MWE’s Katie Cramond has given a lot of thought to how we need to present differently in the digital environment. And of course this is a subject close to everyone’s hearts at the moment, as so much of our business life has transitioned to Zoom or Teams. Indeed this was a recurring theme at The Lawyer’s Marketing Leadership Summit (#TLMLS21) this week. In fact an entire session was devoted to “How can law firms cut through the surge in online information to get content engagement”. (We will be posting a series of guides on various of The Lawyer’s platforms, looking at different aspects of this, and reposting them here too.)
“The virtual environment is here to stay”, Katie says. “It’s
clearly going to be part of our “new normal”, even as we go back to in-person
as our default.” She’s right: apart from anything else, we’ve learned
through the pandemic that you can vastly increase audience numbers and connect
with clients and prospects much further afield if you allow at least an element
of online attendance. And it’s good for a firm’s carbon footprint, to
tick that ESG box! So we will all be getting used to “hybrid” events in
the future I am sure… another hot topic of discussion at #TLMLS21, especially
around the issue of how to make these work for both audience types, and how to
avoid a compromise that is worse for all! [On this point, Laura Ottley of
Addleshaw Goddard had some very good points to make about the benefits of
engaging specialists to help you work the medium better. She’s had advice
to stage TV-style panel discussions (think Question Time ... or Graham Norton,
depending on the image you want to project 😉) and learn from
your own viewing experience how this format works equally effectively for the
studio audience as it does for people at home watching remotely. But more
on this another day…]
“As with any new medium, you need to take time to think how it works”, Katie says, “rather than just do a version of what you normally do on a different platform. So think about your “staging”, ie camera angles, lighting, backgrounds etc, and your clothes. It’s a balance though, between being sufficiently rehearsed and mindful of how you come across … and still being authentic!"
“A common mistake people often make on Zoom calls”, she observes,
“happens when it comes to sharing documents on the screen. Remember, this
takes away from the human face-to-face interaction. All too often,
presenters come to the natural end of a document on screen being useful, but
they continue to display it, filling the whole screen, making the faces of
those on the call shrink into tiny boxes in the corner. Not ideal for
quality communication. So close down those documents as soon as they have
served their purpose and return to good face-to-face contact with the people
you’re trying to engage with.”
Similarly focussed on optimising engagement with the people on the
call, Katie advocates plenty of interactivity in your presentations, even the
use of polls to aid this.
We may all be excited about the return to in-person business, but
online marketing, having exploded in Lockdown, is here to stay. We marketeers
and comms specialists can help our lawyers and clients adapt to the new
normal. This is the time we can really show our skill and our value-add,
so let’s make the most of this moment!
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Dutt, Weightmans’ Sarah-Jane Howitt, Payne Hicks Beach's Ruth Napier and freelance marketing specialist Victoria Brentwood.
Also delighted to see ex-Kysenites Norton Rose Fulbright’s Heledd Phelps-Brown
and Bird & Bird’s Sophie Bowkett.
What a great and talented community to be part of!
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