Peer to Peer Magazine

case studies The advantage of a single person being fluent in both disciplines is this individual speaks both languages and understands the resource demands on both teams and the expectations driven by the competitive marketplace. Best of Both Worlds Over the last five years, responsibilities in legal marketing have grown considerably and now include understanding, overseeing and implementing Web analytics, content management, CRMs, search engine marketing and optimization, social media and their monitoring, and mobile apps — to name only a selection of an extensive list. While marketing continues to balance traditional and digital strategies, today's communication is largely technologydriven and often is fueling the fastest growing portion of technology budgets and investments. The Marketing/IT Buzz Jenny Sussin, Senior Research Analyst from Gartner says: "IT and marketing departments are the classic 'Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus.' IT is very focused on procedure, and marketing is very focused on vision." Vice President of Marketing Strategies for Gartner, Laura McLellan states: "By 2017, the CMO will spend more on IT than the CIO." "My degree is in marketing, but all my jobs have been technology-focused. From selling computers in the '90s to roles as a product-marketing manager for ERP and CRM software apps, I got my geek chops on the job. I found I loved working with developers and identifying user requirements to define what a product or software should do. 'Straddling the fence' between technology and marketing led me to my current role at Dickstein Shapiro. Our firm leadership believes strongly in the value of marketing and business development. And because so much attention is given to providing value to the firm through the smart use of technology, they decided a technologist familiar with core marketing principles would be the ideal mix to bring into the firm. This would ensure the tools and technologies selected would integrate well with other departmental systems. I love what I do." At the other end of the firm-size scale, there is increasing opportunity for small to midsize firms to hire or grow the hybrid technology-marketing strategist. I recommend hiring an individual that, first and foremost, has good business and communication skills. Perhaps this could be a marketer who aspires to enhance his or her tech skills and can build technology know-how. On the other hand, it might be someone with technology talent who is incredibly client-focused, highly collaborative and enjoys data analytics. In either case, in a small firm, the ability to work with outside partners and cross-functional teams within the organization is critical. In addition to driving marketing efforts, the technologymarketing person can further demonstrate value by assisting the IT team with increasing awareness and understanding related to technology initiatives taking place within a firm. They can help communicate the importance of marketing-technology projects internally by engaging staff and lawyers, and by making them part of the process. Doing so invariably reduces the fear of change. The Way We Are While a combined leadership role is uncommon, the overlap between the two disciplines is growing. We are seeing more of the growing emergence of "marketing technology." It's becoming common for job boards to list postings such as vice president of marketing technology, director of marketing technology or marketing technologist. These key positions in larger firms report to the chief marketing officer and leverage technology to support business development goals and help the firm compete more effectively. Using a broad range of technologies and platforms, these roles liaise between technology and marketing teams. I recently spoke with fellow ILTA member Cyndy McCollough, Director of Marketing Technology with Dickstein Shapiro LLP, a large firm with over 320 lawyers. Cyndy shared this about her background and role: 34 Peer to Peer You only have to look at the growing number of conferences that support the convergence of technology and marketing to know the field is evolving. Among them are the Legal Marketing Association's Tech Conference, Forrester's CIO-CMO Summit, the CAT (Creativity and Technology) Conference, Ad-Tech and a rapidly increasing number of sessions at ILTA focused on marketing technology. This evolution might be symptomatic of the fact relationships with clients have changed. The way they search for and engage with a firm's services is very different from the past when they would have engaged a firm due to a recognized brand name or hunted for legal talent in the phone book. The pace at which this change has happened has been driven largely by the speed at which our clients are consuming technology, a trend that shows no sign of slowing. Marketing technologies have leveled the playing field for many firms regardless of size or geography. Now, instead of pushing information out to prospective clients, it's about understanding

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