This past June, a Wipro Digital survey of 400 top senior-level business executives found themselves dismayed by their companies’ states of digital transformation. Only 4% of the executives felt their companies were realizing even half of their digital investment in a year’s time. One in four of them admitted that their companies lacked a unified strategic vision for their digital work. One in five (secretly) believed that the whole effort was a waste of time.  [ Source http://prn.to/2viSTHD ]

Law firms also know these problems all too well. Digital marketing has become overwhelming.  Firms used to be able to have a website and it was enough marketing.  Not anymore.  Today law firms are tasked with website design  and maintenance, blogging, content marketing, link building, reputation management, pay per click, mobile platforms, social media posting and advertising, intake, branding AND practicing law.  Just when you think you have a handle on it, there’s something new.

The Problem

Each digital platform requires specific skill sets, and they are getting more specialized every day. Google Analytics alone processes half a trillion digital moments every day.

“There has never been a more exciting time to be a marketer, especially online, because [brands] can access their customers at any moment throughout the day as they bounce across devices including tablets, mobile and desktop,” Google Vice President Jerry Dischler was quoted as saying to Marketing Week.  “But this has created unprecedented complexity. There is more data, more platforms, more channels.”

Even within niches, we see the strains and stress of a complex digital world. “Too many marketers get caught up in the latest trends or buzz words like ‘big data’ or ‘content marketing,’” marketing consultant T. Maxwell recently wrote for Forbes. “It’s time to get back to the basics and focus on what’s important….”

“Getting back to the basics” is a great answer, but it raises a more important question: How do we do it?

One Answer: Outsourcing

It seems to me that one of the best answers has been hiding in plain sight: Outsourcing.

We know the value of outside expertise, so why shouldn’t we take advantage of channel and distribution specialists? And–as we might advise our clients–isn’t it better to adopt outsourcing as a strategy, than to grab onto it as emergency relief?

Think, for a moment, just about smart phones. Most of us understand the basics advantages and drawbacks of existing mobile apps. But no one believes that we’ve reached the upper limits of smart phone potential.

In late May, AdWeek reported that the market for mobile augmented reality (think Pokemon Go) will reach 1 billion consumers and will be worth at least $60 billion by 2021.

Last February, Google announced that shopping-related searches on mobile devices had grown by 120 percent over the previous year. That’s a staggering by itself, but it’s worth drilling down into the data. According to Google:

• Searches for products and services “Near Me” more than doubled;
• About half of consumers who conducted “Near Me” searches on phones visited a local store within 24 hours;
• Nearly one in five searches led directly to a sale;
• More than four-fifths of consumers consulted smart phones while in a store before they made a purchase.

A few weeks ago, the company announced the launch of “Google Attribution,” an artificial intelligence/machine learning system that aims to provide more and better data about how and why consumers make the choices they do.

Whether Google Attribution works, time will tell. But if it doesn’t work, something similar is certain to rise in its place. In the meantime, we find ourselves once again with the opportunity for new and better analyses but heavier demands.

There is simply no limit to the complexities and opportunities ahead. Our limit is in our capacity.

The Best Reason

It’s not just that outsourcing saves time and money. The best reason to consider outsourcing is simple: It works. I speak from personal experience when I tell you that it can be utterly transformative.

I focus my work on niche content marketing needs of law firms. The legal profession has earned a reputation for being very conservative about business trends, and attorneys are professional skeptics.  In the early 2000’s, when the internet started exploding, attorneys thought “they didn’t need a website.”  Now, of course, they know they need “a website,” but are reluctant to embrace all the channels of digital marketing that are required to make their online presence a valuable asset and client development tool.  Those law firms that do get it are ahead of the game.  Most recognize the need – they just don’t do it or take the time to do it.

As one lawer told the Huffington Post, “A smart content strategy is an absolute must for reaching new clients.”

Growth in the legal content marketing space has been explosive. In 2014, one survey had barely one-quarter of law firms with any kind of content marketing strategy. But nearly half of them were committed to creating a strategy within the next year. They weren’t just blowing smoke. They did it.

By 2016, Forbes went so far as to claim that law firms’ only option to a digital content marketing strategy was “extinction.”

If your law firm is short on band-width and/or overwhelmed by online marketing options, strategies or vendors, give me a call.  I can help as your outsourced digital marketing manager to help vet and manage the vendors and create your inbound lead generation and client development strategy online.

Call (832) 656-0025 or contact me via my website.

Cheers!