Accelerating Your Business Development and Marketing Skills
Speakers:
– Angelica Crisi (Moderator) (Coston Consulting LLC) – Marla Butler (Thompson Hine LLP) – Kate Eisenberg (Mintz) – Michael Francis (Severance Burko Spalter Masone & Laurette) – Khue Hoang (Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg LLP) – Roy Sexton (Clark Hill)
The ongoing disruption in the legal industry has created new opportunities and challenges for lawyers from underrepresented groups. With a potential economic downturn looming, it’s even more critical and timely for diverse lawyers to focus on sharpening their client development and marketing skills.
This interactive panel will provide tips and best practices to help you take your career to the next level as it explores everything from engaging your network to crafting value propositions that differentiate your services and cultivate a powerful brand.
Program participants will hear from legal marketing experts and experienced law firm partners as they share their insights and explore best practices to help you hone your business development and marketing skills. Panel moderators will take a deep dive into the following questions: How do you stand out in a crowded and competitive market? How do build strong connections in your company/firm? How do you unlock and grow your network? What are the keys to growing your business and expanding client relationships? How do you position yourself for success?
Thank you, Gina, for this lovely shout out. I’VE now got chills. 😅🌈✨ Thank you for your friendship and consummate allyship. And tremendous kudos to your guest here – Angela Giampolo – for the leadership, courage, heart, and moxie to do what she’s doing with Caravan of Hope. Utterly inspiring – and so essential.
Gina Rubel: I’m so happy to hear that. Now I got chills. I mean literally just made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. It’s all I can wish for you. I was thinking when you mentioned Florida, I’m a member of an organization called the Legal Marketing Association. And our president, Roy Sexton, is an out member of the LGBTQ community. It was really hard having our conference there and being an inclusive organization with everything that’s been going on. Roy opened the conference. He’s also a thespian, so he’s a phenomenal singer and actor.
This is how we opened our Legal Marketing Association International Conference. To see that level of inclusion and spirit and love, and not just equality, but a sense of belonging. ‘Cause we always talk about creating that sense of belonging. It was just amazing. I was in tears, I just was in tears.
Angela Giampolo: I got chills when you were describing it. We’re just going back and forth on chill-worthy moments. To your point, everybody talks about inclusion and the history of DEI, right? Diversity, equity, and inclusion. It’s like a moment where it’s more than about being included. You include someone, wonderful, thank you. It used to be back in the day, it was like, we should play music for all when you’re having an inviting party. But it’s like music that the person can dance to, wants to dance to.
And that’s a moment like that where everybody’s standing up. It was not just for the performance itself, but for his courage. There’s so much happening in that moment that everybody is feeling. It’s honoring and acknowledging his courage, honoring and acknowledging who he is and loving him for it. The stance, honoring and acknowledging the statement that he’s making for the entire LGBTQ community, the political statement that he’s making doing it in Florida, knowingly. There’s so many layers there in him having done that. I feel like everyone’s standing up in tears and all of the things, it’s like all of those nuances were hitting you.
In this episode, Steve Fretzin, Ashley Robinson, Conrad Saam, and yours truly discuss:
Social media as a tool for engagement.
Deciding the best social media platform for you.
Law firm marketing versus individual marketing.
Connecting with those who already have deep roots in the community.
Key Takeaways:
How you use social media matters. Doing nothing but promoting yourself is not going to build relationships. Connect with people, comment on their posts, and build relationships with your targets.
You do not need to master all the platforms, but if you know your clients are on that platform, follow them, and comment on their posts.
You don’t need to duplicate everything your marketing team is doing but don’t be silent on your own social media. People hire lawyers, not a law firm.
Focus on thought leadership in a way that makes sense for you.
“Get to know our 2023 Legal Marketing Association – LMA International President, Roy Sexton in a special edition of the LMA Midwest Region Pride spotlight where he talks about reactions from the LMA 2023 conference, what allyship means to him personally, and how LMA members can stay energized in their careers post conference.”
Thank you for this opportunity – incredibly grateful for this community and for the candid conversations we get to have. Thank you, Ashley Defay, for your exceptional talents, for your heart, and for your thoughtful moderation of this chat. Thank you, Rob Kates, for your generosity and your wonderful video support and counsel. Thank you, Kate Harry Shipham, Lauren McNee Doherty, Sara Pierson, for your friendship and leadership and grace.
Thank you, Steve, for including me in this robust and thoughtful conversation! In this episode, Steve Fretzin, Ashley Robinson, Conrad Saam, and yours truly discuss:
The difference between marketing and business development.
