Tearing Down the Silo: Integrating PR and Content

This post originally appeared in Susan Kostal's Legal Marketing Bits & Bites Newsletter. Sign up for more content here.

Next month I head to Las Vegas for the LMA Annual Conference to present with Vivian Hood, President of PR at Jaffe, and Brian Kiefer, Director of PR at Seyfarth Shaw. Our panel is “Tearing Down the Silo: Integrating PR and Content.” Here are some thoughts on the topic to wet your whistle. For many law firm public relations professionals, the job is 80% reactive and 20% proactive. The pros manage to get that ratio down to 50/50, but it’s tough. Either camp really needs to make that time count. To complicate matters, the marketing, business development, and PR teams at some firms are so siloed that one department has no idea what the others are doing. Many teams are so busy accomplishing what’s before them that learning what’s up with others is nearly impossible. Who wants extra meetings and emails? But by working hand-in-glove with BD, strategic PR teams can run a focused campaign targeting a high-value client.

Here's how.

Get your A-Team on the same page and crush it.

The BD team identifies a marquis target and identifies the top issues facing the client. Interview your attorneys to confirm you’re on the mark and know what’s keeping the GC up at night. Pick one top issue and get the PR team in the meeting with BD and your practice group leaders to identify opportunities for media leads and practitioner-written pieces on that exact topic. Repurpose content in any manner possible, as comprehensively as possible. Hit hard and often, on every channel: print, video, webinar, and on every available platform. Host a breakfast briefing or other CLE event to share your expertise with the market. Use those interactive programs as focus groups to refine your message. Then craft a confidential bespoke white paper or short analysis on how this issue will affect the target client. Be as specific as possible. You want to demonstrate you have put effort into thinking about their most important issue – even though they aren’t your client. Back up your assessment with the body of work you’ve developed. The object is to show – not tell – that your attorneys are laser-focused on the client’s top issue. You can learn about actual campaigns and pick up more gems at the conference. Register here. I hope to see you there.