GUEST BLOGGER: Amanda Acevedo, Director of Marketing and Business Development - Niles Barton

Over six months ago, I moved from a global law firm with a marketing department of 20+ professionals to a midsized regional firm with a marketing department of just one: me.

Last week, Moiré Marketing Partners attended the Los Angeles Legal Marketing Association’s Continuing Marketing Education Conference, where law firm leaders and marketers gathered to discuss the pressing issues facing their firms. One of the most common themes we heard was the need to update law firm websites and improve their search engine rankings.

GUEST BLOGGER: Larry Bodine Esq., Business Development Advisor 

From Hubspot: We all know our website is a key part of our marketing and lead generation strategy. But when prospects visit your site, what are they looking for? What do they want to see, and what do they consider most important? To find out, RainToday.com surveyed more than 200 buyers of business-to-business services—in companies of all sizes—to rate the importance of various elements of a service provider's website.

Recruiting lateral partners is one the most important ways that a firm may increase their gross revenue, profits per partner, revenue per attorney all while adding value and importance to the firm. Recruiting a “high profile” lateral partner should be treated with equal importance as landing a new client or getting additional business from an existing client.

In doing research on a couple of presentations for LMA and AAM, I had the opportunity to speak to a number of in-house marketing professionals at law and accounting firms regarding the client experience they were receiving from their service providers (vendors). Many with “long-term” existing relationships were generally happy; while others felt that their providers had strict policies regarding how clients had to adhere to “their” policies and processes. As a result, the firm didn’t have much of a chance to express their firm’s needs, culture and their goals. While this may work with some service providers it could never work in a marketing communication firm.

An interesting trend in legal marketing has sprung up recently. From conversations on the Legal Marketing Association (LMA) listservs to articles referenced on Twitter, commentary on blogs and invites for presentations and webinars, legal marketers are talking about spending less money on traditional brand awareness marketing and investing more time and money into business development and attorney coaching.