Hanging tough

One thing that can be said of the legal marketing arena is that rarely do marketers stick with the same firm for a long period of time. The lifespan of a law-firm marketing professional, it would seem, is a short one. A masterclass on surviving the first six months of a new marketing role, By Laura Pyke-Jean

If the number of recruitment ads posted every day from the likes of PSMG and PM Forum are anything to go by, it seems that the job market for legal marketing in the UK is buoyant to say the least. In France, where I'm based, many people still think wistfully of the 'job for life' concept with a sweet nostalgic smile. On the other side of the Channel however, the UK norm seems to be for marketing people to switch positions around every two or three years. If this is true, then a good number of you will either have just started a new job or are already working out your notice, and the rest of you are probably thinking about it and taking steps to climb back on to the recruitment wagon. Cue dusting off the CV, getting onto head-hunters' hit lists and slipping descriptions of your dream job into every networking conversation you have over the next few months.

So once you've found your next job, how do you ensure that your probationary period is conclusive? What are the best ways to make a significant and positive impact when time constraints are high and your actual knowledge of the job realities are low? Why do I say that? Simply, because however much you've researched the firm and the position that's being offered, the truth is that there is always a considerable gap between what you were told at interviews (they were trying to get you to say 'Yes') and what you actually have to cope with once you begin the job (all the things they didn't mention that might have caused you to think twice or at least negotiate danger money had you known before signing the contract). Those of you with a slightly more kamikaze disposition will undoubtedly agree that this risk is of course doubled if you're starting a legal marketing job with no previous experience of law firms, which was the situation I found myself in.

Rather like the famous 'four Ps of marketing', I would suggest the following 'four Ps of not getting fired in the first few months: people, politics, projects and promotion.

People
Obvious one this, but one of the cornerstones of success is building solid, long term and trusting relationships with your internal clients. Friendship is not the objective, but unless the fee earners respect your credibility and trust your judgement enough to follow you in your endeavours, all your super strategies and action plans will be in vain, even those lovely animated PowerPoint presentations you worked so hard on. From a return-on-investment standpoint, the time you spend developing and maintaining these relationships at the beginning will stand you in good stead for those darker days when nothing seems to go according to plan.

To find out more about the needs and concerns of your staff, you could prepare a brief questionnaire and make formal appointments to interview as many of them as is feasible.

There are a wealth of possible questions to ask depending on your role and remit, including:

• Why did you become a lawyer? This is my favourite purely for the sheer variety of responses;
• Where do the majority of your referrals come from? This will give you priceless information on where work is currently coming from and where future business-development efforts might be usefully deployed;
• What do you perceive as the strengths and weaknesses of the firm? If you ask enough people, this should enlighten you as to the general internal perception of the firm and enable you to take the political temperature;
• If you could wave a magic marketing wand today, what would you do first? Praying they don't answer 'Eliminate the marketing department';
• Who are your biggest competitors? Try and steer them away from whom they'd like to be compared with ideally, and pin them down to the lawyers they meet regularly on the opposite side of the negotiating table or in the last round of pitches;
• Who are your best clients? This could be about the biggest, or most enjoyable to work with, or most profitable;
• What kind of marketing activities do you enjoy? This is a good way to leverage existing strengths and discover hidden talent '“ for example, someone who actually enjoys giving pitch presentations.

This technique will not only show that you're interested in the fee earners and eager to understand the firm, but will also provide you with considerable ammunition for your battle plan over the next six months. If everyone bemoans the lack of 'x' or the obsolescence of 'y', then it makes sense to focus on these quick-win areas to begin with, if they are in line with the general strategy. It's essential to find out how your internal clients view the whole marketing, business development and communications functions and, consequently, what they really want from you '“ preferably before you start trying to give it to them.

Politics
Omigod. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but firms the world over are political minefields and therefore not recommended environments for the faint of heart. As someone who will be working with the whole office, you simply have no alternative but to develop an accurate understanding of office politics, which means two things: getting to grips with who really influences who and what historical factors are still impacting on current events. Instead of always toddling off to Pret a Manger and further increasing the amount of crumbs stuck in the crevices of your keyboard, it's a good idea to plan in some lunch dates with different people at the firm (for example, partners, junior lawyers, personal assistants and accounts staff) to ensure you observe the internal workings of the firm from as many angles as possible. This strategy will also have the advantage of getting your face known and helping you to make useful contacts across the office. Try not to make the mistake of assuming that people necessarily make friends or allies through similar job families or office locations, or conversely that people who you never see talking together in the office are not actually best pals since way back.

