What’s your marketer style?
When I was a teenager, I loved a good Cosmo quiz. They were mildly NSFW at the time, either because of the content or the fact that I didn’t want my boss (or my mom, from whom I stole the magazines) to catch me reading Cosmo. I’ve officially aged out of the demographic for the magazine (“36 signs You’re in Millennial Love” just doesn’t apply), but I still love a good quiz.
Cosmo quizzes may—or may not—have been based on real sociological research and scientific methodology.
Today’s quiz “what’s your marketing personality?” is most definitely not.
My sample size of “clients I have worked with over the last 15 years” is not likely to be statistically significant, nor can I claim any “research methods” that actually qualify as either research or methods.
That said, my goal is to help lawyers and firms get the most out of their marketing efforts, and I think the best way to accomplish that goal is often to identify pain points and work with them, rather than fight against them.
In my experience, professionals often fall into one or more marketer types. These are non-exclusive (you can have the tendencies of more than one, depending on the marketing task) and sometimes overlap (there can be significant overlap in the experiences of a reluctant marker and an all-in marketer, for example).
Your marketing type also doesn’t have to be self-limiting or negative. I’m a night owl, not an early bird; no matter how hard I try, I will never enjoy getting up early and catching worms (a plane to a fun place is about the only thing I get up early to catch). A reluctant marketer is still a marketer – that’s what counts here.
The Reluctant Marketer
Do you suspect that you should be doing more marketing, but feel like it’s a lot of effort that may (or may not) have a payoff? Are you reluctant to dedicate time that could be used for client work to non-billable marketing tasks? Or perhaps you’re overwhelmed with all of the marketing tasks you could be doing, or you’re not sure even where to begin?
I see you, my reluctant marketers—you’re my people. You’re busy, you have client work that has to get done, and frankly, marketing just seems like, well, a lot.
The good news for lawyers who regularly let marketing fall to the bottom of their to-do lists—whether because of time pressure or comfort level—is that there are some easy-to-implement ways to get yourself off the marketing sidelines. In my article, “Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That! 3 Ways to Leverage Your Time for Marketing Success” , I talked about efficiencies that time-strapped professionals can take advantage of, including setting aside dedicated time once or twice a year to get clear on your business development goals and then engaging only in those marketing opportunities that align with those goals; automating and routinizing marketing tasks as much as possible using technology, manual processes, templates and checklists, and available people resources; and taking advantage of short bursts of time to accomplish easy tasks that can pay outsized dividends (sprucing up your bio and LinkedIn profiles; engaging with folks on LinkedIn or other social media, or reaching out to a client or colleague for a quick check-in call or email).
If option-overwhelm or what looks like a steep learning curve is fueling your reluctance, remember that you don’t have to do everything, all at once. Tackling those quick-hit tasks I mentioned is not only pretty easy, but the dopamine hit you’ll get from having accomplished a solid marketing task will propel you forward to do more. You can also pick one area that resonates with you—maybe you’d like to get better at LinkedIn, write more articles or do more client-facing speaking—and concentrate on that for now.
Your firm may already have marketing help available: programs, online tutorials or other resources, or people who can help get you started in the right direction. Even if there is no formal marketing function at your firm, you probably have colleagues and friends whose marketing game you admire. Why not ask for their advice? You’ll be networking and getting marketing advice at the same time.
The internet is also full of great resources. As my kids say: Google is free—and so are many other online resources you can tap into. Again, you don’t have to go down the rabbit hole and learn everything there is to know about using social media, for example, in one day. You can take one step at a time in both learning and implementing what you learn. Maybe you’re not ready to create content on LinkedIn today, but you can read and comment on other people’s posts to gain visibility in your network.
The Traditional Marketer
Have you been successful at marketing yourself over the past few years (or decades)? Has your bio read pretty much the same for the last five (or 15 or 25) and do you like it just the way it is? Do you think: “This is the way I’ve always done it and it’s worked for me in the past, so why change?”
I hear you, my traditional marketers, and I agree: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
But here’s the thing: if your marketing isn’t working as effectively as it has in the past, you might not know it until it’s too late. As I talked about in my article, “The 1990s Called, They Want Your Bio Back” you may be missing out on opportunities that you didn’t even know you had because so much of the way clients research, vet and hire their lawyers and law firms is done online and before they ever get to the point of picking up the phone to talk with you.
The pandemic has also accelerated the technology-driven shifts in legal marketing and hiring. Over the past 18 months, much of the more traditional methods of marketing and business development—in-person, event-based marketing, face-to-face pitch meetings and on-site visits—have been largely unavailable. And while the rollout of vaccines and boosters has enabled a return to some in-person meetings and events, tech-enabled and virtual interactions are likely to stay the preferred mode for many clients and firms for a while longer and perhaps even permanently.
The good news is that you don’t have to throw the whole traditional marketing baby out with the bathwater. A few (mostly painless) tweaks to your marketing can help you take advantage of the new channels and opportunities to connect and engage with clients. As my regular readers know, I always stress the importance of a great web-based bio. Your social media presence—in particular your LinkedIn profile—is just as important. Spending a little time polishing your digital presence is always time well spent.
Thought leadership, and in particular, firm-branded content has always been part of traditional marketing, and it remains a critical way to remain visible and relevant for clients and prospects. Client expectations around thought leadership have changed, accelerated by the pandemic, among other factors. My columns “Putting the Thought Back in Thought Leadership” and “Three Content Marketing Rules You Can Break – and One You Can’t” have some actionable steps you can take to up-level your thought leadership and help you become the trusted information resource your clients want and need.
The All-In Marketer
Do you have so many good marketing and business development ideas and plans, and feel like you don’t know which ones to focus on? Perhaps you know what you want to accomplish but don’t know how to get there? Or perhaps you’ve tried implementing a number of on-point marketing strategies, but have been disappointed by the way they have stalled or fizzled out. Do you get to the end of your day/week/month and feel like you haven’t done enough?
I’m with you, my all-in marketers. You already know the value of strategic marketing and business development, but you might be challenged by the tactical implementation of your strategies. Like my reluctant marketer, you want to be doing more, but you may not have the time or the energy to dedicate to marketing tasks after prioritizing billable client work. You, too, might find some of the time-saving tips and efficiencies I’ve mentioned helpful in keeping your great marketing plans on track.
If you’re suffering from marketing burnout, remember that marketing doesn’t have to be a solo effort (even—or especially—if you are a solo practitioner). Enlisting others, both inside and outside your firm, in your marketing efforts can be a great way to reduce the work and share the benefit for everyone involved.
As I talked about in my column “Charting Your Course to Avoid Content Black Holes” implementation problems often come from unresolved pain points connected with one (and sometimes more) of the three basic elements: people, process, or technology. Taking a look at where your marketing efforts get stuck or go off track can help you identify those pain points. You may identify tweaks that you can make to resolve them
Do you see yourself in any of these marketing types?
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