Four Days in Tulsa: Key Takeaways from Good2bSocial’s National Meeting

​At Good2bSocial, we believe great marketing starts with a great team. We recently put that belief into practice in a way we never have before: gathering together in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for a national meeting focused on a single theme: Transforming to Lead.

It's one thing to say your team is your competitive advantage. It's another thing to invest four days in proving it, closing the laptops, getting everyone in the same room, and sharpening the skills and strategies we bring to our work every other day of the year. Now that we're back, energized and refreshed, we’re confident our clients will notice the difference.

So what does a room full of legal marketing pros talk about for four days in Tulsa?

Beyond the Hype: The New Rules of AI Visibility

Sixty-five percent of Google searches now end without a click. For legal queries specifically, AI Overviews show up more than half the time, and when they do, the traditional results below them get much less attention. On top of that, there are now more than ten LLM channels where clients might find — or not find — a law firm, beyond Google alone.

Zach Laroche, Director of Strategic Growth and SEO/AIO, and Emily Andreas, Assistant Director of SEO/AIO, walked us through what that means for online visibility.

• SEO: The goal has shifted from ranking to being cited. Entity authority, structured data, and answer-first content now matter more than keyword density. Client reports need to reflect that, including AI visibility scores alongside traditional metrics.
• Content: AI hasn’t changed the math entirely, not even close. While a solid first draft is now possible in under 60 seconds, the value is in the edit, the voice, and the strategy. The risk is that generic AI content is flooding search. The opportunity is that well-crafted, structured content stands out more than ever.

Building Smarter: AI's Role in Web Development

When it comes to web design and development, AI has its place. For example, it can be a real time-saver for repetitive tasks: sizing assets, generating placeholder copy, optimizing images, and setting up basic forms. But Lead Web Developer Sean Callanan was blunt about its shortcomings: accessibility compliance still requires a human eye, custom functionality can't be handled by AI alone, and complex integrations need experienced developers to get right.

Web design expert Jessica Del Pilar raised a different but equally important concern: the uncanny valley effect. As AI-generated design becomes more prevalent, users increasingly encounter sites that look almost right but feel subtly off; familiar enough to seem human, but just different enough to create unease. For law firms, where trust is everything, that feeling is a real liability.

Great Strategy Is Built on Great Process

Even the best marketing strategy falls apart without a solid process to back it up. Amanda Martin, Senior Director of Project Management, Certified PMO, walked us through three common approaches to project management:

• Waterfall: A linear approach where each phase is completed before the next begins, best for projects with well-defined scopes and strict requirements.
• Agile: An iterative method built around sprints and continuous feedback, ideal for fast-moving work that requires flexibility and quick pivots.
• Hybrid: A blend of both — structured at the top level, flexible in execution — and often the best fit for marketing work.

Amanda also stressed that, regardless of which approach you use, three principles determine whether a project succeeds or fails:

• Alignment: Misalignment creates rework, frustration, and conflicting expectations. D-Day succeeded not because it was simple, but because everyone rallied around one clear mission despite enormous complexity.
• Communication: Most project failures begin as communication failures long before they actually launch. Apollo 13 was the case study. The team succeeded because the mission took precedence over hierarchy.
• Adaptability: Teams that can't adapt spend more time protecting plans than solving problems. Pixar expects the first version to be imperfect. Blockbuster confused stability with safety.

The Art of the Client Relationship

Sara Martin and Mae Bundrock, both Senior Digital Marketing Account Managers, made one thing clear: good client relationships are, in fact, strategic partnerships. The account manager sits at the intersection of what a law firm or in-house marketing team needs and what Good2bSocial delivers.

So what’s working? In-person meetings when possible, consistent communication, keeping conversations consultative rather than sales-focused, and taking the time to understand each client's unique personality and goals. The pair also shared their priorities for the year ahead: taking an even more proactive approach to their client relationships, staying consistent on renewals, and going beyond the metrics to prove the actual value Good2bsocial offers our clients.

