2015

STATE OF DIGITAL
&
CONTENT MARKETING
SURVEY

FULL RESULTS AND ANALYSIS 2015

 FOREWORD

The Fifth
This marks the fifth year that we at Greentarget, along with our
colleagues at Zeughauser Group, have published the results of
The State of Digital & Content Marketing Survey.

As in years past, it contains a wealth of insights for law-firm marketers and digital strategists.
And as always, the most revelatory parts of this years survey lie in its nuances; in five years,
for instance, weve seen in-house counsel steadily embrace social media, in particular LinkedIn,
as a tool for consuming information and connecting with outside counsel. This year, in a new
wrinkle, we see growing professional use of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, while law firm blog
readership levels off.

The report below explores that, and many other subjects, in rich detail, and Ill let it do the talking.
Were confident youll find the data and analysis here as valuable as ever. Were also certain that
law-firm marketing will continue to evolve, and that next years survey will be just as insightful.

Finally, wed like to extend particular thanks to those who took the survey. By answering our
questions, youve contributed to a smarter conversation. And speaking of which, were happy to
discuss the results or hear your feedback, anytime.

All the best,

John E. Corey
President & Founding Partner
 Table of Contents

Executive Summary: State of Digital & Content Marketing Survey 2015..................................................... 4

Key Findings............................................................................................................................................... 7

Key Implications......................................................................................................................................... 8

In-House-Counsel Survey Results.............................................................................................................. 10

Law Firm CMO/Marketer Survey Results................................................................................................... 28

Methodology................................................................................................................................................. 46
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

4
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

State of Digital & Content

Marketing Survey 2015
Law firms are producing lots of content, and they intend to produce a lot more. But
will anybody read it? Thats the crucial question raised by results of the 2015 State
of Digital & Content Marketing Survey, which shows that while firms are producing
content in increasing quantities, they may be neglecting the quality of what theyre
producing. The survey results also raise serious, related questions about whether
firms are taking adequate strategic steps to support their investments in content.

A lot has happened in this space since we issued
the first of our surveys in 2010, particularly in one
important measure of a firms content approach
firm-branded blogs. Five years ago, only about 250
blogs existed among the Am Law 200. Today, there
are nearly a thousand, according to LexBlogs 2015
Am Law 200 Blog Benchmark Report.
Thats a remarkable increase, and in some ways
an encouraging one. But law firms rush to create
more content risks failure on several important
levels, judging by this years survey results.
Thepercentage of in-house counsel who read
blogs regularly has plateaued since 2014, as
has the percentage of in-house counsel who
ranked blogs as the most valuable law-firm-
generated content.
Ina related finding, it seems that nearly a third
of in-house lawyers arent reading firm blogs,
period. We asked how often in-house counsel
visit different types of blogs from law-firm-
attorney-authored blogs to industry-focused
blogs from other sources. In every case, at least
30 percent of in-house counsel said they dont
visit those blogs at all.
The importance of blogs in influencing hiring
decisions also fell slightly. Only 38 percent of
respondents said they could envision a future in
which a high-profile blog would influence them
to hire a firm down from 50 percent in 2014
and 55 percent in 2012.
Most noteworthy, the percentage of in-house
counsel who rate firm blogs as somewhat or
very credible fell significantly from 75 percent
last year to 65 percent this year.
But, curiously, 74 percent of in-house counsel
still said they find law-firm blogs valuable.
So if, according to our survey, in-house lawyers still
perceive firm blogs to be valuable, but less influential
than they used to be, wheres the disconnect?
We dont think its a resource-allocation issue.
Law-firm CMOs have said that a greater
percentage of their budget is being devoted to

5
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
content marketing in 2015 than in 2014. And 87
percent of CMOs said they are investing in blogs in
2015, compared with 81 percent in 2014.
The problem, as we see it, is that many firms are
producing content without thinking strategically
about its value to their intended audience or its
relation to their own business goals. In other
words, firms lack coherent content strategies.
This deficiency first showed itself in last years
CMO survey, and this years results found a
similar gap. Only 13 percent of respondents said
they had a documented content strategy, while
just 45 percent said they had a strategy of any
sort. The need for well-articulated strategies is
heightened by the fact that CMOs are seemingly
becoming more focused on measuring the
effectiveness of their content; 74 percent told
us they measured contents effectiveness using
analytics such as views and shares. That jumped
from 59 percent in last years survey.
6
If law-firm content marketing is to achieve the
results firms seek, we believe its imperative that
they start with well-thought-out, documented
strategies. An effective strategy must articulate
precisely how content will serve both an
audience need and the firms business goals.
From there, its still vital to produce high-
quality content that is accessible, credible and
engaging but without that first step, the most
well-written, authoritative material is unlikely to
achieve its desired effect.
The good news is that in-house lawyers still
value firm-generated content specifically client
alerts and newsletters. The trick is giving them
information they need, or want, badly enough that
theyll choose to read it over all the other content
they receive.
What follows are some key highlights from this
years report, followed by the survey results in full.
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Key Findings

