I've shared previously about the causes as to why BD and marketing titles create confusion. 

One way out of this title confusion is to standardize titles and reset on the purpose and experience requirements for each level. This will look different for large and smaller firms, although, it doesn't necessarily have to be.

Now let's take this one step further. 

​Consider for a moment if there was active management of this career path. This means clear decision points along the way to help the marketer play to their strengths. This benefits the marketer and the firm; more professional satisfaction makes for less turnover in firms. It is this turnover that has rocked the legal marketing industry since 2020. 

The first decision point could be relatively easy. It would also allow the firm and individual marketer to consciously discuss and decide on the type of Manager both think is appropriate.

The second shift is more significant and will likely mean a cultural shift for many. Having said this, it doesn't have to mean "the addition of sales". A far more subtle and finessed shift would be the better option for many. 

It does give both the firm and the marketer a more active and controlled role:

For the firm

• Clear and defined titles avoids any confusion.
• Different career paths are offered to help retain their team and align individual skills and strengths with the appropriate course.
• The firm is innovative with respect to how it goes to market and how it engages and actively helps to manage it's marketers.

For the marketer

• Active management of one's career creates ownership and a greater purpose.
• Defined stages with each level resetting their specific purpose (and, arguably, some Specialist and Manager levels regaining credibility because of this newly defined purpose). 
• Opting in or out of a fresh structure acknowledges how the career path of a marketer has changed. 

What is the current path of a marketer? Are firms mostly in line with this?

​Watch this space...

With C-Suite contributions by:

• Christie Cáceres, Chief Business Development & Marketing Officer, Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton
• Murray Coffey, Chief Marketing Officer, Haynes Boone
• Julie Cole, Chief Marketing Officer, Frost Brown Todd
• *Lee Garfinkle, Chief Client Development & Relationship Officer, Goodwin
• Lisa Olney, Chief Marketing Officer, Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann
• Bob Robertson, Chief Marketing Officer, Jackson Lewis

*At the time of contributing, Lee Garfinkle was the Chief Client Development & Relationship Officer at Goodwin. Lee has recently taken the role of Client Executive at EY Law.

​
Overview:

The year 2022 for the legal marketing industry is, once again, very different. It has unparalleled challenges which are exacerbated by the unrelenting workload.

There are big challenges facing our industry. I talk about two of these challenges below: fatigue and the management of people. I talk about the issue at hand and what solutions we can deploy against the backdrop of yet another unique and unprecedented year for legal marketers.
 
Importantly, I ask for input from C-suite legal marketing leaders to share their comments. I thank Christie Cáceres, Murray Coffey, Julie Cole, Lee Garfinkle, Lisa Olney and Bob Robertson for their time and insights in contributing to this article. Your practical and innovative takeaways are invaluable to us all - my sincere thanks.

Issue 1: Industry Fatigue

I see three main reasons for our current industry fatigue:

1) Unrelenting workload.

The workload and expectations of marketers has increased exponentially. This is a positive move for the legal marketing industry overall. What must now follow this move is the appropriate amount of time and bandwidth to complete it.

Without any outlet, or a properly staffed and structured team, it is only a matter of short time until fatigue sets in. Without a proactive and visible plan to deal with that fatigue, it turns to burnout, lower morale, and ultimately, disengagement from the industry.

Cáceres shares: “CMOs can create awareness early and often before burnout happens. Creating cross-functional teams to work on projects that keep it interesting and fresh; many of us have experienced “SWAT” teams during COVID that required quick assembly and execution. Amidst the chaos, some of those projects really intrigued people and kept the creative juices flowing.”

Another CMO, who asked to remain anonymous, shared that their team is entirely overwhelmed because of the workload. Without the end in sight, this quickly impacts their ability to do the work and use their relied upon judgment and subject matter expertise. Even after several hires to try to combat these issues, this team’s capacity reached 100% again very quickly. The same problem then starts over.

2) Clear priorities and expectations.

Legal marketing roles are at greater risk of a lack of clear prioritization of tasks and responsibilities due to their constant evolving nature and far-reaching scope. Most Job Descriptions I see include an extensive list, including nearly every task or duty thinkable, ranging from tactical to strategic. Setting clear priorities helps to manage everyone’s expectation.

This doubles as an effective upward management tool. Marketers and partners need to clearly communicate their priorities and expectations on timing in year one, year two, and so on. Without this ranking of tasks by nature of importance, marketers end up being busy on everything with little big impact. Marketers can show partners their project map so it can be easily seen what is being done and by when.

Robertson shares: “What has (and continues) to plague marketing and business development roles in a number of law firms is a lack of clear focus and prioritization. The absence of both prevents having meaningful benchmarks to aspire to and be measured against. This results in roles that are mostly responsive and generally rudderless, exacerbating burn-out, dissatisfaction and fatigue.”

3) Boundaries matter.