Creating a detailed client avatar.
Marketing in a way that is comfortable for you and is where your audience is.
Utilizing AI in marketing appropriately.
Key Takeaways:
Marketing shows you the door and business development helps you to talk through it.
Understand what you are wanting to do with your marketing and why you want to do it. Without knowing what you want to accomplish with your marketing, it will be harder to maintain effectively.
Customize your social media marketing with a marketing team so you know what is and is not working and what does work for you and your firm.
More content is not going to be the sole answer to your SEO problems.
“Focus on what you do well, and do that well, and then build on that, and build on that. We know that from dieting, exercise, and life, you’re not going to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger just by saying you want that. You have to do the work slowly, surely steadily. And marketing is exactly that. And business development is exactly that.” — Roy Sexton
So in the surreal ebb and flow that is my life, I find myself on the Target website modeling my #takepride gear. I’m #instagram famous. 😅 Thanks, Laura Toledo, for spotting this and sending the last screen grab. Made my day!
For episode 48 of the “Everything Except The Law” podcast, host Nick Werker welcomes Roy Sexton, International President of the Legal Marketing Association – LMA International. This episode offers an inside look at the latest developments in the legal marketing community and advice on how lawyers can prepare for the future of law from a marketing standpoint.
In their conversation, Nick and Roy discuss:
What inspired Roy to open the LMA Annual Conference with a musical routine.
Why law firms should be cautious about incorporating AI into their marketing.
What being client-centric actually means for law firms.
Roy’s future goals for the LMA and what he hopes to accomplish as president.
The biggest benefits lawyers will see from joining the LMA.
Oh, thank you, Yasmin Zand and Charlotte Knight and Passle, for this lovely opportunity to discuss #LMA23, my professional and personal journey as a member of the lgbtq community, and what authentic allyship can (and should) be.
Very grateful for you, for this series, and for what you provide our community and legal industry so generously.
Shout outs and thanks to friends, colleagues, and allies, all mentioned (or alluded to!) in the show: Laura Gassner Otting, Athena Dion, Lisa McDonald Kamen, Diana Lauritson, Megan McKeon, Lee Ashby Watts, Jennifer Petrone Dezso, Holly Amatangelo, Kaitlin Heininger, Danielle Holland, Jennifer Weigand, Ellie Hurley, Ashley Stenger, James Fisher, Nancy Leyes Myrland, Gina Furia Rubel, Laura Toledo, Gail Porter Lamarche, Heather Morse-Geller, Lindsay Griffiths, Amber Bollman, Mike Mellor, Ruth Morayniss, Arthur Uratani, Tahisha Fugate, Susan Ahern, Mary Ann Hastings Stephens, Jon Brewer, Joseph Edmonds, Cheryl Bame, Don Sexton, Susie Sexton, John Mola, and more.
Episode description: On this episode of CMO Series REPRESENTS, Yasmin Zand is lucky enough to sit down with Roy Sexton, Director of Marketing at Clark Hill Law and 2023 Legal Marketing Association – LMA International President, to discuss his journey both inside and outside of the legal marketing industry.
Roy shares how his formative experiences as a gay man have impacted his approach to leadership and why finding safe and inclusive communities that allow him to be his authentic self has become so central in his career.
The conversation delves into Roy’s childhood, passions, and why his headline performance at the 2023 LMA Annual Conference in Florida was so poignant in support of the LGBTQ+ community in that moment.
There are but a few movies in my life that so deftly balance abject horror and empathetic peril and heart-tugging poignancy that they reduce me to repeated fits of ugly crying: Dancer in the Dark, E.T., Watership Down, and now … Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3?!? I did NOT see that coming.
This latest Marvel installment in the lives of Star-Lord Peter Quill’s merry band of space-faring misfits landed in theatres about a month ago. I’m behind. Hell, I’m only halfway through Ant-Man and Wasp: Quantumania on DVD. (It’s not nearly as compelling.) Nonetheless, I will try mightily to avoid spoiler territory while still warning my animal-loving, humanitarian friends that this damn movie is TRIGGERING. But toward good (I hope) ends. Director James Gunn has somehow fashioned a high-flying summer blockbuster from a timely, haunting cautionary tale against the evils of eugenics and animal experimentation. The man swings BIG and it lands (mostly) in a powerful way.
