I am convinced that most law firms in the region – even those larger firms that have dedicated marketing teams – do a poor job of recognizing and acting on good opportunities.
Not all of them, of course. Certainly not your firm, dear reader. Your firm, I’m sure, is recognizes value, is ready to spend money to make money, and is aware that, to really capitalize on the business that is potentially available to you, you need to make smart and informed decisions about marketing and brand development.
But not everybody is as smart as you are. Not by a long shot.
We have, in our now 6+ years of operation, carefully listened to what the commercial lawyers in CEE’s many legal market say they want, and we have worked tirelessly to provide it. Over and over we were told that firms want direct access to clients, for instance – so we limited the number of sponsorships to the annual GC Summit, to maximize the number of in-house counsel attendees who might otherwise stay away from a room full of card-carrying BD types, and to provide those firms that do sponsor the event virtually exclusive access to their desired target audience.
Over and over we were told that law firms were frustrated with the bias and lack of transparent methodology that drove both rankings and awards in the industry – so we rejected rankings, and created peer-selected awards with a fully transparent methodology.
Over and over we were told that it is referrals that matter to the domestic law firms in the region, and that what they want is to be connected with international firms – so we created the Dealer’s Choice International Law Firm Summit, held first in Prague in 2018, and next year scheduled for April 23, 2020 in London, bringing the international and domestic firms together in one place.
Over and over we were told that firms care about tying their advertising spends to results, and we created, with the CEE Legal Matters magazine and CEELM website, platforms that register over 40,000 unique visitors a day, with a recent banner providing 3309 click-throughs in a month.
Despite our best efforts, a surprising number of firms – again, even most of those which have dedicated marketing teams – seem content to stick with the tied-and-true, and willing to reject empirical data in favor of the familiar, the same, the routine. “If it ain’t broke,” they seem to be saying, “why fix it?”
The only answer to that is, as the markets continue to mature, competition will continue to increase, and sooner or later the old ways of doing something won’t be good enough. And if you wait too long to innovate, to consider alternatives, to start doing your job smartly … it may be too late.
Look, I’m not saying all marketing spends need to flow to CEE Legal Matters. What I am saying is, take the time to get the data, from us and from the other platforms in the market, and take some time to make strategic, informed, and smart decisions.
And – I have to admit, I’m pretty confident the results will point, at least partially, towards us. Talk to us about what you want and need. We really are committed to finding a way to provide it. Want us to bring GCs or CEOs to your office directly? We can do that. Want to create a strategic package of advertising and advertorial options for you? We can do that.
There are a lot of things we can’t do, of course. Want us to clean your carpets? We can’t do that.
But helping your business expand and flourish – we can do that. So failing to even talk to us about how is, simply, a missed bet.
I mean, for most law firms. Not for you, of course.
This Article was originally published in Issue 6.11 of the CEE Legal Matters Magazine. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the magazine, you can subscribe here.
