CMO2Go,Inc.

As women’s presence in law has grown, is there still a place in the legal world for “business development for women?” Or, has the concept become obsolete? In order to explore this topic, CMO2Go founder Erika Steinberg interviewed several law firm partners and business development professionals for her November 15th, 2024 article published in The American Bar Association's Law Practice Today titled, “Are Women’s Business Development Initiatives Still Needed?” Most interviewees believe that as women’s presence in law has grown, business development opportunities aimed at women lawyers have become more available. But business development has evolved in the last 20 years, and creating engaging business development opportunities that focus on lawyers’ interests vs. their gender has become an increasingly popular approach. And, opening up those business development initiatives to include men has been eye-opening for some. To quote Ellen Leikind of PokerDivas - “Recently, we hosted a business development program for a law firm in New York. There were two men who attended out of about 50 people. I had a call with one of them about having an event for his company and he thanked me. He said that he experienced for the first time how women must feel when they are only one of a few in the room.” We are grateful to The American Bar Association for publishing our article on this important topic! Also, a huge thank you to those who agreed to be interviewed for this article: Casie Zimmerman Davidson, Partner, Simon, Peragine, Smith & Redfearn? Cari Grieb Partner, Chapman and Cutler Steve Fretzin, Fretzin, Inc. and Host, Be That Lawyer podcast Ellen Leikind, Founder, PokerDivas Randi Mason, Partner, Morrison Cohen Bonnie Lee Polk, Partner, Williams Parker Randi Rosenblatt, CEO of Upward Stride ?? Read the official article reprint below: https://lnkd.in/eeGcTXr8

Did you know that almost half of lateral lawyers leave their new firm within the first five years of joining? It’s a real challenge for law firms to get lateral integration right, which could be one reason for that shocking statistic. To help law firms crack the lateral integration code, CMO2Go founder Erika Steinberg brought some law firm marketing experts together to gather their insights on how to best integrate lateral lawyers into law firms - and, just as importantly, integrate law firms with the laterals. One of the biggest challenges that occurs is when a law firm’s internal team doesn’t have the bandwidth for proper integration work. In this case, law firms have a few options: ??Increase the bandwidth of the internal marketing team, ?? Centralize lateral integration functions rather than divide them among various HR/marketing staff, ?? Contract with consultants or fractionals who have the bandwidth and expertise needed. For law firms whose lateral integration is hampered by lack of bandwidth or expertise, the veteran legal marketers at CMO2Go have decades of law firm experience that allow us to easily step in and work closely with in-house teams. Laterals can bring many benefits to law firms, but many of those benefits are lost if they leave too soon. By cracking the lateral integration code, firms can turn integration into a two-way street benefiting everyone involved. Much gratitude to the lateral experts Erika relied on to get a fuller picture of the lateral integration landscape: Elizabeth Kennedy Erin Ryan Lesley Kagan Wynes Read the full post here and learn how to crack the lateral integration code for your firm: https://lnkd.in/eJS_Cmec

Why do mid-size law firms seek out CMO2Go? They seek us out because our fractional marketing support is designed exclusively for law firms, and handles their most urgent and important marketing needs with a team of veteran legal marketers. Here’s how we’ve supported our clients lately - ? By handling an urgent need - A mid-sized firm contacted us in a bit of a panic because they needed support responding to an urgent RFP for a critical client within two weeks. Our team of veteran marketers, who have expertise working on RFPs for global mega firms, collaborated with their legal team to draft and edit responses to the varied questions. In addition, our expert? coached our client on what companies look for in RFP responses and created content that they could use in this instance and in the future. Our client was named to the panel and also expanded their work with their client. ? By building a plan - We created strategic plans for a mid-size law firm's new office and a critical industry team, meeting with two groups of lawyers to guide them through CMO2Go’s marketing planning process. Our process, which focuses on pragmatic growth, resulted in realistic marketing plans that we’re now executing with the firm’s in-house team. ? By being their extra hands - Our client planned to grow and wanted to update their messaging accordingly, but needed more hands on the project to get it done. CMO2Go began by conducting competitive analyses in their current and new locations. Using what we learned, we created their brand personas and psychographics, and then our design team produced their new visual identity including logo, color palettes and typography. Finally, we tied it all together with consistent messaging for the firm and for each practice, ensuring it all reflected the firm's new brand and personality. ? By bridging a gap - We routinely mentor junior marketing team members and act as the fractional senior marketing executive for some of our clients. And, if a senior member of the marketing team leaves, our veteran legal marketing team can bridge the gap to keep the marketing momentum going while our clients recruit, hire and onboard a new person. Our firm may be called CMO2Go - but our clients say we produce results that last long after we’re gone.

