Peer to Peer Magazine

If you have participated in a marketing forum ithin the w last year, chances are you've heard the phrase, Content " is king." This catchy saying is more than just another flash-in-the-pan trend among marketers and PR agencies. It represents the future of law firm marketing, encapsulating in ust three j words the power of the brand-building tactic known a s "content marketing." But what is content marketing, and who should fill this role? What is content marketing? Content marketing is the process of creating, curating and repurposing original and pre-existing content — including text, graphics and video — to achieve an organization's overall marketing goals (e.g., increase visibility, brand positioning and business development). While content marketing sounds simple enough, the actual process of strategizing, developing, deploying and analyzing content can become quite complex. This is due in part to the fact successful content marketing initiatives rely on an integrated marketing platform — one that demands adept orchestration and continuous monitoring. What do you need to build a content marketing initiative? Many firms think hiring a copywriter or a social media manager is enough to support a content marketing program. And while these two personnel can be critical assets to any campaign, content marketing requires an individual, whether internal or external, who can fully own the entire process, manage various subprojects and delineate tasks to other content marketing team members, such as designers, SEO specialists, writers, social media managers, website designers and website developers. You also need to have your content platforms established. This includes your company's website, any firm-branded blogs, newsletters and social media accounts. You will also want to have 84 Peer to Peer a client relationship management (CRM) system that retains upto-date contact information for clients and prospects as well as an analytics dashboard that can give you qualitative and quantitative insights into how your audience is interacting with your content. What should a law firm look for in an in-house content marketing professional? If you want to own the content marketing program internally, recruit an individual who can understand the firm's business goals, strategize content to achieve these goals, oversee the development and distribution of content, and work with marketing analysts to interpret your platforms' analytical data to help inform ongoing content marketing strategy. The ideal candidate should be someone with an in-depth understanding of the editorial process, who has a thorough understanding of marketing strategy and who has at least an intermediate understanding of technology. If you can't insource your firm's content marketing function, you can hire external resources to help support your program. You may task an in-house senior-level marketer to act as quarterback and coordinate with contract writers and designers. Alternatively, you could outsource the lead content marketing function to an agency that then serves as a general contractor, staffing supporting positions on an as-needed basis.

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