Another tack is to discover who wants you to succeed (perhaps the partner who helped recruit you or the marketing colleague who sees you as his/her succession plan) and who actually would be happier seeing you make heavy weather of it (perhaps the partner who was reluctant to invest more money in marketing or the marketing colleague who applied for your job but didn't get it?). Take time to encourage the fee earners who are marketing enthusiasts but don't neglect the hinderers '“ it's an incontrovertible fact of sales that a converted sceptic is miraculously transformed into your ultimate champion, who will go around telling everyone that you're the best thing since sliced bread. Carrying this idea a little further, and without wanting to sound perverse, I have always found it valuable, albeit challenging, to actively seek out the people who put the fear of God into me and make it my personal mission to win them over, or at the very least include them in what I do. In my experience, they're often much nicer and easier to work with than their reputation would suggest. Ask questions to ascertain how each internal client likes to work '“ whether they prefer:

• Speaking to you in person, on the phone or by e-mail;
• Receiving documents in soft or hard-copy format;
• Being left alone to get on with it or being regularly followed up with;
• Creating something themselves or amending an idea you've already come up with.

All this may sound minor and belonging in the 'soft' skill set, but can in fact make all the difference as to how well you actually manage to do your job.

Projects
Right from day one, try to get involved in ongoing or upcoming projects in the office. If you have ideas for a new project, be brave and put them forward even if you've just arrived. Although, of course, if your project involves a restructuring plan to downsize the marketing team and fire all the people you haven't recruited personally this may well not be the appropriate choice. Your ideas may not be taken on board immediately, but it will show both your creativity and your desire to move the business forward. For example, if the firm doesn't yet produce such delights as welcome packs for new joiners, internal e-newsletters, pitch debrief statistics or targeting score sheets, then these kinds of firmwide initiatives provide an ideal springboard for you to both manage the information flow and position yourself as a central piece of the office jigsaw.

For increased chances of success, only begin a project once you have buy-in from at least one senior fee earner who will then support your project vis-a-vis management and other internal clients. If you're unable to spark even one partner's interest in the seminar you've suggested, it's never going to be a runner no matter hard you work at it. Over time, I have forcibly trained myself to promise only what I know I can deliver as regards deadlines, quantities, outcomes and so on, as I have found that mistakes tend to be better received than surprises. Another weapon in my armoury is finding the courage to say 'No' to obviously unworkable projects, or at least suggesting alternatives that have a greater chance of a successful outcome. To my mind, the other holy trinity of project management where lawyers are concerned would be: always follow up; always double check; and, always try and get the tiny details right as this breeds confidence for the more major things.

Promotion
Not your promotion to another job, but promoting what you do to the rest of the firm. My first degree was in philosophy and I remember vividly having to write a 5,000-word essay on whether a falling tree in a forest would make a noise if there was nobody around to hear it. Seriously. Stretching the analogy somewhat, if nobody hears about your accomplishments are you really making an impact? Without going so far as putting up posters around the coffee machine or handing out flyers at tube stations, there are other, more subtle, ways to keep your profile high and your marketing activities top of mind. Keep a list of projects and accomplishments on your desk or on your computer so that if the managing partner just happens to drop by and ask what you're working on you don't have to think it up on the spot. Offer to give monthly updates to the managing partner or to attend partners' meetings if you're not doing this already, to show how you're contributing to helping the firm achieve its objectives. Once you have a few 'good news' items, like a bunch of press clippings on a deal, a few new client wins or good feedback on an event, communicate them to the appropriate people. Don't hide behind your e-mail address '“ it's much easier to build a positive image around a human face than around the line of text 'myname@law-firm.com', so get out there where everyone can see you.

Just for the record I did survive my first six months, and am still here two years on. Of course, if the above tips don't work for you, never fear. If all else fails, there's always the law conversion course to consider.

Laura Pyke-Jean is international marketing manager at international firm Eversheds, based in its Paris office. She can be contacted at laurapykejean@eversheds.com

Copyright & permissions