The past weekend the Legal Marketing Association – LMA International international board and team gathered. It was by turns an invigorating, provocative, robust, and inspiring conversation. Grateful to be part of this engaging group and Association community.
We had an incredible enrichment activity with Axelle Flemming (FKA Melissa Yee Loy) Being Axelle – thank you, Kevin Iredell, for bringing her to us. She’ll also be at #LMA23 for all our membership to benefit from her wisdom.
In short, we all live to a great extent in the fight or flight side of our brains, and when we are in that survival mode, there is absolutely no way to grow, be strategic, be truly inclusive, or make a long term difference in this world. She gave us great language and ideas to shape our team dynamic and our service to our organization. I look forward to her engaging more with our broader community and sharing her perspective.
As for this Post It note, she asked each of us to slap one on our back and let our colleagues write words that they associated with us. Our personal “brand” through the eyes of our peers. The results were funny, entertaining, and poignant. Yes, I will be framing mine. #lmamkt
Excerpt: “Instead of taking the deceptive path of least resistance and fleeing from the amazing work that I know you can do, I invite you to allow yourself to fight through those barriers, that scar tissue, and to choose to do the things you need to do to grow your practice. There are amazing people around you, and yes, I am one of them, that are here to help you if you don’t know where to start. (That sounded kind of braggy, didn’t it?)”
I’m not right. Saw this poor stuffed rabbit tossed in the street in Hollywood, Florida. (Here for a meeting.) Felt sorry for said bunny. So I bought a bottle of Dawn Detergent at 7-11 and soaked the little fellow in the hotel tub. Turned out ok if I do say so myself. I’m quite the world traveler. 🤣 Laura Gassner Otting, gets the win for its name: “Bed Bugs Bunny.” 😅
For those worried/wondering about little Bed Bugs Bunny’s fate (h/t to Auntie Laura Gassner Otting, Author/Speaker for that name), he’s spun (literally) through our “day spa” (laundry room) twice and is now ensconced with some newfound friends (h/t Miss Coco Peru and Passle) in our “salon” (guest bedroom). He’s even found some reading material (h/t Heidi Smith / Beth Kennedy). Welcome home, buddy. #rescue #bekind #florida #michigan #bunny #secondchances #makeover
My sweet dad Don Sexton with this beautiful, creative #valentines surprise in the mail. My heart. Though I think Hudson is more impressed with my dad’s art than mine. Admittedly these drawings of mine that my dad unearthed were from when I was 3 or 4. Or maybe from college. Who knows? 🤷 #family #love #valentinesday #dogs #dogsofinstagram #dogslife
Thank you to my fabulous Clark Hill colleague Megan McKeon for joining Rob Kates and me on Kates Media: Video Production’s “Legal Marketing Coffee Talk,” sponsored by Jessica Aries’ By Aries. Thanks again to Katelynn Audrey Wynn McGuire for the wonderful promotional support.
We cover a LOT! 🤣 The relative merit of phone calls, being trapped in Facebook jail, the perils of pool repair, the joys of home associations, and the highs and lows of geriatric pet ownership.
MORE importantly we discuss trends in legal marketing and business development, the crucial differences between those two disciplines AND their complementary nature, how data drives smart decision-making and efficient resource deployment, how the Legal Marketing Association and a commitment to mentoring benefits firm culture, and more.
Shout outs in today’s show to Susan Ahern, Guinevere Lehman Anderson, Marceline Johnson, John Byrne, Timothy Corcoran, Anne Gallagher, Brenda Plowman, Jill Mason Huse, Kelly MacKinnon, Nancy Myrland, Brenda Pontiff, Amy Payton Verhulst, Gina Furia Rubel, Heather Morse-Geller, Gail Porter Lamarche, Gail Paul, Susie Sexton, Connie Harris, James Fisher, Eric Lewandowski, Nancy McKeon, Patrick Fuller, Jay Harrington, Glen Hanson, HunTees, Marlon Brando, and more.
