Rethink Your Marketing.

• Author: Silverstein, Silvia Hodges
• Position: EDITOR'S NOTE

Have you been taught design thinking, blueprinting and visual storytelling? I wasn't. When I took marketing classes, we focused on Porter's "5 Forces" and the "four Ps." Budding marketers today learn these tools and techniques. I suppose that competition has been an issue in many industries for many years, but perhaps not as intensely and not coming from disruptors who challenge the entire existing value chain, such as Airbnb and Uber.

Don't think you're safe! This is hardly different in legal services, argues Dr. Sven Tuzovic, who lectures and researches on services marketing. He warns that no industry sector (including legal) is immune to new competitors. You have to prepare and acquire three skills: discover, design and deliver (more in his article, starting on page 16).

Marcie Borgal Shunk also cautions that preparedness is the only defense to remain competitive. She believes that we should become T-shaped professionals: The horizontal bar on the "T" is our ability to collaborate across (related) disciplines and to add value in areas other than our own area of expertise. The vertical bar represents the depth of our skills and expertise in a single area.

LMA, as Trish Lilley tells us on page 20, has been working on a professional development roadmap that covers the depth and breadth of knowledge in legal marketing: the Body of Knowledge (BOK). The BOK will help us reach a level of "conscious competence," Ian Turvill assures in his article. For seasoned marketers, the BOK will help...