Reaching new heights

Law firm marketers have faced an uphill struggle, but the peak of success is finally in sight. By Kate Clifton

The days when law-firm marketing initiatives stretched merely to brochure production and client hospitality are, thankfully, a long and distant memory for most legal professionals.

Over the past ten years in particular, the discipline has evolved from a minor and often overlooked administrative function to a core, strategic element of the modern law firm. And although those who currently work within the industry may cringe at some of the earlier approaches to putting a firm to market, they actually serve as a reminder of just how much has been achieved by those marketers that have persevered throughout a plethora of obstacles.

The very concept of strategic marketing as we now know it was, until quite recently, something that was previously unheard of in law firms. The US marketplace cottoned on to the value that could be achieved by effective marketing in the early 1980s, but in the UK, strict Law Society regulations still prevented firms from actively advertising their services. The relaxation of these rules in 1986, therefore, posed something of a dilemma for partners and senior management.

Until that point, they had relied largely on goodwill, word of mouth and referrals to encourage prospective clients to invest in their services, and the existing culture dictated that marketing, as used by commercial businesses, had no real place at law firms.

That lack of understanding and experience, according to Gillian Khan, director of marketing at UK firm Berwin Leighton Paisner, tended to result in tactical, rather than strategic, marketing endeavours. Events and/or brochures were not always planned as effectively as they could have been, or were not aimed at any specific target group. Nor did the remit of marketing extend much beyond the firm’s letterhead or corporate hospitality.

Shifting expectations
Realistically, however, there was no reason for partners and lawyers to be ‘marketing aware’ in those early stages. They had little or no experience of it, yet, all of a sudden, with deregulation, all the doors opened to marketing and business-development opportunities. “That is why they started on what they saw as visible, simple activities,” says Khan. “They would decide on a venue where they wanted to go for instance and then invite the clients along. I don’t blame them for that – why on earth would they think otherwise?”

There has been a significant shift in recent years, though. Not least, a rapidly evolving, legal-services marketplace, with unprecedented growth, global consolidation and competition, has impacted on the legal marketing mindset. The savvy law firm is now fully aware that haphazard, ‘run of the mill’ marketing campaigns simply do not work. Differentiation, based on client-service excellence, internal and external brand awareness, sophisticated cross-selling techniques and firm-wide commercial acumen, is the watchword of modern marketing. But none of this would be possible without the rising status of the legal marketing professional.

The marketing role
Over the past few years, according to Andrew Powell, director of marketing at UK firm CMS Cameron McKenna, the actual level of understanding of legal marketing has grown dramatically, and this is having an enormous effect on the role of the marketer.

There is more of a business-development focus, so while traditional marketing activities based around communications and public relations still have a place at the modern law firm, marketers are currently experiencing great change – and significant opportunity – in their day-to-day duties.

In many cases, they are now working more closely with partners on business- critical projects – sales opportunities, tenders and proposals, for example – and are also crossing over to client-facing roles. An indicator of the growing prominence of the marketer, and changing attitudes towards their place in the firm, is the promotion of several marketing directors to board-level seniority, where they can take a more central role in a firm’s overall business development.

“What has happened so far is that people with strong marketing and communications backgrounds have evolved into business-development managers in law firms,” says Powell. “Now, we are seeing many more firms looking at the skills required for the role, and concluding that individuals need stronger sales skills and should be more client, and prospect, facing.” That trend, he says, looks likely to continue and represents the “next stage” for law firms.

Some firms are actually merging the marketing and business-development functions into one large melting pot, in a bid to gain as much competitive advantage as possible. Even when the roles are kept as separate entities, there is now much closer collaboration between the two.Beverly Landais, director of marketing and business development at international firm Baker & McKenzie LLP acknowledges that this strategic and business-oriented dimension is more evident now than ever before and her role has become much more focused. Integration and creativity, therefore, are essential. “My business-development and marketing staff are one team sharing objectives and working alongside each other to achieve this,” she says.

Khan cites a generally more advanced attitude to marketing planning and implementation, which seems to blur any distinction between marketing and business-development functions. That Khan manages both teams at Berwin Leighton Paisner also relates to the firm’s more holistic approach. “There is an awful lot more focus on clients, business and market intelligence,” she says.

“We are spending more time sourcing information to base our decisions on. There is, generally, a much better-planned approach and people are measuring their achievements.”

Anne Malloy Tucker, chief marketing officer at US firm Goodwin Procter, has a different approach, however. Although she recognises that marketing and business development are closely related, she believes that there remains a distinct line between the two functions.

“Marketing, in its broadest sense, is creating visibility based on image and positioning, and communicating effectively to your audience,” she says. “Business development is the next stage, once prospects have been identified and you have narrowed your target base. Business development involves a more customised, tailored approach.”

The client perspective and differentiation
Whether defined as marketing or business development, however, the role of marketers has changed. And that is not only down to internal change but also client expectations.

Powell has seen firms become more sophisticated, because of the competitive market. But, he adds, “Clients are also demanding more from law firms and tend to employ more strict selection processes when they look for legal services.”

Organisations scouring the market for legal services must demonstrate the value that can be achieved by working with one law firm over another. This can be challenging when law firms are frequently merging, or alternatively, de-merging to become niche practices. It is also increasingly difficult to distinguish between firms, when technical excellence is increasingly taken as a given.

Powell mentions that clients have often expressed that they are unable to distinguish between firms during the tender process and this is an area that his department is having to address on a daily basis. And some firms do not make it any easier for themselves. “Look at any law-firm website and they tend to say something along the lines of ‘We are a leading international law firm’ and there is very little beyond that,” he says. “It means absolutely nothing.”

