Building strong bonds: client retention, growth and loyalty in a connected world.

• Author: Manton, Jennifer

Market forces have compelled firms to focus more on client retention, growth and loyalty. As a result, legal marketers are continuously looking for new ways to engage and build positive relationships with their clients, which requires an ongoing commitment and proactive effort. Clients expect firms to possess in-depth knowledge of their industry. Law firms must demonstrate that they can serve as a key resource to help clients deal with their most pressing legal issues, including ones they haven't yet realized on their own.

Delivering on this level of customization isn't easy, but as technology advances, it's becoming increasingly possible. The answer lies in understanding the needs of clients, determining how best to communicate with them, using technology to custom-fit interactions and organizing teams for success.

The Problem: Getting to Know Clients isn't So Easy

Every marketer wants to create targeted marketing programs that deliver results and encourage client engagement. Yet, collecting and analyzing data and creating actionable marketing programs around client "insights" are difficult tasks that present a slew of challenges.

Firm structure can cause information-sharing gaps.

In many firms, specifically those with multiple offices or teams, valuable knowledge about clients isn't systematically collected and shared; it often remains with the practice group or individual attorneys who work with the client. when marketing and business development teams are aligned with practice groups, there can be a gap in learning best practices from other teams. As a result, sometimes valuable client insights never actually make their way to the right marketers.

Not all clients communicate the same way.

Email, smartphones, social media and tablets have changed the way people communicate. clients expect the firm to interact with them via the channels they are most comfortable using. For firms that have inflexible communication channels, marketers may not have the tools to successfully meet their clients' needs.

Collecting and analyzing insights across digital channels is time consuming.

No one system provides a holistic view of how successful a firm is at reaching clients. Instead, marketers must access multiple systems and manually piece together a snapshot of their digital marketing efforts. Firms need to figure out how to aggregate their data to decide if digital communication attempts are working.

The Solution: Be innovative in Your Approach

Savvy...