“后疫情”时代，中国律师事务所正在加速革新市场推广思路及手段。在“流量为王”的当下，律所如何平衡品牌影响力和专业化形象？过去一年律所在市场推广层面做出哪些新尝试，获得了何种效果？未来一年，它们在此领域又有何策略？
中国的法律从业者似乎正加速暴露在公众视野里。曾经，法律行业被认为具备很高的神秘性和精英性，但在全民拥抱互联网和“流量”的环境下，法律专家们也开始了“营业”：过去一年里，刑法老师罗翔突然成为了最受年轻人追捧的段子手；顶尖律所的合伙人在综艺节目里担任起导师；律师们纷纷开通了自己的微信公众号，做起直播课，甚至成为视频up主。
在这样的环境下，律所也不得不重新审视起自己的市场策略和手段。
“今年我们的市场费用较往年有大步攀升，事务所越来越重视市场推广。”泰和泰律师事务所首席合伙人程守太律师对ALB坦言。程律师说，面对新的市场环境和客户习惯，2020年泰和泰在市场层面有不少大动作。“2020年我们成立了泰和泰品牌管理中心，有专门的品牌市场团队来运营泰和泰品牌，做更加深入的市场推广工作。还有一个比较大的变化，2020年年底我们做了一次品牌升级焕新，全新的品牌形象更具年轻活力和国际化精英质感，为市场推广提供了更具品质的支撑。”他预计，未来“随着律所传播方式的多样化，市场费用依然会持续增加”。
去年4月，植德律师事务所迎来战略合伙人何佳伟加盟，对植德的品牌、文化、市场、客户、人才、培训、知识、产品、合作等各方面进行全面梳理和升级。何佳伟告诉ALB，考虑到疫情等因素，植德2020年的市场费用基本与2019年持平。“去年我们更多考虑市场整体战略的调整，虽然费用没有大幅度提升，但实现了市场推广效果、频率、精准度的升级。”他说。
何佳伟告诉ALB，“市场行为应该是成体系的，在大专题下，再细分为线上线下、文章、讲座、论坛、私董会等具体形式”。举例来说，植德2020年以生命医药、娱乐游戏、金融资管、资本市场等为重点推广业务领域，对每个业务领域都进行了专题形式推广。例如，2020年，植德在生命医药领域异军突起，推出系列线上分享课程，与线下私董会相结合，并配合系列文章，打造持续的曝光度；在资本市场领域，植德则和星展银行推出系列课程，将A股、港股、红筹回归、科创版等热点话题一网打尽，植德资本市场合伙人还发布《权力的游戏——上市公司控制权交易实录》书籍，植德通过新书发布会链接了新老客户，同时传播了植德业务，市场效果可见一斑。
和植德类似，2020年，汇业律师事务所在市场推广方面的花费也基本与往年持平，这一年，汇业的策略重点则在于将线上线下推广手段进行重新整合。“2020年，虽然受疫情影响部分线下市场活动无法如期举行，但通过一系列新的推广手段，除了将线下市场活动调整为线上或线下线上并行模式，我们也增加了与第三方媒体机构的合作等。”汇业告诉ALB，而在2021年，“结合新一年度的工作安排”，汇业预计“将会增加市场推广的预算，大力举办市场活动”。
拥抱“流量”
谈到过去一年律所市场推广中更为偏好的手段，受访律所无一例外指出了线上手段的重要性。
“受疫情影响，2020年很多传统的市场推广方式受限，尤其是上半年，我们将更多精力放在了线上推广，例如线上咨询、线上研讨会、线上讲座等。”泰和泰的程守太律师告诉ALB，“疫情是对事务所的一种倒逼，迫使律所加快从线下到线上的转型进程，加快数字化律所的建设。（疫情）反而使得线上推广成为了主流的营销方式，我相信这也会是未来的大趋势。”
程律师说，尤其在疫情初期无法面对面服务、法律需求又很集中急迫的时候，泰和泰“将计就计”，试水了不少新媒体手段，例如利用自己的线上法律知识共享平台“泰云学院”开展了一系列公益法律直播课程；以及“启动中小企业服务线上平台，在线解答企业，尤其是中小企业复工复产各方面的法律问题，并帮助中小企业运用国家及地方政府出台的相关支持政策渡过难关”。
汇业律师事务所也有相同感受。律所告诉ALB：“2020年伊始，我们就敏锐地抓住了疫情期间的线上市场机会，利用ZOOM视频会议组织了数十场内外法律培训、市场分享活动。”并且这些线上活动并非杂乱无章，而是遵循了律所“市场推广的‘领跑’策略及团队建设的‘带动’策略……在一些重点领域实现了行业领跑”。
植德的何佳伟既有法律背景，又熟悉媒体传播，在他看来，2020年，突如其来的疫情刚开始会让人感到措手不及，但是很快大家就意识到 “线上推广是这个时代必备的能力，疫情加速了线上推广的实现。现在，法律界已经普遍认识到了线上推广的价值”。无论是通过线上渠道与客户进行交流，还是通过线上渠道进行市场活动，线上方式在一定程度上节省了来往时间，形成更有效的沟通方式，而受众面广泛的特点又打破传统线下渠道的屏障，扩大了活动影响力。
何佳伟以植德微信公号文章为例。“2020年，植德公众号进行全面升级，对文章的视觉呈现进行统一，对图片、标题、固定范式等都进行了规范；其次，植德公众号平均一天能发布2-3篇专业性文章，并且被划分为游戏、生命医药、资本市场、结构化融资等专栏，在每周的固定时间发布，加深了读者记忆；最后，我们对专业分享文章进行严格的风险把控，对文章中所涉及的法规政策、利冲等进行严格审核，使得公众号文章质量稳定、干货满满。”