Postscript …
That’s me! Always on the cutting edge! LOL. Thanks for the shout out (below), Nancy Myrland of Myrland Marketing and Social Media. She writes, “‘Should You Give Stories A Chance?’ A LinkedIn notification related to Roy Sexton yesterday (discussed in this 2-minute, 22-second episode) is what caused me to record this episode.”
I admit I keep using the damn things as another piece of real estate, wondering if anybody’s paying attention. So she nailed exactly my psychology as a user in her assessment!
Rob Kates and I had a delightful chat with superstar Greg Griffin of Jaffe. Rob and I also learned our mothers have the same birthday, and we heard from my mom Susie Sexton that apparently Robert Mitchum has been paying her nightly visits. 😳
Greg shared with us the joys of his new role at Jaffe, the importance of authenticity and listening in effective business development, his commitment to volunteering and fitness, and how he gave the Houston mayor a catnip (nee mint) mojito. Missed opportunity: he didn’t bring his adorable pup on camera!
Show mentions include: Terry M Isner , Vivian Hood , Melanie Trudeau , Evyan O’Keefe , Amy Verhulst , Gigi Zientek , Jenna Schiappacasse , Heather Morse , Megan McKeon , Nancy Myrland , Gina Furia Rubel (she/her) 🌏 , Laura Toledo , Lindsay Griffiths , Gail Lamarche , Deborah Brightman Farone , Sally Schmidt , Clayton Dodds , Cheryl Bame , Robin Devereux Gerard , Andrew Laver , Tahisha Fugate, MBA [she/her] , Jessica Aries (she/her/hers) , Stacy Monohan Payne, Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, and Howard the Duck. 🦆
I adore my Clark Hill colleague Emilie Strozier McCarthy. She always knows exactly what I need to hear and/or see … and this image is no exception. I am so happy that serendipity brought us together. She has made me a better human being and professional. We will be friends for life.
I never really understood what a mid-life crisis was. It seemed like a made-up thing to rationalize men acting super-self-indulgent, throwing over any prior obligations, and buying a stupid yellow sports car. The kind of thing Neil Simon would write about, starring George Segal or Donald Sutherland, rocking plaid bell bottoms and a silky shirt unbuttoned to their navels. (If you aren’t a child of the 1970s, I’m seriously dating myself.)
I still think it is a false construct, existing not so much in reality as in the minds of perpetually adolescent, commitment phobic men and Hollywood screenwriters.
HOWEVER, as I near the mid-century mark, I do understand that crushing, clammyfeeling of why am I here, what have I accomplished, have I made a difference? Every time I read my Wabash College alumni magazine, featuring tales of people my age (and younger) who have found cures for cancer while traversing the Congo as CEOs of major, multinational conglomerates with their beautiful, sartorially-gifted, well-read, blended families in tow, I think, “Why am I sitting here in my sweatpants eating a bowl of Froot Loops and reading comic books?”
Compound all of that with the immediacy of starting a (relatively) new job, leading marketing at an amazing firm in Detroit – a firm that never has had someone in a lead marketing role, a firm that, while open to learning and to change is also a firm (as they all are to some degree) residually agnostic about the long term impacts of marketing and of the voodoo that I do so well.
Things move slowly in that kind of environment. There are a lot of conversations. Every expenditure is scrutinized. You have to take as many victory laps as your colleagues can stand without falling past the tipping point of shameless showboating. You have to demonstrate results when there aren’t really any results yet to demonstrate. A seasoned marketer (or at least I think I am … some days) knows what their new organization needs, but, when said organization is unfamiliar with those needs and how costly they can be and that there is a good 12-to-18-month lead time to get the business development machinery settled and operational, said marketer finds him/herself in the tricky position of being internal salesperson, educator, executor, and judge. It’s exhilarating and exhausting to wear all of those hats simultaneously.
