Law Firm Holiday Card Survival Series: Part 3

Leverage Technology as Part of Your Firm’s Holiday Card Process

It’s the most wonderful time of year, but for law firm marketers it can also be the most frustrating. From selecting the right card to making sure your contacts receive it, holiday cards can be a real headache for your firm’s marketing team. In the latest post, we’ll look at three technology solutions you can leverage to help ensure your best holiday card season yet.

1. Client Relationship Management (CRM)

Whether you’re a marketing team of one or many, a robust CRM platform ensures that the right contacts receive the right communications at the right time. By providing a centralized database for your firm’s contacts, you can rest easy knowing that you always have the most current and up to date contact information. Many CRM platforms, including ContactEase, feature built-in tracking modules that allow you to see marketing touchpoints and better understand the relationships that exist among your firm’s professionals.

CRM solutions with list management functionality make it easy for your firm’s professionals to add their contacts to the right lists and ensure no one is overlooked. You can also assign preferences to a contact such as their favorite wine, preferred contact method, or even their company’s corporate gifting policy. Using CRM as part of your holiday card process also allows you to easily coordinate outreach and know who should sign a paper card, send an ecard, or select a gift.

2. Financial Management Software

When we think of holiday cards and gifts, it is often marketing technology that comes to mind; however, your firm’s financial management system can also be an excellent resource. When building your gift list, or deciding how much to spend on a gift, knowing who is sending you business is a helpful metric. You can easily get this data from a solution like SurePoint LMS or Coyote Analytics.

Financial data can also be used when deciding how to acknowledge year-end sponsorship requests. Sara Coffey, a content marketing manager at SurePoint, and a former law firm marketer, shared how she used financial data to make the case against a sponsorship that had become more of a burden than a benefit to the firm. “For a number of years, the firm sponsored a holiday concert at the request of a big client,” she recalled. “It was great exposure in the community, but because of competing seasonal events and other obligations it was hard to get people to attend, including the client who made the initial request.” She used financial data and other metrics like time spent on the event to highlight the expense of the sponsorship and encourage the firm to find other ways to support the client.

3. Marketing Automation

Marketing automation tools allow you to target clients across multiple channels. When integrated with your firm’s CRM, you can share information and metrics across platforms to ensure good data hygiene and improve engagement. Tools like Constant Contact can be used to send holiday greetings and ensure you are compliant with anti-spam regulations and that your sender reputation remains untarnished. For firms that send a combination of ecards and traditional paper cards, it can also be helpful to see engagement. If your firm expends significant resources to produce a holiday video you want to know who is watching it and otherwise engaging with it.

Flaster Greenberg, a New Jersey-based law firm with offices throughout the mid-Atlantic corridor uses the ContactEase Email Campaign Tool, a built-in feature of the platform, to assist in holiday card process. Krista Egan, the firm’s Director of Marketing explains, “This enables us to create multiple versions of the holiday card, all tailored to each attorney. Many times we include a personal note and their signature block. Those attorneys who prefer to send the ecard from their own accounts can do so and have the ability to add a note before they forward it.”

Webinar: Strategies for a Successful Holiday Card Season

Wednesday, October 19 at 1:00 pm ET

Join us for an informative and fun session as our panelists of current and former law firm marketers share their favorite tips, tricks, and best practices for a successful holiday card season. You’ll receive practical guidance and learn how CRM can help make this holiday card season the least stressful yet. Register today!

Read Earlier Posts in Our Holiday Card Series

Did you miss the earlier posts in our series? Read them now:

• Law Firm Holiday Card Series: Part 1
• Law Firm Holiday Card Series: Part 2

Holiday Card Headaches? SurePoint Can Help

• Do you struggle to find missing contact information? ContactEase integrates with the systems your firm’s professionals already know and use, so you’ll always have the most current and up-to-date contact information and there is nothing new to learn. 
   
• Are you overlooking important clients and contacts? Look for a CRM solution with integrated list management functionality like ContactEase List Manager which makes it easy for lawyers to add their contacts to the right lists. 
   
• Do you lack coordinated outreach? Do contacts receive multiple cards from your firm? A centralized CRM database allows you to track marketing touchpoints, understand your firm’s relationships, and understand who knows whom best to easily coordinate efforts. 

Is your current CRM on the naughty list? Schedule a demo to talk to one of our CRM experts and learn how ContactEase helps make the holiday card season easier.

Additional Resources

New eBook! “Leading the Way: The Business of Law in 2022 and Beyond“

We’ve heard from many law firm leaders regarding the challenges of adapting to a hybrid working model and the innovative and creative approaches they’ve implemented to help their law firms grow and thrive. In our latest ebook, we examine the competitive advantages of midsize firms and provide a framework for leveraging technology to improve client satisfaction, unlock performance, and become more profitable! Download it to learn how.

CRM Toolkit 

Developing relationships is critical to a firm’s growth and the success of its lawyers. This is why client relationship management (CRM) is a critical part of any firm’s long-term strategy. In our CRM toolkit, you’ll find plenty of tips and tricks to unlock performance and leverage data so you can focus on the marketing and business development activities that lead to new business. Learn more here.