其实，线上推广并非只是简单的渠道变更，而需要建立在律所的一体化制度及整合能力之上。汇业律师事务所对此深有同感。在他们看来，线上推广蕴含着对律所的“资源整合，其中包括专业领域的人才整合，以及社会资源的整合”能力的考验。虽然形式为“线上”，其实也需要依托律所物理分支机构和业务条线的触及能力。“汇业目前在全国及海外共有31个办公机构，同时在事务所内部设立了16个专业委员会和行业委员会，以地理上的‘横向轴’和专业上的‘纵向轴’形成了具有汇业特色的网络。未来我们也会通过这张特色网络，利用云技术的便利，更加深入到全球各地提供法律服务。”
出不出圈？
有趣的是，在新媒体之外，律所在2020年也更偏好于拥抱一种颇为传统的市场手段：出版。
程守太律师告诉ALB，过去一年，泰和泰“根据市场变化情况，及时对出版计划做出调整”。例如疫情初期，泰和泰快速出版了《疫情期间政府公共管理工作法律适用简明手册》等实用读物，为客户提供关键及时的支撑服务；2020年恰逢泰和泰成立20周年，出版在这个市场大主题下也扮演了重要角色，“结合客户需求及市场热点法律问题，我们出版了20周年庆文丛系列，涵盖法律实务、‘一带一路’建设中国际贸易和投资风险防控法律实务等一系列紧跟时下热点的内容”，程律师说。
植德也在疫情初期快速出版了抗疫普法出版物，不过在内容选择上颇为“另辟蹊径”。植德运用一体化优势，历时十天十夜，集合十多个业务领域几十位合伙人和律师联合撰写并发布了《战“疫”法律手册——新冠肺炎相关法律常识300问》一书，该书采用通俗易懂的问答形式，将大众普遍关注的日常生活中涉及的法律问题讲解清楚，例如在酒店住宿时感染新冠如何厘清侵权责任？坐高铁时有人拒绝戴口罩该如何处理？上下班期间感染新冠肺炎，是否属于工伤？在延迟复工期间工作，企业该如何支付工资？……
在何佳伟看来，虽然本书采用了传统的出版形式，但因为内容触及到了更多法律圈之外的人，为大众传播了相关的法律常识，使得大家能更好地保护自己的权利。
何佳伟分析说：“在互联网时代，律所需要多出圈、多曝光，需要更多地承担社会责任，运用自己的专业技能，会社会和大众带来更多有益的价值传播。”
人人都是“市场专员”
颇多调研表明，以2020年为代表的危机环境下，客户对于律师的选择愈发谨慎，也对服务体验存在更多焦虑，这都要求律师在“职业人”之外，更多地以“服务者”的角色要求自己。这也意味着，在律所安排的市场行为外，每位律师在日常执业中也要有市场意识，每位律师都是律所品牌的“名片”。
谈到过去一年中律所如何通过工具或培训提高律师的市场意识，泰和泰的程守太律师首先指出，在自媒体时代，每个人都深谙自我宣传的诀窍，对于平台来说，应该注重发挥个体难以实现的功能，例如IT系统的搭建，以及强大专业条线的“背书”。
程律师说，在系统层面，“2020年泰和泰打造了泰云3.0系统，该系统集合了四大核心模式，即云管理、云办案、云智库、云课堂系统，全面助力律师品牌和服务效率升级，并且在全国范围内进行了一次大规模专题培训。我们专业的讲师团队，去到泰和泰境内各个办公室实地培训，为每一位律师提供近距离品牌和服务支持。”
而在打造专业条线方面，2020年，“泰和泰品牌工作的重点就是专业建设”。有趣的是，这一次的专业建设是业务和品牌同行的，在引导律师对业务进行专业化梳理，尤其对新兴细分市场进行深度挖掘时，品牌管理中心也同期进行相关专业的市场推广和专业品牌建设，并有针对性地在客户间进行推广。业务和品牌在过程中进行了合理分工，例如律师负责前期专业深造，品牌中心则为律师系统梳理好推广所需的资源、工具和物料，实现了更快速、齐整地传播专业内容的效果。
植德和汇业则强调了培训的重要性。何佳伟告诉ALB，2020年5月植德专门推出了“客户拓展维护月”，“邀请合伙人，尤其是创收高的合伙人进行分享，把自己如何做成第一单、如何投标、如何做市场、如何写市场文章和做市场培训等经验无私分享给大家。这形成了律所内合伙人市场经验的know-how（实践知识）”。
汇业则指出，在去年10月的全球合伙人会议上，汇业管委会主席杨国胜律师提出了“Beyond Cooperation（超越合作）”，其中一个角度便是市场协同。“面向新员工，汇业定期举办员工入职培训，市场宣传是培训重点之一；此外，我们每月都会定期举办1-2场内部培训，除了实务技能外，会从市场推广、待人礼仪、公共演讲等方面进行培训指导。另外，汇业市场部门也随时在线，为各位律师提供帮助及支持。”该所说道。
此外，2020年，律所还有意识加强了对于年轻律师的市场意识培训。例如泰和泰“加大了对青年律师的推广力度，例如律界新星这类推广的增加，调动了年轻律师的积极性；我们大力鼓励年轻律师参与到新媒体的运营中来，给我们线上传播注入源源不断的活力”；而汇业则通过“乘风破浪 后汇可期”夏日青训营活动对青年律师进行法律实务培训，并在深圳、常州办公室先后启动“鹏星计划”“广育新兰项目”，寻找优秀的90后独立执业律师，为他们提供现金激励与扶持。
挑战与未来
谈到目前律所市场推广面临的挑战，汇业律师事务所首先分享了两点：“其一是事务所内部年纪稍大一些的律师还是较为缺乏市场意识，我们仍会继续加强内部市场意识的培养；其二是疫情的不确定性，可能会导致部分市场推广安排仍旧无法如期进行。”
泰和泰的程守太律师则提到了转化率问题。“如何将市场推广行为转化成新的业务机会，让律师体验到更加直接的品牌红利，是我们面临的最大挑战，也是我们今年的市场推广工作中十分重视的环节。”他说。