In-House-Counsel Survey question last year without distinguishing

While use of blogs by in-house counsel (IHC) is
plateauing, their use of social media is growing
incrementally. And theyre still big on LinkedIn.
IHCsfind traditional client alerts and practice
group newsletters to be the most valuable types
of law-firm-generated content.
Whenasked what type of firm-generated
content they found most valuable, just 35
percent of IHCs picked blogs down from 38
percent in 2014.
Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are quickly
gaining on blogs in professional use by IHCs.
Blogs trailed LinkedIn and Wikipedia as the
most commonly used social networking and
new-media tools as they have for the past
four years.
LinkedIn usage continues to grow incrementally
68 percent of respondents said they used it in
the last week, compared with 62 percent in 2014.
Meanwhile,
Wikipedia is becoming more popular
among IHCs; 71 percent said they used it to
conduct company and industry research up
from 51 percent in 2012.
CMO Survey
Fifty-eight
percent of respondents said they
had a content strategy, but only 13 percent said
it was documented. When we asked a similar
between documented and undocumented
strategies only 25 percent said they had a
documented strategy.
Law
firms lag the broader B2B marketing
community in this regard. The Content
Marketing Institutes 2015 B2B Content
Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends
report found that 83 percent of B2B marketers
had a content strategy, and 35 percent said it
was documented.
Meanwhile,the vast majority of law-firm CMOs
(87 percent) expected to produce more content
in 2015 than 2014, while less than half (43
percent) were getting larger budgets to do so.
Forty percent of firms had a dedicated content
manager, up from 29 percent last year, but only
one in five has staffed the position with a journalist,
content specialist or professional storyteller.
Roughly half of the dedicated content managers
have general marketing backgrounds; only 19
percent have journalism backgrounds. This isnt
necessarily a bad thing, but strong writing skills
are important for strategic content creation
which is increasingly important as firms seek
to distinguish and burnish their brands in a
crowded market.
Firms are stepping up how they measure
results; 74 percent of respondents said they
used analytics such as views and shares to
justify content-marketing investments.

7
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Key Implications
1. Develop a Content Strategy
and Write It Down
Recently, the Content Marketing Institutes 2015
B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets,
and Trends found that 83 percent of B2B
marketers say they have a content strategy and 35
percent said it was documented
(as opposed to a verbal strategy). Not surprisingly,
62 percent of those in the CMI study who had
a documented strategy rated their content-
marketing effectiveness highly, compared with
just 32 percent who rated themselves
highly if they had only a verbal strategy.
As noted above, it seems clear that law firms are
largely proceeding without content strategies
and that their content is coming up short
when it comes to engaging in-house lawyers. A
good content strategy, as described by content
strategist Christopher Collette, is grounded in the
firms business strategy and aligns with audience
needs and behaviors to ensure that content
will support the firms business goals and yield
measurable results. A good strategy establishes
sustainable and manageable systems for creating,
publishing and maintaining content.
We further believe that the most effective content
strategies for law firms and professional service
organizations should be rooted in corporate
journalism, a practice that combines an
organizations market intelligence and subject-
matter expertise with the credibility and narrative
8
techniques of professional journalism organizations,
which survey respondents still rate as most credible.
Corporate journalism allows organizations to act
like media companies by shaping and sharing the
most compelling stories they have to tell in order
to demonstrate thought leadership and build brand
awareness consistent with the firms vision and
strategic priorities.
2. Social Media, for In-House
Counsel, Isnt Just LinkedIn,
Wikipedia and Blogs
One of the seemingly immutable truths we derive
from conducting five years of social- and new-
media surveys is that LinkedIn reigns as the
social platform of choice for in-house counsels
professional networking. That said, this year
we saw a notable increase in their use of other
platforms.
Twitter, YouTube and Facebook all saw big
increases in professional use among IHCs.
LinkedIn usage went up again, but use of our
usual second- and third-place finishers
Wikipedia and blogs stayed flat.
Interestingly, while the frequency of Wikipedia use
didnt increase year to year, how IHCs are using
it, notably regarding conducting company and
industry research, jumped to 71 percent, up from
51 percent in 2012.
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
3. Analytics Rising but Still Evolving
As noted above, law-firm marketers are
increasingly relying on analytics such as views
and shares to measure the impact of content-
marketing efforts. Analytics trailed only brand
enhancement as a justification for content
marketing.
While using metrics to assess contents
effectiveness is obviously a good idea, we would
caution that not all metrics are created equal. For
instance, views and shares can easily be skewed
by firms that encourage lawyers and staff to share
content through social networks, as opposed to
organic sharing. That said, the increasing use of
analytics is important to note and lends further
support to the need for a content strategy, which
should clearly lay out measurable goals.
4. Suboptimal Staffing for
Increased Content
We asked legal marketers whether they agreed
with the statement by marketing guru Seth Godin:
Companies need editors not brand managers.
While none of our survey respondents told us they
disagreed with that sentiment, 59 percent said
they believe firms need both and we agree.
9
And while its encouraging that more firms are
appointing dedicated content managers 40
percent did so in 2015 compared with 29 percent
last year its not surprising that only 19 percent
of those people had a journalism background, as
firms still have a mostly traditional perspective
on departmental staffing. Sixteen percent had
backgrounds in public relations and 47 percent
had general marketing backgrounds.
5. Earned Media Still Considered
Most Valuable, Credible
Were obviously big advocates of well-conceived,
intelligently written firm-owned content. But we
shouldnt forget about traditional media, which,
as far as credibility is concerned, remains the
gold standard for in-house lawyers. We think
the reason is pretty simple: Like most readers,
IHCs believe that publications like The Wall
Street Journal or The Economist operate with
an independence that lends them credibility.
The credibility reinforces the need to seek
opportunities to deliver insights and express
points of view in order to garner earned-
media exposure. It also bolsters the value of
approaching owned media through corporate
journalism.
IN-HOUSE-COUNSEL
SURVEY RESULTS

10
 Please indicate how recently you used the following social
networking and new media tools for professional reasons.

73%
PAST 24 HRS

PAST WEEK

NEVER
58%
41% 37%
34 34% %

28
%27
% %

22% % 20 17 17
% %21%

8%
15 14%10% 13%15%
24% %

LINKEDIN FACEBOOK WIKIPEDIA BLOGS TWITTER YOUTUBE OTHER

There
was incremental growth in the use of social networking and new-media tools for professional
reasons by in-house counsel.