In six months, one of our law firm clients turned their specific area of expertise into a content powerhouse. It all started when we worked with two partners at the firm to write content about their specific area of expertise. But we didn’t stop there - we made sure to distribute that content on their website and on their LinkedIn page. And then, a publisher saw it - who reached out to the firm asking for an article specifically focused on their area of expertise. That article was published, and one marketing action led to another, keeping this firm top of mind for their audience. ?? Watch this clip featuring Erika Steinberg, Founder of CMO2Go, as she shares the story about the power of a marketing “snowball” with Keith Reynolds and Tom Dempsey of Publio on their SMarketPlace? Live podcast. How have you gotten momentum from your marketing actions lately? #LegalMarketing #LawFirmMarketing #CMO2Go https://lnkd.in/egbh9g4u

When your law firm wants to communicate a message to your audience, are you tailoring the message to each type of stakeholder? A mid-sized law firm we worked with went through a major leadership change. And they asked CMO2Go to help them develop messages that communicated this change to all of their stakeholders through all the right channels. Some of the key talking points of the messaging included that the firm itself remained unchanged, and clients would still experience the same level of service and care that they’d experienced in the past. In this clip from Julie Livingston’s WantLeverage podcast, CMO2Go Founder Erika Steinberg discussed the importance of creating tailored, consistent messaging for internal and external stakeholders - including firm associates and partners, vendors, referral sources, recruits, and even law school administrators who send interns to the firm. Once the message is clear, it’s important to ensure it’s delivered through a variety of channels - not limited to one social media post or website update. Your distribution channels could include: ?? Pitch and RFP materials,? ?? Social and traditional media,? ?? Website content,? ?? Recruiting materials,? ??Directory submissions, ..and, of course, your elevator pitch. How is your firm ensuring that the right message gets delivered to the right stakeholders in the right places? #LegalMarketing #LawFirmMarketing #CMO2Go https://lnkd.in/egbh9g4u

Thinking about moving into legal marketing from another sector? Check out this article that our founder, Erika Steinberg, wrote for New York Law Journal. She spoke with four legal marketing veterans who made the same move. Their feedback and experience is certain to be helpful to others.

We know many lawyers who want to give back to their communities in meaningful ways that go way beyond writing a check. As a guest on Publio’s SMarketPlace? Live, CMO2Go Founder Erika Steinberg was recently asked how lawyers can leverage their community involvement to create news and thought leadership content that benefits their firm’s business development. Here’s what she replied - “When I talk to lawyers about dovetailing their community involvement with their business efforts, my number one piece of advice to them? Pick something you’re passionate about. And, don’t go into it thinking that it’s going to get you new clients. It needs to feel authentic and genuine in order for it to resonate.” Here are two powerful examples of lawyers who authentically give back to their communities simply because they want to make a difference. Kevin Horbatiuk, partner at Russo Gould LLP in New York City, is well-known for his involvement in Billion Oyster Project and the City Island Oyster Reef, Inc. Both organizations seek to restore oyster beds, building new reefs in New York Harbor and Western Long Island Sound in order to clean the water, minimize storm surges and flooding, and build an environment where marine wildlife can thrive. This work has nothing to do with his practice. It’s just truly important to him. His firm shares news about it, and people recognize him for his efforts. But he does this because he genuinely believes in the work. ANDREW W. SINGER, managing partner of Tannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt LLP, spoke with Erika about how both her father and his father were veterans. He purposefully sought out veterans’ organizations where he could contribute his expertise in meaningful ways. And that led him to the Veteran Advocacy Project (VAP), an organization that provides free legal services to low-income veterans and their families. VAP’s services provide access to health care and benefits, keep families in their homes, and empower veterans by removing barriers to recovery and success. Are there business development benefits when lawyers get involved in their communities? Yes, there can be, especially over time. But that’s not why you should get into it. Come at community involvement authentically, and your audience will respond. PS, links to the websites for all the organizations mentioned are posted in the first comment below! #LegalMarketing #LawFirmMarketing #CMO2Go https://lnkd.in/egbh9g4u

