A Quick Update from LexRex Towers...

A very busy few weeks here at LexRex Towers... We've just completed our first year in business - YIPPEE! And now we're preparing our accounts. We're all very excited to see our figures on paper, but not so excited about our impending tax bill...

So, what have we been up to?
Well, on September 19th we celebrated our first year in business with a FABULOUS party in Manchester, with some of our closest friends, wonderful clients and lovely contacts. By all accounts, a fabulous night was had by all.

In October, we were extremely pleased to welcome on board our fabulous event and party planning consultant, Kate Mackenzie. A fellow ex-practitioner, Kate really knows her lawyers but more importantly she puts on a great event! We are already looking forward to hosting an extremely exciting conference in April 2014 on behalf of one of our clients; which we have no doubt will draw the crowds from far and wide... More to follow on that front. *Watch this space*.

Also in October, we cheered on our client Aequitas Legal at the Law Society Excellence Awards 2013. We are very pleased to report that the firm took home the Excellence In Client Service Award, and despite missing out on the LexCel Award for Excellence in Practice Management, managing partner Sucheet Amin was, we're told, "over the moon" at winning a gong. 

We should point out that it was Aequitas' first time entering the awards, so to be shortlisted for not one, but two awards, and to scoop (arguably) one of the most prestigious - was a MASSIVE achievement. Well done Such and the team, and onwards and upwards in 2014!

This month we're looking forward to supporting Such and the team at the Manchester Young Talent Awards, which take place on Thursday 21st November. Once again we'll be cheering for Such, as he's shortlisted for the Legal Professional of the Year Award. Good luck Such!

The Manchester Legal Awards 2014 were announced last week, and we'll be encouraging our clients to enter. If you need some help deciding upon which categories to enter, or some support in drafting your submissions, why not give us a shout - our awards entries are award-winning after all! The awards ceremony is taking place on Thursday 6th March, and will no doubt be THE event to attend in spring. We can't wait.

We've also had a lot of great media coverage to celebrate recently. Of course, Aequitas Legal's win at the Excellence Awards made a good story, and to date, we've had strong local success with Northwich law firm, Susan Howarth and Co's new family law initiative.

Our favourite piece of coverage was probably Jo Norris' comment in the Guardian Small Business Network article on the importance of good cashflow management. Excellent work Jo!

Legal consultancy, Zebra LC has been keeping us busy as managing director Zoe Holland moves and shakes across the PI market, providing due diligence advice on a number of high profile deals.

Finally... We can't wait for the Christmas markets to return to Manchester on Friday 15th November, and we're looking forward to a bit of a knees up and bratwurst all round, with the team at Ratio Law to celebrate a full year of working together. Happy days!

So, a lot going on here at the moment, but we're always excited to meet new clients. So if you fancy a coffee and a chat, or a mulled wine and a mince pie, be sure to give us a shout.

To find out more about what we do, check out our website. http://www.lexrexcommunications.com/

To contact us, please drop us an email: info@lexrexcommunications.com or tweet us: @LexRexComms or @vicmoffatt

Is PR advertising?

This week I'm writing about something that continues to surprise me - the prevalence of the belief that PR is advertising. It's not, of course, although the two disciplines are intrinsically linked.

PR is all about communicating with key audiences. In my line of work, it's usually about promoting a legal service to those audiences. However, it is not typically paid-for promotion in the same sense as advertising.

One element of PR - perhaps the most well-known - is media relations. Media relations is, in essence, about creating opportunities in the media for clients. It can include placing and writing bylined articles, providing comments for articles, writing and issuing press releases and securing interviews for television, radio, print or online publications (for example). 

All of these opportunities are free. This means they are accepted on merit and newsworthiness alone. No money changes hands between journalist and client.

On the flip-side; advertising is paid-for content and may include television or radio adverts, sponsored columns and advertorials (paid for adverts that have the look and feel of editorial), leaflets, pop-ups or banners. Because advertising is paid-for, it is usually promotional in nature, often overtly so.

There is often a cross-over between PR and advertising, for example, PRs are often responsible for writing the content for advertorial and sponsored columns. 

The real difference though is that PR is earned, advertising is paid-for. Simples.