LinkedIn
topped the list, as it has every year; 68 percent of respondents had used it for professional
reasons within the past week. Thats up from 62 percent in 2014. Wikipedia and blogs remained flat
and ranked second and third for the fourth year in a row.

But
Twitter, YouTube and Facebook all saw gains of at least 8 percentage points compared
with last year.

11
 Please rate the following in terms of their credibility as
sources of legal, business and industry news and information.

TOP 5 CREDIBILITY
VERY CREDIBLE SOMEWHAT CREDIBLE NOT AT ALL CREDIBLE DONT KNOW

71 %

63 %
65 %

51%

40 %

27 % 30 28
%
%

24 %

20 %

12 16
%
14 14% %
%

76 % %
6
%

02 2
% % %

TRADITIONAL LEGAL NEWS LINKEDIN ONLINE LAWYER WIKIPEDIA

MEDIA AGGREGATORS LISTING SERVICES
(WALL STREET JOURNAL, (JD SUPRA, LEXOLOGY, ETC.) (L AW YERS.COM, FINDL AW.COM, AV VO, ETC.)
THE ECONOMIST, ETC.)

BOTTOM 4 CREDIBILITY
65 %

58%

37 36 % 41 %

35 31
% %

29 %
%
33 %

25 %
23 %

20 %
18 16
%
%
14 %

7 %

4 %
2 2 1
% % %

BLOGS YOUTUBE FACEBOOK TWITTER OTHER VIDEO

PLATFORMS
(VIMEO, MEERK AT, PERISCOPE)

12
 Respondentsfound traditional media, such as The Wall Street Journal and The Economist, to be the
most credible sources again this year.

Traditional
media ranked especially high in the very credible category, with a 71 percent score,
up from 62 percent in 2014. Legal news aggregators came in a distant second among very credible
sources in 2015, at 40 percent, down from 44 percent in 2014.

LinkedInfared well based on respondents who marked it as very or somewhat credible at 87 percent,
similar to last year. But only 24 percent said LinkedIn was very credible, similar to the 2014 findings.

Blogcredibility dropped significantly, from 75 percent to 65 percent. We believe, as noted above,

that this could reflect IHCs information overload and the failure to produce strategic content at
many firms.

13
 If you are using LinkedIn for professional reasons,
how are you using it?
2014 2015 50 60 70 80 90

CONNECT WITH 78 %

IN-HOUSE COLLEAGUES
55 %

CONNECT WITH OUTSIDE COUNSEL 67 %

WITH WHOM I WORK

53 %

CONNECT WITH BUSINESS AND 58 %

INDUSTRY LEADERS
60 %

AS A PLATFORM TO RECEIVE 51 %

NEWS AND INFORMATION

51 %

TO STAY ABREAST OF JOB 58 %

OPPORTUNITIES
47 %

Significantly,all categories for LinkedIn usage among in-house counsel saw increases or stayed
relatively level this year reflecting the platforms popularity.

Compared with last year, the top three choices switched spots, and connecting with in-house
colleagues was this years top choice. Interestingly, 78 percent chose that option in 2015, compared
with just 55 percent in 2014.

As one respondent put it, LinkedIn is a way to see whats happening with colleagues.

Finally,
a higher percentage of respondents (58 percent) said they are using LinkedIn to stay abreast
of job opportunities, up from 47 percent last year.

14
 2014 2015
Which of the
following describes
how you are using 70 %

LinkedIn with regards 56 %

to outside counsel? 42 %

34 %

TO RESEARCH POTENTIAL TO CONTACT AND/OR

OUTSIDE COUNSEL BUILD CONNECTIONS
WITH OUTSIDE COUNSEL

The
percentage of respondents who said they used LinkedIn to contact and/or build connections with
outside counsel rose from 56 percent last year to 70 percent. It was the top result for the second
straight year and the growth is another indication of the importance of LinkedIn for forming
relationships with law-firm clients and potential clients.

Meanwhile,usage of LinkedIn to research potential outside counsel rose as well, from 34 percent to
42 percent. These are compelling reasons for attorneys at law firms to have strong profiles and to
employ LinkedIn as a publishing platform.

15
 Which of the following describes
how you are using Wikipedia?

To conduct research on topics of personal interest

82 %

To conduct company and industry research

71 %

To conduct research on prominent business professionals

21 %

YOY chart for pg. 26To conduct research on outside counsel

6%

Which of the following describes

What how
typesyou are using Wikipedia?content
of law-firm-generated
do you find most valuable?
TO CONDUCT COMPANY AND INDUSTRY RESEARCH
71 %
Client alerts 77 %

65
70

76
% %
Practice group newsletters
65

57 39
Website content %
60
%

Blogs
35 %
55
51 %

50
Social media (Twitter feeds,
LinkedIn groups, etc.) 12
%

2012 2013 Video 2 2014 %

2015

Other 2 %
2015 saw a big jump in the percentage of respondents who use Wikipedia to conduct company and
industry research, from 57 percent to 71 percent.