植德的何佳伟对此表示认同，他将这个挑战描述为“短期利益和长期利益的平衡问题……这是所有律师事务所的核心痛点：创收和转化效果是一种短期利益，律所市场和品牌的塑造则是一种长期利益，因此需要一定的时间、耐心和精力将其细细打磨。我们要做的就是在注重长期利益的同时，逐步提高短期利益的转化。”
谈到2021年的市场策略重点，汇业指出，“2021年汇业会继续加强与第三方机构的合作，并将推广角度从北上广深等主要城市转向法律服务较为成熟完善的二三线城市，除了专业培训、论坛以外，也积极开展各类形式多样的市场活动”。
泰和泰则强调了品牌推广“年轻化”的重要性。程守太律师说：“随着80后、90后相继崛起，成为各个公司的中坚力量甚至高层管理者，律师事务所需要适应更加‘年轻化’的趋势，这不仅仅是为了迎合客户，更是为了适应内部人员的调性。因此在今年的市场推广中，我们会更多地从目标客户角度来设计市场推广方式以及对推广渠道进行合理筛选。例如短视频产品，我们也会开始布局，计划在一些更符合专业定位的主流短视频平台推出一系列结合热点，可以引起年轻人探讨及共鸣的内容。”
最后，植德则对ALB强调了市场推广和律所制度间的相辅相成。“植德依托一体化制度，集中全所的专业资源与力量，实现资源的有效整合。在过去一年中，植德已经利用这种优势高效打造了多个业务领域和行业领域的品牌。”何佳伟说。
On the Fast Track
As the pandemic subsides, PRC law firms are accelerating innovation in marketing ideas and methods. In an era when Internet traffic is king, law firms are attempting to balance brand influence with a professional. This involves coming up with new approaches to marketing, some of which will grow in impact in the years to come.
Chinese legal practitioners seem to be appearing in the public eye more and more in the past year. Earlier, the legal industry was considered to be very mysterious and elitist, but in a world where people have embraced the Internet and online traffic, legal experts have begun to dip their toes in too. During the past year, Luo Xiang, a teacher of criminal law, suddenly became the most sought-after talk show comedian among young people; partners of top law firms began hosting variety shows; and lawyers set up public WeChat accounts in droves, to start doing live classes or even hosting their own video channels.
In such an environment, law firms are also revisiting their marketing strategies and tactics.
"This year, our marketing costs have risen significantly compared with previous years and the firm is placing an ever-greater emphasis on that aspect," says Cheng Shoutai, principal partner at Tahota Law Firm. Cheng says that in the face of the new market environment and customer habits, Tahota made big marketing moves in 2020. "In 2020, we set up the Tahota Brand Management Center with a dedicated team to run the brand and do more in-depth marketing. Another big change was the brand upgrade we did at the end of 2020. The new image for our brand is more youthful and promotes a sense of us being among the international elite." He predicts that in 2021, "costs will continue to increase as marketing methods for law firms become more diverse."
