Are You Just Broadcasting, Or Are You Tuning In?

• Author: Emerson, Tina
• Position: EDITOR'S NOTE

As legal marketing professionals, we communicate for a living. But really, communication is such a vague term for what we actually do. Our charge as communications and marketing professionals commits us to craft and effectively manage the information distributed to the firm's stakeholders, at whatever level.

Our interactions are widespread among attorneys, the firm's clients and prospective clients, our marketing teams, other firm operations leaders, the staff and the general public. What are we saying about our firms and the attorneys who practice in them? It is our responsibility to ensure that messages are deliberate and consistent across all platforms, whether we are planning a seminar, placing an article or managing online profiles.

With that kind of to-do list, it's a wonder how anyone could do this alone--but some of us do. Flying solo requires a focus and dedication to timeliness and consistency. Others have teams spanning the country and the globe with very specific duties, spreading out the communication in very distinct and targeted areas. While this team approach provides support, it also commands an ability to coordinate the manner and method of the messaging.

Whichever role you have in your firm, success cannot be attained without appropriate, relevant and timely communication.

In this issue, Heather McCullough and Morgan Lewis remind us that our clients have a choice in the procurement of their legal services. Keeping the lines of communication open help us know when it's time for...