This is an important finding, indicating that firms should watch what is said about them on Wikipedia.

16
 What types of law-firm-generated content
do you find most valuable?

Client alerts 77 %

Practice group newsletters

76 %

Website content
39 %

Blogs
35 %

Social media (Twitter feeds,

LinkedIn groups, etc.) 12
%

Video 2 %

Other 2 %

Traditional
forms of law-firm-generated content client alerts and practice group newsletters
maintained the top two spots.

But
the order changed, as client alerts saw a big jump in 2015, from 63 percent in 2014. This is more
proof that creating strong content and staying on top of the news is important for firms.

As
noted above, blog content is plateauing in value among our respondents, with 38 percent finding it
valuable in 2014 and 35 percent in 2015.

17
 Which of the following best describes the
way you use social media today?

LISTEN - to stay informed of the latest news, LISTEN AND ENGAGE - I use SM tools not only
developments and conversation occurring on to listen but also to disseminate information
topics that I'm interested in and engage with other users

74 % 78 %
80

68 % 71 %

60

40
32 %

26 % 29 %

22 %

20

2012 2013 2014 2015

The overall trend stayed the same. For the fourth straight year, in-house counsel said they used
social media to mostly listen but not to engage, though the percentage of those who only listen grew
from 71 percent in 2014 to 78 percent. Meanwhile, the percentage of respondents who said they used
social media to listen and engage dropped from 29 percent to 22 percent.

18
 VIDEO USAGE
TO A GREAT EXTENT
TO SOME EXTENT
To what extent TO A SMALL EXTENT
60%
do you access video
NOT AT ALL
54%
on law-firm websites
or law-firm-branded
YouTube channels? 28%
14
% 17 19%
%

5 %
4%
SUBSTANTIVE PRESENTATIONS CAPABILITIES
AND SEGMENTS ON LEGAL PRESENTATIONS
TRENDS, TOPICS AND ISSUES (PRACTICE- OR INDUSTRY-SPECIFIC)

Interestingly,
despite the fact that these results were largely the same as in 2014, several CMOs we
surveyed said they were planning new videocentric projects.

19
 READ PRINT VERSION

How frequently
64 % DAILY WEEKLY MONTHLY NOT AT ALL

do you access the

following news
and information 36%30% 31%
31%

sources? 20 % 24% 25 %

87 % %
7 % 10%
GENERAL LEGAL INDUSTRY TRADE PUBLICATIONS
BUSINESS MEDIA TRADE PUBLICATIONS COVERING
(I.E., WSJ, LOCAL BUSINESS NEWS) YOUR INDUSTRY

20
 Through which delivery methods do you access
the following news and information sources?

ACCESS VIA THE WEB

PC SMARTPHONE/TABLET EMAIL ALERTS MOBILE APPS

75 %

60 61% %
62 60%
% 64 %

59 58% %

53 %
56 %

48 %
46 %

41 %

38 39 % %

29 31
%
%
27 %
25 %
23 %
26 %

6 11 %

5
% %

GENERAL LEGAL TRADE BROADCAST BLOGS SOCIAL MEDIA

BUSINESS MEDIA INDUSTRY TRADE PUBLICATIONS (T V, RADIO) WEBSITES
(I.E., WSJ, LOCAL PUBLICATIONS COVERING (T WITTER, FACEBOOK,
BUSINESS NEWS) LINKEDIN, ETC.)
YOUR INDUSTRY

NOTE: Multiple answers per participant possible. Percentages added may exceed 100 since a participant may select more than one answer for this question.

21
 Which of the following describes how
you are using law-firm blogs?

55
To access substantive content and perspective within %
narrow legal practices and specialties

52
As a supplement to a legal-industry trade %
(and other) traditional media reporting

18
To evaluate the perspective and credentials of prospective %
outside counsel before making hiring decisions

17
To connect with thought leaders %
in my company's industry

Other
20 %

While
it was still the top choice, accessing substantive content and perspective within narrow legal
practices and specialties fell 10 percentage points in 2015.

Thevast majority of respondents who marked other elaborated by saying, in various formulations,
that they arent using law-firm blogs at all.

22
 How often do you frequent the following types of blogs?

VERY + SOMEWHAT OFTEN

MEDIA-BRANDED BLOGS WRITTEN BY
PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS/BLOGGERS 38 %

LAW FIRM ATTORNEY-AUTHORED BLOGS

37 %

BLOGS FOCUSED ON MY COMPANY'S INDUSTRY

(E.G., TECHNOLOGY, REAL ESTATE, FINANCIAL SERVICES) 35 %

IN-HOUSE ATTORNEY AUTHORED BLOGS

17 %

How would you characterize the overall value of the

content produced by the following types of blogs?

VERY + SOMEWHAT VALUABLE

75
74 %

66
70
%

65
65 %

63 %

60

LAW FIRM ATTORNEY- MEDIA-BRANDED BLOGS FOCUSED ON MY IN-HOUSE ATTORNEY

AUTHORED BLOGS BLOGS WRITTEN BY COMPANY'S INDUSTRY AUTHORED BLOGS
PROFESSIONAL (E.G., TECHNOLOGY, REAL ESTATE,
JOURNALISTS/BLOGGERS FINANCIAL SERVICES)

Maybe theyre not reading, but IHCs do perceive blogs to have value. Despite the responses to the
previous question, the majority of in-house counsel surveyed said they considered all types of
blogs we asked about somewhat valuable. As the chart above indicates, law-firm-created blogs are
generally considered more valuable.

