[From Katherine L. Galbreath and Walter D. McCorkle, Marketing Technology Coordinators at law firm Bradley, here's a succinct recap of takeaways from the recent LMA Technology Midwest conference that unfolded in Chicago:]
Takeaways from the presentations:
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Don't reinvent the wheel. If your firm has existing tools, identify ways in which you are not yet fully utilizing those tools. Sometimes all your team needs is some additional training.
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Collaboration tools can help improve communication and productivity. The age-old desk calendar doesn't cut it anymore. For team communication to thrive, consider investing in tech tools like Trello and Asana to build out tasks, set reminders, and automate email notifications.
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POEM (Paid, Owned, Earned, or (Social) Media) - With the number of available media tools growing constantly, each segment of media holds its own inherent value, but data has continued to show the larger slice of the pie might become owned media (webinars, podcasts, video, email, etc.).
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Web accessibility is a must. Web accessibility refers to the ways in which a website can help those with disabilities perceive, understand, navigate and interact with your website. So why is it a must? Aside from potential legal implications of not being accessible, it shows that you, your team, your firm, and your organization are sensitive to the needs of the disabled. Bonus: Google gives priority to accessible sites.
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Become more productive. The days of using your inbox as a task list is over. Help yourself and your team better prioritize your day (and sense of accomplishment) by setting a "bulls eye" of three to five target projects/tasks to complete for the day. Then prioritize tasks by assigning their importance (or lack there of) and urgency (fire drill or non-urgent).
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New technologies, such as CRM or Proposal Generator, enhance pre-existing processes. Look at it from the attorney’s perspective and not just how it helps your own team. What was their work process before and how will this help them?
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Have monthly strategic meetings with your project teams. If your internal teams and vendors look at the project more holistically, it should help determine a road map early on and allow every team member to consider all the short- and long-term factors.
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Build a team that is afraid of failure. You want people who can learn from their mistakes, but it’s important to have people involved who will meet deadlines, do the work correctly the first time, and plan ahead so that the project is a success.
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Be ready to adapt. Sometimes people receive the finished product and realize it’s not what they expected it to look like.
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If you’re having trouble getting buy-in for new firm projects, incentivize participation – give attorney/staff gift cards or other compensation for donating time to work on innovation projects.
General conference attendance takeaways:
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It’s easy to sit with your own team or people you met earlier, but you’ll get to hear more experiences and different perspectives if you sit with different people during each session.
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If you have multiple people from your team attending, decide ahead of time which sessions will be most useful to each of you. If each person can attend a different session per time slot, you can get a quick snapshot and key takeaways from every session.
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Review the presentations again later if they’re posted. You may have missed smaller, but important, details during the session while trying to pay attention and take notes.
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Meet with vendors that you already work with or would like to work with. It’s always great to meet members of their team in person that you may already be working with indirectly. If you’re interested in working with a particular vendor, they may have a client attending the conference who can give you firsthand insight.
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Be open to talking to people who may work for a different type of employer or in a different industry. Their firm may be much smaller or larger or be in a completely different practice area, but sometimes the core of their best ideas can be successfully adapted for your firm with a few tweaks.
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[Katherine L. Galbreath is Marketing Technology Coordinator at Bradley. She has assisted with Bradley’s rebranding and website launch, the firm’s proposal system, and is currently helping to lead the CRM rollout for over 500 attorneys across nine offices. Walter D. McCorkle is Marketing Technology Coordinator at Bradley. He works closely with the firm’s business development team and attorneys to manage content flow through the firm’s various communication channels. He develops and manages firm blogs, executes communication strategies through the firm’s social media, and oversees firm website activity to promote the firm brand and its over 500 attorneys.]
