Why You Can’t Just Phone In Your Career Path
When I first started my career in legal marketing, I didn’t realize there were different specializations within the field. I thought legal marketing was legal marketing. But as I began to grow and learn more in my industry, I realized that there are several different varieties of legal marketing and different audiences for each type of market.
For example, a legal marketer could focus on Business to Consumer (B2C) clients , or they might focus on Business to Business (B2B) clients. The strategy employed by each type of marketer is quite different. Similarly, the area a legal marketer may specialize in can be very different. Knowing these differences allows a savvy legal marketer to specialize their skills. For example, a seasoned marketer may specialize in any of the following areas:
- Business Development
- Marketing Technology
- Events
- Communications Strategists
- Client Services
- Management / Leadership
So, why does any of this matter? Well, when I first kick off the conversation of branding with many of my clients I find that many of them fall into one of two buckets: (1) they have fallen into their current roles and have self-branded themselves by default (even though it may not be their true passion) or (2) they haven’t yet decided how they want to be seen in their industry and have taken on a “generalist” brand and path. Being a generalist is fine when you’re learning the ropes of your industry, but as you progress and move up the ladder it’s expected that you will either pursue a managerial path or a specialist path.
The Good & Bad of Falling Into a Default Brand
If you’ve fallen into a default brand this may not be the worst thing, but what if it’s a brand you’re not passionate about? Now all your work and experience has, by default, aligned itself to certain messaging about you. It can be difficult to change the messaging around yourself and what you have to offer to your current and future employer.
For example: Danielle has worked as a Business Development Manager for four years in a law firm. She now realizes that her true passion is Marketing Technology. Her resume, LinkedIn profile, and all her speaking and publications throughout her career have focused on business development. She now needs to re-brand and re-think how she is going to leverage her existing skills and experience into something that will appeal to a Marketing Technology audience. She’s never rolled out a client relationship management system (CRM), launched a website, or worked on an Experience Database, yet these are the things she wants to work on very badly.
What should Daniella do? To re-brand, Danielle may have to take a lower-level Marketing Technology position to get the experience she needs or volunteer to serve on a committee within her organization to get exposure to more Marketing Technology work. On a positive note, she at least has the clout and experience to position herself to be a volunteer, it just means she may need to work extra hard to re-brand.
The Good & Bad of Becoming a Generalist
Let’s say you’ve fallen into the generalist brand. You’re quite comfortable where you are and you’re not really sure what the big deal is. Well, as comfortable as this position may be, you’re building yourself a beautiful velvet coffin. Generally speaking, generalists aren’t usually the ones getting the opportunities to lead, specialists and managers are. Why is this? Because leaders have in-depth knowledge of a particular area and have honed their skills and brand to match their leadership or specialist path. While you, on the other hand, have done a really good job of becoming a Jack/Jill of all trades and a master of none.
How can you fix this? Well, the short answer is to start specializing. Start taking on work that pushes you outside your comfort zone and forces you to go deeper into an area. If you are in legal marketing like me, perhaps you volunteer to lead the Business Development Bootcamp for your incoming Associate Attorneys, or you push your boss to let you lead the Client Feedback Program your firm is initiating. Whatever the action is, be sure you’re building your skill sets and experience deeply into something that is challenging and has a huge impact on the success of the firm. You’ll feel great for what you accomplish and you’ll be positioning yourself for more than just a generalist salary and role in the future.
Too many people i meet fall in to the wrong career and don’t know how to escape it. Take my free quiz to determine if it’s time for a much needed job change.
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Hi, I’m Jessica
As an internationally recognized legal marketer and law firm executive, Jessica has spent her career helping attorneys pitch their services and their resumes to some of the largest global companies and CEOs in the world. Her specialty: Helping smart professionals be unforgettably hire-able. Whether you are seeking your first job or a career change, Jessica empowers you step-by-step. Execute simple, yet practical and actionable tasks to get your resume past the stack and into the hands of your next manager.
