Tooting my own horn

I had a busy month. INSANELY busy month preparing for my firm’s inaugural industry-focused conference.

And it came off without a hitch. Seamless. Pretty damn perfect if you ask me, or read the evaluations. A couple typos and one missed nametag. A speaker had to back out at the last minute, but it actually set up a great joke.

Many years ago I got the worst piece of advice, ever: Do a good job and people will notice.

What a crock of shit.

When you do a good job, you need to let people know. When you do a damn good job you need to write a press release or a blog post and let the world know.

Speaking with a partner at the conference, he said the best marketing he does is doing a good job.

I called BS on him, and, after a brief discussion he agreed.

If the guy over there is doing a good job, but is promoting his successes as if they are great, people, and potential clients will take notice.

Everyone reading this knows “that guy” or “that girl.”

You know. Your competitor. Your rival, friendly or not. He isn’t that good at his job. She really isn’t that smart. Has a reputation for not being the best lawyer, marketer, reporter.

But dammit, they have the job, the client, the work. Not you.

They are the one speaking at the podium at that industry conference. Not you.

They are the one quoted in the article. Not you.

They got the job. Not you.

They got the raise and the bonus. Not you.

As I told my boss when the conference was nearing an end: I didn’t do just a good job, I did a great job.

I have a set of skills that is unique in the marketplace. I know enough about enough to throw a seamless event and conference with minimal, and I mean minimal, assistance. And on budget, thank you very much.

I don’t know too many people out there, other than Dee Dee Irwin, who could do the same.

But I had a lot of support. I have a boss who backs me up and allows me to speak freely. I work for a partnership that stood back and let me do what I had to do to get the job done. I am treated with respect as a colleague, not a staffer, or “non-attorney.

I am very lucky to work with the people I work with every Monday through Friday. But, then again, so are they.

2013
05/19
CATEGORY
marketing me
1 comment

What? There are only FOUR jobs in this world????

Who the hell is Lou Adler and how dare he come up with such a brilliant, simple, and concise description of the workplace? There Are Only Four Jobs in the Whole World – Are You in the Right One?

Everything starts with an idea. This is the first of the four jobs – the Thinkers. Builders convert these ideas into reality. This the second job. Improvers make this reality better. This is the third job. Producers do the work over and over again, delivering quality goods and services to the company’s customers in a repeatable manner. This is the fourth job. And then the process begins again with new ideas and new ways of doing business being developed as the old ones become stale.

In the post, Lou goes into more detail as to the roles the Thinkers, Builders, Improvers and Producers play. So go read it.

All of this reminds me of the team assessment I recently did for the LMA board of directors, via The Gabriel Institute. Talk about light bulbs going on in a room. Not only did I understand myself at a whole new level, I started to understand and appreciate the VALUE every person, including myself, on that board brings to the TEAM.

I am sooooooo tired of looking inward at me, me, me. I want to know more about how this mish-mosh, mutt of a person/employee/leader interacts and works with YOU. What dynamic do I bring to the team? And is the team the right group of people to get the job done?

So, let me introduce myself, I’m an ENTJ who is a Driver (dominance). But more importantly, to the team, I am the Conductor (solving tough problems) and an Improver.

 

2013
05/03
CATEGORY
business of law
marketing me
6 comments

Not all legal marketers are created equal

For anyone following any legal marketing stream on Twitter (#LMA13, for instance), you’ll know that we not only have our scoffers, but we have our haters.

And, honestly, looking at the spam in my filters, who can blame them.

There are a lot of bad promotional people out there targeting lawyers with their wares. But they are not necessarily “legal marketers.”

One thing I have learned from my nearly 15 years as a legal marketer is that not all legal marketers are created equally.

We all don’t do the same thing. We don’t all have the same skill set and experience. And we all don’t work for the same client base.

I work in-house for corporate lawyers. I am diligent that the marketing and business development we do complies with the legal ethics of the states in which we practice.

I know many legal marketing consultants who have worked in-house, and have struck out on their own. Once again, working with corporate lawyers, and well within the boundaries of the legal ethics in which the lawyers operate.

There are other legal marketers who work with consumer lawyers, which is a completely different beast than corporate law. B to C v. B to B.

And, like any industry, there are ne’er–do–wells who are trying to capitalize on an unsophisticated market. They see lawyers as a quick and easy target (Psst. Hey, buddy. Wanna buy a plaque?). Much like there are ne’er-do-well attorneys trying to capitalize on an unsophisticated consumer.

Those fly-by-night marketers do not represent what we do. They are not what I do. Just like ambulance-chasing lawyers are not who we represent.

My job is to help the lawyers in many areas of their business. The 5 Ps of marketing, for short.

LMA Annual Conference

Legal marketers, in general, are about business. The business of law. For some of us, that means businesses of $50 million in revenue and up. For others, at the top of the market, we’re looking at multi-billion dollar a year global operations.

It takes a sophisticated marketer to earn the respect of corporate law. To be given the keys to not only drive the strategic plan, but to create it. A seat at the table. And, better yet, a VOICE at the table.

Heaven knows it takes a thick skin and a strong personality to go toe-to-toe with many of our partners.

And while we have a few haters and scoffers, considering the booming of our profession, we have many more supporters and champions.

