Cranking up your content marketing:

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What GCs want.

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“Firms need to stop thinking about GCs and CLOs as lawyers and instead approach us as legally-minded business owners -

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but many just aren’t there yet.”

Chief Legal Officer at a leading US Cloud Services Firm

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How can firms approach GCs & CLOs as legally-minded business owners?

SAM PAGE

MARKETING DIRECTOR, PASSLE

GENERAL COUNSEL SURVEY 2023

How General Counsel for the world's largest businesses engage with thought leadership.

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How can firms approach GCs & CLOs as legally-minded business owners?

100 GCs AT LARGE FIRMS

Breakdown of respondents by business revenue

50:50 SPLIT BETWEEN UK & US

Breakdown of responding GCs by region

Breakdown of responding GCs by industry

ABOUT THE RESEARCH

THANKS TO OUR RESEARCH PARTNER

THANKS ALSO

PHIL McGOWAN

GLOBAL DIRECTOR, CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS

HOW & WHY GCs CONSUME CONTENT

GCs TYPICALLY SPEND

MORE THAN 8 HOURS PER WEEK

CONSUMING CONTENT

How many hours per week do you spend staying up-to-date with industry news and developments

ENGAGEMENT HAPPENS ON THEIR TIME

Typically, when do you keep yourself updated with

current developments in the Legal sector

(% of respondents that indicated each answer, multiple answers allowed)

WHY ARE GCs

CONSUMING CONTENT?

What is the top reason you review content relating to news and developments in the legal industry

HOW & WHY GCs CONSUME CONTENT

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• They spend typically more than 8h per week reading content

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• Content is consumed on their own time, often at the weekend

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• GCs have many different motivations for reading content

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How can firms approach GCs & CLOs

as legally-minded business owners?

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• Engage your audience regularly, on their terms

SINGLE-FORMAT CONTENT EXCLUDES MORE THAN 80% OF THE MARKET

"Which content format do you use most often to stay up-to-date on industry developments and best practice"

QUALITIES OF GOOD CONTENT

% of respondents that rank each quality either "important" or "very important" when it comes to thought leadership

69% OF GCs PREFER INSIGHT AND OPINION OVER INDUSTRY SUMMARY

"I'd prefer my law firm to give me their own insights on industry developments rather than summarise general industry thinking"

95% OF GENERAL COUNSEL

ASSESS A SUPPLIER'S WEBSITE DURING SELECTION

"When you last engaged a legal supplier, which of these best described your assessment of their website?"

KEEP WEB CONTENT FRESH

"How frequently do you review the websites of your legal services suppliers?

CONTENT BEST PRACTICE

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• Content should be published in multiple formats

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• Content should be well-sourced, expert-written, actionable, relevant and timely

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• Include your insight & opinion

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• Web content should be prominent and regularly updated

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How can firms approach GCs & CLOs

as legally-minded business owners?

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• Engage your audience regularly, on their terms
• Deliver helpful, fresh, multi format content

CONTENT IS SEEN AS A SUPPLIER'S RESPONSIBILITY

40%

Consider it a significant element of supplier responsibility

40%

Consider it a reasonable element of supplier responsibility

20%

Consider it a minor element of supplier responsibility

To what extent, if at all, do you feel your supplier law firms have a responsibility to keep you appropriately informed about news and developments in the Legal sector?

THERE IS OPPORTUNITY IN KEEPING THE MARKET BETTER INFORMED

Only 1 in 12 GCs surveyed thought law firms worked hard enough to keep the market informed with relevant, timely, website content

61% OF GENERAL COUNSEL

PREFER FIRMS THAT DEMONSTRATE SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTISE

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Our firm would prefer to work with a supplier that demonstrated relevant subject matter expertise

48% OF GENERAL COUNSEL WILL ONLY WORK WITH FIRMS THAT DEMONSTRATE SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTISE

Our firm would not hire a legal supplier unless they were demonstrating subject matter expertise

64% OF UK GCs WOULD SEEK OUT A LAWYER BY NAME IF THEY READ THEIR CONTENT

64% OF UK GCs WOULD SEEK OUT A LAWYER THAT WROTE CONTENT

I am more likely to ask to speak to a lawyer by name if I've read relevant articles by them

IMPLICATIONS FOR FIRMS

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• Content is seen as a supplier's responsibility

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• Clients prefer and often require that suppliers are seen to be subject matter experts

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• Content attributed directly to lawyers gives that lawyer an advantage in winning work

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How can firms approach GCs & CLOs

as legally-minded business owners?

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• Engage your audience regularly, on their terms
• Deliver helpful, fresh, multi format content
• Show your firm the importance of content

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How can firms approach GCs & CLOs as legally-minded business owners?

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How can firms approach GCs & CLOs

as legally-minded business owners?

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• Engage your audience regularly, on their terms

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How can firms approach GCs & CLOs

as legally-minded business owners?

​

​

• Engage your audience regularly, on their terms
• Deliver helpful, fresh, multi format content

​

How can firms approach GCs & CLOs

as legally-minded business owners?

​

​

• Engage your audience regularly, on their terms
• Deliver helpful, fresh, multi format content
• Show your firm the importance of content

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“As a major global business, I engage law firms in many countries...

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...it would be helpful if they were able to proactively share updates that were timely and relevant to me, and that would certainly be

something that would make them stand out.”

President, Legal at a $70bn Global Petrochemical Corporation

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How can firms approach GCs & CLOs as legally-minded business owners?

SAM PAGE

MARKETING DIRECTOR, PASSLE

GET THE FULL RESEARCH

General Counsel Survey 2023

GET THE SLIDES

Q&A