What does this look like in the real world? Sara recounted a recent strategy meeting with a client she didn't know well. They had questions; they weren’t looking for a pitch. While some account managers might still focus on making a sale, Sara focused on listening to the client's needs. The meeting morphed into a discovery session. By the end of the conversation, the client had a new website and logo on the way, and Good2bsocial had won significant new business.

Content Still Wins, Provided It's Built Right

Laurie Villanueva, Director of Good2bSocial Content, explored our top-performing blogs of the year and what they had in common. The data pointed to some consistent patterns and some clear lessons for any legal marketer who wants their content to actually perform, whether in traditional search or on the new AI answer platforms that potential clients increasingly use to connect with legal services.

• Timely and relevant: Every top post addressed a question legal marketers were actively trying to answer when it was published: LinkedIn performance. AI visibility. Marketing trends for 2026.
• Focus: Every blog focused on a single problem our target audience wants to solve, rather than a broadly defined topic. The more specific the problem, the more a reader feels you were writing just for them.
• A hook that works: The top posts all opened with the same formula: pain point, stakes, promise. Address all three, and you’ll hook the reader. They might even finish the blog.
• Structured for skimming: Specific, urgent headlines that convey exactly what the blog will deliver. Using descriptive H2 and H3 subheads, along with short paragraphs and bullet points where appropriate, will help readers digest your content and provide the algorithms with the roadmap they need to crawl.
• Written by a named author: A named author, with a title and unique point of view, is a powerful credibility signal for both humans and machines.
• One clear CTA: Let readers know exactly where you want them to go from here. Your CTA should focus on a single ask, framed around a clear value proposition.

Throughout her presentation, Laurie's message was straightforward: When you write for people, rather than algorithms, visibility in both traditional search and the LLMs will follow.

​The Best Ideas Come From the Team

Woven throughout the three days was the Digital Marketing Strategy Showdown, a team competition designed and run by Emily Knoll, Director of Digital Marketing. Three randomly selected teams, collaborating across two 60-minute sessions, drawing on each member's unique skills and perspectives to think outside the box and develop a creative strategy for one of a trio of fictitious client scenarios. Strategies were presented on the final morning and critiqued by a panel of judges comprised of CEO Belinda DiGiambattista, Keith Edwards, President and Chief Business Development Officer, and Emily herself.

The winning team — Sean, Sara, Laurie, and Amanda — drew the Vanguard & Steel LLP scenario: a global firm with 1,600+ lawyers whose digital presence was highly institutional and in need of a personality-driven pivot. Their bold yet entirely achievable strategy centered on transforming attorney biography pages into SEO and AI-optimized microsites, linking marketing and business development into one seamless system, and connecting every marketing action to firm-wide revenue metrics.

Success and Significance

Mary Claire Troy, Digital Media & Finance Manager, closed the formal sessions with a presentation inspired by the work of Tracey Greene-Washington, and her presentation was unlike anything else on the agenda.

The framework she introduced, Purposeful Alignment, centers on one idea: there's a difference between success and significance, and closing the gap between the two is where the real work happens.

• Success is what you achieve.
• Significance is what propels you toward your purpose. Most of us are good at the former.

The latter is more demanding, what Mary Claire called the Messy Middle. That's where the uncomfortable, often unspoken work of transformation actually lives.

Her challenge to the team was simple, but pointed: say yes. Yes, to defining success on your own terms. Yes to identifying what gives your work meaning. Yes, stretching beyond your perceived limits. Yes, to rewriting the narratives that no longer serve you. Because, as Michelle Obama once put it, "I have had to learn that my voice had value. And if I don't use it, what's the point of being in the room?"

Now It's Your Turn

Between sessions, Tulsa more than held up its end. We sampled some of the city's best restaurants: dinner at Daigoro, a night out at Noche, and a farewell lunch catered by Oakheart BBQ. We also spent an afternoon at the Bob Dylan Center and the Woody Guthrie Center, the highlight of the week and a fitting backdrop for an assembly focused on creativity and transformation. The entire Good2bsocial team came back sharper, more aligned, and clearer about how legal marketing is evolving and how we’re going to meet that future head-on.

Is your firm ready for a transformative marketing strategy? Contact Good2bSocial today and learn how our team can help you get ahead of the competition.