In April last year, Merits & Tree Law Offices welcomed the arrival of He Jiawei, a strategic partner, who is comprehensively organizing and upgrading the firm's brand, culture, marketing, customers, talent, training, knowledge, products and partnerships, as well as various other aspects of the business. He tells ALB that while taking the pandemic and other such factors into account, Merits & Tree's marketing costs in 2020 were basically the same as in 2019. "Last year we took greater consideration of adjustments to our overall marketing strategy, and despite the fact that costs did not significantly increase, we achieved an improvement in the effectiveness, frequency and precision of our marketing," he says.
He shares that "marketing conduct should be systematic. Under a broad theme, it should then be broken down into specific formats such as online and offline, articles, talks, forums, and close-door seminars, etc." For example, in 2020, Merits & Tree focused on branches of business such as medical treatment, entertainment and games, financial management, and capital markets. Each area was promoted thematically, for example, in the field of medical treatment, a series of classes were promoted along with closed-door seminars, while in the field of capital markets, a series of courses was launched with DBS Bank. "We seize upon all kinds of popular topics at once, such as A-shares, Hong Kong shares, red chips and the STAR Market, and give them constant exposure."
Similar to Merits & Tree, Hui Ye Law Firm's spending on marketing also remained largely the same in 2020 as for previous years, with a focused strategy of the reintegration of online and offline marketing. "In 2020, although some of our offline marketing activities could not be held as scheduled due to the pandemic, using a series of new promotional tools, not only did we alter our offline marketing activities to suit either only online or both online and offline formats, we also increased our cooperation with third-party media organizations." Hui Ye tells ALB. Talking about 2021, it expects "to increase the marketing budget and put lots of energy into holding marketing activities."