“We need to spend XXX on YYY. Trust me. We need it. What will be the return? Well. Why can’t I just do this myself with my laptop and some popsicle sticks? Um. Do we need additional outside support? Er. Isn’t that why I was hired? Yes …”
It’s very easy to lose your rudder. If you are a solo marketer (with apologies, I rather hate the term “unicorn,” but I get why people use it), you are a peculiar and intriguing presence. Attorneys need you, especially if you get them some ink or some love; attorneys want to understand what is it you do?; attorneys don’t speak your language and you don’t speak theirs; and, ultimately, you are an island with no one necessarily in your immediate reach who understands the context through which you think and approach the work. Consequently, you may feel perpetually defensive and isolated and alone.
Don’t succumb to the dark side of the Force: self-doubt and loathing.
That’s why, no matter the stage of your career or the self-confidence you possess, it is crucial to remember that, yes, in fact you do know what you are doing and that there are good reasons for the recommendations you are making. Furthermore, be patient. Education takes time, and trust the process. I live in fear (in any job I’ve had) that a few months or a year will go, and I will be summoned with a cold question of “what has actually been accomplished?” followed by “while we really like you, we are going to try something else.”
(As we know, statistically, the first marketer in any organization doesn’t always last, often immediately replaced by someone who tells the firm all the same things and suggests all the same steps, but now the firm is even further behind in their timeline as a result of the transition.)
How do you do stay vibrant? How do you stay true to yourself and not show up one day driving a Lamborghini and sporting an ascot? To quote The Beatles (of whom I’m one of the few who has never been that enamored), “I get by with a little help from my friends.”
• Build your internal constituency. Find your early adopters and turn them into marketing fanatics. Leverage any and all successes they have by celebrating them (not yourself). Encourage your attorneys to feel like these are their ideas, not yours.
• Hold your professional and personal consiglieres as tight as you can. But don’t drain their emotional well or try their patience by only talking about your issues. Find out what they are facing; support their wins; share their work; and learn from what they’ve experienced and accomplished.
• I don’t believe that you should never show weakness. I know that may be anathema in our industry, but your vulnerability connects you with others who are most assuredly feeling the same way. Be honest with yourself and others about what you do and don’t do well.
• Activate yourself in your professional association of choice. Mine is the Legal Marketing Association. Volunteering, mentoring, speaking, writing, attending – all keep my energy up, inform me, keep me smart(-ish), and make me feel like I have significance.
• Maintain a manageable clutch of go-to industry resources to keep you abreast of trends and concerns and issues. My list includes (but not limited to … forgive me if I left you out): Nancy Myrland; The Legal Watercooler/Heather Morse; Legal Marketers Extraordinaire; JD Supra; Jay Harrington; Darryl Cross; Samantha McKenna; Furia RubelCommunications/Gina Rubel; John Reed; Lindsay Griffiths; Jaffe PR; Mark T. Greene; Catherine MacDonagh and Tim Corcoran; Patrick Fuller; and Susan Freeman; among others.
• Find those external markers that help you remain validated. Is there a community or professional board of which you can be a part? Is there a volunteer activity where your intelligence and agency and autonomy are valued and appreciated?
• Remember what is actually important in your life. Our jobs define us and occupy far too much of our time. Our family and our friends are why we are here on this planet. Take care of the people who bring meaning to your life. Take time for the hobbies and shared activities that keep you sane. Otherwise, you are no good to yourself, your network, or your job.
That’s it. That’s what I’m thinking and feeling right now. I’m grateful to have a fabulous life that engages me, pushes me, stretches me too thin, but I need to be realistic about what can and can’t be accomplished in any given moment. I need to learn patience and to be more satisfied with the here and now. I am a work-in-progress. I suspect you are, too.
All the biographical bits you might care to know about me … third-person-style …
[Roy Sexton has led strategic planning and marketing efforts for nearly twenty years in a number of industries, including health care, legal services, and fund raising. He currently serves as Director of Marketing for Kerr Russell in Detroit. He serves as a regional board member for the Legal Marketing Association, sat on the state board of the Michigan Mortgage Lenders Association, and currently sits on the boards of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Ann Arbor, Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, Royal Starr Film Festival (Royal Oak, Michigan),and encoremichigan.com. He is a published author with two books of film and arts critique, compiled from his blog of the same name Reel Roy Reviews. He holds an M.A. in theatre history and criticism from the Ohio State University and an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan.]
