Social Value – why you should care
Being able to demonstrate an authentic approach to ESG will be the difference between winning and losing out when it comes to talent and client engagements.
Social Value – why you should care
Being able to demonstrate an authentic approach to ESG will be the difference between winning and losing out when it comes to talent and client engagements.
Being purpose-driven presents businesses with a number of opportunities, but it’s important to be authentic and legitimate in your cause - purpose over profit should always prevail.
But how can firms communicate their ESG values and performance? One way in which firms can do this is through thought leadership and by utilising their digital presence. This can be led by the marketing and business development (BD) teams.
When your employees understand your strategy and truly advocate for the values of your firm, it strengthens that message to your clients and prospects. In this article, we look at how top CMOs are approaching this, as well as what firms can do to provide a platform for doing this at scale.
What ESG means through a marketing and BD lens
The influence of the marketing and BD teams within law firms, specifically regarding the topic of ESG, provides a real opportunity to drive change from the top down.
Law firms need to embrace the movement, and marketing and BD teams are uniquely positioned, having the influence to start driving that change internally, as well as developing client-aligned strategies in their external communications.
Communication is key, and once strategies and policies have been drafted, they must be communicated at all levels to ensure consistency. Make sure you have this nailed down internally before you start sharing it externally - every team member should have a solid understanding of the firm’s ESG policy and what it means to their roles at an individual level.
We recently spoke to Tamara Costa, national director of brand and marketing communications at BLG, on the CMO Series Podcast on the subject of ESG and the role of marketing.
She claimed that a firm’s ESG credentials could in fact differentiate between you and the competition:
“Those firms who do challenge these embedded assumptions and find a way to navigate the complex change and focus on innovation, and really live their values, will stand out...”
She also expressed the need for authenticity, and the importance of accountability; having the measures in place to evidence your progress and impact.
“Really ensure they have the internal and external message ready…The framework really has to be measurable and aligned to what increasingly savvy clients are asking, greenwashing won’t work.”
Why communications are critical
When considering the communication of ESG, it’s important to bear in mind what other content is on your website, and what it says about you - ensure the messaging around your values and purpose is consistent across the board.
Another podcast guest, Chris Hinze, Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer at Steptoe & Johnson, recently offered some insight into the importance of communicating a firm's values.
He links the management of reputation for a law firm directly back to values and being prepared to live authentically by those values. You should be prepared to take action against anything that breaches those values and be transparent about why.
“Fundamentally, it boils back down to having a clear sense of what your values are, being able to articulate that as a message, and then putting in place the programs that address each of those different audiences and stakeholders that reflect those through. And when those things get challenged, taking the appropriate actions to either course correct or to reinforce the values and say no, these are the things we stand for. And equally, these are the things we won't stand for.”
“Law firms need to embrace the (ESG) movement, and marketing and BD teams are uniquely positioned, having the influence to start driving that change internally, as well as developing client-aligned strategies in their external communications.”
“Law firms need to embrace the (ESG) movement, and marketing and BD teams are uniquely positioned, having the influence to start driving that change internally, as well as developing client-aligned strategies in their external communications.”
Joining the conversation
A major factor when it comes to communicating your firm’s values and ethos is having a voice and taking a stance on the issues of today. It is simply not enough to remain silent - Edelman’s 2022 Trust Barometer reported that 58% will buy or advocate for brands based on their beliefs and values, while 60% will choose a place to work based on their beliefs and values.
One law firm that actively demonstrates its commitment to ESG through thought leadership is Charles Russell Speechlys. With a dedicated ‘Sustainability Hub’ on their website, visitors can easily learn about the work the firm is doing, including easy access to their Responsible Business Report. The page also includes all of their published insights around ESG.
Meanwhile, a recently launched ESG platform from Reed Smith does a fantastic job of highlighting their values. This was launched following the huge number of thought leadership content that their lawyers were already creating on the subject and allowed them to create a destination for all things ESG related on their site.
Freshfields is another law firm communicating ESG through its thought leadership program, with an ESG tag returning a plethora of results from the team. Anyone visiting the website can choose to subscribe and follow all posts within that tag, meaning they never miss any updates on the topic.
Another way of communicating these values, as demonstrated by law firm Ashurst, is through a podcast series. In each episode, the team tackle social and environmental issues, from embedding purpose into corporate decision-making to fighting climate change through investing.
Driving change through effective thought leadership
What these responses have in common is that the marketing and BD teams have provided a flexible platform for their firm to lead digitally on these issues, giving a means to reach their market authentically, quickly and efficiently.
Each of these responses is flexible and has been adjusted to the firm, but they depend on four critical factors. These factors form a chain and are critical in effectively communicating a firm’s ESG values. If any given factor is weak or missing, then the entire chain falls apart and the program can fail. Each link in the chain is relatively simple to achieve, but it can be challenging to scale the links simultaneously, which is why larger firms often find truly successful thought leadership hard to achieve.
To help firms successfully communicate their social values to both internal and external audiences, they should consider these four factors when developing a thought-leadership program:
- Author-centric publication: Empower authors to create content in an easy and well-understood way
- Governance: Implement quick and efficient approvals processes for all content
- Create Once, Publish Everywhere: Guarantee your published content reaches the audiences that matter
- Feedback: Provide feedback to each of the stakeholders - and, in particular, to the authors who must see the value of creating content
By focusing on these success factors, and by enshrining them as critical project priorities, firms of all sizes are to see a nearly overnight transition from barely active online, to delivering a steady stream of useful, timely content that establishes the firm as the market leader.
What's clear to see from the actions of top firms and forward-thinking CMOs is that by bringing a platform for communicating the authentic approach the firm is taking to ESG, marketers and BD teams can contribute meaningfully not just to the success of the firm, but to the progress of ESG in society.