By Victoria Moffatt

LexRex offers a wide range of PR and marketing services to law firms, including strategic brand and PR mapping, media relations, social media consultancy and support and a range of PR and writing courses. If you would like more information about our services, please drop us a line via email: info@lexrexcommunications.com or tweet us: @LexRexComms or @vicmoffatt

lexrexcommunications.com

Lawyers! Time to Review your PR?

After a short break, the LexRex blog is back, and this week I'm explaining why I think September is a great time for lawyers to undertake a strategic review of their PR activities.

I can't be the only person who feels that it's September, not January, that signifies the start of a new year. Perhaps it's a kick-back from school but I still use an academic diary, and I always find those first few days of early September exciting and fresh.

Things slow down over the summer months for no other reason than the fact that people go on holiday, meaning that pushing through sales, starting new projects or even just speaking to the right person becomes a merry-go-round of frustration. For me, this period of relative quiet time is great for catching up, working through the to-do list, getting stuck into some CPD activity and squeezing in a holiday.

In contrast September always seems like a month of opportunity, a time for reviewing progress to date and planning for the future. So that's why this post is all about reviewing your firm's PR activity - and what better time than now to be thinking about that?

So why should you review your PR? Well if you have an agency, marketing/PR person/team or use the services of a freelancer, it's likely that you are making something of an investment in their service. So it's important to know that you're getting a return.

A 'return' should be possible to measure simply by referring to the initial objectives and targets agreed at the outset...

If you don't currently measure PR activity and results, now may be the time to make the change. PR targets don't need to be complicated but ideally they will be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable/action-oriented, relevant/realistic and time-bound).

In any event, the process of setting targets and goals tends to be a useful exercise in itself. In-house and indeed agency teams are often pressured to deliver against sometimes impossible expectations from some partners. For this reason it can be helpful to identify the teams with higher-than-achievable ambitions, to ensure that the available time is allocated appropriately.

For example some partners want endless coverage and will pester for service that goes over and above the agreed retainer (or that exceeds what the internal team can realistically deliver), whilst other teams are completely uninterested in PR yet have specialist expertise that could provide excellent content for press releases, media comments or blog posts.

This means that a pattern of 'he who shouts loudest' is often at risk of arising - which is fantastic for the team with a lot to say - but is potentially destructive for other, quieter teams who may need a little more encouragement to promote their expertise.

Once the firm's PR weaknesses have been identified (and every firm has them) it's much easier to take steps to remedy them.

For example, if the family team provide blog posts for the firm's generic blog on a weekly basis, but the IP team struggle to do anything at all; a casual visitor to the blog may not realise the firm even has IP expertise. Of course, if that person is looking for an IP lawyer - that's potentially an opportunity lost. Once the IP team's weakness on the blogging front has been identified however, steps can be taken to remedy it. They could include outsourcing the blog writing process, providing writing training to the team or perhaps creating a separate family law blog to host all of that valuable content.

When undertaking a PR review, it's also worth considering what's worked in the past, and what hasn't been so successful. If the firm's focus is on traditional media coverage in the local business pages; why not undertake a review of the coverage achieved in the previous 12 months. Think about which press releases were used widely, and which never saw the light of day again.

Review time is also an excellent opportunity for brainstorming new initiatives - which don't have to be high tech or newfangled. Events can be successful if they are insightful and well-targeted. Seemingly old-fashioned techniques like taking clients out to lunch, making thoughtful referrals and introductions still work - so use them strategically, and measure the cost:benefit ratio of doing so. Media relations, content marketing and blogging, Twitter and strategic LinkedIn usage may all have a place in your PR and marketing arsenal; but you must be strategic and consistent in how you use them.

If the team is struggling to think up new strategies, or the past year's activities haven't worked as well as expected; it may be time to think about bringing somebody new to the table. For tips on choosing a PR agency check out my series of articles on expertise, chemistry and conflicts of interest.

By Victoria Moffatt

LexRex offers a wide range of PR and marketing services to law firms, including strategic brand and PR mapping, media relations, social media consultancy and support and a range of PR and writing courses. If you would like more information about our services, please drop us a line via email: info@lexrexcommunications.com or tweet us: @LexRexComms or @vicmoffatt

lexrexcommunications.com