Legal Marketing: Law Firms Need UPDATING

I have already written (https://br.linkedin.com/in/josepaulograciotti) about the resistance that some Law Firm leaders have in order to recognize the true economical identity of their business and that the formerly called “Law Offices” are, in fact, companies that provide legal services.

In my humble opinion, it is also outdated the traditional account that law is not a trading activity and now I run a great risk to be criticized by the legal experts, but anyway, under a totally pragmatic point of view, I ask:

How do we classify the activity of an entity(taking as an example a small/medium-size corporate office) that has about 50 people working in it (including the staff), that has a client portfolio of around two or three digit number and which has revenues of amounts that reach six/seven digits annually?

The answer (repeating, in my humble opinion) is: Yes, it is a company, and bigger than the great majority of the small and medium- size companies in Brazil!

In addition to what was mentioned above, I dare to write about this matter because these reflections are being elaborated by four hands, with the participation of Priscilla Adaime, a professional specialized in communication and legal marketing.

All right. Now, having presented the first considerations, let us go to the matter itself!

Due to my more intense participation in the social networks, I saw in practice what I already felt due to my experience in those institutions, that is, most of the “posts”in the networks (small number of participants in the digital world) still follow the traditional modelof showing up in the media, presenting a certain pattern and with one or several of the characteristics listed below:

– Introduction to the market, with a “standard” photo, of the newly hired partner.

– Characteristic institutional photo with the main partners posted in an imposing manner and sometimes with the deans sitting in the center and the newer ones around them.

– Articles with deep legal discussions about the amendments to the laws, decrees, etc., published in newspapers and in legal portals.

– Newsletters sent to clients/mailing list about legal news.

– Photos of internal events about, again, legal discussions of a given subject.

– Notices relative to commemoratives dates (the Lawyers’ Day, the Secretary’s Day, etc.).

– Participation as speakers or sponsors of external events to clients and perspectives.

– Logos of received awards and acknowledgments.

– Production of “folders” printed with photos of their facilities spending fortunes with printing that often goes to the garbage.

This digital content, in addition to being difficult to be digested, due to the hermetic language  is randomly replicated on the Internet (website and social networks) ignoring the characteristics and peculiarities presented by the online tools available for disclosure of the  activitiesof the offices. Only a few worry about creating strategies for action for each of the networks and about measuring the achieved results.

In the real world where efficacy, pragmatism, fastness and spherical communication prevail (where everyone is connected), this type of exposure is practically innocuous without reaching the target public, which is the business community!

The offices need updating and need to come closer to their target public, they should use direct and objectivecommunication and use the new tools that are coherent with the real situation of the company that renders legal services:

– Adopt a posture of valuing the institution, its characteristic and its accomplishments.

– Always remember that the target is the client and not the competition!

– Abandon the worship to personality and individuality.

– use current tools, that is, all the social networks and all possible digital means. Whilst in Brazil the offices are ‘crawling’to produce content, in the USA most offices have blogs where the lawyers publish,on a weekly basis, articles about the novelties in the areas of performance. They invest time to create relevant content, as they know that this is fundamental to gain new clients.

The local offices are now beginningto perform the production of epodcasts videos for their target public while, out there, the lawyers use other means, such as : the Periscope (theapp used to make live broadcast via Wi-Fi and 3G and share experiences with their followers); Livestream (to disclose participations in live events). These are only some examples to illustrate the gap experienced by the Brazilian offices, which are little innovative and which are unaware of the new possibilities that should help them in the broadcast of their activities.

The support by an outsourced and experienced consultancy firm which is also exempt from any internal political interactions may help a lot in the image management, in the valuing policy of its accomplishments and in the exposure in the specialized and entrepreneurial  media (mainly in challenging times as the current one).

José Paulo Graciotti, is consultant and founding Partner of GRACIOTTI ASSESSORIA EMPRESARIAL, engeneer by Escola Politécnica Universidade de São Paulo, with Financial MBA at FGV and specialized in Knowledge Mnagement by FGV. ILTA Member since 1998 (International Legal Technology Association) and ALA (Association of Legal Administrators), with more than 27 years managing Law Firms in Brazil – www.graciotti.com.br