Thank you to the Detroit Legal News for reprinting the piece.
Reel Roy Reviews is now TWO books! You can purchase your copies by clicking here (print and digital).
My legal marketing buddy Nancy Myrland and I both love movies. Notably, we particularly love movies where kindness is prevalent and inclusive behaviors are modeled.
At least that’s how I rationalize the fact that two grown legal marketers both adore the Paddington films. That little bear from deepest, darkest Peru has a mantra: “If we are kind and polite, the world will be right.”
Lovely, isn’t it?
This concept couldn’t be more important in our tumultuous times. “Disruption” is the word of the day, and, man, are we ever disrupted.
Of course, we see this culturally and politically, but we also see it in our legal industry. Technology brings amazing advances, efficiencies, and “super powers” we never knew we could possess. Would I have imagined 20 years ago, I would have a device in my pocket and social networks therein that would allow me to access friends and experts around the globe in an instant? Nope.
[Image Source: Wikipedia]
However, this technology also brings great change. As the music industry, the print media industry, the photography industry, and many others have all witnessed, technology can cause customer migration, profit erosion, infrastructural change, and wholesale business model reinvention.
We in the legal space have known for years that this is coming for us – at what speed and in what fashion is still being determined. We are living in our own history right now, and we won’t see the forest for the trees for quite a while. However, we as marketing and communications and strategy and business development professionals must be on the forefront of these conversations, must embrace the new ideas, must socialize them within our organizations, and must be active participants in the writing of that history.
Fine, Roy. So where does Paddington come in?
Empathy and understanding and listening are crucial business skills that are too often dismissed as “soft.” Yet, having finely calibrated emotional antennae helps us predict the future and navigate the present. Culture eats strategy for lunch. A cliché but an apt one. Without accurately assessing the anxiety ridden waters in which we swim and finding ways to engage and allay our partners’ emotional pain points, we will never achieve the organizational focus required to create lasting, meaningful change.
[Image Source: Wikipedia]
The next time you are in a heated conversation with partners over an issue close to your heart, stay calm, stay empathetic, stay committed, and don’t meet their energy at a heightened level. Underplay it, keep the facts on your side, and use empathy: why are they arguing your idea? why are they pushing back? Trust me, it’s not to torture you. Don’t make it about you.
First, lawyers learn through argumentation. That’s how they burnish ideas. Also, the money you spend, at the end of the day, comes out of their pockets. Understand that business model and appreciate it. Further, change isn’t easy for any of us. Who has bought an exercise book somehow thinking it will magically transfer abs to them without actually following the prescribed routines? This guy for one. Knowing that none of us want to change but that we must change, take the time to understand your partners’ histories, training, experiences and how all of that will impact their willingness to adopt the very ideas they must adopt to survive.
And first and foremost, be kind and polite (even if others aren’t … and especially if others aren’t). The world will be right.
Postscript …
[Image Source: Wikipedia]
This is why I go to LMA’s annual conference: my energy and emotional “work reservoir” are replenished being around like-minded professionals.
I learn new skills and trends and issues facing us all, not just in the sessions but in the hallway chatter and the cocktail parties and the late night coffee runs.
In fact, do not flee the social interaction or run off to take a conference call in your downtime. Talk to people, learn from them, include them.
LMA can feel like the biggest clique in the world. It ain’t.
[Image Source: Wikipedia]
It’s just that we don’t get to see each other that often, and, for new people, it can seem like we don’t want you to play our reindeer games. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I was one of those new people (what feels like yesterday), but I tweeted and I facebook’d and I got out of my own head and I approached people.
And we old guard, in turn, need to be mindful and empathetic about what it was like to be “new.” Be kind. Be polite. Be supportive. Be inclusive. Those skills will serve you well at LMA, at your firms, and in life.
So says Paddington Bear.