23
 FINANCIAL SERVICES)

On a scale from 1 - 10, how would you characterize

the overall value of content produced by outside
law firms (alerts, newsletters, blogs)?

33 %

22 %

16 11 %
%

2 5 %
7 %

3 %
1 1
%
%
0 % %

0- 2- 5- 8- 10 -
1 3 4 6 7 9
UNACCEPTABLE VERY POOR SATISFACTORY VERY GOOD EXCELLENT

Its
notable, and somewhat discouraging, that only 43 percent of respondents ranked the value of
law-firm content as very good or better.

24
 Please indicate the importance of the following in
helping you to research outside lawyers
and law firms for potential hire.
TOP 5 FACTORS VERY IMPORTANT

83% SOMEWHAT IMPORTANT

NOT IMPORTANT AT ALL

65% 58%
57%
44%41%
32% 25%
15 %
12 % 18 %
17% 16% 15%
2 %

RECOMMENDATIONS BIOS ON ARTICLES AND SPEECHES LINKEDIN PEER-DRIVEN RANKINGS

FROM SOURCES THE FIRM'S THE LAW YER PROFILE AND DIRECTORIES
YOU TRUST WEBSITE HAS AUTHORED (CHAMBERS, U.S. NEWS-BEST
L AW YERS, ETC.)

BOTTOM 6 FACTORS 87%

66 %
68%
57 %

43 47
%
%
47 49%%

35% 30% 28%

9 %
9 %
4% 4% 4% 11%

2%
BLOGS PUBLISHED CONNECTIONS/ QUOTES BY SHARING OF WIKIPEDIA TWITTER FEEDS
BY LAW YERS ON ENDORSEMENTS LAWYERS IN LAWYER'S CONTENT FROM LAW YERS
TOPICS RELEVANT ON LINKEDIN RELEVANT ON SOCIAL PLATFORMS,
TO YOUR BUSINESS MEDIA OUTLETS SUCH AS BLOGS, LINKEDIN,
TWITTER AND FACEBOOK

These
results were fairly consistent with what we found in 2014, though bios on firm websites and
peer-driven rankings and directories dropped slightly.

The
percentage of respondents who ranked LinkedIn profiles as at least somewhat important in
researching outside counsel jumped from 63 percent last year to 74 percent. Clearly, law firms
should be paying close attention to the quality of attorneys LinkedIn profiles.

25
 To what extent do you access content from
your outside-counsel firms provided through
new-media tools, including Twitter feeds,
blogs, Facebook pages, firm-branded mobile
applications, LinkedIn discussion groups, etc.?

46 %

25 %
24 %

6 %

TO A GREAT EXTENT TO SOME EXTENT TO A SMALL EXTENT NOT AT ALL

26
 To what extent do you agree or disagree
with the following statements?
AGREE SOMEWHAT AGREE NEUTRAL SOMEWHAT DISAGREE DISAGREE

37 %

32 35
%

30 32
% %
%
28 %

21
%

14 13
% % 16 13 %
%

9% 11
%

6 %

3 %

I envision a future in which a law
firm's prominence through a
high-profile blog will play an
important role in influencing
clients to hire that law firm.
I envision a future in which the
extent of a lawyer's profile and
engagement on LinkedIn (i.e.,
number of connections s/he has,
participation in group, distributing
quality content, etc.) will play an
important role in influencing
clients to hire that lawyer.
I envision a future in which an
individual lawyer's prominence
on Twitter will play an
important role in influencing
clients to hire that lawyer.

Again, we see a change in respondents

PERCENTAGE OF COUNSEL WHO BELIEVE WELL-EXECUTED thoughts on blogs, as the number who
BLOGS WILL INFLUENCE HIRING DECISIONS think theyll play an important role in hiring
dropped for the third straight year and by 12
55 53
60
% percentage points.
%

50 50
55
% % This years respondents were also less likely
than last years to agree that LinkedIn would
50
have an important role in hiring decisions, while
Twitters expected impact stayed about the
45
same.

40 38 %

2010 2012 2013 2014 2015

27
LAW FIRM CMO / MARKETER
SURVEY RESULTS

28
 Does your firm
2 %
98 %
YES
actively engage in NO
content marketing?

1 %

Is your budget for

BUDGET HAS
INCREASED 1 %

content marketing BUDGET HAS

56 43
REMAINED
in 2015 different ABOUT THE SAME
% %
from 2014? BUDGET HAS
DECREASED

Content
budgets keep getting bigger, with 43 percent of respondents telling us their budget for
content marketing increased in the past year, compared with 39 percent in 2014.

29
 Approximately what percentage (%) of the marketing
departments budget Is allocated to content marketing?
(Marketing budget refers to all marketing expenditures except for practice group business
development, and includes staff salaries and costs associated with outside consultants.)

