[Marketing technology: how do we live with it? Because we certainly can't live without it... Martech insights from the upcoming 2018 LMA Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference:]
Today, technology is a leading catalyst for how we go to market with legal services, but it also influences and illuminates the culture within our own organizations. It’s within that cultural awareness - aided and abetted by technology - where we realize our successes, our hopes, and, yes, our failures.
Whether we like it or not, we are all "tech people" now.
The tools are here; they are used by our competition; and, more importantly, they are the norm for our clients. It’s always funny to remember that the phones in our pockets are more powerful than the computers on which some of us played Oregon Trail in school.
So here is the hard part: how do we help everyone on our marketing teams live and breathe new technology?
You may have people on your team who see the implementation of a tech solution as something that applies to everyone else but them.
How do we shift from what transpired during previous technology rollouts - with a defined start and finish, where everyone goes into a room, views a demo and then goes back to work hoping none of it will affect them - to the place where martech sustainably transforms our marketing operations and elevates the kinds of conversations we can have with our clients and prospects?
The good news is we, as legal marketers, are the right people to affect this change. We have been helping lawyers change for years and now it’s time to help our own teams adapt to change as well.
Understand the current process
Sit down with key stakeholders in marketing and take the time to fully understand the current process (whatever it might be – client communications, proposal development, competitive intelligence, etc.): how does it work, what’s easy, what’s hard, what’s on their wish list that would make the process easier?
What makes your team excited about changing the process, and what makes them nervous (what keeps them up at night)?
Empathize
Understand how much time and energy it will take to successfully implement new technology and transform old processes. Be up front that this is a team effort and see if there are ways to bring in additional resources or provide rewards for overtime work.
Communicate to leadership realistically and be sensitive to random requests that pour in daily and that may delay your timeline.
Listen to concerns
As technologists, we get so excited about a shiny new tech toy and how it will make our colleagues’ work easier, better, faster that we don’t always stop and listen to their concerns.
Don’t assume concerns are signs of mutiny.
Don’t assume concerns are signs of mutiny. It’s quite possible that insights from the team will also help keep the project from sliding off a cliff.
Collaborate and communicate
Work with the right people within your department to draft communication and training plans, goals, milestones, and measurements.
Also, reach out to other professional departments that can share their experiences and knowledge in order to make your launch more successful. In return, you may find opportunities for them to benefit from the new processes and tech you are introducing.
If you can find cross-departmental benefits, it often helps sell leadership on additional opportunities and investment for the ongoing support.
Getting your team on board is just the first step in living with your technology. Please join the authors on November 1st the 2018 LMA Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference as they discuss martech challenges and successes in more depth, so you are not afraid to live with technology.
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[Rachel Shields Williams is Senior Manager, Experience Management, at Sidley Austin LLP; Terra Liddell is Chief Marketing Officer at Finnegan; and Roy Sexton is Director of Marketing at Kerr Russell.]