Wow! Thank you, Blaine Fowler! He read this piece by Heather Morse at the Sterling Heights Chamber/Chemical Bank Sales & Marketing Conference. Thanks to Joan Giffels for capturing. And Heather for making me a hashtag. I feel pretty damn special this week. #bearoysexton#bearoysextonchallenge#lmamkt
Second version, captured by Brenda Meller of Meller Marketing and Social Media below …
________________________ [My street cred follows … ] _____________________
Roy Sexton is responsible for leading Kerr Russell’s marketing, business development, communications, and strategic planning efforts.
He has nearly 20 years of experience in marketing, communications, business development, and strategic planning, having worked at Deloitte Consulting, Oakwood Healthcare (now Beaumont), Trott Law (formerly Trott & Trott), and St. Joseph Mercy Health System. He has been heavily involved regionally and nationally in the Legal Marketing Association as a board member, content expert, and presenter. He is treasurer-elect currently for the Legal Marketing Association’s Midwest Regional Board of Directors.
He earned his Bachelor’s degree from Wabash College, and holds two masters degrees: an MA in theatre from The Ohio State University and an MBA from the University of Michigan. He is a graduate of Leadership Detroit and Leadership A2Y, was a governor-appointed member of the Michigan Council of Labor and Economic Growth, and was appointed to the Michigan Mortgage Lenders Association Board of Governors in 2012.
He served as an at-large member of LMA’s Midwest Regional Board, served on the advisory committee for Strategies Magazine, and was a member of the Social Media SIG steering group. He has been involved on the following nonprofit boards and committees: First Step, Michigan Quality Council, National MS Society, ASPCA, Wabash College Southeast Michigan Alumni Association, Penny Seats Theatre Company and the Spotlight Players. He currently sits on the boards of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Ann Arbor, Royal Starr Film Festival (Royal Oak, Michigan) and encoremichigan.com. He is a published author with two books Reel Roy Reviews, Volumes 1 & 2.
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Reel Roy Reviews is now TWO books! You can purchase your copies by clicking here (print and digital).
Shortly after Disneyland opened its magical gates to the public for the first time, panicked groundskeepers reportedly approached Walt Disney all in a dither. Their concern? Patrons without fail tromped through one particular flower bed on their giddy sojourn from Main Street to Tomorrowland. The gardeners’ solution? Erect a decorative-but-impenetrable fence to protect the landscaping and redirect the crowds.
Uncle Walt’s response? “We don’t need a fence there. We need a sidewalk.”
I suspect we’ve all worked alongside colleagues like these well-meaning but misguided caretakers. Heck, you may find yourself being one of these obstructionist types, thinking the silo you inhabit needs defending at all costs. And that is the genius in Walt Disney’s response. In one deftly pragmatic, folksy, customer-centric quip, he reminded his staff that the turf isn’t theirs to defend; it belongs squarely to the market forces they are there to serve.
“Use social media actively leading up to (and following) to get to know the attendees and any issues that are pressing/trending. Engage with them virtually – comment and reciprocate. When you arrive, make a point to connect with those whose experiences and views you have found interesting. Spend time between sessions in conversation with those folks, genuinely learning about their interests and their careers. And be sincere and humane. The worst feeling is when you’re talking to someone, and you get the vibe they are waiting for someone seemingly ‘more important’ to enter the frame. Your best (lifelong) business contacts will start from kinship, not opportunism.”
Thanks, Nancy! Appreciate you helping me represent … virtually. Have a marvelous time at #LMA17. I’m there in spirit! Love you and the whole #LMAMkt family .
Nancy writes: “#LMA17 Networking Tip #12 is from @roysexton – More: http://bit.ly/2nXm0A6 Thanks Roy! We miss you & wish you were here.” pic.twitter.com/TfXFrrAOBe
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Reel Roy Reviews is now TWO books! You can purchase your copies by clicking here (print and digital).
