We have been discussing the effects and importance of the Great Resignation, that apparent wave of staff and professionals who have been leaving their positions in higher than usual numbers. Maybe it’s pent-up demand following the forced isolation of pandemic measures that all just seems to happen at once but is, over the period of lockdowns, just average. It could also be true that folks have gotten a mandatory taste of remote work without a commute and like the extra time in their day. The same could be said for senior lawyers who decided that now was the time to finally retire and pass their clients on to the next generation.
Or maybe the Great Resignation is just the marketing opportunity you’ve been searching for.
With all those lawyers of unique skills experience, and portable business likely to be at least persuadable, now might be just the time to reposition your firm as the place to be for experienced professionals who want the enhanced flexibility of remote operations. Or, on the flip side, for those who need the in-office experience to get anything done and have no desire to work from home. Maybe your retiring lawyers have passed on a pile of good clients, but those now working directly with the clients find that they need additional associates to take over the projects that were previously on their to-do lists.
And consider those clients who have weathered the turbulence. Maybe they’ve found some gaps between their expectations and the service level that was actually delivered. Those clients are looking for folks who can handle their legal needs in a way that is better/faster/cheaper than they just experienced.
If there was only a way to get all these messages out to the audience who wants to hear them, to hear about your firm and to find out how you can give them a better experience.
Welcome to the Marketing Issue—the magazine that is chock-full of practical tips, tricks and insights to help you get your message out.
For example, Despina Kartson and Tom Mariam have written “The Future of Legal Marketing” with a perspective on the hesitant past of legal services marketing and the robust demands placed on law firm marketing for today and tomorrow. (Pointedly, the Supreme Court didn’t issue its landmark decision on legal services marketing until 1977 in Bates v. State
Bar of Arizona. That is yesterday compared to companies that have been learning to sell products for hundreds of years. We lawyers are, in many respects, still learning about what our customers want.)
As we slowly return to the normal functions of business and society from pre-2020, questions remain about face-to-face meetings, relationship building and where the would-be rainmakers go from here. Carol Schiro Greenwald and Cynthia Thomas discuss relationship building and best uses for the tools and skills that you learned from the lockdown days in their article “Post-Pandemic Networking.”
One thing that’s certain is that all clients want value for their legal budget. Emily Griesing addresses this in her article “The 3 E’s of a Law Firm’s Value Proposition,” where she offers helpful insights on how you can answer the question “Why should I hire you?” This is the most important question you have to answer in any pitch or proposal.
When social media and its potential were both young, lawyers had to have a presence on social media. I saw this everywhere but often without answering the tangible questions of “Why?” and “How can this help to generate actual business?” Nancy Myrland brings us up to date on this topic in her article “Social Media Trends: Where Is It Going? What Has Changed?” We have an article that is directed to the unique needs of those who make up the largest percentage of the legal profession in the United States—the solo practitioner. Be sure to read Sarah Gold’s article “Solo Marketing” for key information on where to allocate your budget and time for the greatest marketing benefits for your practice.
Not all is rosy, however, with marketing in the computer age.
The information you post on your website and on the various social media profile pages may give bad actors information about you that is valuable to impersonators and spear phishing syndicates. Eric Rockwell and James Waryck describe the potential for bad events and also provide helpful tips on how to avoid them in “How Marketing Campaigns Pose Cybersecurity Threats to Law Firms.”