What to consider when choosing your content agency

On the day of the opening ceremony of #IBAparis2023, members of the marketing and business development (MBD) subcommittee of the IBA’s law firm management committee hosted their first High Tide conference, where they highlighted some of the key marketing and BD issues facing law firms today.

The first panel discussion focused on leadership issues and examined the changing role of MBD teams in the context of management and governance in law firms, and what they could learn from corporates.

In a recent survey compiled by law firms Van Bael & Bellis and Hausfeld, nearly two thirds of MBD team respondents (65%) said they were spending more time on ‘firefighting’ than developing strategies, with 80% of that group spending at least two thirds of their time extinguishing said ‘fires’ rather than focusing on strategic thinking.

The survey, entitled ‘Agility In A Disrupted World, Dealing With Disruption’, also found that less than a quarter of respondents said they spend more time on strategy, with 14% reporting a 50/50 split.

Speaking at October’s Law Firm Marketing Summit in London, Silvia Van Den Bruel, marketing and business development director at Hausfeld, said: “Firefighting on a constant basis is draining, demoralising and wastes huge amounts of energy. It takes the teams away from what is key to the survival of law firms: strategising and executing the business plans. It is simple, yet seemingly so difficult.”

According to the survey, the disruption that law firms are facing ranges from tech and automation, the growth in alternative legal services providers (ALSPs), changing client expectations, regulatory change, remote work, data privacy and cybersecurity, and economic uncertainty.

Survey respondents listed a number of challenges their teams face, such as not having sufficient capacity relative to the growth in fee earner headcount, as well as cost saving pressures and problems securing senior management buy-in for tech investment.

Reign Lee, head of strategy at Van Bael & Bellis, said: “BD and marketing teams are asked to continuously find novel ways to attract business; to deliver efficiencies; to do more with less resource; and to be on top of everything new when it comes to digital marketing, social media and the use of AI in content marketing. These professionals function at the commercial heart of the business and the value of opportunity cost to law firms that do not have an effective and functioning BD and marketing team cannot be underestimated.”

Given that internal resources will always be finite, and the need to ‘firefight’ seems unlikely to abate anytime soon, MBD teams need to consider how they can most effectively supplement their own capacity when it comes to attracting business. One way of doing this is by hiring an external agency to help with content marketing.

 

Potential partners

It is important to do your due diligence when selecting an agency partner as not all agencies are built the same. Some will inevitably offer content as an add-on to their core services. This should act as an immediate red flag.

Drafting compelling content, while maybe not a skill, is a specialist craft (or series of crafts) that is learnt over time. You will want an agency that houses the right people who know and understand those crafts and how they combine (not just writing but editing, sub-editing and commissioning, creating infographics, creating audio, creating videos etc).

What does compelling content look like? According to Elliot Moss, partner and chief brand officer at Mishcon de Reya, it is content that is of value to clients. “And ‘of value’ means: would I like it? Would I bother watching that video, reading that report, taking that call? Most people don’t apply that basic criteria and therefore the stuff that’s spewed out by most law firms lacks engagement,” he says. “The machine we’ve created has delivered more than 100 per cent revenue and profit growth in five years.”

To achieve results like that, law firms need to find an agency that knows how to hire storytellers. A team that includes former journalists is a good place to start as they will have learned the above crafts, which are immediately transferable to content marketing.

Some examples of journalistic attributes that can serve your content well include:

The ability to ask questions, not just intelligent questions but also stupid ones (which can often lead to more interesting answers). Journalists understand that they are asking questions in the service of the reader, listener, or viewer – so they pursue the so-called ‘five Ws’ (and ‘H’) of storytelling: the who, the what, the why, the when, the where and the how.

The ability to understand what’s most important. In an age of information overload, journalists are trained to tailor their research and drafting in a way that only serves the desired narrative.

Finally, related to number two but equally important is the ability to understand what to omit from your storytelling. Journalists resist the temptation to cram everything into their stories. Regardless of how interesting something might be, if it doesn’t serve the narrative, it is not included. Having that ability and confidence to know what to include as well as what to exclude is vital.

So, you are on to a good thing if you can find an agency that’s hired well and has the right skills.

When it comes to content marketing, one of the strengths of your in-house MBD function may also be one of its weaknesses. While your team will undoubtedly be close to the firm, to its ethos, its mission, its values, its roadmap and its services, there is always the danger that such proximity leads it to revert to the firm’s marketing messages … because they know them so well.

This is where some distance can be incredibly helpful. If you’re generating content for a client or a would-be client, it is vital that you craft that content with their needs in mind. That kind of perspective requires a bit of distance to help convert your marketing messages into real language. This is where an agency can add value.