A Forbes blogger posted an article called, "Is the CMO Role Dying or Thriving?" Here is how it starts: What’s happening to the CMO role? This question has been hot for a couple of years. Some suggest the role is nominal and “dying” while others suggest it is bigger, more […]
Embrace Life – The most moving YouTube video
Today's post is not about marketing and business development technology, knowledge or experience management, websites, marketing strategy, lawyers or law firms. It's to share a link of a remarkable and powerful advertising campaign promoting the use of seat belts. It could be one of the finest, most moving ads I've ever […]
Experience management/databases – best practices in content gathering
Gathering and managing content that is relevant to a firm's buyers of legal services is the bane of every marketer's existence. I've seen this one activity paralyze entire departments. The team is flummoxed by finding the most efficient way to engage lawyers so they provide the information that marketers need […]
Year-end website bio housekeeping for lawyers in 30 minutes or less
People don’t like to start on new projects the last few days of December. The pre-holiday bustle that focuses around family, food, faith, fa-la-la and folly has subsided, and we look ahead to the first full week of January to really start work. This year, these last December days are “lost” days […]
2013 advice for law firms to ensure a bright future
My friend and colleague Leigh Dance published a terrific article in AmLaw Daily structured as advice for global law firms. But most of it applies to law firms of any size. Leigh’s advice comes from more than 20 years consulting to corporate legal departments in multinational companies and global law […]
Experience management and databases – The results of a survey of CMOs
Experience management and how to get one’s arms around it surfaces in every conversation that I have with firm leaders and senior marketers. As I noted in a February 2012 blog post “Experience Management – it’s been elevated to mission-critical,” cross-selling and revenue growth are the two top concerns of firm leaders […]
Stuffing v. Dressing – an unnecessary war of words
Thank you for reading my blog! Truly, I am so grateful. I take your comments to heart, and invite suggestions to improve it and recommendations for future topics. As a thank you, I share a favorite poem about the ubiquitousness of our kitchen tables and my special Cornbread and Sausage […]
The Secret of CRM Success in a Law Firm – Guest Post by William A. Smith
Marketing technology implementations are challenging in a law firm for a variety of reasons. The demand for trusted data for use by lawyers exactly when they need it is increasing, and the pressure on marketers to deliver just-in-time, relevant information and intelligence is greater than ever before. I recently spoke at the […]
Waller: A successful law firm website case study
Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP is a 200-lawyer firm headquartered in Nashville, with offices in Birmingham, AL and Austin, TX. The work that “Waller” does in the healthcare industry belies its relatively small size. It is known throughout that industry as the leader, the number-one firm, the “player” in […]
Mine human capital to raise law firm revenue and profit – guest post by Jim Dolan
I have written several posts that focus on how lawyers can improve their business development success. The secret to becoming a rainmaker and The secret to becoming a rainmaker – Part 2 are two recent examples. In both posts, the advice is simple – something every lawyer could do. Yet, […]
What law firms can learn from my surprising experience at the Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia
I haven’t always had a stellar experience at Ritz-Carlton hotels. In fact, in a lifetime of hotel stays, I’ve had three very disappointing stays at three different Ritz properties. They stand out in the blur of my business travel, however, because they were aberrant — Ritz-Carlton personnel are trained to stretch the […]
5 Tech tips to increase your productivity – Courtesy of Attorney at Work Blog
David King Keller surveyed a few of us at the Legal Marketing Association’s Tech Conference in San Francisco on October 10-11, 2012 and published an article on the Attorney at Work Blog. The focus of the conference was for speakers to share big and little ideas that “can increase your visibility, your productivity […]
Love your law firm marketing job more – Part 2
I intended to share the skeletal Smart-Work Matrix worksheet that Allen Fuqua uses in my last post. Here it is. This is an example of how Allen and his marketing team plot their tasks and projects at Winstead.
Love your law firm marketing job more (or the “Smart-Work Matrix”) – Guest post by Allen Fuqua
I spoke about project management and how it can be used in business development at the LMA SE Mini-Conference in New Orleans last Friday. After having a glass of Pinot Noir with Allen Fuqua last week, I decided I had to include more about his Smart-Work Matrix in my presentation. In my […]
A TED Conference LMA-style – Part 1. Guest post by Allen Fuqua.
