I joined LISI in the fall of 2019 and immediately set to work crafting an ambitious and exciting marketing plan for 2020.

And we all know the marketing gods started laughing at me in February.

By March, all our plans were turned completely on their head.

By April, we were well into pivoting to other ways to execute our marketing.

Over the summer, we settled into our new status quo.

And in December? In December, I reflected on all the things that 2020 was not – and how we are better for it. This is what I have learned.

Growth

I am nothing if not ambitious. And in 2019, I planned for nothing less than ambitious growth in 2020. Because that is how I roll.

Undaunted by what transpired last spring, our LISI team figured out new ways to achieve great things in marketing with what we had available to us.

Our team pitched in and went the extra mile. In 2020, we were able to:

• launch 11 websites;
• expand our service capabilities from a focus on websites and SEM to include content strategy and development, outsourced legal marketing services, reputation management, CRM and marketing automation implementation, and LinkedIn optimization;
• grow our team by 50%. To support our expanded services, we brought on experienced law firm professionals to deepen our bench in the areas of legal writing, social media, design, CRM management, client success, and marketing strategy.

2020 pushed us to step outside our comfort zones and approach our work from a different perspective. We know that growth does not happen when we are comfortable and 2020 forced us to push ourselves to obtain unprecedented growth for Team LISI.

Project Management

You cannot manage what you cannot measure. Like a lot of companies, we were so busy with the day-to-day delivery of projects for our clients that we never made time to thoroughly organize our processes and track our progress. That changed this year. We implemented a tool to better manage project timelines and deliverables of our website projects. Our team did some major work restructuring our time tracking tool, instituted and documented new processes, and created multiple project templates for the services we provide.

Implementing these changes keeps us organized, efficient, and on track. Once we spent the time upfront to implement these systems, we found that it saved us time, allowed us to make more informed decisions, and maintain our highest-quality standards during a period of dynamic growth.

Better Together

I have spent my career working in legal marketing, and I have worked with a lot of different people. The team at LISI is by far the best group of people I have had the privilege of working with.

Working during a global pandemic (and virtual learning!) can be stressful. Growing your team by 50% can be stressful. Being fully remote can be stressful. But our team got through it, together. This team gives every project they undertake their all. This team supports everything we are aiming to accomplish. This team prioritizes working hard, having fun, lifting each other up – and doing it all with a sense of balance about what really matters.

The work we produce is better. The ideas we have are more creative. What we can accomplish exceeds my expectations. It is not an exaggeration to say we produced some of the best work of our careers in 2020.

Separately, our team consists of legal marketing professionals who are good at what they do. But together, we deliver a product to our clients that is better than any one of us. This year would not have been nearly as successful if not for this team. I love what I do here because of this team.

Moving On

2020 is almost behind us. I do not think I can say goodbye and good riddance fast enough.

But 2020 saw unprecedented growth for LISI in many ways. And we are just getting started.

We have ambitious plans for 2021. And we won’t let a global pandemic stand in our way.

• Our team is working on the redevelopment of the LISI website, which will launch in 2021. Our roots run deep in website development and we are excited to work through the process as our own client.
• We will expand our current organizational structure with a focus on three main areas: client service, client experience, and client strategy. This builds upon the expansion of our service offerings in 2020. This will allow us to grow our business while serving our clients more efficiently and effectively.
• Leveraging the project management tools we implemented this year so we can make data-driven decisions about our business in 2021 is a priority for us. I am a data nerd, so this excites me. By focusing on project management and the data it produces, we are capable of sustaining the growth toward which we are working.

In so many ways, 2020 was the year that wasn’t – wasn’t what I wanted, wasn’t what I expected, and wasn’t easy. Turns out, I am stronger than that, though. Team LISI is stronger than that. And in 2021, we will be better for it. Better together.