Thanks to the incomparable Megan McKeon for joining me on this presentation! And listen for shout outs to Nancy Leyes Myrland, Lindsay Griffiths, Tasneem K. Goodman, Jabez LeBret, Jonathan Fitzgarrald, Heather Morse-Geller, Melissa Thomas, Amber Bollman, Bree Harms, Jim Jarrell, Gina Rubel, and more …
“As the influence of social and digital media continues to evolve and cross-over into all aspects of marketing the legal profession, legal marketers continue to become less generalized, and more focused on specific areas of expertise. These varying focuses and roles, result in differing approaches to the social and digital media in our profession. In other words, what a business development professional finds valuable about a digital media presentation, may differ from that of a marketing technologist. As such, the Legal Marketing Association Social Media SIG invites you to attend our LMA Annual Conference Recap Webinar involving in-house legal marketers from various areas of our profession to discuss their favorite digital and social media programs from this year’s conference. Discussion topics include key takeaways from our favorite sessions, general discussion of the hot topics you may have missed, and the impact of the 2016 LMA Annual Conference programming on our behavior as legal marketers.”
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Reel Roy Reviews is now TWO books! You can purchase your copies by clicking here (print and digital).
(Originally written for and posted on Legal Marketing Association Social and Digital Media Special Interest Group blog. This piece is summarizing two sessions I attended at the 2016 annual conference in Austin, Texas.)
In her blog entry “Referrals and First Impressions: How Technology Has Changed Them” (summarizing a recent Legal Coffee Break podcast by GNGF founders Mark Homer and Jabez LeBret), Lindsay Griffiths, Director of Global Relationship Management at International Lawyers Network, writes …
When a prospective client Googles you, and the only thing that comes up is a bio that is outdated, with a few lines about your practice, the year you graduated law school and passed the bar, it won’t matter if you are the smartest and most talented lawyer in the world. The firm’s website and your social media profiles are designed to support the word of mouth referral and their decision to hire you, to provide a level of comfort that we all seek when looking online for information these days – that feeling of “oh yes, I’m making the right decision in trusting this person with my business.”
What Lindsay has captured here is a key theme that resonated repeatedly for me during the recent Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference (LMA16) in Austin, Texas. The notions that digital and social media somehow exist in a vacuum and are to be discussed as some glorious abstraction or, worse, funky sideline experiment are defunct (not that they ever had any validity to start). We don’t have a special task force for “telephone usage” or “the art of cocktail conversation” (though, in fact, those are not terrible ideas, come to think of it). Social/digital presence is now essential to the business development and marketing conversation, from prospect research through lead generation, from ongoing client engagement to every facet of brand management. Let’s face it. Our digital footprint is often the first thing anyone sees about us these days.
That said, this blog entry, which started life as an assignment to summarize one social media-leaning presentation at LMA16 is going to be a mash-up of takeaways from two utterly unrelated sessions, sessions which nonetheless showed the essential value of digital and social as a matter of accepted course in the world of legal marketing.
Jonathan Fitzgarrald, Equinox Partners, presented “ROI: Measuring So You Can Better Manage,” an effervescent boot camp on law firm managing up and leaning in and breaking out. In the surest sense of “getting more flies with honey,” Fitzgarrald returned frequently to the truism that what you can’t measure doesn’t matter – and more to the point, if you don’t know what matters to your clients, no measurement in the world will help you. And if you are still encountering difficulty selling the importance of digital client engagement to law firm leadership, follow this recipe …
Ask your attorneys about their priorities. Don’t assume.
Are you mining social media to understand what your clients are seeking and how they are communicating? What are your competitors saying and to whom?
Form an unofficial board of advocates in your firm – mix of attorneys & other colleagues.
With firm growth priorities in mind, how can social/digital help? What are stakeholder concerns/fears?
Socialize unfamiliar concepts using data, outcomes, competitor examples, non-legal examples. Plant the seed, and let others champion the idea. Doesn’t matter who gets “credit,” if it benefits the firm.
Measure your social media efforts – quantitatively and anecdotally. Proactively circulate internal monthly measures/outcomes: reach/impressions, shares/likes, media mentions.
Actively demonstrate your value and that of social/digital.
Help linear folks see in 3D.
