Last week, in two separate meetings to discuss law firm marketing I met with very successful trial lawyers who attributed a portion of their success to their schooling and experience in secondary education. One of these attorneys had studied secondary education as an undergraduate but never taught in a classroom; the second attorney taught high school for several years prior to attending law school. Both saw similarities between knowing how to communicate ideas simply and clearly in a classroom and communicating those ideas to juries, which led to courtroom success.
What these attorneys hadn’t considered is the fact that this same skill set can be a tremendous asset in their own marketing and business development. Without realizing it, they have a true marketing advantage because they know how people learn and assimilate information. Putting this knowledge to work for their business development has the potential to put them several steps ahead of other colleagues who may not have this understanding.
In fact, I’ve always been struck by the number of successful marketers who were formerly teachers. These marketers have developed very successful careers as marketing strategists and implementers. My guess is that their teaching experience taught them what’s needed to tailor and unambiguously communicate their marketing and public relations messages to a specific target market – from kindergartener to adult, no matter what the product or service.