How-to: building a legal marketing department.

• Author: Conley, Steve
• Position: Message from the Editors

He Said

Once, as part of a hiring process, I asked IT candidates to teach our team to build a hamburger. The odd, hands-on exercise was surprisingly effective at identifying candidates with the skills to provide phone support and to teach software classes to a broad client base.

Lately, I've wondered how a similar approach to building a legal-marketing team might look. Here are a few possibilities that hint at skills teams may need or need to refine:

Targeting, Research--Remember the boardwalk or carnival game that used a water pistol to fill a clown's mouth in order to dislodge a ping pong ball? It's all about where you aim--and being prepared to pull the trigger.

Events--Adapted from the real world: Candidates explain how they would handle a video-chat participant who, while on the call, takes his or her tablet device into a bathroom, thus sharing its, er, decor with all.

Sales Support-focused Analysis--A game of Mousetrap helps predict an applicant's likelihood of determining if the firm should try to trap the mouse and if the firm has a reasonable chance and the relationships to do so.

Media/Technology Relations--While traveling to client sites, recruits explain to TSA folks why their government ID and e-ticket don't match. Why? Because good storytelling works, regardless of medium, new or old. Candidates who make the plane get a second interview when they land.

Differentiation--Donning headphones playing ABBA tunes, candidates simultaneously listen to a prospective client describe a company's legal needs--then create a 25-word message to capture those needs. Bonus points awarded to those who bill the client for their analysis and message--after getting the client to confirm they are on track.

Client Care--Go Fish-style questions help determine "where it hurts" before candidates share critical insights with attorney teams playing a high-stakes game of Operation.

Holiday Cards--Prospective team members deliver a watercolor paint tin, Etch A Sketch or iPad to a panel of attorneys, attorneys, then discuss how panelists can create and send their own holiday greeting, sans assistance.

She Said

When it comes to building a marketing department, most of us don't have the luxury of "having it all." Particularly given the recent budgetary conservatism as a result of the economic crisis, most of us are operating on a lean staffing model.

In today's world, marketing departments are an eclectic mix in which some members are specialists in specific...