If you aren’t a TED-head yet, it’s time you become one. TED Conferences are described by attendees as “The ultimate brain spa” and “A 4-day journey into the future, in the company of those creating it.” TED stands for technology, entertainment and design – three huge subject areas that are shaping […]
CMO or Super Hero? (Guest blog post by Aleisha Gravit)
One of my favorite blogs, 3 Geeks and a Law Blog, originally posted this on September 25, 2012. It was posted by one of my favorite bloggers, Toby Brown (one of the 3 Geeks and the Director of Pricing and Analytics at Akin Gump) and written by one of my favorite […]
What’s your message? No, really – What’s your message?
Is your message what you say it is – let’s say, your positioning strategy that results in a tagline – is that your message? Or, is your message what others say about you, or post about you on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest? Marketoonist Tom Fishburne spoke at Google’s marketing conference […]
Bloomberg Law video — Law firm predictions for 2013 – opportunities for the nimble.
Kent Zimmerman, a consultant with the Zeughauser Group, was featured in an interview with Bloomberg Law’s Lee Pacchia about the state of the legal industry in Q4 2012 and 2013. Using the recent Citi Private Bank Annual Survey of Law Firm Performance data, plus insights gleaned from Zeughauser Group’s law firm […]
How law firms can grow revenue in a more client-friendly way
In a catch up conversation with Ed Schecter this morning, we discussed a subject about which we are both passionate: how law firms can strategically grow revenue. This isn’t a new conversation at all. In fact, it’s a tired one that we’ve both had countless times in our careers. The […]
Content Pilot announces NEW Law Firm Website Ten Foundational Best Practices – 2012-2013
As Content Pilot and Right Hat gear up to conduct the AmLaw 100 Websites: Ten Foundational Best Practices research for 2012-2013, the two companies have combined forces and released the latest list of “must-have” attributes for your law firm website. This has been substantially overhauled from the 2010 list. “Mobility” is […]
Back in America
I've just returned from two weeks touring and cruising Italy, plus other countries that are on the coastlines of the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas. It was a great immersion in ancient cultures and centuries-old cathedrals and basilicas, combined with the joy of spontaneous, contemporary exploration and choice-making. But this post isn't about […]
Client service tips that will make a difference in your relationships today – from Ritz Carlton and more
Anyone who has stayed at a Ritz-Carlton property appreciates why the company is twice a winner of the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award winner. And if you are fortunate enough to frequent the same hotel, the next time you arrive they make you feel like they missed you — really missed […]
The Twitter logo: 2 years old and over-the-hill
Twitter leaders decided that the old bird was over-the-hill. And too fat. No more tubby, toddler-appropriate tiny “Ts,” either. Logo refreshes aren’t unusual, but they typically happen over decades, not months. For example, take the evolution of the NBC logo (all the NBC logos below are the property of […]
The yin of the web designer and the yang of the client – whose ego wins?
For nearly 30 years, I have bought and sold design services, and since 1996, I have worked with website designers. Wait, I shouldn’t count those first years of web design, because they were horrifying experiments in this crazy new medium, but I can legitmately herald 2000 as the year that I […]
One of the most important lessons that “connected” lawyers must learn
I just read an HBR Blog post by Peter Bregman that I've had on my imaginary "to-do" list for three days. The title caught my attention: Two Lists you Should Look at Every Morning. Finally, early Saturday evening I "found time" to spend three minutes reading it. To Bregman's point — […]
Content Pilot’s “CP Proposal Pilot” and Branding Services Wins Big in the National Law Journal “Best Of” Awards Competition
May 30, 2012 –DALLAS, TEXAS – Content Pilot LLC announced today that CP Proposal Pilot and CP Deals and Cases won the top award, “2012 Best Proposal Automation and Experience Management Solution,” in NLJ’s first nationwide survey of lawyers and other legal industry personnel. The National Law Journal created the […]
Lawyers (and everyone else), ask yourself: Am I my resume?
With yet another high profile resume-fake (Scott Thompson, who was ousted as Yahoo! CEO after four months among accusations that he lied on his resume about having a computer science degree) I am compelled to write this blog post about telling the truth on your website and other biographies. Whether […]
What law firms can learn from Dyson’s (think vacuum cleaners) anti-branding slur.
