But there’s hope, according to Merrilyn Astin Tarlton, Editor-in-Chief of the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Management magazine, and Mark Beese, “Marketing Guy” (Director of Marketing) at Holland & Hart LLP in Denver. At the 7th Annual Marketing Directors Institute held in Denver, Tarlton and Beese described how to use innovative marketing strategies to encourage more creativity in the law firm environment.
Were does creativity fit into the mix?” It doesn’t, unless marketers begin to think differently and get their firm to begin thinking differently.
According to Tarlton, some of the reasons for thinking differently might include wanting to differentiate your firm from other law firms, changing strategic direction, or meeting new challenges. Tarlton and Beese presented a six-point formula for creativity that could become the basis for encouraging law firms to start thinking differently.
1. Define the purpose/mission. When embarking on a project, you must determine your final goal. Ask what you want to accomplish, and what difference will it make. Tarlton stressed that it is important to give meaning to what you are doing. For example, Beese said his purpose at Holland and Hart was to position the firm as the “go-to” law firm in the Rocky Mountain West.
2. Gain permission. Analyze whether you have the needed encouragement from others to see the project to completion. Factor in whether the end result expected or planned. In Beese’s case, he got a direct request from the firm’s Management Committee to do something extraordinary and unique. He got a mandate to differentiate and innovate.
3. Outline the framework. Set out the parameters of the project. Analyze whether you have crossed-referenced all the possibilities. It may be necessary to “color within the lines” because artificial limits have been imposed either arbitrarily or subconsciously. Beese said that at Holland and Hart, he was expected to communicate the nature of the firm to outside clients in a cost effective manner, working with and without a regional reference, and be contemporary, corporate and brilliant.
4. Encourage stimulation. Provide visual, verbal, and audio enhancements. Hold brainstorming sessions; to enhance the creative process, alter the light, sound and space. Allow people to consider the “What if…?” Beese used pictures and visioning exercises to stimulate creativity, conducted an online internal attitudes survey, conducted an online external survey, held internal focus groups and ran a brainstorming retreat.
5. Set the timeframe. Make sure that the deadline is realistic and allows for ample time to move through all the phases and complete the project. Beese had to complete his project in time to roll it out at a partner retreat.
6. Determine who the participants will be in the creative process. Identify who will make the final decision and who will be responsible for implementing it once the project is completed. For Beese, participants included the Management Committee, certain key attorneys and members of the marketing team
So, how do you put this into action? First, come up with a plan. Creativity is a process. To encourage your attorneys and your firm to start thinking differently, it takes planning and courage to challenge the mainstream thought. Law firms are notorious for being cautious, deliberate followers. For an attorney, it is much more comforting to travel a well-worn path rather than blazing a new trail. If one idea doesn’t work, try something else or bring someone in from the outside to validate the idea.
Law firms are not going to change overnight, but ultimately it is up to marketing professionals to challenge the firm’s comfort zone and be the driving force behind getting attorneys to think differently in a like-minded world.
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By Rachael Royster Melton, Manager, Marketing & Communications, Arnold & Porter, Washington, D.C. She can be reached at Rachael_Melton@aporter.com and 202-942-5847.