A sense of renewal.

• Author: Burke, Steve
• Position: ABOUT THIS ISSUE - Editorial

There is no time like a new year for legal marketing and business development professionals to remind ourselves of the need to continually find ways to demonstrate how we are delivering greater value to our firms and our clients. As we begin to emerge from a rather gloomy 2009, that is true now more than ever.

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In this issue, PR guru John Tuerck sets forth several concrete examples of how proactive credentialing activities can generate positive PR for your lawyers, with a direct and measurable influence on hiring decisions. David Freedman discusses innovative ways to utilize the growing technologies of social media optimization (SMO) and search engine optimization (SEO) to effectively position your lawyers as thought leaders in the legal-buying marketplace at minimal cost. Mary K Young suggests taking advantage of the available time of senior associates and younger partners to more fully integrate them into client relationship-building activities.

The ability to demonstrate ROI with any degree of certainty is more important now than ever. With elements of any strategic marketing plan--including the use of social media, creating credentialing activities and building stronger client relationships--all experienced marketers know that they first need to take stock of where they are before they can start...