The film centers chiefly around the beloved miscreant Rocket Raccoon – voiced terrifically again by an unrecognizable Bradley Cooper, giving classic film mobster with heart of gold vibes. We finally learn Rocket’s backstory (although fans of the early 80s Rocket Raccoon mini-series by Bill Mantlo will see that Gunn doesn’t stray far from that source material). Told in flashback as the team races to save Rocket’s life after a random attack by literal golden boy Adam Warlock (a pouty Will Poulter, criminally underutilized given the vast potential of THAT trippy godlike character), we bear witness to Rocket’s deeply disturbing origins. He is a sweet, gentle raccoon cub plucked from his pack by the menacing High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji walking a fine line between outright scenery chewing and method acting tortured madness) and turned into a cyborg killing machine through relentless surgical and emotional abuse and manipulation.
Rocket has an adopted family in the Evolutionary’s HQ – similar cast offs: an otter, a walrus, a bunny … at least I think that last one is a bunny. They love each other, they are kind to each other, and they lift each other up in the most daunting of circumstances. Think the Plague Dogs by way of Frankenstein. Linda Cardellini, per usual, is particularly luminous and warm as the voice of otter Lylla. She offers the film’s central thesis with this line: “There are the hands that made us. And then the hands that guide the hands.” In an era of such ugliness toward all creatures great and small in America, this message of “found family” or “framily” couldn’t be more needed.
When Rocket, still hopeful for a better life, volunteers a scientific insight the Evolutionary has overlooked, Iwuji turns all “no wire hangers” Joan Crawford and things get EVEN uglier. Ain’t that always the way? Sadly, Rocket’s pals bear the brunt of Rocket’s “punishment.” It’s one of the hardest things I’ve witnessed on screen in years. It’s a really tough watch. Be prepared. Is it kid-friendly? Probably not. Is it essential and brave of Gunn and sends a piercing message about how all beings deserve grace and kindness? Darn tootin’. PETA should send screeners of the film to every household in America.
Further note, for those who worry about such things as I do, there is a wonderfully redemptive “button” toward the end of the film, where the menagerie of remaining animals imprisoned by the Evolutionary are all rescued Noah’s Ark style to live the rest of their days in peace and happiness in the Guardians’ Knowhere HQ. I know that’s a spoiler, but it’s the kind of spoiler I like to know going in. So you’re welcome. At the film’s climax, Rocket does get his revenge on the evolutionary but not as you might expect, ultimately delivering the kind of compassion Rocket was never shown. Rocket solemnly intones, “You didn’t want to make things perfect. You just hated the way things are.”
In parallel to the flashbacks to Rocket’s origin, the Guardians are scrambling in real time to find one MacGuffin after another that will save Rocket’s life. It’s all done in epic, manic, classic rock-soundtracked style – per prior films in the series. Gunn ensemble standby Nathan Fillion has great fun as a stoic, slightly dim, very uncollegial security guard, dressed like the Michelin Man … in creamy yellow. The best comic bits are offered by Guardians Drax (Dave Bautista, a lovely goof throughout), Mantis (Pom Klementieff, who does earnest rage better than anyone), and Nebula (Karen Gillan, who arguably has had the best arc of all in the series, never losing her ill-tempered ferocity but layering in beautiful moments of grudging compassion). At one point, Mantis cuts Nebula to the quick when Nebula has been disparaging Drax’s value as a teammate: “He makes us laugh. And he loves us. How is that a liability?” It’s a wonderful time capsule moment, capturing the dynamic authenticity of this great trio.
The film is far too long – I’m not sure what could have been cut, but a 30-minute shorter run time would have made the flick more of a jet-fueled roller coaster. Chris Pratt just seems worn out as Star-Lord at this point. He appears to have one note – one might call it “smugging” (read: smug mugging). It’s fine. It serves the role, but I think he (and we) need a break.
All in all, go for the incredibly deep message around animal autonomy, stick around for the day-glo shenanigans, enjoy your popcorn, and then have a thoughtful conversation at home about the crucial role we all must play in being better caretakers for all living beings. Bambi ain’t got nothing on Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3.
Thank you, Nexl! “Over a month later, we’re still chatting about the incredible conference hosted by Legal Marketing Association – LMA International this year.
“In Part II of our special edition of This Legal Life, host Ben Chiriboga (Chief Growth Officer at Nexl) sits down with Roy Sexton, Rachel Shields Williams, Betty Burns, Purnima Gupta, Erika Galarneau, and Danielle Lopez!
“We dove into the following:
What was your biggest takeaway from #LMA23?
What does the LMA community mean to you?
How has LMA made an impact on your career in legal marketing?”
