Gareth Pezzack the CMO of Eversheds, one of the largest law firms in the UK (and internationally) talks about the importance of their digital marketing. The video is a couple of years old but Gareth gets it right in that he says they use digital channels to share great content.

I know this is working for Eversheds as we just carried out research into the top 50 UK law firms - we measured against a number of factors including knowledge pieces created and social influence - and they ranked 2nd.

The most successful law firms have always shared great content that helps clients/potential clients and shows that law firm as the experts in their niche. Then when someone needs a lawyer, they become the "go-to" firm.

Back in the day this content (or expertise) was shared at breakfast seminars, events or by posting out newsletters. Social media is just a way to get that expertise visible to a much wider audience than seminars and physical newsletters could ever have allowed. There are now lots of brilliant tools available to help the lawyer, or more realistically the marketing team share the expertise of a firm and its lawyers.

The biggest issue that we have found lawyers face is not how to share their expertise but in having the time to demonstrate it in the first place, i.e. writing it down. The biggest issue the marketing teams face is getting the lawyers to engage in writing it down and making them understand the importance of it.

Eversheds are just about the best in the UK at demonstrating the expertise of their lawyers but (on average) they still only create 1 knowledge piece per lawyer per year. That means there is so much knowledge left in the minds of some very clever people that never gets to see the light of day. If Eversheds could harness that, then it would be very powerful indeed.