Marketing Marketing Marketing
Entering the new year, many law firms in China are considering how best to adjust business strategy and internal structure. The challenge: how best to compete after the financial crisis. We note that many firms〞both foreign and domestic, are adding BD and marketing specialists.
To understand better the BD/marketing challenge, we talked to four experienced law firm marketing professionals.
Marketing law firms is unique and specific, compared with other industries
Clients of a full-service law firm usually come from a variety of business sectors. This variety creates some challenges. At the same time, the variety creates personal growth opportunity for marketing professionals.
※For each specific industry, marketing specialists in law firms need to adopt their approach. In law firms, marketing professionals have two sets of ＆clients＊ 每 the lawyers, their internal clients, and their external clients. The marketing team needs to work closely with lawyers to understand their legal practices as well as their clients. This is the key to the success of providing a professional and targeted service,§ says Ms. Fu Fang, Marketing and Business Development Manager of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in China. She goes on to add, ※Performing marketing in full-service law firms helps widen your knowledge of different industries,§ Ms. Fu has served more than 15 years with foreign and domestic law firms, as well as commercial enterprises.
Ms. Shelley Xie, Marketing Manager with Summit Law Firm, a marketing veteran with experience in various industries, agrees. ※BD/marketing a law firm is special and specific, compared with other industries.§ She identifies four differences from marketing commercial companies: 1) production and profits, 2) marketing team structure, conduct and performance, 3) client requirements, and 4) support.
Ms. Xie points out the key reason firms, and companies, conduct marketing. ※The higher the investment on marketing work, the more the return might be.§ She notes that the BD/marketing budget in law firms may be a smaller percentage of the turnover than in commercial firms. This means that ※The much smaller marketing team in law firms must be excellent and experienced enough to choose the most efficient way to do marketing promotion with the limited budget.§
Foreign firms experienced; domestic firms chasing after
Ms. Christina Wu, Marketing Manager with AllBright Law Offices, says that foreign law firms are, ※more efficient and effective on implementing their marketing strategies and portfolios.§
Many foreign law firms operating in China have mature marketing structures and teams. Most domestic law firms do not yet have independent professionals devoted to BD/marketing their firms. Partners in domestic firms usually do their own marketing work.
Ms. Wu notes, ※In most domestic law firms, BD/marketing is fresh work, which requires marketing specialists not only to promote a brand and reputation, but also to strengthen internal communication and cooperation with partners and associates.§
Things are changing at domestic law firms. Increased competition and improved management structure with central budgeting are driving more domestic firms to build their own marketing capacity. ※With the advantage of local resources, which mean more selling points and channels to access the local market, domestic law firms are chasing after and narrowing the gap with foreign firms on marketing skills and related investments,§ Ms. Wu says.
Keeping eyes on China legal market in 2010
We wondered if law firm marketing professionals in China can discover the business trend for in 2010. Indeed, the signals are mixed; all is not clear.
Ms. Wu: ※Since the prospects of capital markets and many other practices are not quite clear at the moment, it is hard to say whether the legal market will boom.§ But she expresses the feeling of many lawyers, saying, ※If the overall business goes forward steadily, the situation must be better than 2009.§
Crisis can create opportunity. Ms. Fu notes that during the down turn her firm responded quickly to the down turn to adjust and maintain a full range of services. ※As a global firm, Orrick puts the client needs above everything else. We talked to our clients and adapted our business model to meet clients' changing needs globally, including of course in China. This has included adjusting internal team and management structures to improve service delivery and introducing innovations such as offering clients alternative fee structures and flexible billing arrangements.§
MWE China Law Offices takes an optimistic view. ※China＊s large legal market has proved to be very attractive to foreign lawyers. There are predictions that investments by law firms in China will increase with economic growth,§ says a MWE marketing specialist. But, she reminds, ※This also means competition. An effective marketing strategy becomes crucial.§
Expressing her positive view, Ms. Xie offers this data to prove her confidence in the China legal market in 2010. These years:
- The global legal services market representing a compound annual growth rate of 4.2%
- The American & European market representing a compound annual growth rate of 3.8%
- The Asian & Pacific market representing a compound annual growth rate of 8.6%
- The Chinese legal services market representing a compound annual growth rate of 20%〞the fastest growth rate of demand for legal services
Expressing some caution, Ms. Xie notes that most foreign companies lowered legal costs last year and adjusted internal structure. Budgets for outside counsel were cut; some companies added head count for in-house legal positions.
Marketing work: creative, challenging
A BD/marketing professional performs a special role in the strict environment of a law firm. Compared with tedious legal practice, the work may seem more creative, flexible and offering variety.
The pressure is on the marketing team to produce projects that bring revenue. To perform well, BD/marketing specialists emphasize the critical importance of cooperation and support between lawyers and the marketing team.
※A good marketing team helps a law firm sell its lawyers and expertise much easier,§ stresses Ms. Wu.