For Malloy Tucker, differentiation is a tough challenge, which marketing departments need to tackle head on. And it all boils down to effective planning and communication around the entire firm. Without this, more often than not, firms will struggle to cope, so focus is imperative.

“Firms are currently very broad in how they position themselves on the market,” she says. “They have not done the hard work of prioritising which practices, industries or focus areas will get the support of the marketing department. This forces marketing to spread itself very thinly. If there is no focus, the firm will simply not have the resources to cope, so there must be clearly defined objectives.”

Landais, agrees that a more ‘grown-up’ approach is vital and that clients are no longer impressed by what she refers to as “glossy fluff” – brochures, basic public relations and communications initiatives. Instead, a more pragmatic approach is needed. “Clients want a much more tailored, appropriate service than in the past,” she says.

That is a view that is widely recognised throughout the industry and marketers are now channelling their energies into innovative and more challenging campaigns. While events still play a part in these, even they are becoming more client-focused and represent an opportunity for extensive networking and client assessment.

Client-relationship management
The combination of a more sophisticated, strategic focus and superior client-relationship management (CRM) is, undoubtedly, at the heart of most law firms’ marketing activities today. Not only in attracting new clients, but in retaining those already using the firm’s services by making sure that all of their requirements are catered for.

Actual interpretations of CRM tend to vary across firms. For some, it represents technology, that is, the implementation of software to automate and improve key-account management through improved procedures and workflow.

Increasingly, though, marketers are seeing CRM as a cultural factor, which requires everybody in the firm to engage in the right behaviours to better understand and satisfy client requirements. Because it often involves gaining the buy-in of lawyers to change their approach to clients, CRM is also involving marketers in a firm-wide educational process.

This involvement in CRM, is also bringing marketers into direct contact with clients. “There have always been concerns over allowing non-lawyers to talk to clients and prospects,” says Powell. But that is changing as marketers communicate more with partners and get involved in helping them to prepare for meetings. “As a result, we are now more often invited to meetings, if only as an observer, but we can build on that,” he says.

Khan adds that her involvement in CRM has actually helped her win the buy-in of partners and senior management. “My mantra, the way I got partners to focus on what I consider to be intelligent marketing, was by basing it on clients,” she says. “This has been one of the easier tasks, as they are already fully aware of just how important clients are to business.”

Client feedback
Firms are taking a more proactive approach and are actively seeking to find out exactly what makes their clients tick. The most popular mechanisms for achieving this are in-depth client-satisfaction reviews and research programmes – essentially, tapping into the mindset of clients. Then, most importantly, using the information gleaned to its maximum potential.

In the past, law firms have sometimes been criticised for spending a huge amount of time and resources in implementing client-review programmes, but not actually acting on the results that they obtain. Marketers are becoming increasingly aware that this is an unproductive way to conduct business and are building thorough examination of the issues raised by clients into their overall strategies.

For Landais, that is one of the developments that is making her role within the firm so exciting. “Clients are now willing to stand up and say their piece, especially as those things that were once added value are now often considered by clients as standard practice,” she says. “Law-firm marketers have a responsibility to take that information and use it to inform investment decisions. Our business-development staff work with lawyers in exactly this way; we cultivate a healthy obsessive about using feedback that we gain from client-care reviews to drive improvement.”

At Berwin Leighton Paisner, Khan took this concept and ran with it by getting the entire firm actively involved in the marketing department’s client-service programme. This involved taking groups of people out of the practice to take part in three-hour workshops. The groups were selected from different areas of the firm to ensure a wide range of talent and perspectives. “We asked them to formulate action plans to make our client service fantastic,” says Khan.

Defining good service
Good service can often boil down to the most obvious, everyday job functions. Communications director Gillian Gilthorpe recently implemented a service-excellence programme at her firm, Robert Muckle LLP. This was based on the firm’s recent tour of US companies, where they learnt client-service techniques from an often more client-orientated market. The consequent programme devised for Robert Muckle includes everything from high-quality staff recruitment and training, to the most common everyday tasks, such as telephone handling.

As obvious as it may sound, small details like this can make all the difference in how a firm is perceived by clients and prospects. Khan has also spent time with secretaries, ensuring that the best possible image is conveyed when people call into the firm.

“In my experience, you have to approach things from numerous angles to change peoples’ perception and understanding of what you are trying to achieve,” she says. “This applies to any kind of marketing.”

Reaching the peak
In some ways, attitudes seem to have come full-circle, as law firms become increasingly reliant on their marketing and business-development departments. “On occasion, groups and individuals are too heavily dependent on us, so one of the issues we are facing is how to make the practice more self sufficient,” says Powell.

That marketing departments have got so far is testament to the huge commitment of some marketing professionals that have led the way over numerous hurdles – but there is still so much more to achieve in getting firms to practice sophisticated marketing. One plus is that the legal sector is now, at least, taking lessons from the marketing successes of commercial business. And, in keeping with the prevailing mood, Khan remains positive. “What we have in this sector is a group of very motivated people and I can’t see us failing,” she says. “Everyone is keen; we are bringing better people in to the industry and are gradually chipping away at existing barriers.”

One thing is for certain: marketing, in most cases, is now gaining the support that is deserves and the future looks promising. As the role of the marketer continues to develop, and its prominence reaches new heights, the legal marketing landscape looks set to be incredibly exciting. It has been a long, hard climb – but the peak of achievement is now in sight.