EMBRACING TRAFFIC
Talking about their preferred marketing tactics over the past year, all law firm indicated the importance of online methods.
"Due to the pandemic, many traditional marketing methods were restricted in 2020. Especially in the first half of the year, we focused more on online marketing, such as online consulting, seminars, lectures and so on." Tahota's Cheng tells ALB, "The pandemic has acted as a kind of downward pressure on the firm, forcing us to accelerate the transformation from offline to online and speed up the construction of a digital firm. [The pandemic] actually made online marketing a mainstream method, and I believe this will also be a big trend in the future."
Cheng says that, especially in the early days of the pandemic when face-to-face services were unavailable and legal requirements were very urgent, Tahota tested out many new media tactics in face of the challenge. For example, they used their own online legal knowledge sharing platform, College of Lawyers, to launch a series of live law courses for public interest. They also "launched an online platform for small and medium enterprises, to answer their questions online, especially legal questions about resumption of work and production."
Hui Ye Law Firm feels the same way. The firm tells ALB, "From the beginning of 2020, we keenly grasped online marketing opportunities during the pandemic and organized dozens of internal and external legal trainings and sharing activities on Zoom." Furthermore, these online activities were not at all disorganized, but instead followed the firm's marketing and team-building strategies... leading the industry in several key areas."
Merits & Tree's He has both a legal background and a lot of experience with media communications. It's his view that the pandemic actually made Chinese firms understand that "being able to promote yourself online is a necessary skill in the age we live in," and that "law firms have broadly recognized the value of online promotion." He points out that one of the greatest advantages of online marketing is to save time and increase efficiency, which has actually amplified the results of the activities.
He cites the example of the articles on Merits & Tree's WeChat account. "First of all, the visual presentation of the articles is uniform and unique. The pictures, titles and fixed elements are all standardized. Secondly, we publish extremely frequently, with an average of two to three professional articles a day. These are all sorted into columns, such as games, medical treatment, capital markets, structured finance and so on, and are published at fixed times every week to enhance the impression on the reader's memory. Finally, we have unified control over professionally shared content, demanding consistent high-quality."
In fact, online promotion is not just a simple switching of channels, it also needs to be based on the capability of the firm to integrate. Hui Ye Law Firm feels very much the same. In its view, online promotion includes a test of a firm's ability to "integrate resources, including professionals in specialized fields and social resources." Although it is in an online format, it also needs to rely on the reach of the firm's physical branches and business areas. "Hui Ye currently has 31 offices throughout the country and overseas, and has set up 16 professional committees and business committees within the firm. In the future, we will also use the convenience of cloud technology to provide legal services more substantially throughout the world via this unique network."
GOING MAINSTREAM
Interestingly, in addition to new media, in 2020 law firms also preferred to embrace a rather more traditional marketing tool: publishing.
Cheng tells ALB that in the past year, Tahota "made timely adjustments to its publishing plan in light of changes to the market." For example, in the early days of the pandemic, Tahota quickly published useful reading materials to provide key and timely support services to its clients. Tahota marked the 20th anniversary of its founding in 2020, and publishing under this major marketing theme played an important role. "Combining client needs with hot-button legal issues, we published a series of 20-year anniversary books covering a series of topics," Cheng says.
Merits & Tree also quickly put out a publication providing general legal help during the early stages of the pandemic, although it was pretty trailblazing in terms of content choice. He tells ALB that the small book entitled "Legal Handbook: 300 Questions on Legal Issues under COVID-19 Epidemic" was full of day-to-day questions, including: "How do I clarify tort liability when infected by COVID-19 during a hotel stay?" "What should you do if someone refuses to wear a mask while on the high-speed railway?" etc.
In He's view, by adopting the traditional publishing style, it actually reached more people outside legal circles. He analyzes that: "The future is an era of the Internet, an era of popularization, and law firms need to go mainstream more and get more exposure. They should take up their social responsibilities and use well-received ways to communicate knowledge to the public."