As social media has evolved from being a standalone topic to a vital communications/ engagement tool, discussions of use, value, measurement were woven throughout many LMA16 presentations across varied topics. Nowhere was that truer than in Tas Gooman and Jabez LeBret’s “Your Honor Awards Meet PechaKucha,” with presentations by Jann E. Dudley of Archer Norris; Daryl Drabinsky of DLA Piper; Sarah Fougere, of Oblon, McClelland, Maier, & Neustadt; Morgan Hall from McBrayer, McGinnis, Leslie & Kirkland; and Andrea (Crews) Maciejewski from Levenfeld Pearlstein.
In fact the very presentation-style of the session reflected how social media has impacted our speaking styles and absorption of information. What is PechaKucha you ask? It’s a timed presentation – six minutes and your slides keep moving whether you are ready or not – requiring the speakers (in this case the 2016 Your Honor recipients) to focus on the key narrative points: what they did, how they did it, and what results they achieved.
Here’s the thing. Nearly every one discussed how social media/digital was essential to their strategy: targeting messages by audience segment, creating agility and ability to customize what is viewed/received, and offering bigger impact for lower costs. Some of the most memorable tips …
Microsites (as opposed to traditional web bios) for attorneys. One size does NOT fit all. For more digitally/socially active subjects, a microsite rewards by including social links, blog posts, etc.
In designing “book of content” style sites/microsites, send out private links for measurement and create customized marquees for respective audience interest.
Use images rather than text (which I’m failing at presently), and find ways to present information as stories, as narrative, not as cascades of bragging points.
Use social/digital to make your campaigns “come to life” with real voices – people want to talk to people, not entities.
What issues are trending on social media (e.g. marriage equality), and does that present a growth opportunity? Move fast, and engage … but “non-lawyer-ly.”
Hire a local up-and-coming fashion photographer to differentiate photos used in social.
Feature profiles, news in-line with business you hope to attract.
Explore platforms that allow you to provide easy-to-share content to attorneys, but avoid dreaded “auto-posting” appearance.
Based on these various ideas ping ponging around my brain (thanks, LMA16!), here are the challenges I see going forward …
Think less about social media in a “tactical bubble” and more as the accepted (and at times primary means) of strategically communicating. Why is there this “fire wall” around social/digital?
Build social/digital more prominently into reporting mechanisms. Where are our clients learning about us? What are they saying and where?
Think visually, communicate concisely, speak personally. There is a necessary precision to legal communications; however, our digital/social presence is competing against millions of messages (legal and non-legal) every day. How can we stand out, while walking that fine line of credibility and promotion?
And remember that the first handshake your attorney may have with a potential client is more likely than ever to occur in cyberspace.
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Roy Sexton is Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Trott Law, P.C., a Michigan-based real estate law firm serving the mortgage industry (www.TrottLaw.com). A graduate of Wabash College, he holds an MBA from the University of Michigan and an MA in theatre from the Ohio State University. He has nearly 20 years of experience in strategic planning, business development, marketing and communications, having worked previously at Deloitte Consulting and Oakwood Healthcare.
He is a published author with two books of arts criticism Reel Roy Reviews, compiled from his blog of the same name (www.ReelRoyReviews.com). He is an at-large member of LMA’s Midwest Board, serves on the state Board of Governors of the Michigan Mortgage Lenders Association, and is a co-founder and board member of Ann Arbor’s Penny Seats Theatre Company. He is active in the Social & Digital Media SIG and is on the advisory board for Strategies. You can reach him by emailing rsexton@trottlaw.com or via the following social media channels:
Twitter: @roysexton
LinkedIn: /royesexton
Facebook: /roy.sexton
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Reel Roy Reviews is now TWO books! You can purchase your copies by clicking here (print and digital).
I just returned from Austin, Texas where the annual Legal Marketing Conference was held. An amazing and eclectic city hosted an even more amazing and eclectic bunch of smart cookies, who shared their knowledge and insight freely, fiercely, graciously, profoundly.
If one could bottle the wit and wisdom in that hotel over the past three days, we could solve every world crisis, laughing and smiling every step of the way.
