Podcast Episode 188: The Power of a Sector Based Approach: Specificity Drives Strategy

In this episode of the Legal Marketing 2.0 Podcast, Guy is joined by Jennifer Ramsey. Jennifer Ramsey is a former investment banker who discovered love of marketing / BD while preparing sales decks for road shows to pitch investors on funding startup/emerging growth companies. She left the world of high finance for marketing & BD where she developed and led enterprise-wide, sector-based programming and spearheaded a client relationship-building framework for an Am Law 100 firm. She and two colleagues recently launched Stage LLC, a women-owned business development & marketing venture focused on relationships, revenue, and growth for legal services.

 1. Why a Law Firm Should Consider a Sector Based Approach 

A sector-based approach is important for a law firm, as it shifts the mindset from practice partner to spotting opportunity view points. Law firms must specialize in a particular industry in order to be successful. This is done by bringing together lawyers from all different practices across the room for specialization, with the goal of helping solve problems for clients in that industry. Firms like Watkins, Orick, and others have taken this approach to heart and organized them well, making them among the top grossing in the world.

2. How Can Law Firm Leaders Get Started With a Sector Based Approach. Where Do They Begin? 

A design framework is used to build a front organizational model that functions within firms and in the designing hills run model. It should include mapping the firm’s entire client base, 4 levels of thorough coding, raising from the most general sector, and establishing a financial framework for incentives for industry and sector leaders. The industry needs dedicated budgets, themes, and performance indicators to measure its success. After the signing of the bill, employees, industry leaders, and working group members must be identified and recruited. All lawyers and colleagues must be involved in the program. Industry themes and sector teams are empowered and operationalized as functional business units to go to market and delight customers.

3. How To Go-To-Market With a Sector-Specific Strategy 

STP is a modern marketing approach that shifts focus from the firm to the firm’s clients, with segmentation back in the design phase of the internal infrastructure conversation. It focuses on segmentation, targeting, and positioning. Firms should prioritize and focus on segments, sectors, or sub industries after conducting a SWOT analysis and assigning clients to industries. They should start with 3 to 5 months as a starting point. Then there is targeting, which is where we urge firms to edge their investment a little bit more towards sub into freeze within the larger promising sectors, because a huge market opportunity still exists there, even after drilling down and getting specific about a sub industry. The more granular the better. Finally, there is positioning, which is where the marketing and the business development prowess comes into play. Firms now understand their buyers where they sit their opportunities and pain points, so they can position their products and their services to be creative to the client’s business and to solve their problems. 

Takeaway 

Don’t be scared to get specific about subsectors where the law firm has significant strengths or there is a compelling market opportunity/growth opportunity. Specificity sets the stage for success and will provide an example.

You can find Jennifer Ramsey on LinkedIn & Instagram and her Company Website.

Check out our newest ebook, A Law Firm Guide to Digital Marketing Analytics, here.