeed in an increasingly competitive market?
The answer is certainly layered, but in order to fully succeed, it definitely requires commitment from the top. One struggle that was discussed was that of ROI on your BD tactics. Attorneys want to know something works before they do it, which can lead to a bit of a chicken vs. egg scenario. Obviously using industry metrics is helpful, as are war stories and case studies, but it really comes down to two mechanisms for me: gamification and "coalitions of the willing." David Ackert led a great pre-conference exercise on this topic, which is very near and dear to my heart.
Whether you've set up some type of contest, bribed admins with gift cards and sweatshirts, or used some other type of carrot or stick approach to drive change, you'll know exactly what I mean with gamification. Adam Severson has also shared some great insights around the creative things Baker Donelson does here, and Society54 did a really nice job too.
The "coalitions of the willing" phrase I mentioned involves the concept of small changes in the enterprise, where you start with the attorneys who want your help and move up the chain from there. It closely resembles the concept of kaizen, which mandates that big results come from many small changes accumulated over time. Quite simply, you get those who want to improve their business and spend your time with them (obviously the highest and best value). Once you start to show traction and benefit, you find that more and more attorneys want to participate, until you get that critical mass. It's another tool in the shed, and I appreciate everyone who spoke, sponsored, and presented this year.
Well, enough for now, thanks to the LMA Committee! See you in NOLA!
This article was adapted from Mike Mellor’s LinkedIn LMA Conference synopsis. Read the full article here.
Mike Mellor is the firmwide director of marketing for Pryor Cashman LLP, a 160-attorney full service firm with offices in both NYC and LA. In this role, he works to identify, develop and execute omnichannel marketing and business development strategies to help drive new business for the firm. Prior to joining Pryor Cashman, Mike worked in marketing and business development roles at Katten Muchin Rosenman and Paul, Weiss. He earned his BS from the University of Maryland, an MCert from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and his MS from Columbia University. He can be reached at mmellor@pryorcashman.com.