27 %

23 %
23 %

15 %

5 % 7 %

MORE DON'T
0 - 5% 6 - 10% 11 - 15% 16 - 20% THAN 20% KNOW

Fifty
percent of respondents said 0 to 10 percent of their marketing departments budget went to
Do you expect that your department or firm will
content marketing, up from 41 percent last year.
produce more content in 2015 than it did in 2014?
But the percentage of respondents who dont know how much of that budget goes toward content is
still surprisingly high at 23 percent (compared with 24 percent in 2014). This may result from content

13
being generated from many different sources in a firm.
%

YES, THE AMOUNT OF

CONTENT WILL GROW

THE AMOUNT OF

87
CONTENT WILL STAY
ABOUT THE SAME %
NO, THE AMOUNT
OF CONTENT
WILL DECREASE

30
 Do you expect that your department or firm will
produce more content in 2015 than it did in 2014?

13 %

YES, THE AMOUNT OF

CONTENT WILL GROW

THE AMOUNT OF

87
CONTENT WILL STAY
ABOUT THE SAME %
NO, THE AMOUNT
OF CONTENT
WILL DECREASE

As
noted above, its possible that some content creation will be covered by lawyer and staff time
and not under the marketing budget.

31
 Do you currently have a single person who oversees
content marketing strategy and implementation
at your firm (e.g., Director of Content Strategy)?

YES, WE HAVE A WHAT BACKGROUND DOES

DEDICATED PERSON THIS PERSON HAVE?

40 % JOURNALISM

PUBLIC RELATIONS 19 19
% %

29 %
16
%
GENERAL MARKETING
BACKGROUND

47
%

OTHER

2014 2015

The
first chart is one of the surveys promising findings. The percentage of respondents who have a
dedicated person for content-marketing strategy and implementation rose by 11 percent.

Meanwhile,19 percent of those people were said to have journalism backgrounds, up from 9 percent
in 2014. Thats a nice jump, but content chiefs were still most likely to have a marketing background,
at 47 percent though that was down from 67 percent in 2014.

32
 Do you plan to hire
4 %

for or create a
29
YES
%
director-of- NO

content-type position
67
NOT SURE
%
in the coming year?

Last
year, 87 percent of respondents said no to this question, so a decline of 20 percentage points
would appear to be a good sign. But fewer CMOs said they planned to hire someone (4 percent
compared with 8 percent), while the largest increase was in the percentage who werent sure. That
group grew from 6 percent to a striking 29 percent.

Does your firm have an overarching

content strategy in place?

Yes, we have a documented content strategy

13 %

Yes, we have a content strategy but it is not documented

45 %

No, but we are planning on putting a content

strategy in place within the next 12 months 30 %

We have no content strategy in place, and have no plans

of implementing a content strategy in the near future 11
%

33
 Does your firm have an overarching
content strategy in place?

Yes, we have a documented content strategy

13 %

Yes, we have a content strategy but it is not documented

45 %

No, but we are planning on putting a content

strategy in place within the next 12 months 30 %

We have no content strategy in place, and have no plans

of implementing a content strategy in the near future 11%

We changed the question this year to allow for unwritten strategies, so the results shouldnt be used
for apples-to-apples comparisons with last years survey.

That said, 58 percent of respondents said they had a content strategy, documented or otherwise.

Thirty
percent said they planned on putting a content strategy in place in the next 12 months, down
from 47 percent last year.

Encouragingly,only 11 percent said they had no strategy and no plans to implement one, compared
with 28 percent in 2014. This is one of the more hopeful findings in this years survey.

34
 How would you describe the overall goals of
content marketing within your firm as it relates
to marketing and business development?

Brand awareness 90 %

Demonstrating thought leadership within

strategic practice groups and industry sectors 90 %

Attorney awareness/exposure
79 %

74
Securing additional exposure opportunities for attorneys %
and the firm (publishing, speaking engagements, etc.)
Expanding relationships (and work)
with existing clients 73 %

Building new relationships

65 %

Building website traffic 63 %

Lead generation
61 %

Client service
61 %

Winning new business

50 %

Client retention 49 %

Other 4 %

Importantly,
CMOs saw content marketing as very important for brand awareness, credentialing and
business development at high levels.

35
 In which of the following content-marketing
areas is your firm investing in 2015?

Social media (e.g., LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) 93 %

Website content
91 %

Client alerts/newsletters
89 %

Blogs
87 %

Articles authored by attorneys on the firms website

80 %

Firm-branded, in-person events

78 %

Webinars 67 %

Video
62 %

Infographics
38 %

White papers
33 %

Digital news sites and/or magazines

32 %

Other 5 %

Echoingthe 2014 findings, CMOs in 2015 said theyre investing in nearly every category. Interestingly,
and despite blogs overall fade based on our in-house-counsel results, the percentage of CMOs who
said theyre investing in blogs increased from 81 percent to 87 percent. Digital news sites and/or
magazines increased from 20 percent to 32 percent.

36
 Are you currently
4 %

investing in third-
party resources
to help distribute
YES

NO 20 %

76 %
NOT SURE
the content your
firm produces?

4 %

15
JD Supra and Lexology were common methods for distributing content, according to the CMOs.
Does your firm have %
a social media policy
YES
in place that guides

81
NO
what those within NOT SURE
%
the firm can post
and share?

Do you have plans to

create new and
innovative content
YES
33 21 %
%

NO
vehicles in 2016?
46 %
NOT SURE
(e.g., launch a digital newsroom
such as GE's GE Reports or
Chevrons Richmond Standard)

37
 4 %
Does your firm have
a social media policy
15 %

YES
in place that guides

81
NO
what those within NOT SURE
%
the firm can post
and share?

Do you have plans to

create new and
innovative content
YES
33 21 %
%

NO
vehicles in 2016?
46 %
NOT SURE
(e.g., launch a digital newsroom
such as GE's GE Reports or
Chevrons Richmond Standard)

38
 Do you have plans to
create new and
innovative content
YES
33 21 %
%

NO
vehicles in 2016?
46 %
NOT SURE
(e.g., launch a digital newsroom
such as GE's GE Reports or
Chevrons Richmond Standard)

Of
CMOs who provided details on their plans, most talked about new video products, including video
channels on YouTube, video alerts and videos for partner bios.