We are all about our clients working smarter, not harder, to promote themselves and their law firms. And recently, our team member Cortney Nathanson, MBA reminded us of the most effective way to do that. It’s called the COPE method. COPE stands for create once, publish everywhere. Your lawyers have limited time to contribute towards content creation. So when they do, we advise that you get the most mileage possible out of each piece of content. The marketing team can use one piece of content in so many ways. It can be repurposed as a podcast, a blog post, used in your firm’s email marketing or newsletter, and broken down into multiple social media posts for different platforms. That way, you keep your name and your firm’s name in front of clients and prospects all the time. When they’re ready to buy, your name is top of mind. It doesn’t have to be hard to get your name out there. All you need is a few really strong pieces of content - and you can COPE with the rest! ?? Check out the clip below and let us know in the comments - how are you getting the most mileage out of each piece of content? #LegalMarketing #LawFirmMarketing #Budgets #CMO2Go https://lnkd.in/egbh9g4u

We say this with love - law firm partners can be an unruly bunch! Mid-sized law firms often tell us that they need to hire senior marketing professionals with the gravitas and presence to work well with law firm partners. So, here’s one thing that differentiates CMO2Go from many other law firm marketers - ?? Every single member of our team has 15-30 years of experience collaborating with partners at some of the biggest firms in the world to successfully solve their most urgent and important law firm marketing challenges. As a guest on Publio’s SMarketPlace? Live, CMO2Go Founder Erika Steinberg got a chance to explore the very specific challenges that we handle for mid-sized law firms with hosts Keith Reynolds and Tom Dempsey- whether it’s dealing with urgent marketing needs like RFPs, or important marketing projects that require senior-level marketing guidance to stay on track. And, later on in the podcast we got to talk a little bit about Erika’s first concert - bet you can’t guess what it was! ?? Check out the clip below and let us know in the comments - How do you think law firm partners and law firm marketing departments can best collaborate with each other to solve marketing challenges? And, for extra credit - what was your first concert? #LegalMarketing #LawFirmMarketing #CMO2Go https://lnkd.in/egbh9g4u

Today, we want to offer you some concrete steps to plan your law firm’s marketing budget. Let’s start with an important question: What do you want to accomplish this year? Although we recommend that law firms budget between 1-3% of their gross revenue for marketing, you may want to adjust that number - taking any larger projects, such as a new CRM or a new website, into account. Once you have an idea of your budget, break it down further into more specific categories. Every firm is different, and the budget spreadsheet CMO2Go uses with our clients has several categories and subcategories - you can download ours from the link at the bottom of this post. But not every category needs to be completed. Pick the ones that make the most sense for your firm’s goals. Some common categories include: ??Marketing activities – This includes events, sponsorships, advertising, directories and rankings, public relations, social media and design, and tools such as technology, research and subscriptions for the year. ??Lawyers’ business development expenses – This covers expenses for your lawyers when they travel, speak, visit with or entertain clients, as well as any of their business development training. ??Marketing consultants – If you use fractional marketing staff and consultants, your anticipated costs should also go in your marketing budget. Some firms may also include marketing staff salaries and benefits in their budget, although it makes sense to add them to your HR budget instead. ??Marketing team expenses – Your marketing budget could also include travel and expenses for your marketing team to visit firm offices in order to build stronger relationships with the firm’s lawyers. And we highly recommend including professional development and team building, like attending conferences or other educational meetings, to build up the team’s skills and morale. Want to get started? ?? Steal our budget spreadsheet template from our resources page here: https://lnkd.in/eemZS8Gy And, if you want help talking through the categories, reach out so we can figure out what works best for your firm. #LegalMarketing #LawFirmMarketing #CMO2Go