P2P

17 I L T A N E T . O R G while a Cornell University student wrote a program called CU-SeeMe in the early 1990s, which would become the first desktop video conferencing platform (Tech Target, "The History and Evolution of Video Conferencing," Andy Patrizio, 17 August 2021) it would not be until 2010 when Steve Jobs unveiled FaceTime on the new iPhone 4 that video calling became a real thing again. Prior to the pandemic, video conferencing was mostly done within a conference room itself. Yes, some firms had already implemented Skype calls, some with video, and Teams as part of Microsoft 365, and Zoom, but aside from webinar and Town Hall usage, it was not until March 2020 that we all really started using video conferencing on a 1:1 ongoing basis. And this was one technology marketing teams had already perfected through their knowledge of webinars and related webinar platforms. As firms tried to stay in front of clients and prospects, webinars exploded during the first year of the pandemic. The beauty of a webinar: Lawyers were already used to dialing in from wherever they were to join colleagues from other offices of the firm as part of a program. True, now from home, cameras, and microphones, and lighting all needed to be worked out. But once they were, the production of a wide range of content could quickly and easily be assembled and presented to anyone, anywhere. And toward this end, already existing marketing technology platforms enabled the team to identify content, however nuanced, that was important to target groups. Remember the iPads loaded with registration software – enabling the easy transmission of data to the CRM – from our event above? Data analysis of which clients attended that event, tied to which outbound emails they previously opened and read, could now be used to help determine what webinar topics should be targeted to specific client groups. And while everyone loves to tout huge webinar registration and attendance numbers, the truth is that when you are able to target the exact content a client needs at that exact moment, you are adding value to both the client and the client relationship. Throughout the pandemic, marketing, business development, and client teams worked together to assist firms as they tried to stay in front of clients and prospects, now in virtual ways. Something to consider: People like to digest content in different ways. Some read. Some listen. Some watch. And yes, data from your CRM tied to data extracted from your website on someone's specific customer journey can help to identify the form of content preferred by each of your clients and even your prospects. You just need the right CRM and the right website CMS platform. Smart marketers have and use these. Also exploding during the pandemic – expanded types of outbound email programs – newsletters, article "People like to digest content in different ways. Some read. Some listen. Some watch."

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