For the Defense - Vol. 7, Issue 4 - 52

In many firms, it gets short shrift in terms of budgets and resources.
And when unsettling economic rumors fly, marketing is often one
of the first functions to be cut back. None of this is surprising,
considering that a lot of marketing is done reactively.
Rather than proactive strategy and tactical implementation
aligned with business development objectives, marketing is often
in response to a random, triggering event. For example, a meeting
with a client or prospect reveals that marketing materials like bios
and practice descriptions are out of date and need to be revised
ASAP. Sometimes the situation triggering the focus on marketing
is more dire: a missed opportunity for work, work that goes to a
competitor, or a change in leadership that puts a client relationship
in jeopardy.
Adopting a marketing mindset requires thinking about marketing
proactively, not reactively. It means thinking about your practice
from a client-focused and market-driven perspective. Identify your
clients' needs, wants, and challenges, and then position you and
your work as the solution. As you move from reactive to proactive,
you replace ad hoc or situational marketing with forward-looking
strategies for shaping your service offerings to take advantage of
opportunities in your target market.
When you view marketing from this more holistic perspective,
it evolves from a nonessential expense on your balance sheet to a
revenue-generating core function that drives the strategic path and
growth of your practice.
Get Ruthless-With Yourself
Do you feel like you worked hard at your marketing in 2022? Or
maybe too hard? I hear you. Working on your practice (not in your
practice) is time consuming and stressful, especially when you have
client work to accomplish.
Perhaps you were working too hard in the wrong places. For
example, were you distracted by tempting offers to write or speak
that didn't exactly reach your target audience for clients or referrals?
The new year is the perfect time to recommit to valuing your
time and effort, to taking only those opportunities that align with
your business objectives and that put you in front of your target
audience. In 2023, have the resolve to ruthlessly reject the rest.
Each time you're presented with a marketing opportunity, ask
yourself:
* Does this put me in front of people who would hire me
or people who influence those decisions?
* Does it showcase my experience or help me gain an
entry into a new area?
* Is it likely to give me a good return on the time and
resources I will be required to invest?
If the opportunity doesn't advance your objectives, pass on it.
52 For The Defense l Vol. 7, Issue 4
'Fess up: How many times did you look at or revise your bio or
LinkedIn profile this year? In today's digitally driven professional
world, a stale bio or LinkedIn profile means missed opportunities.
Clients, prospects, and referral sources view lawyer bios and digital
profiles as key information in making legal hiring decisions. In fact,
lawyer bios are consistently the most visited pages on law firm
websites.
Yet, most lawyers fail to keep their bios up to date-going
months (even years) without a refresh.
Regularly reviewing and updating your professional profile
is much easier than a wholesale rewrite at the last minute when
you need it for a pitch, RFP, or presentation. It also reduces the risk
of forgetting about accomplishments and results that should be
posted for others to see. Hit the ground running in 2023 by taking
an hour or two now to review and revise your bio and LinkedIn
profile.
Get Just a Little More Social - In Person and Virtually
After the past couple of years, we're all still a little wary about
in-person networking. And, frankly, hunkering down at our home
office desks, kitchen tables or even in our eerily quiet offices might
seem safer, and in some ways easier, than putting ourselves out
there to network.
If you can't answer yes to those questions with 100% confidence,
then you are likely missing out on cross-selling and referral
opportunities. Cross-selling (within your firm) and referrals (from
lawyers and others outside your firm) are some of the most efficient
and effective business development tools for business growth. If we
should find ourselves in a recession these cost-effective tools are
even more vital.
It is your responsibility to make sure that your colleagues and
connections have what they need to sell your knowledge, skill, and
expertise to their own clients and colleagues. You are the expert
in your practice, and you can't assume they know what you do,
how you do it, or the clients you do it for. They need the right
information to transmit your marketing message to their clients
and connections, to both identify areas where your expertise might
help a client and to make an informed introduction. After that, it's
your opportunity to win the work.
It is always the right time to get proactive about marketing to
your colleagues - and, in 2023, it might turn out to be imperative to
your business development success.
Uplevel Your Professional Bios
Market to Your Colleagues
Do other lawyers in your firm know what you do? Can people
in your network and your referral sources accurately and positively
convey the scope of your work to others?
For the Defense - Vol. 7, Issue 4

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