39
 Seth Godin, the renowned content strategist, said recently
that companies need editors, not brand managers.
To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

59 %

38 %

0 % 3 %

DISAGREE, I BELIEVE
AGREE DISAGREE OTHER
THEY NEED BOTH

"I believe LinkedIn is a valuable tool for marketing

While
no one surveyed seems to disagree with this statement, the percentage of firms with trained
and business development."
editors serving as content chiefs, based on our survey, is still less than one in five (19 percent).
To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

79
%

17 %

4 %
0 %
0 %

SOMEWHAT NEITHER AGREE SOMEWHAT

AGREE DISAGREE
AGREE NOR DISAGREE DISAGREE
40
 THEY NEED BOTH

"I believe LinkedIn is a valuable tool for marketing

and business development."
To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

79 %

17 %

4 %
0 %
0 %

SOMEWHAT NEITHER AGREE SOMEWHAT

AGREE DISAGREE
AGREE NOR DISAGREE DISAGREE

LinkedIns
prominence rose here again, with 79 percent of CMOs agreeing to the above statement.
Thats up from 65 percent in 2014. Ninety-six percent either agree or somewhat agree with the
statement, up from 89 percent last year.

Giventhat the percentage of in-house counsel who use LinkedIn for research when hiring
outside counsel rose to 74 percent this year, wed expect to see even more CMOs agreeing with
this statement.

41
 Are you providing lawyers at your firm with
training to use LinkedIn more effectively?

Yes, we provide formalized

training to our lawyers 65 %

Yes, we are providing some

informal training 32 %

No, but we have plans to

start offering training 2 %

0
No, we do not offer training, and %
we have no plans to do so

We
changed the phrasing and options for this question; last year we didnt distinguish between
formal and informal training. With the new options, 97 percent of CMOs said they would provide
What is the greatest challenge your department
some sort of LinkedIn training this year, compared with 81 percent last year.

faces in using content-marketing to elevate your

firms brand and reputation in the marketplace?

Lack of engagement from

attorneys within the firm 44 %

Lack of staff time

18 %

13
Lack of a dedicated professional to %
oversee content marketing efforts

Lack of talented writers and other staff

12%

Budget 5 %

Lack of support from firm leadership

0 %

Other
9
%

42
 What is the greatest challenge your department
faces in using content-marketing to elevate your
firms brand and reputation in the marketplace?

Lack of engagement from

attorneys within the firm 44 %

Lack of staff time

18 %

13
Lack of a dedicated professional to %
oversee content marketing efforts

Lack of talented writers and other staff

12%

Budget 5 %

Lack of support from firm leadership

0 %

Other
9
%

As in 2014, lack of engagement was the top answer to this question.

As
one respondent put it, Not enough attorney engagement or staff bandwidth. Another said,
Both lack of engagement from attorneys within the firm and lack of support from firm leadership.

43
 To what extent has content marketing
contributed to your firm being able to secure
new matters from existing and new clients?

51 %

34 %

10 %

5 %

A GREAT DEAL SOMEWHAT A LITTLE NOT AT ALL

Thepercentage of CMOs who answered a great deal or somewhat to the question shrank from
70 percent in 2014 to 61 percent this year.

Its
How does your firm justify investment
possible that content marketing isnt helping to secure new matters because of the lack of lawyer
in content-marketing efforts?
engagement and staff time noted in the previous question.

Brand enhancement
79 %

74
Analytics, such as measuring %
views and shares
Protecting/enhancing
competitive advantage 67 %

ROI for new or expanded business

47 %

Client retention
47 %

Other 1%

44
 How does your firm justify investment
in content-marketing efforts?

Brand enhancement
79 %

74
Analytics, such as measuring %
views and shares
Protecting/enhancing
competitive advantage 67 %

ROI for new or expanded business

47 %

Client retention
47 %

Other 1
%

The
biggest jump here was in the percentage of CMOs who said they are using analytics to justify
investments in content marketing. As noted above, this likely indicates increased emphasis on
accountability after many firms have increased content efforts, and costs, in recent years.

Hereis one interesting response about the cost-benefit analysis: Because we use our content
to drive traffic to our website, where we can hopefully generate leads that can be qualified and
converted to opportunities and closed as a new business engagement, we value analytics over
traditional financial-return data. The cost of producing content is so negligible for us that the
return is always a positive.

Hereis another detailed response: [W]e routinely measure ROI for our blogs using both analytics
and revenue secured from new clients. We track client generation from blog activity on a quarterly
basis and blog stats on a monthly basis. In other instances, we may establish a secured section of
the website that we promote only to attendees at a conference/event and we measure the success
of that via tracking logins, etc. We often create Web content and link that contents promotion to
particular market-facing activity so we can measure the traffic to gauge success. Overall, however,
the more one can link revenue via concrete analytics or anecdotal information from attorneys
the better in terms of gauging ROI and making a case for continued or additional investment.

Our
survey found increases in protecting/enhancing competitive advantage and ROI for new or
expanded business.

