I'm a legal marketer and I endorse this post.

George Wallace's "Blather. Wince. Repeat. [Mutterings on Marketing]" at his blog Declarations and Exclusions. Although this post starts out a little like The Killers (albeit with less mystery), Wallace only admits to the sins of his past to provide context for his rather unique perspective on legal marketing. And when I say "perspective" I really mean "critique." Of legal marketing. Of selling legal services. Of the Legal Marketing Association.

So why is this legal marketer telling you to read it? Because the questions Wallace raises are the ones we all--lawyers and legal marketers alike--should be asking. And answering. For ourselves, our clients, our peers, our colleagues. Is legal marketing "as much about the interests of the marketer as it is about anything else"? Are "[t]ime and resources spent selling legal services" truly "time and resources not spent performing legal services"? Are the two always in conflict? Is it naive to think that lawyers need to know how to sell themselves, their skills, their expertise? Or is it naive to think that they never will? Is the raison d'être of legal marketing really "persuading the prospect that he or she needs and wants what is on offer, regardless of whether what is on offer is actually what the client needs and regardless of whether the proffered service matches, in reality, the appealing description offered by the marketer"?

Read the post. Think about how you're marketing and why. Make it better and everyone wins. Especially the client.

What I learned from two days at the Legal Marketing Association’s annual meeting

It was the Legal Marketing Association’s annual meeting last week in Denver. Two days of informative seminars, of making connections, of strengthening relationships, of exploring new ideas and learning the latest intelligence and understanding the challenges facing our clients, our firms, our industry. But don’t take my word for it. Read these:

Session recaps from Lindsay Griffiths on Zen and the Art of Legal Network Maintenance and Gina Furia Rubel on The Legal Intelligencer Blog.

• "Keynote Event - Insights into the Future" (Lindsay Griffith)
  
  
• "Social Media Strategies for Small to Mid-sized Law Firms" (Lindsay Griffiths)
  
  
• "Leveraging Social Networking - Real World Applications of Web 2.0 That Have Led to New Business" (Lindsay Griffiths)
  
  
• "Examining the Current Use of Alternative Fee Arrangements" (Lindsay Griffiths)
  
  
• "Recovery: Refocusing the Inside Counsel/Outside Counsel Partnership to Maximize Profitability" (Lindsay Griffiths)
  
  
• "Creating and Implementing a Sales and Business Development Culture in your Firm" (Lindsay Griffiths)
  
  
• "General Session: What We Love Most about Our Lawyers - A Client Panel" (Lindsay Griffiths)
  
  
• "The Digital Firm 2015 - The Changing Face of Professional Services Marketing Communications" (Lindsay Griffiths)
  
  
• "Tips for Lawyers from Legal Marketing Experts: Part 1 Biz Dev" (Gina Furia Rubel)
  
  
• "Tips for Lawyers from Legal Marketing Experts: Part 2 Competitive Advantage" (Gina Furia Rubel)

General Observations

• "Migrating from Marketing to Business Development" from Karen Lorimer in Canadian Lawyer
  
  
• "Paramjit Mahli reports on the Legal Marketing Association conference in Denver" (video) from Legal Broadcast Network News Blog
  
  
• "The Social Web Revolution and Law Firm Marketing Professionals" from Jayne Navarre's Virtual Marketing Officer
  
  
• “Your People Are Your Brand” from Alli Gerkman’s Beyond Credits
  
  
• “Here’s a story about Social Media” from John Bryne’s The Byrne Blog
  
  
• “LMA 2010 Takeaways” from Jon Holden (video)
  
  
• “Me, Twitter, LMA and Laura Gutierrez” from Heather Milligan’s The Legal Water Cooler
  
  
• “LMA10 Conference part 1: my message to marketers” from Nancy Myrland’s Myrland Marketing blog
  
  
• “The Great Legal Marketing Tweetup of 2010” from Nancy Myrland’s Myrland Marketing blog
  
  
• “Confessions from a Social Networker: How Twitter Shaped My #LMA10 Experience” from Gina Furia Rubel on The PR Lawyer
  
  
• “High on Hashtags” from Russell Lawson on Progressive Marketing
  
  
• “It’s About Relationships” from Lindsay Griffiths’ Zen and the Art of Legal Network Maintenance

#LMA10 Twitter stream

• Twitter Search
  
  
• Twapperkeeper
  
  
• What the hashtag?!