What Does the Marketing Team of the Future Look Like for a Law Firm?

If Doc Brown pulled up in your driveway – flux capacitor intact and full of fuel – and offered you a chance to do anything, learning how to build the law firm marketing team of the future wouldn’t make the top one million choices. As the marketing landscape changes faster than a chameleon could keep pace, summoning your inner Nostradamus is required to survive, let alone innovate.

Building a Law Firm Marketing Team

Disrupting the Industry

At one point, not too long ago, advances in technology and online platforms dictated the marketing rules and the personnel you needed to enforce them. Fast forward to today, and the pivot to the remote work environment provided a spark massive enough to power ten DeLoreans. Despite the intimidating nature of this enormous charge of progress, the opportunity that was born from it would put a smile on anyone’s face.

Further driving the importance of this pivot in your marketing approach is the rise of Alternative Legal Service Providers or ALSP. These businesses, also referred to as “law companies,” are restricted from giving legal advice in the U.S. because they are not law firms. However, this stipulation doesn’t stop them from delivering a wide array of specialty legal services  at reduced rates, including, but not limited to, document review, electronic discovery, software, and platform-based automation solutions. When the dust settles, this shift is forcing law firms to pivot their marketing approach and start operating more like a business.

How do you combat this looming business trend and the carousel of progress itself? With a little help from your marketing friends, of course.

The Three Marketing Amigos

Creating the law firm marketing team of the future does not require a plethora of person-power, so we’ve broken them down into three categories. When conceptualizing the idea of your firm’s marketing future, the goal is to retain a combination of “thinkers,” “feelers,” and “doers.” In actuality, you may have people in your law firm who can handle these roles, but as time progresses – and your client base grows – you may be in a position to bring people on who tackle these tasks as their main priority. So, what skills do these archetypes bring to the table, and what value will they have for you? Let’s start with the “thinkers.”

The “thinkers” are your market specialists. They crunch the numbers, scrutinizing every aspect of analytical data and using their interpretation of it to influence decision making. The “thinkers” figure out what is effective and how to implement the correct strategies. Do you need email blasts? A podcast? A slew of web content? The “thinkers” will guide you, and the numbers will show them the way. Every aspect of their role is about seeing how the present influences the future.

The “feelers” are your empaths, who try to slip into the shoes of your prospective and current clients to decipher what they want, when they want it and why. The role of the “feeler” is to determine what the client or prospect cares about and how you can build trust with them by validating their needs. The “ feeler “ aims to figure out how to leave clients with a good impression of your law firm, which builds confidence about working together and displays to you how to exemplify it routinely. 

If your clients are primarily in the automotive industry, the “feelers”  figure out how to deal with your clients and targets in the auto industry. They ensure that when a client sees your content, it speaks to them.

The “doers” are the content creators – the artists if you will – who take the work of the “thinkers” and “feelers” and bring it to life. Much like an in-house studio, it’s the “doers”  responsibility to craft content that elevates the work of the rest of your marketing triad and your firm in a way that clearly communicates your knowledge and experience. As technology advances, the “doers” will adjust their content creation styles to adapt to the emergence of Augmented and Virtual Reality and anything else Silicon Valley might throw their way. They are on the clock to make the TikTok rock.

The amalgam of these roles will be instrumental in facilitating the focus and clarity of your law firm’s marketing efforts. Should you advertise locally, nationally, globally, or as a mix and match? Your location on the globe and the scope of your legal services will provide insight into the correct course of action. If you operate in Europe but have an office in NYC, you may want to adjust your marketing strategy in New York and around the epicenter of your primary location. The “thinkers,” “feelers,” and “doers” will use their gifts to make these choices easier for you.

Eeny, Meeny, Miny…D’oh!

It is not out of the realm of possibility to have people on staff who can already fill these roles. Hiring more staff may not be necessary. Some of these roles can be outsourced if you need to bolster your roster.

For example, creating audio and visual content can be expensive, especially if you have to rent a camera, lights, or even hire a writer/director/producer. Outsourcing the “doer” role to a media production company that possesses these traits can be a valuable asset if you don’t intend to produce content faster than Netflix. They can guide you through the process and do the heavy lifting. It’s your role to point them in the right direction and support their efforts.

In another scenario, if you get a migraine looking at analytics, crunching numbers, and plotting a course, there are “thinkers” out there who specialize in examining that data so closely that the Hubble telescope would be jealous.

Takeaway:

Building a law firm marketing team is different for everyone, however, when these archetypes are kept in mind it can be a lot easier. With the impending arrival of Alternative Legal Service Providers, law firms are challenged to offer services beyond their faculties. As a result, most law firms will be forced to run like a business. When conceptualizing the idea of your firm’s marketing future, it’s wise to create a team composed  of “thinkers,” “feelers,” and “doers.” The duties of these three archetypes can be handled in-house or outsourced. Together, they form a collective that can be instrumental in looking to the future while mindful of the past & present. Additionally, the collective resources of these three archetypes help navigate an ever-changing landscape, whether you’re trying to reach clients locally, nationally, globally, or even all three.  

We work tirelessly with lawyers, law firms, and other legal industry clients to ensure they benefit from having the brightest marketing team possible and the best strategic approach for meeting their business development objectives now and into the future. Don’t hesitate to reach out today to learn more.