British industrial designer, Sir James Dyson, is best known for his iconic bagless vacuum cleaner that he peddles on television. And among frequent travelers who wash their hands in airport restrooms, for the Dyson Airblade, which dries your hands as would the edge of a tornado. But after a recent […]
Where are the Dewey partners now – and how is your firm doing recruiting them?
Late yesterday Greg Lambert published a post on the 3 Geeks and a Law Blog called "Visualizing the Dewey & LeBoeuf Implosion." He includes several charts that track where the Dewey lawyers have landed. While the reports of departures have gone on for months, it's handy to see it all […]
How long do CMOs last in their organizations?
When I took my first marketing director position in a law firm in 1987 (I know! A million years ago.), the function and position were so new, no one was measuring average tenure of senior marketers. Five years later when I moved to another firm to take its top spot, […]
If it were REALLY a good idea – Part 2
This is a continuation of yesterday’s blog post http://lawfirm4-0.typepad.com/law_firm_40_blog/2012/04/if-it-were-really-a-good-idea-.html . . . Tom Fishburne, the Marketoonist, who designed the cartoon I posted yesterday, wrote his own blog post about it. He says something that we’ve known in legal marketing circles for a long time: “In innovation, we often fixate too […]
Do the leaders of your law firm use social media? Employees trust leaders who do.
By now, most law firms have inked social media policies, yet leaders’ fears are still cresting at the thought of firm employees’ fingers running amok and damaging the firms’ reputations in some way. It seems this trepidation is a one-way street, however, as BRANDfog’s 2012 Social Media and Leadership Survey […]
Brilliant strategy and brilliant execution – are they strange bedfellows?
The CMO Network on LinkedIn has an interesting discussion sparked by the question: What is your opinion on Execution trumps Strategy?…Do you agree?… This is both a rapid and rabid-responding group, and those who have come down hard on the side of strategy (as they slap-slap the faces of the […]
Columbia Business School study proves that ROI is an elusive partner to marketing departments
Senior law firm marketers have been seriously talking about ROI since at least the mid-1990s. Believing in its relevance and importance to financial decision-making, this “proof” has frustratingly been like a mirage in the desert. For years we have relied on anecdotal data and stories – an RFP or pitch […]
Your vote and opinion really matter to me! Deadline to vote: Friday, March 30
I am proud to announce that my company, Content Pilot, has been included in the first-ever National Law Journal list of legal vendors for 2012. We have worked hard to be a part of this important national list – and we’ll work even harder to stay on it. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NLJBest2012 If […]
Loads of Buzz: What happens if an employer asks for your Facebook password?
Since I first read the story last week of the employer requiring an applicant to share his Facebook password during an interview (a condition for employment), business, government, politicians and loads of lawyers have commented on its appropriateness and legality. The article, in the March 20, 2012 edition of The […]
Content Pilot’s “Velocity” wins IAC Awards – Best Legal Mobile Application
NEWS RELEASE – March 26, 2012 THE 2012 INTERNET ADVERTISING COMPETITION AWARDS (iAC) HONORS CONTENT PILOT’S “VELOCITY” The first mobile app to drive sales in the legal industry wins “Best Legal Mobile Application” Dallas, Texas — Content Pilot LLC announced today that Velocity™, the first mobile application that drives sales […]
What does a Chief Strategy Officer in a law firm do?
I reconnected with Janis Nordstrom, Chief Strategy Officer at Wolf Theiss, at the Marketing Partner Forum in Miami in January – and peppered her with questions about her globe-trotting legalmarketing career. It’s different, mainly, because she is an American LMA member living in Austria and working for a non-U.S. or […]
Bits and Pieces from James Kane’s LMA Keynote Presentation – March 15, 2012
Like nearly 1,000 other LMA members last Thursday morning, I listened to our conference opener keynote, James Kane, speak about "loyalty." It could be the best keynote I've ever heard in my life. Thanks to Mark Usellis and Jill Weber, conference co-chairs, and Betsi Roach, LMA Executive Director (plus the […]
The Elephant in the Room: Marketing Technology Trends you can’t Afford to Ignore
That's the title of our ILTA/LMA panel at the Legal Marketing Association's pre-conference CMO session tomorrow. (This is the first formal joint venture between LMA and ILTA – the first of many, I hope.) Starting at 11 CT, Kate Cain, the new Director of Market Intelligence at Sidley, will kick […]