Peer to Peer Magazine

WWW.ILTANET.ORG 87 About the Author Paul S. Grabowski is the Chief Marketing Officer for Bracewell & Giuliani LLP. He oversees all business development, marketing and communications for the firm and its 485 attorneys in 10 offices worldwide. In 2012, Paul was named as one of the Top 250 Private Company CMOs by an industry-leading executive rankings service. Contact him at paul.grabowski@bgllp.com. An App That's Different Many law firms have built apps, but we aimed to differentiate ours in three ways: Provide content that is mostly (approximately 80 percent) about the industry and our clients, updated regularly and issued to users through push notifications Focus on a burgeoning trend in the energy sector — shale development — for a specific client target Provide a unique and interactive tone distinct from our firm's website IDENTIFY THE AUDIENCE Our primary audience was current and prospective clients engaged in the energy industry, such as in-house counsel and C-suite executives, as well as startup entrepreneurs and those involved in upstream shale exploration and production companies, midstream companies and private equity and financial entities that support shale development projects and companies. ShalePlay can be referenced again and again as the content is continuously updated. Our secondary audience was journalists and bloggers in national and regional business and energy trade media outlets that routinely cover oil, gas and shale news. We would rely on these media outlets to report on the new app to help us reach our primary audience. LESSON LEARNED Understanding our audience and how they research and obtain information on a mobile platform helped us develop our app strategy. GATHER A TEAM The ShalePlay project started by convincing Bracewell's management that an app was a good investment. Management had to be persuaded that a shale app would have broad appeal and impact for the firm. We were confident it would because it would be built on our experience in energy, litigation, environment and policy resolution, rather than one specific practice area. The day-to-day work of developing ShalePlay was conducted by a four-member team from the marketing department, led by two project managers. It was imperative that the team also involve our IT department. They provided value when choosing a vendor for our product and in understanding and explaining technology requirements. IT will also provide ongoing support. Bracewell's marketing operations team oversaw the production and implementation of the project, communicated with the app development vendor and managed the overall design and format of ShalePlay. The firm's communications team managed the development of the content and its approval process, wrote new fracking-specific attorney bios and coordinated the external PR agency media relations effort. The firm's business development managers helped coordinate content, working with attorneys in the various practice areas not only to garner buy-in but also to determine what clients would like to see most. LESSON LEARNED Firm management must fully commit to the resources, time and budget necessary not only to create and launch the app, but also to support future developments and updates for the long term. MAKE A PLAN We prepared a content plan that had four key sections: 1. Drill Down: Curated content, including a news feed, information on legislation and regulation, shale studies and reports, Twitter feed and Bracewell analysis 2. Where To Play: Included an interactive map of U.S. shale plays from the U.S. Energy Information Administration's website, EIA.gov and news on shale activity around the globe 3. How To Play: Covered a history of shale development and a glossary of industry terms 4. Powered by Bracewell: Included more information about Bracewell as a firm, our shale practice and brief bios of attorneys, with links to our mobile website LESSON LEARNED Develop a strategic approach and ask, "Is this a strategic fit for our firm and our overall firm brand?"

• Cover