Three steps to (strategy) heaven in 2021
After a turbulent year, Robus’ Yaara Deitcher reflects on her three fabulous pointers to successful strategy development as we eye the opportunities of 2021.
In December 2019, when the world was only getting familiar with a new contagious disease that was affecting mainly China (at the time), most law firms already had their 2020 marketing strategies and business plans ready.
Today, a year on (it certainly feels much longer!) marketing professionals are still having to endure the same problem. If we can’t plan events, introductory meetings or business trips - how can we build our 2021 strategy plan?
In March, we wrote about our Fabulous 3 – three focal points we advised our clients to have in the back of their mind when thinking BD and marketing. We got great feedback from clients, mainly because they helped professionals to focus, and avoid many of the background noises that were around all of us back in Q2.
And here we are at the beginning of 2021, thinking about our plans for the year ahead. As some predicted when the virus started spreading, Covid is here and will be here for a while, meaning the world will have to get used to a new reality.
Law firms and other service providers can’t keep working in an ‘emergency format’ - we need to find a way to be able to plan even when things are still very much uncertain. In order to help our clients to do so, we composed a couple of updated focal points that are aimed to help you get ready for 2021.
Divide your attention! (or don’t get Covid obsessed)
In the past months we saw law firms from all around the world putting their full attention into Covid marketing – webinars, articles, information hubs and more.
Yes, Covid is our current reality but we should not forget that eventually things will go back to normal – people will go back to traveling and social distancing will fade out. Thus, it is important to have a “regular” BD and marketing approach in mind.
We find marketing and business development professionals choosing de-facto between two options:
- “Since I can’t really plan - I will basically stay put until things go back to normal; sure, I’ll have a webinar or two, but I am really playing it by ear since there is not enough certainty to plan for more”.
- “Covid? Social distancing? No problem! Let’s have a million webinars and only talk about Covid implications!”
Unfortunately, these two alternatives routes are not precise. What is? A combination of both.
Don’t be afraid to intentionally divide your efforts - law firms should have an ongoing stream of webinars (because it is a good way to reach their target audience, stay relevant and keep their brand recognition going).
But having said that - law firms should also get ready for the day we go back to normal – thinking about new markets that can be relevant for the firms’ activity.
Have a plan ready, because travelling will be back, and you want your partners to be ready to get on the first plane out.
“Try and stay ‘human’ in this faceless period of time in history. It will bear fruits in due time.”
Don’t be faceless, be human
Social closeness is one of the things that makes us human. Not being able to meet, shake hands or see someone’s face without a mask (unless it is via Zoom) is one of the pandemic’s hardest effects.
It is not without reason that there is an historic rise in mental health cases reported around the world. People all over are longing for human contact… so give it to them and have your marketing human oriented.
Here are some examples on to how to do just that:
- Have partners make phone calls with clients – keep in touch with them on a less formal manner
- Having a webinar? – make sure to engage your audience, don’t let your webinars feel like a prerecorded TV show – even if things won’t go as smooth, your audience will feel more connected
- Have the firm’s lawyers send a personal email to their contacts inviting them to take part in a webinar
- Have the firm’s lawyers ask their contacts which topics they find interesting and would be interested in watching a webinar on
- Send registered audience a small gift prior to the webinar – like a small box of chocolates or a coffee mug with the firm’s logo
Bottom line – try and stay ‘human’ in this faceless period of time in history. It will bear fruits in due time.
Adapt and adjust
We have the privilege to re-think things. For example, in recent months, most of us had the chance to work on a remote basis. Managing partners worldwide discovered things can work as affectively (or even better) when staff are working remotely.
If law firms can keep running successfully on a remote basis, maybe the firms huge and expensive offices are becoming obsolete? Why should we not offer our legal teams the chance to work from home and move to smaller offices, and by that - saving hundreds of thousands of dollars?
This example shows that by adjusting the way we think we can not only help the firm to market in times of crisis - but actually save a lot of money.
What will we do with the money saved? Use it in order to implement new strategies. You can invest the money saved in business development moves that will lead to growth (even in times like these).
For example, if the firm’s expertise is in fields that are suffering from the current situation, why not adjust and adapt by adding super relevant practice fields such as labour law or insolvency that can help keep the firm afloat until work comes back?
Alternatively, invest in legal tech solutions that will make the firm work more efficiently and get a better starting point for the post-Covid era.
Challenging times are still not completely behind us
It is extremely hard to try and plan when the future is so uncertain. Nevertheless, the world has not stopped, and my best advise – try to focus on a couple of truths – things you know you can lean on in these confusing times. This will help you stay analytical about your business decisions and will help avoid the confusing background noises.