45
METHODOLOGY

46
 METHODOLOGY

Our Surveys
In August and September 2015, Greentarget and Zeughauser Group distributed
individual surveys to the following segments of the legal industry: corporate
in-house counsel (the buyers of legal services), and law firm CMOs/Marketers
(those who market outside legal services) at the top 350 law firms across the
nation. The results were tabulated, analyzed, and released in November 2015.

For the in-house counsel survey, respondents
identified themselves as GCs/Chief Legal Officers,
Deputy/ Assistant GCs, In-House Counsel, and
related titles. For the law firm marketer survey,
respondents identified themselves as Chief
Marketing Officers, Chief Business Development
Officers, Directors of Marketing, Directors of
Communication, and related titles.
181 corporate counsel responded to the in-house
counsel survey; 81 CMOs/Marketers responded to
the CMO survey. (11% from firms with more than
1,000 lawyers; 48% from firms with 251 1,000
lawyers; 30% from firms with 101 250 lawyers
and 11% from firms with less than 100 lawyers.)
Percentages in certain questions exceed 100
percent because respondents were asked to check
all that apply. Due to rounding, percentages used in
some questions may not add up to 100 percent.

47
 WHAT WERE THE FY 2014 REVENUES OF COMPANY?

METHODOLOGY
Less than $10 million
3%

$10 million to $99.9 million

6 %

$100 million to $999.9 million

DEMOGRAPHICS
6 %

8 %

IN-HOUSE COUNSEL
$1 billion to $1.4 billion

$1.5 to $9.9 billion

38%

$10 billion or more

41
%

WHAT IS YOUR JOB TITLE? HOW MANY PEOPLE DOES YOUR COMPANY EMPLOY?

GC/Chief Legal Officer

3 % 0-100 1 %

Deputy/Assistant GC
30 % 100-500 4 %

In-House Counsel
56 % 500-1,000
2 %

Other
11 % 1,000-5,000 19 %

5,000 +
75 %

WHAT WERE THE FY 2014 REVENUES OF COMPANY?

Less than $10 million

3 %

$10 million to $99.9 million

6 %

$100 million to $999.9 million

6 %

$1 billion to $1.4 billion

8 %

$1.5 to $9.9 billion

38 %

$10 billion or more

41 %

HOW MANY PEOPLE DOES YOUR COMPANY EMPLOY?

0-100 1 %

100-500 4 %

48
500-1,000
2 %
 4
Our headquarters %
are not in the U.S.

METHODOLOGY
Other
4 %

ED? WHERE IS YOUR COMPANY HEADQUARTERED? AGE RANGE GE

% Northeast
37 %
Under 30 3 %

Midwest
26 %
30-40 26 %

South
14 %
40-50 34 %

West
16 %
50-60
23 %

4 8
Our headquarters % %
are not in the U.S. 60 +

Other
4 % Prefer not
to disclose 5 %

AGE RANGE
GENDER GENDER

Under 30 3 %
4 %
4 %

30-40
MALE
26 %
MALE

40-50
FEMALE

PREFER NOT
38 5834
%
% % FEMALE

PREFER NOT
38 58 %
%

TO50-60
DISCLOSE 23 % TO DISCLOSE

60 +
8 %

Prefer not
to disclose 5 %

49
 CMO/CBDO 34 %

METHODOLOGY 4 Communications Director %

7 Marketing Director
%

DEMOGRAPHICS 8 BizDev Director %

4 Marketing / %

LAW FIRM CMOs/MARKETERS

Communications Manager

4 Other
%

WHAT IS YOUR TITLE? HOW MANY ATTORNEYS DOES YOUR LAW FIRM EMPLOY?

Chief Marketing Officer /

Chief Business
34 % Fewer than 50 5
%

Development Officer
Director of Communications 12 % 50 100 6 %

Marketing Director
17 % 101 150 12 %

Business Development
Director 6 %
151 250
18 %

Marketing / Communications
Manager 23 % 251 500 23 %

Other 8 %
501 1,000 25 %

More than 1,000 11 %

50
 METHODOLOGY

WHERE IS YOUR FIRM

HEADQUARTERED? AGE RANGE

Northeast 30 %
Under 30 5 %

Midwest 23 %
30-39 22 %

South 12 %
40-49 40 %

West
13 % 50-59 24 %

We are a national firm with

no specified headquarters 6 % 60 +
1%

We are an international firm

with no specified headquarters 14 % Prefer not
to disclose 8 %

Our headquarters
are not in the U.S. 1
%

WHAT WERE THE FY 2014

REVENUES OF YOUR FIRM? GENDER

Less than $100 million 19 %

MALE FEMALE PREFER NOT
TO DISCLOSE
$101 million to $200 million 22 %

$201 million to $400 million

23 % 7 %

$401 million to $600 million

9 %
24 %

$601 million to $800 million

8%
69 %

$801 million to $1 billion 8%

$1 billion or more 11 %

51
About

About Greentarget
Greentarget is a strategic communications firm
focused exclusively on the communications
needs of highly competitive business-to-business
organizations. We counsel those who counsel
the worlds leading businesses and direct the
conversation among their most important
audiences to help deepen the relationships that
impact the long-term value of their organizations.

About Zeughauser Group

Zeughauser Group is the firm of choice for legal
industry leaders seeking to increase competitive
advantage and profitability, enhance market
position, and strengthen organizational culture.

52