So, yeah, I’m Heather Morse. Legal Marketer.

2013
04/18
CATEGORY
business of law
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When tragedy strikes, pull your auto posts. Immediately.

First off, my personal thoughts and prayers to all impacted by today’s terrorist attacks in Boston. It is beyond words.

Unfortunately, while I posted the following message privately in a Facebook legal marketing group, I believe it needs to be posted publicly as well:

For those of you have auto messages set to post via Hootsuite, blogs, etc. you might want to recall them. For instance, I have a dinner invite set to go. I will not be sending it out for a couple days.

Who would guess that the first offender to not pull their auto tweets would be a Boston firm? Oy.

In an increasingly connected world, it is hard to hear of a tragedy and not think immediately to our friends, family and colleagues who might be personally impacted. Yes, the odds are slim, but someone knows these people. Their families.

When your posts are going over a social network, they might not be well received.

In these moments of tragedy, auto posts on Twitter and Facebook come off as crass, out of place, ill-timed, and thoughtless.

So just have a simple policy. Pull them. All of them. Give everyone a minimum of 24-hours to compose themselves. To not be spammed by your firm’s latest blog post, or dinner invitation.

Quickly and personally reach out to those who might be impacted and offer your thoughts and well-wishes.

Take off your lawyer/marketer hat and put on your compassionate, human one. No one will miss your blog post (although I bet it was really special). No one will miss out on our dinner invite if it goes out tomorrow or Wednesday.

2013
04/15
CATEGORY
Branding, Graphics & Logos
business of law
Social Media
1 comment

What happened at LMA won’t stay there

Well, I am back in the office and digging through my e-mails, trying to figure out what I missed out on, and, yet, I am still going back and checking the Twitter stream because I am not yet ready to move on from what happened at the LMA Annual Conference.

In fact, I get to run upstairs today and see Toby Brown and Aleisha Gravit give a presentation on Pricing, Profitability and the Role of Marketing.

I’m making a list of all the blog posts I should write. Hopefully I’ll get to some of them.

Already pow-wowing with LMA leaders in LA and San Francisco on what we can bring back from LMA’s annual conference for our local members. I would encourage ALL of us to do the same.

Side note: And, if you are not an LMA “leader” yet, watch your in-boxes over the summer for “calls for nominations” to join your local chapter’s board of directors and committees.

Already thinking about next year’s conference in Orlando and have blocked my calendar for April 2-4, 2014 (and we are NOT at a Disney property). As I will not be on the conference committee, or the board of directors, I am eligible to submit a program for consideration. Woo hoo!!

And I’m loving my new mugs and t-shirts! If you didn’t get a chance to purchase one at LMA, contact Nathalie Daum and she’ll hook you up (no cost to ship!).

LMA Mugs

$15 for t-shirts
$6 for mugs
$45 for polo shirts
2013
04/11
CATEGORY
business of law
Events - Heather Morse
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Buying Legal Services is Like Buying a New Record

Prof. David Wilkins, Director, Program on the Legal Profession, Harvard Law School, is on stage right now. He just made a great analogy about the purchasing of legal services that just won’t fit in 140 characters on Twitter.

Folks of a certain age will remember running down to the local record store to buy a new record. It was pre-packaged by the record company. A certain sized and shape. It had a pretty cover. And we were expected to listen to the album in a certain order.

We would drop our money to buy a whole album to get just one song. And if the album wasn’t there, we couldn’t buy it.

(I have several of those albums in my collection, that are now in a box in storage)

And now look how music is purchased.

It’s been completed unbundled. We buy a single song. We download it. We build our own music lists. We share those lists. We are the decider of when and how we will purchase music. The record companies no longer dictate the rules we are living by.

And that is what is happening with legal services. The clients are demanding that the services be unbundled. They want to purchase service as they need them, how they need them.

The analogies are continuing. If you think about legal services being a new suit. Off the rack is just fine for most legal services. You don’t need to purchase a Seville Row suit every time.

Yeah, there will always be the bet the farm cases, the white collar perp walks. But these cases are fewer and farther between every year.

2013
04/09
CATEGORY
business of law
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It’s Electrifyin’!

Heather Morse LMAWell, they listened. Last week I encouraged LMA members to not leave their passion behind, and so far, they haven’t disappointed.

To quote Danny Zuko: “It’s electrifyin’!”

The conference is packed. We’re at about 1200 registrants.

The venue is beautiful, and the layout is conducive to getting to the sessions, networking. We even have some fresh daylight.

The coffee sucks, but a Starbucks is about to open any moment.

From the Twitter feed, the pre-conference sessions went well.

The First Timers reception was packed.

They turned the lights off to get us to leave the opening reception.

I’m seeing sweaty people from Darryl Cross‘ workout walking around.

People can’t wait to hear Prof. David Wilkins, Director, Program on the Legal Profession, Harvard Law School.

I am so torn between the four sessions at the first break out. Great topics and great friends speaking.

It really is electrifyin’! and the conference officially hasn’t even begun.

Lucky for us, what happens in Vegas won’t be staying in Vegas. If you’re not here, follow along on Twitter.

Oh, and registration is already open for the 2014 conference. I’ll be there!

2013
04/09
CATEGORY
Building your network
marketing me
networking
Personal Network
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