How to Get the Most From Today's Law Firm CMO

While even the most successful law firms are feeling the pinch, if not the bite, of the down economy, many are still adding to or upgrading their marketing talent. Even as salaries have leveled off, especially where firms have achieved critical mass with proven professionals in the individual core marketing functions, firms are still investing heavily in head marketers who increasingly sport the chief marketing officer title and compensation packages that single-handedly place them in the top 1 percent of U.S. household incomes.

Whether the CMO role is a useful one in today’s firm is a function of how its responsibilities and authority are defined and the degree to which CMOs are in sync with the unique business needs and cultures of the firms that employ them. This article examines some of the differences between the corporate and firm CMO roles and suggests three key factors to consider when creating or evolving the role in a firm.

Most acknowledge the CMO role emerged in corporate America in recognition of the increased strategic importance of marketing at the same time as marketing directors were working full tilt on executing increasingly sophisticated strategies and tactics. As conceived, the intent was for CMOs to be peers of other “Cs” in the “C” suite and bring their marketing, commercial and leadership skills to bear on the strategic planning and execution required to achieve market leadership or an enhanced competitive position.

It is no secret that the corporate CMO model is under scrutiny. Efforts are under way to better define the nature and extent of CMOs’ authority and responsibility and to better define and measure their success. Firms face similar challenges with getting the CMO role right, plus three other challenges more directly related to their business and culture.

Only a handful of firms have brands and business strategies that are so relevant and differentiated in the marketplace that they are not vulnerable to competitive encroachment any time soon. Those firms may not even have a CMO and, likely, have strategies in place that are understood, subscribed to and executed by one and all on an ongoing basis. But more and more firms are looking to marketers to find ways to positively differentiate them from the pack in pursuit of enhanced reputations and more profitable and loyal client bases.

Firms that want to improve the return on their investment in CMO talent should consider how clearly they have articulated: 1. the responsibilities and expectations of the position; 2. the balance between an operations and strategic focus; and 3. who in the firm is accountable for each of the five key elements in the marketing mix.

Define the Role

To date, the firm CMO job description has been more “kitchen sink” than reflective of an individual firm’s actual needs. It is typically long on the growing list of the functions and tactics the CMO oversees — public relations, internal and external communications, client relationship programs, annual business planning and development, contact and capabilities databases, market intelligence, event planning, awards and rankings, online marketing and so on. Too often it is short on explicit objectives and priorities derived from insights into how viable a firm’s vision and go-to-market strategy are, how well the latter are understood and embraced throughout the firm and the degree to which marketing tactics are aligned with the firm’s vision and financial and strategic objectives.

Recruiters report there is not enough talent available to serve as many AmLaw 200 firms that want CMOs. Because firms have little choice but to poach, pay a premium or hire “newbies” with no previous law firm experience, increased clarity about a firm’s particular needs and expectations will help it match the right CMO to the true mandate.

Because legal marketing is relatively new, CMOs may need to spend more time on operations than is desirable. More time building or reorganizing the department, keeping the trains running on time, executing initiatives and providing at least some validation that firms’ successes are traceable to marketers’ ideas and support means less time asking, “What should we be doing to achieve our goals?” and not just, “What are we doing to achieve our goals?”

Every firm CMO wears three hats simultaneously: as the “builder” of the marketing infrastructure, including staff, tools and programs; as the “steward,” who makes decisions and takes action to maximize the return on the time, talent and budget the firm has invested in the marketing infrastructure; and as the “strategist,” who works cross-functionally to facilitate thinking and change at the firmwide level to optimize the entire marketing mix and bridge the firm’s vision and big-picture financial and strategic objectives with day-to-day programs and tactics.

The more clearly firms can articulate the balance in the CMO role between 1. head of an administrative support function, and 2. strategic adviser helping to frame and then direct execution of growth strategies through the marketing department and its resources, the more likely the firm will align the right skill sets to the job and benefit accordingly.

The classical definition of marketing is “the continuous process of planning and executing the traditional mix of four or five key variables that are proven differentiators and influence a target audience’s selection of, and loyalty to, the seller.” These variables are known as the four “P’s” of marketing: product, price, place and promotion. More recently, people has been included as a fifth “P.”

The corporate CMO has considerable responsibility (including P&L responsibility) for strategy and implementation of all of the “P’s.” By contrast, accepting the classic definition of “promotion” to include “advertising, personal selling and publicity,” the firm CMO’s responsibility has centered on strategy and implementation of “promotion,” or keeping the firm and its offerings in the minds of its target clients and prospects, the press, internal audiences and candidates for positions at the firm.

So, who in the firm is accountable for the other four “P’s” as they apply to legal marketing? Specifically, who is responsible for determining: 1. the quality and nature of practices and related service model (product); 2. billing rates, discounts and payment terms (price); 3. geographic footprint (place); and 4. criteria for and selection of associates and newlateral partners (people)?

A firm’s governing body ultimately makes and “owns” strategy decisions that optimize the mix of product, price, place, promotion and people. But in the increasingly competitive and changing marketplace, somebody needs to drive the process of gathering marketplace intelligence, challenging current thinking, synthesizing varying viewpoints and ideas and recommending an integrated set of actions, and alternatives and contingency plans, designed to capitalize on strengths and opportunities and to correct and defend against weaknesses and threats.

In many firms, partners own the process; in others, a COO or executive director, or an outside consultant, may own it. While the partnership model, where the principal stakeholders in the firm’s strategic decisions are the owners, may not be conducive to entrusting marketers with significant responsibility and authority for these “P’s,” the more involved the CMO is in the strategic process, the less likely the firm will have a stand-alone marketing department and will instead profit from a firmwide marketing ethos.

The current war for and high cost of CMO talent, in conjunction with an increasingly challenging marketplace, is driving law firms to rethink what they need, and can get, from CMOs and other resources to help them succeed. New approaches are in the works. For example, firms have tapped director-level marketers to take on more “builder” and “steward” operations to free up the CMO for additional strategy work. And new, nonpartner positions for director of strategic planning and chief marketing strategy and business development officer are being created.

There is no one right job description, title, reporting structure or pay scale for today’s head firm marketer. What matters most is that the responsibilities for the various elements in the marketing mix are aligned with authority, all are clear as to who in the firm is accountable for what, and the structure facilitates forward movement as defined and measured by the particular firm.

Liz Pava is an independent consultant who served as CMO for tow AmLaw 50 firms over the past six years following numerous marketing roles in the corporate sector. Her e-mail address is [email protected].