Should you Invest in a Specialist Legal Marketer?

It’ll come as no surprise to you, my legal friend, that I believe modern marketing is a must for today’s legal businesses. As a legal marketer with over two decades of experience with law firms and legal founders, I’ve firmly carved out my space in the legal sector.

There’s a question that comes up pretty often for my clients and frankly sometimes for me, too! And it’s this:

Does a legal industry track record make a positive difference to your business – or risk keeping you in a legal silo with minimal innovation?

This blog will be tackling this very question, so that those of you considering investing in marketing for your law firm or legal business don’t have to!

Why you might just need a specialist legal marketer

The regulation is real

The relationship between sales, marketing and the rest of any legal business is critical to delivering effective marketing. So when it comes to understanding what can be done and what can’t be done within the parameters of regulatory restrictions – a legal marketing specialist with sector-specific experience can make things a lot easier. For example – when clients are hesitant to disclose that they are working with lawyers, getting case studies and testimonials can be tricky. When we find ourselves, as part of a strictly regulated profession, working with other regulated industries like finance and banking – we have to be twice as mindful when it comes to professional obligations. Creative ideas and innovation are one thing but if legal regulations mean those crazier, zanier and bolder ideas are a no-go, a marketer can get disheartened very quickly.

Stakeholder relationships are trickier than ever

In a law firm partnership where you’re often working for many different Partners, all of whom have a stake in the business and want to lead marketing in line with their own vision – we marketers can find ourselves in a very unique (and challenging) position.

Granted, marketing functions are gaining more independence, with progressive firms like Addleshaw Goddard, Kingsley Napley and Mishcon de Reya putting their CMO on the board and leading with a marketing agenda right at the top. It will take time for the wider industry to catch up, but it’s more than possible to take inspiration from them and start to position the marketing function to lead the way. Until then we’ll still face the challenge of zero to limited marketing representation on the board and even seeing Partners leading on marketing with minimal marketing experience.

A specialist legal marketer brings with them experience of how to partner with the lawyers as the technical experts – from speaking their language to working side by side with them as legal specialists while deploying their very own marketing specialism, too.

Legal has evolved in unique and nuanced ways

Like any industry, context matters. Having a deep knowledge of where the legal industry has been, where it’s going and the challenges that have arisen along the way can really help to deliver meaningful marketing. The industry has seen so many transformative events over the last couple of decades that in many ways it’s unrecognisable from what it was 20 years ago. The 2007 Legal Services Act blew the market wide open and paved the way for alternative ways of doing things. Legal departments have grown exponentially and going in-house is no longer seen as a ‘cop-out’. The recent and ongoing Post Office scandal has shone a critical light onto the ethics and purpose of the legal industry. And of course, there’s an increasing pressure to create and communicate DEI and wellbeing strategies both internally and externally.

It’s … a lot. And then of course, there’s the need for blueprints for sector-specific scenarios like scaling a legal business to exit.

First-hand experience of these changes, respect for the nuances of the industry and a constant pair of eyes on the future of legal and marketing is perhaps the biggest argument for specialism.

So why might you not want a specialist legal marketer?

Sector-specific experience can narrow your world view

In a world where marketing evolves and innovates at the speed of light, we have a responsibility to look beyond our industry for inspiration and ideas – especially those with more creative freedom and less regulatory restriction. When you only focus on one industry, moving from similar firm to similar firm – there can be a risk of having a narrower commercial view of what’s possible and what opportunities there are for moving the needle in new and exciting ways.

In a world where standing out from your competitors in a sea of sameness is increasingly important, without outside inspiration and experience from other sectors you risk blending in, using the same marketing tactics again and again, and going unnoticed.

Marketing is evolving whether you like it or not

The legal sector does not typically lead the way when it comes to marketing. Which can be unfortunate because without one eye on evolving consumer behaviours and marketing trends, there’s a risk of getting left behind. In legal, there can be a tendency to do the same thing again and again, because “we’ve always done it this way”. It’s easy to rely on traditional tactics like legal directories, awards, seminars and corporate hospitality as a comfort blanket. Of course these are still valuable tactics but your target audience are consuming more and more digital and content marketing as well as strategic personal branding. With your focus rooted firmly on the past and the present, there’s little opportunity to look forward, or attract more forward thinking marketing talent being scooped up by the bigger firms with big budgets.

The power’s with the Partner

So often the Partners lead the way with legal marketing, rather than the relevant marketing experts in the business service function. As senior lawyers who have equity in the business, Partners can naturally end up with a bit more influence over the marketing agenda. But in reality? A culture where all the lawyers are given the tools and the freedom to market the business is the most conducive to success.

From my experience, the most productive collaboration between lawyers and Marketers (in-house and outsourced) are given the creative freedom to deliver strategic marketing based on their expertise and their track record. At the very least, they need the ability to challenge their thinking, which is easier to do when they bring third party experience and a fresh pair of eyes.

So – what’s the answer?

Controversial as it may sound – I don’t believe you have to choose. When you’re investing in a marketer for your legal business, you deserve not to compromise. You absolutely can have a marketer with a nuanced knowledge of the legal sector AND modern marketing expertise.

Investing in a marketer with legal sector knowledge does not necessarily guarantee you’re investing in an exceptional marketer. It really is a case of combining industry experience and technical expertise of both legal and marketing.

You need a marketer who can collaborate with and speak the language of senior legal stakeholders, Partners and their clients, within the competitive context of this industry. Someone who has an undeniable marketing track record that demonstrates a deep understanding of legal audiences, their needs and aspirations, where and how they consume media and how they want to be communicated with.

And importantly – how this continues to evolve, in the broader context of media, marketing and digital innovation.

Over recent years the legal sector has undergone disruption at the hands of new models and ALSPs, legal tech and the increasing power of in-house legal. You need someone who truly understands what ‘before’ looks like, in order to effectively encourage decision makers into the future. Legal marketing is now evolving quickly – digital tactics are changing all the time, AI is having an impact – and legal is not exempt.

You need to work with a legal marketing specialist who has one foot in the past, armed with a deep knowledge of historical context, while delivering results in the present, leveraging 20 years of legal marketing track record and has one eye always on the future. So that you can ambitiously stand out from the crowd – with boldness and bravery, while staying well within the regulatory parameters.

That’s me, by the way 😉

Book a free 30-minute call if you think you’d like to take advantage of all of the above!