Yours truly was included in a number of session summaries posted by LexBlog (www.lxbn.com) throughout the event. You can check them out here …
Above the Law covered the conference here, and wonderful colleague Heather Morse offered her ode to LMA here. Check out these conference tips from talented legal PR expert (and attorney herself) Gina Rubel. You can also sign up for our LMA Social Media Special Interest Group wrap-up webinar here.
Yes, there was no end of fun to be had as well, which you might detect from these photos (cheeky hats courtesy of Jonathan Fitzgarrald) …
(And, I promise … I’ll get back to movies soon.)
Join us Wednesday, April 20 for the Social Media SIG’s recap of the Annual Conference!(Registration Link)
As the influence of social and digital media continues to evolve and cross-over into all aspects of marketing the legal profession, legal marketers continue to become less generalized, and more focused on specific areas of expertise. These varying focuses and roles, result in differing approaches to the social and digital media in our profession. In other words, what a business development professional finds valuable about a digital media presentation, may differ from that of a marketing technologist. As such, the Legal Marketing Association Social Media SIG invites you to attend our LMA Annual Conference Recap Webinar involving in-house legal marketers from various areas of our profession to discuss their favorite digital and social media programs from this year’s conference. Discussion topics include key takeaways from our favorite sessions, general discussion of the hot topics you may have missed, and the impact of the 2016 LMA Annual Conference programming on our behavior as legal marketers.
Learning Outcomes:
Discuss the main takeaways from a handful of social and digital media breakouts from the perspective of three types of in-house marketers
Compare and contrast which of these presentations resonated with and provided value to our panel of in-house marketers
Assess how the 2016 LMA Annual Conference will affect future behavior for our panel looking to implement what they learned practically within their firms
Featured Speakers:
Megan McKeon, Senior Business Development Manager, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
Roy Sexton, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Trott Law, P.C.
Jessica Aries (moderator), Business Development Manager, Andrews Kurth LLP
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Reel Roy Reviews is now TWO books! You can purchase your copies by clicking here (print and digital). In addition to online ordering at Amazon or from the publisher Open Books, the first book is currently is being carried by Bookbound, Common Language Bookstore, and Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and Tea Room in Ann Arbor, Michigan and by Green Brain Comics in Dearborn, Michigan. My mom Susie Duncan Sexton’s Secrets of an Old Typewriter series is also available on Amazon and at Bookbound and Common Language.
Sneak peek of my article in March/April issue of Legal Marketing Association’sStrategies Magazine. Thanks to talented and generous and fun Gail Lamarche, Gina Rubel, Lindsay Griffiths, Nancy Myrland, and Laura Toledo for their contributions.
Quote: “Regardless how we got there, we all find ourselves at a cultural crossroads upon occasion. How do you read your new environment effectively to ensure your success? How do you walk the fine line between deference and ingenuity, respecting what has come before but righteously challenging that which needs to change?”
Reel Roy Reviews is now TWO books! You can purchase your copies by clicking here (print and digital). In addition to online ordering at Amazon or from the publisher Open Books, the first book is currently is being carried by Bookbound, Common Language Bookstore, and Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and Tea Room in Ann Arbor, Michigan and by Green Brain Comics in Dearborn, Michigan. My mom Susie Duncan Sexton’s Secrets of an Old Typewriter series is also available on Amazon and at Bookbound and Common Language.
If you missed this week’s Social and Digital Media SIG webinar recapping our takeaways from #LMA16, the recording is now posted here: 
Reel Roy Reviews is now TWO books! You can purchase your copies by clicking 
(Originally written for and posted on Legal Marketing Association Social and Digital Media Special Interest Group blog. This piece is summarizing two sessions I attended at the 2016 annual conference in Austin, Texas.)
I just returned from Austin, Texas where the annual Legal Marketing Conference was held. An amazing and eclectic city hosted an even more amazing and eclectic bunch of smart cookies, who shared their knowledge and insight freely, fiercely, graciously, profoundly.
Reel Roy Reviews is now TWO books! You can purchase your copies by clicking 
Reel Roy Reviews 