Know your product.

• Author: Richter, Stephanie
• Position: About This Issue

Truth be told, I consider myself rather "green" in the field of legal marketing. However, I've been around the marketing block, and I've spent time in some diverse industries. One principle that has always stuck with me is to "know your product." In biotech, that meant I had to know the chemistry behind the imaging agents and therapeutics in our pipeline. At a cap-and-plug manufacturer, that meant regularly touring the facility and knowing every possible use for our endless product lines. In legal marketing, I believe this means you have to know your attorneys. What do they do? How do they do it? What drives them? Knowing this and incorporating it into marketing the overall identity of the firm is the key to a successful marketing strategy, with the final question being, "How can we make our attorneys--and thus our firm--better?"

This question is not an easy one to answer. But I have shamelessly and humbly sought guidance from those more experienced and more knowledgeable for the benefit of all LMA members and our...