In today’s competitive business landscape, many lawyers and law firm leaders understand that it is no longer enough to provide stellar legal services, but lawyers also have to understand their client’s business and become their trusted advisors to help them grow. With COVID-19 thrown in the mix, law firms have worked more closely than ever with their in-house legal marketers and consultants to lead the charge and help law firms stay ahead of their competition.

Below we highlight a variety of marketing partners, general counsel and lawyers who understand the power of marketing. We also offer examples on how lawyers have grown in partnership with their marketing team.

Alfie Meyerson, Statewide Business Development Committee Chair, Jackson Walker

Our marketing team has been critical not only in driving response to COVID-19 but also in recognizing other important factors that impact the firm’s business. As an example, the marketing team has been a key driver in our firm’s work related to diversity and inclusion. They’ve helped us better analyze where we stand, created internal and external communications that convey where we are succeeding and what we are working on, assisted in assuring that we are devoting adequate resources to diversity and inclusion, and — most recently — have taken a leading role in organizing new diversity and inclusion initiatives, such as listening sessions, affinity groups and outreach efforts.

What marketing and business development initiatives born out of COVID-19 will be used in the future?

There is very little that we’ve done during COVID-19 that won’t be a permanent part of our post-COVID repertoire. From learning to do more with less — and remotely at that — to mastering new technology, we’ve learned valuable lessons from all that COVID has thrown in our path and we will incorporate those lessons into future best practices. [Read more]

Heather J. Oden, Chief Operating Officer, Ball Janik LLP

How have your marketing efforts evolved during the last five years?

Our law firm operates coast-to-coast with offices in Florida and Oregon. Over the last five years, we have focused on enhancing our connectivity and technology to help us better communicate with one another and strategize together to solve client problems. Ball Janik’s approach has become much more focused on collaboration between our lawyers and our marketing team to identify and develop solutions for natural business growth through careful planning and initiatives, such as business development, social media strategy, media placements, website development and new offerings for our clients that bring high value to their business strategies.

What is your firm’s most effective marketing channel?

It really is difficult to only pick one channel because so many of our clients consume information differently and there is no one-size-fits-all. However, by working together with our marketing team, we recognize the most effective marketing through COVID-19 and after is to continue mastering technology and bolster our advice and offerings online by providing valuable information, newsworthy blog posts and articles, social media messaging and more. [Read more]

Dan McIntosh, Shareholder and Co-Chairperson of Lowndes’ Marketing Committee, Lowndes

What are some new marketing initiatives that your firm has worked on as a result of COVID-19?

We launched a video series, offered clients customized webinars based on their needs, increased our client alerts to almost daily eblasts and created opportunities for roundtable discussions with clients to address their short- and long-term plans. We've also successfully executed our firm's own return-to-work plans and have shared those with clients. [Read more]

Jeremy Tiedeman, Marketing Operations & Communications Manager, Tonkon Torp LLP

COVID-19 has been a business interrupter which has forced legal marketers to look for innovative ways to lead. What is your biggest challenge surrounding leadership during COVID-19 and how have you or how are you overcoming it?

Our firm and department has embraced a very significant amount of new technology this year, and during the pandemic. Training can be more laborious in the remote context and remote work can diminish morale as people work in isolation. To overcome these issues, we are promoting and scheduling more frequent meetings for communication and team building as time allows, with meetings kept short and flexible in their structure.

Because it is more important than ever to reach out to our clients via electronic/remote means, we are constantly evaluating the best ways to do that. We have found that just as our world is constantly changing, so is the world of our clients. We have seen successful campaigns lose steam as a result. We are using data analytics to assess the content our clients are most interested in and that is changing the way and the frequency in which we distribute that content. Our biggest goal is to stay in frequent touch with helpful information without bombarding our clients with unnecessary or overwhelming amounts of content. [Read more]

Keith Dubanevich, Shareholder Attorney, Stoll Berne

How does your marketing department drive strategic plans and lead the charge in a time of change?

With a small marketing team, we cover everything from public relations to website management/development, RFP development, social media management, database management and much more. We look for those unique ideas that make sense for the firm and our goals and then devise a plan for ways to implement them. Open communication is key and our firm values require that all our attorneys be approachable and open to discussing new ideas and marketing methods. [Read more]

James Goodnow, CEO, Fennemore Craig

How have your marketing efforts evolved during the last five years?

Our marketing is evolving at a rapid pace so we can stay ahead of trends and the industry. We’ve come to discover that marketing and branding is at the heart of our firm’s mission, vision, values and purpose. Starting a few years ago, we engaged in a comprehensive and exhaustive effort to understand who we are, what we stand for and where we want to go. This effort was led by our marketing team. The results formed the foundation for where we are taking the firm going forward, and is part of not only our marketing and business development activities, but also our strategic planning. We’re lucky to have Lindsay Moellenberndt at the helm as our chief business development and marketing officer to oversee our stellar marketing team. She’s a superstar and has helped take the firm to higher levels. [Read more]

Ioana Good is the co-chair of LMA’s Professional Advocacy Working Group and served on LMA’s Communications Mapping Group.