Marketing Committees Revisited
As I have said before, I am NOT a fan of law firm marketing committees. Marketing partner or marketing mentor of some sort…yes, but not a committee.
However…. after reading Bruce Allen's recent post on the value of marketing committees, I have to agree there are exceptions to every opinion. Bruce makes an excellent case of how a marketing committee can work and make meaningful contributions. He explains that his committee:
*Assists in-house marketer understand the firm's culture, while at the same time help promote the marketing initiatives within the firm,
*Head of committee is a well-respected and politically savvy partner,
*Members of committee are aggressive about and for marketing, and
*Respectfully challenges the marketing staff (or an outside consultant) to make the case for recommended actions, rather than being offensively negative ("that won't work" or "what a dumb idea", etc.) in its approach.
I haven't changed my mind about marketing committees in general, but it is refreshing to hear that it can work for someone like Bruce, who has to have a ton more patience, good looks, and smarts than I do.
My only caution or warning is that that unless your committee contains the elements highlighted above, my suggestion is that you not create a marketing committee within your firm. And if you already have one, and it doesn't contain these ingredients, get rid of it.
Oh yeah, as I said before, I feel strongly about this.