Our current working life is our actual life. There is no work / life balance; we work from home and we live at our work. Small daily breaks we never thought about – commutes, lunch breaks, coffee breaks – gave us perspective and a fresh mind. Now, for many of us, that small break is used to answer emails or pick up a child from school.

It is critical for our team leaders to lead by example and put in place protocols for busy periods and encourage check out times where needed. When legal marketing professionals don’t have this type of support from the top, they leave the firm. Worst case scenario, they leave the industry altogether.

Cole says that her corporate experience enables her to approach some of these issues from a different angle. For example, she used contractors to augment staff in a prior role and is introducing that approach to be more nimble. She believes being clinical and quantifying workload increases for leaders helps them understand because you are speaking their language when you show hours.

Possible solutions:
​

• Properly staffed and structured teams in each of the pre-manager, manager and senior positions. Cáceres says adding KPIs at each level help to articulate clear expectations across core competencies.
• Have an outlet for the weeks or months when the workload is going to push your current team to the brink. The budget should include a buffer for additional headcount to accommodate the busy times, and indeed, the busy year.  
• Our team leaders can continue to manage up to partners to communicate expectations and likely successes (and failures). Cole has found that doing an analysis of the marketing and business development team’s capacity before embarking on a new initiative is a tool she uses to arm herself with to manage up: “We need to do an evaluation of the project and ask do we have enough people to do this? If we don’t, we hire them. Many firms make management decisions without thoroughly considering if they have the available resources.” She further adds that she believes most Marketing Department and BD Departments should adhere to the ‘80% capacity rule’: “In order to do our jobs effectively and proactively and not be overwhelmed, we have to be at 80%. We then would have 20% for last minute projects or new projects. But when you’re already at 110%, and new projects and requests come in, you don’t have any flexibility. 80% would also allow us to do the other things, research industry trends and conduct competitor analysis, but for most Departments there just isn’t the time.”

Issue 2: People management

Why is this important?

Developing the non-technical skills of marketers, including people management, is not something law firms are set up to do (and in my view, rightly so, given their focus). So, given this, it is on our leaders to actively manage this issue. What makes this task even trickier? Even people managers need people management training.

Olney says it best: “Promoting someone who has excellent technical skills but no experience managing others and expecting them to “figure it out” may work occasionally, but it’s rare. And the consequences can be devastating, because ineffective managers can slow down or demoralize a whole team.”

Olney further adds that tying this essential skill into the responsibilities of team leaders is a critical piece to getting this right: “Leaders have a responsibility to not only model good people management themselves, but to make training around this crucial area part of the skills building for their department. Junior marketers can be trained on how to effectively communicate, and later how to handle difficult conversations with colleagues and internal clients. Training on how to be a contributing member of a team project can transition into how to lead one, and then how to formally manage those involved. We should ensure the building blocks to become a manager are in place and demonstrate through our actions and by who we choose to promote the value we place in these skills.”

Lee suggests that we should normalize how difficult this training can be: “It’s not uncommon for a new manager, particularly someone that now needs to manage former peers, to struggle a bit in the beginning. It’s important for them to recognize their role has changed and motivating, challenging, and helping your team members grow is one of their new top priorities.”

An added layer to this already notoriously tougher learned skill is the virtual nature we all pivoted to overnight and its impact on this issue. On this, Lee shares: “There have been few things during my career that have been as challenging as supporting people during the pandemic. It required diligent and consistent focus on how team members were doing, addressing their concerns, and making sure they know you are there for them. It’s critical that the team knows you have their backs, and you are thinking about their growth even though you’re not physically together.”

Why do firms struggle to add experienced people managers into their marketing teams?

It is a combination of three things:

• a certain number of years in a formal people management role (and this is different for each manager role)
• proven experience to directly and proactively deal with their team’s development
• an affinity to this type of responsibility (some people don’t want this responsibility)

Law firms don’t typically focus on this, nor do they nurture this. In my view, people managers within marketing who have a track record of success in managing others should enter a different and higher salary range. Firms only reward technical skill, not management skill. In marketing, we hire for both technical and soft skills.

On this point, Coffey shares: “Not only do firms not nurture it, they attribute almost no value to it. I think many firms have endemic people management problems because the person at the top of a given department has never been compensated for their management skills and do not know how to identify people with good or promising people management skills. The opposite of a virtuous cycle. And in most law firms the HR function is focused on, and rewards, risk management.”

Olney also adds that what does seem to get attention quickly is when marketing department leaders see behavior, communication styles, or work product that is not at the level it needs to be for our internal clients, the attorneys. She says we must “bring the same level of vigilance to what’s happening within our teams, because that’s ultimately what has the most impact on the team’s cohesiveness and ability to provide solid work product and strategic guidance to the attorneys.”

