Would you build a white picket fence around your beautiful new home without knowing the dimensions? Let me answer the question for you –  “most likely, no”. You would never cut corners building a home. Having a sound structure that is functional and keeps your family safe is essential, right?

Last week, Moiré Marketing Partners attended the Los Angeles Legal Marketing Association’s Continuing Marketing Education Conference, where law firm leaders and marketers gathered to discuss the pressing issues facing their firms. One of the most common themes we heard was the need to update law firm websites and improve their search engine rankings.

If I google the definition of “brand”, will my URL eventually take me to an actual company or to the website of a child still in utero?  Recently, I came across some articles that report on a growing concern among parents about how to raise their children in an age of rapid technological advances and the lengths they must go to in order for their child to “succeed in a world where he/she will be judged by their digital footprint.” (Wired, James Seddon)

GUEST BLOGGER: David Grenham, Director of Client Services & Marketing - The Ferguson Group

We all get busy with a multitude of marketing tasks, but it’s important to find ways to step back from all the deadlines and think about bigger picture issues that affect our businesses. For me one of those issues is trying to remember the important role that client service plays (or should play) in most every major marketing decision I make during a work day. Ideally I try to always ask myself:

Q: You speak 5 languages and are a double major in Political Economy and Computer Science. Why marketing?

A: I feel that versatility is the biggest merit in being young. Taking chances, experiencing new things and finding the right niche is my approach to finding the true passion that will build my career.

Can we learn anything about account management from AMC’s Mad Men? Lets start by questioning what it is that we really love about the show. Sure, those whiskey-infused morning advertising meetings and the banter between Don Draper and his partners are amusing, but I think the reason we are eager to view the next episode is because we are intrigued by the various business relationships and the behavior of management that makes or breaks deals in the advertising world.

If you ever built a house, you understand the importance of designing the structure or floor plan with an architect before laying the foundation. If you are an attorney, you understand the importance of doing some discovery about your client and case before presenting to a judge.

GUEST BLOGGER: Cheryl Bame, Principal - Bame Public Relations 

Many professionals want to see their names in print, either by being quoted in the press or by writing a bylined article. If you want to take the latter route, then there are some important questions you need to ask yourself before you set out to write your masterpiece. And these questions go beyond the traditional tasks of identifying your target publication and getting your topic approved by an editor.

Sitting at my local watering hole the other night, I struck up a conversation with a person in town on business. Our conversation took a turn when they asked me what I do. When I told them I work remote with a DC-based strategic branding and marketing agency, they went off on a tangent about how successful their employees are that work remote and the benefits of such an arrangement.

GUEST BLOGGER: Kimberly Alford Rice, President - KLA Marketing Associates

Why Firms Should Develop a Strategic Plan

When I work with law firms, which profess to have strategic plans, I find it bewildering that they often are stored in the management teams’ drawers somewhere and rarely are implemented. I scratch my head and ask why bother expending the energy and time to develop a course for the firm if there is no system created to implement the plan. What a colossal waste of everyone’s time and resources.