EVERYONE IS AN EXPERT
A number of studies have shown that in the environment of crisis represented by 2020, clients were more cautious about their choice of lawyer and requested enhanced service experience, all of which requires lawyers to go beyond the "professional" and demand more of a "service provider" role from themselves. This also means that in addition to the marketing practices arranged by law firms, every lawyer must also have marketing awareness in their daily practice.
Turning to how law firms have used tools or training to increase marketing awareness among lawyers, Tahota's Cheng, first of all, points out that in the social media age, everyone is well-versed in the art of self-promotion. In terms of the platform, it should focus on demonstrating those functions that are difficult to achieve as an individual. Examples include the building of IT systems and the endorsement of strong lines of business.
Merits & Tree and Hui Ye both stress the importance of training. He tells ALB that in May 2020, Merits & Tree launched a dedicated Customer Outreach Maintenance Month, "Inviting partners, especially those with high revenue, to freely share their experiences with everyone, such as how to make the first deal, how to make offers, how to do marketing, how to write marketing articles and how to do marketing training. This created market experience "know-how" for partners in the law firm."
Hui Ye points out that at the global partners' meeting in October last year, the chairman of Hui Ye's management committee, Yang Guosheng, proposed "Beyond Cooperation," with one of the angles being marketing synergy. "For new employees, Hui Ye organizes regular induction trainings and marketing promotion is one of the key training points. We also organize one or two in-house training sessions every month. In addition to practical skills, training is also provided in marketing, hospitality, public speaking and so on," the firm says.
Moreover, in 2020, law firms also had the insight to improve their marketing awareness training for young lawyers. For example, according to Tahota: "We enhanced the promotion of young lawyers, which included increasing the promotion of rising stars in the legal world and mobilizing the positive traits of young lawyers. We have strongly encouraged young lawyers to participate in our new media operations to inject vitality into our online communications." Hui Ye, on the other hand, used its summer youth training camp to provide training in legal practice to young lawyers. It also launched two projects in its Shenzhen and Changzhou offices to find outstanding lawyers born in the 90s, and to provide them with cash incentives and support.
CHALLENGES AND FUTURE OUTLOOK
Talking about the current challenges facing marketing at law firms, Hui Ye Law Firm shares two points first and foremost: "One is that older lawyers in the firm still lack some market awareness. We will continue to strengthen our internal marketing awareness training. The second is the uncertainty of the pandemic which may cause some marketing plans to remain off schedule."
Tahota's Cheng raises the problem of conversion rates. "How to turn marketing practices into new business opportunities and give lawyers more direct brand benefits is the biggest challenge we face, as well as a crucial part of our marketing efforts this year," he says.
Merits & Tree's He agrees with this and describes the challenge as follows: "It is one of finding a balance between short-term and long-term interests... This is the key problem area that all law firms face: conversion rate is more of short-term interest, but marketing and brand practices are more focused on the long-term interests of law firms. We need to carefully balance these two requirements."
In terms of the focus of the 2021 marketing strategy, Hui Ye says: "In 2021, Hui Ye will continue to strengthen its cooperation with third-party organizations and the marketing angle will shift from major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen to those second and third-tier cities with more mature and complete legal services. Apart from professional training and forums, we will also work to launch various different kinds of marketing campaigns."
Tahota, on the other hand, emphasizes the importance of embracing the younger generation further. Cheng says, "With the endless amount of rising talent born in the 80s and 90s becoming the backbone and even senior management of many companies, law firms need to adapt to the trend of 'becoming younger.' In this year's marketing, we will therefore be designing marketing approaches more from the perspective of target customers and selecting marketing channels more appropriately. For example, we will start organizing short videos. We plan to launch a series that brings together different hot topics on a few mainstream short video platforms that are more professionally oriented, with content that can create some discussion and resonate among young people."
Finally, Merits & Tree highlights to ALB the way in which marketing and law firm systems can complement each other. "It is clear that our integrated system is better at implementing marketing strategies... In the past year, we have already utilized our structural advantage to build our influence in several practice areas and industry areas," He says.
To contact the editorial team, please email ALBEditor@thomsonreuters.com.