Client communications

1991

2016

“Customer expectations are shifting dramatically.

They are not necessarily being shaped by peer-

competitor banks. They are being shaped by

Apple. They are being shaped by Google.”

Jim Smith, EVP of virtual channels at Wells Fargo

Why bother?

Client communications

Objective is to provide our contacts with relevant content in a timely manner that will assist them in

their daily duties while having a favourable opinion of us.

getting “us in the door”

underpinning and enhancing the client relationship

increasing “visibility”

developing reputation

content – moving away from local, technical content to more themes around cross border, cross

practice issues.

What are we trying to achieve

Absolute must do

Approach

Ideas generation – strategy.

Create an editorial board to develop, screen and

select ideas that Links should be associated with

Content generation – development.

Develop ideas into compelling, relevant editorial

(industry experts, 3rd party contributions,

proprietary research)

Creative treatment & packaging –

implementation.

White papers, reports, email marketing, video

content, webinars, publications (online/print),

events, media relations, advertising, pitch

materials

Distribution & evaluation – measurement.

Targeting of audiences, press coverage, online

measurement, attendance at events, how material

was recycled across network.

Build infrastructure to help develop and deliver themes/issues that are important to our clients.

Volume of material per type per quarter

Type Americas Asia EEMENA Germany UK WEELEG Total

NY Brazil China HK Japan Thailand Dubai Moscow Warsaw F&P Commercial Corporate Belgium France Italy Lux Netherlands Spain Sweden

Newsletter

(no. of

issues)

9 3 26 18 6 9 5 76

Hot Topic/

Stop

Press/

Flash

2 1 11 13 1 7 53 31 11 25 8 9 1 8 1 8 11 201

Technical

bulletin10 1 3 8 1 1 2 13 4 1 2 46

Total 12 10 12 16 9 1 1 2 7 69 31 41 43 8 16 1 17 1 8 18 323

Total 22 38 10 69 115 69

Definition

Newsletter: Several articles summarising key issues across practice/geography. They can be viewed as a pdf or as a web

publication (similar to briefing)

Technical Bulletin: Detailed written report on a specific area of law or legal issue circulated either as an email attachment or

viewed through a website (similar to Legal Analysis, Guidance Notes)

Stop Press: Distributed as an email that contains a short summary and a link through to either a briefing or report document

(similar to Hot Topic and Flash)

Current communications are not targeted - we currently have no way of determining

when, who and how frequently clients received and/or open communications from

Therefore the data is inconclusive as it can’t be analysed further – this is addressed in

recommendations

What does this tell us

Communications audit brief and process

Review, map and audit all existing client

communications to identify what constitutes

good and supports firm strategy

Identify examples of excellence and best

practice and develop less but better material

To make recommendations to secure the

maximum effectiveness of the firm’s marketing

collateral in the future

Review our publications processes and bring

governance to how we coordinate our

communications with clients.

Phone interviews with the following clients:

Deutsche Bank

Vodafone

in-house counsel, Morgan Stanley

in-house counsel, BAE Systems plc

HSBC

and with a selection of authors of

communication pieces

The greatest legacies are created by those who ask

‘Can this be done better?’

They guard information too much given the

amount of money we spend with them. We

want information they have to be freely

available.

We spend loads of money with them

but they don’t actually produce

newsletters in the areas we

specialise in.

The pieces we value the most are the ones we

specifically request to be written for us. These are

the most tailored.

Pithy, attractive and

relevant is what is key.

We want to have more tailored content. That

would be much more useful for us. It would be

great to know they are going that extra mile for

us.

… The communication pieces that stand out are the ones that are tailored.

It is as simple as that…

Waffly headlines do not help: If I

do not understand the headline,

I don’t bother opening the

piece.

Aesthetically pleasing is

important. If it looks ugly, my

team and I are not going to

bother reading it.

Am I getting anything new relative to

other law firms? No

They do not offer up as much

content as others. That grates a

little.

I am not put off by weightiness. I like it and

you know what…every so often a firm

comes up with a big piece that makes a

real difference.

They are doing some things

very well. The weekly corporate

update is very useful.

It is always useful to have the analysis:

Tying the facts down to how they will

impact our business is very important to

us.

So what do the clients really think?

In summary

A very crowded space - every competitor wants to “own” content

Level of comment and analysis on communication pieces is variable

Tailored and relevant is the ultimate ambition from our clients perspective

Inconsistent format of templates

10 different external templates – confusion – no guidance on use of existing templates leading to

widespread interpretation

Authors are often writing for both internal and external audiences with same piece

No style guide for tone of voice

Reason for producing material often unclear

Templates are designed to be printed - but are mostly distributed electronically

Level of comment and analysis variable

Need for greater understanding of value - either in-depth analysis vs. first to market. Don’t get

stuck in the middle

Sign off process can be long

No visibility or sharing centrally of what is being planned or produced

No way of tracking who has been sent what or monitoring recipients activity/response

Current situation - client publications

Recommendations

Build out central mailing service capability to coordinate and undertake all mailings for the firm

Implementation of client comms portal (HighQ). This portal will allow clients to self select which

publications they wish to receive

PSL and Marketing training programme around use of new templates, procedures and writing

skills

Agree proposal on sign off protocol

Review and streamline client communication templates

Implementation

Stage 1

Proposed templates

Agree on a proposal to consolidate templates

including clear guidance notes for

1. use of templates

2. tone of voice

3. distribution

4. optimum time to email clients e.g. Tuesday

morning (not Friday evening) and frequency of

mailings to each client.

Author briefing template

Create a standard briefing template to ensure all

collateral is produced to the same specification

PSL/Marketing best practice

Pilot PSL/Marketing best practice – Corporate UK

Sign off protocol

Agree proposal on sign off protocol

Stage 1: author briefing template

Before producing a stand alone publication, PSL/author must answer following points.

1. Objective of communication and short abstract

2. Defined target audience criteria (by sector/job title/geography)

3. Proposed circulation date

4. Confirmation on partners that will sign off

5. Name of marketing person coordinating distribution list

Customer Experience is

the next frontier