Possible solutions

• Proactive training. Either internally with a Professional Development Director, or externally with a credible coach or course. In time, I foresee a new role opening whose sole remit is to actively help and manage issues such as these for business services professionals.
• Roleplay. Hold roleplay sessions with the team using real examples. This allows pre-manager marketers to learn and practice this skill in a fail-safe environment. Debriefing and noting the positives and negatives of different outcomes will be a key accompanying piece for this to be successful. Coffey shares that he has done this in helping people deal with challenging lawyers.
• Manager peer learning sessions. Hold sessions where your managers feel comfortable to share their learnings, successes and struggles as a people manager. This needs to happen in a trusted, confidential and safe manner, whilst empowering them to acknowledge the challenges and that collaboration to enhance learning is significant.
• Unwavering support. When leaders are highly attuned to their team, the flow-on effect is powerful. Lee shares: “As a leader of a large team, there is nothing more important to me than supporting my colleagues. The higher you go in an organization, the more critically important that becomes.” Coffey also adds that emphasizing empathy as a guiding principle is critically important.
• Move quickly and informally. Training doesn’t have to be made into a big deal, nor does it have to take up a large block of time. Small, frequent displays of training can be as effective. To this point, Olney shares: “Not all training needs to be formal. Most leaders have taken the time to show a new employee or more junior member of the team how to effectively complete a task. We should be doing the same when it comes to communication and management skills. Have that coaching conversation with your new managers so they feel more confident in their skills. Give positive reinforcement to ensure they know when they get it right, and corrective feedback when they could have handled a situation better. Managers set the tone for their teams, and they should understand the impact that can have and why it can be so detrimental to the team, and ultimately the firm, when people don’t feel heard or supported.”

Next up? One of our biggest challenges yet…

On August 8, 2019 I co-presented on the topic of advancing your career in legal marketing with Clare Ota. Together we discussed the various careers in legal marketing, what skills are essential in these roles, career road-maps, the role of a mentor, annual reviews, the salary history ban, and more. This presentation was to the West Region of the Legal Marketing Association and was aimed at all levels, from junior to mid level to seniors in the marketing and business development space. 

Here is a recap of this program - which never takes the place for attending in person, but David Juarez does a great job in this recap: https://www.legalmarketing.org/p/bl/et/blogid=20&blogaid=5808

Happy new year one and all!

Like many, I find the new year is an ideal time to do some reflecting and reassess your professional – and personal – life and milestones.

For me, 2018 was an immensely satisfying year professionally as my business KHS People took off. I had the privilege to work with some wonderful and insightful clients and market leaders. And, my network never ceases to amaze me. Every candidate I work with allows me the opportunity to continue to learn and grow. And for that, I thank you.

Secondly – and on a more personal note - in 2018 my husband and I welcomed our healthy, happy and beautiful baby girl. She is a true joy to be around and inspires us each day. As with every new parent, figuring out a healthy balance with work and home life is a challenge. But it’s a challenge we are pursuing and are up for.

For those of you who know me well, you know that I’m an eternal optimist. And in that spirit, I’ve developed a short check list to help you kick start your new year.

Take yourself out for a coffee, read these bullets, and think and reflect. Similarly, I’m happy to discuss any of these with you over a coffee or a call.

Professional services marketing checklist for January 2019:     
        

• What did you learn in 2018 and how are you going to leverage that in 2019? If you’re not learning you’re unlikely to be growing and developing. Marketers must be constantly growing.
• Does the size and composition of your team adequately match the level and type of work that is being produced? Think about your team and who is doing what work and why.
• What skills gaps do you have that you want to dedicate some time to this year? Be honest with yourself and address what you need to. Its not a failing, it’s simply a development point.
• Is the vision of your team being fulfilled? Now is a great time to re-evaluate leadership’s vision and put that into action. Remind your team of that vision and where they are headed.
• Update your resume. This is for both internal and external use. You never know when you will need it, and you don’t want to forget all the good things you’ve achieved and accomplished.
• What professional relationships need nurturing? What team members or partners do you need to work a bit harder – or differently - with? Put in the time to work on these relationships.
• What projects allowed you to be successful last year? Figure out a way to continue to seek out those types of projects to keep showcasing your expertise. 
• What personal activities make you happy? Ensure you incorporate them into your busy work weeks. Both professional and personal projects and goals are equally as important to each other.

Make 2019 a different year. Strive for something you didn’t think possible. Set those goals and take all the satisfaction in the world when you achieve them. And remember to have fun. May 2019 be a truly fulfilling year for you, your teams, your firms, and your families.

On June 28, 2018 I had the pleasure of discussing professional development for business developers and marketers as part of the Legal Marketing Association's regular Podcast. This Podcast was done in conjunction with the May/June 2018 issue of the LMA's Strategies magazine.

In this Podcast, I discuss everything from what firms want from their business developers and marketers to today's current trends and unique challenges legal marketers face with this task. I also contrast this to professional services business developers and marketers in both the accounting and A/E/C sector.

​To listen: http://blog.legalmarketing.org/podcast-episode-32