A study on “Building Relationships with Global General Counsel: How Firms Can Use Targeted Content to Win and Retain Business” recently published by Hubbard One is quite revealing and well worth reading for those who are courting in-house counsel as clients.
You can draw your own conclusions from reading the survey material on which the report was based, but my own opinion is that most law firms could benefit from focusing on the following takeaways, which I have seen reinforced by other surveys:
- A law firm’s knowledge of a prospective client’s industry and business is of greater importance than flexible pricing and most other key factors in choice of counsel, so content focused on industry expertise is important;
- Referrals from trusted sources are still critical, but GCs want and need to compare lawyers or law firms by reviewing their Websites, and this is done by browsing for information that the GCs deem to be relevant and straightforward (rather than boilerplate bla, bla, bla);
- E-mail alerts, seminars and white papers are the most popular forms of marketing-related content that law firms can provide; and
- Those searching for outside counsel or looking to verify their expertise rely upon credible blogs and Linked-In more than other means of doing so.
Thus, lawyers and law firms would be wise to invest in well-organized Web content that focuses on what clients really want to know rather than self-promoting platitudes and pronouncements. Content-rich blogs, white papers and Linked-In profiles can also help to attract more prospects.
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