This was the general theme of this years ‘On The Edge: Marketing within the Legal Sector’ event sponsored by Network Marketing.

Held at the impressive One Moorgate Place there was a fantastic turn out of senior legal marketers keen to find out the latest developments in legal sector marketing and new ways of thinking and they weren’t disappointed. Superbly organised by the team at Edge Global Media Group all the speakers complemented each other really well as we “strapped ourselves in” and were entertained and enlightened by their talks, insights and presentations followed by roundtable discussions.

Kent Valentine of leading digital agency Draw kicked off the proceedings challenging law firms to be more creative and on trend when producing their websites with “a need to evolve and change with the times”. “Being distinctive in the modern legal marketplace” followed with Lee Grunnell, founder of Thirteen and ex Hogan Lovells pushing for Firms to really define how they are different from their competitors offering tips to make their brand and services “stand out” from the crowd. Dana Daenis-Smith, CEO of Obelisk, a new style of law firm offering a flexible working model gave an engaging account of her career journey so far and what to think about in order to deliver “storytelling” in a captivating and creative manner. A short pause and time to reflect before Sarah-Jane Howitt of Weightmans described how she and her Marketing Team overcame obstacles in gaining “Internal Engagement” demonstrating the added value they successfully delivered internally and externally. And finally Keith Hardie of Bird & Bird closed with an interesting debate on “How to maximise the value of a Firms digital presence” by putting data at the heart of everything whilst offering useful insights across Social Media engagement and online measurements techniques.

So what did we learn from the morning session then? Our Top Five Legal Marketing Tips from the seminar.

1. Building a Legal Website – challenge its purpose, what it does and make sure it reflects the needs of the audience using it. Then maintain it!

2. Brand – Be distinctive in the marketplace. Really dig until you uncover your differentiator and come across as assertive rather than just showing.

3. Storytelling - Allow the diversity of stories to emerge from personal stories to individual specialisms. Create emotion and create a response from your writing

4. Internal Engagement - prove yourself as an individual by demonstrating the value you can add to Partners. Eliminate anything that doesn’t have value (lean six sigma methodologies)

5. Digital – Create content people will want to share and integrate the digital experience to deliver a seamless experience across every client touch point. As a specialist Marketing and Business Development recruiter across the Professional Services sector we thought the event really did tackle some of the leading hot topics that marketers currently face working for Law Firms and offered some answers. The peer-to-peer networking hit the mark and we found speaking to a variety of Senior Managers on the day gave a real insight into some of the challenges they face currently and it was great to share in some of their best practice ideas and campaigns too. The event was executed perfectly with delegates leaving the event brimming with fresh ideas and dynamic marketing approaches.

Dan Kondras - Senior Recruitment Consultant – Network Marketing. Dan specialises in mid level to senior appointments across the Professional Services sector appointing leading Marketing and Business Development talent into Firms nationally.  For more information on the Professional Services clients Network Marketing work with and the marketing roles we recruit please contact the below consultants. London - Dan Kondras -0203 668 6746 – dkondras@networkmarketingjobs.com Manchester – Jonathan Robinson – 0161 638 0896- jrobinson@networkmarketingjobs.com Leeds – Rhys Thomas – 0113 246 9605- rthomas@networkmarketingjobs.com