Kevin O’Keefe of legal blog network LexBlog has a few interesting things to say about Martindale…
Unsurprisingly we concur.
He writes:
Martindale-Hubbell doesn’t get it
Martindale-Hubbell, dealing with a crisis to a core element of their product offerings (lawyer ratings), showed the legal industry they are ill equipped to participate in social media.
Martindale-Hubbell did respond to Internet discussion (blogs and twitter) that the company may be eliminating its long standing lawyer ratings. Despite laying off all of the commpany’s ratings specialists, Martindale says it has Big Plans for Martindale-Hubbell Ratings.
Problem is that Martindale-Hubbell responded with a blog post that is little more than marketing spin and refused to participate in Internet discussions with its customers. From the language in a National Law Journal article reporting on the subject, Martindale issued the same response as a ‘written statement’ to the media.
Look at some of the language in the Martindale blog post. Could you imagine someone who understood blogging and social media using puffery like this?
- Industry’s most complete, objective and reliable ratings.
- Broad and ongoing transformation of [company] offerings.
- We are very excited about this new, robust ratings…
- [I]nformation only Martindale-Hubbell is uniquely equipped to provide.
- [M]oved to a team support structure for more effective and efficient ratings services to clients.
- To provide even more focus, we will name a new VP/ Product Champion of Ratings…
- We are adding a product marketing team for a more consistent flow of information and wider communication and we have expanded the current responsibilities of our inside Ratings Support team.
- [R]est assured we are still committed to our rich ratings tradition…
- [W]e still consider our ratings to be the gold standard in the industry…
- We’ve got big plans for Martindale-Hubbell Ratings – stay tuned.
And then for Martindale to say:
…[W]e continue to communicate with clients about all of the changes at Martindale-Hubbell, and as recently as last week we communicated our new ratings support strategy.
Doesn’t look like Martindale communicated news of the changes to Heather Milligan, director of marketing at Los Angeles-based Barger & Wolen, whose blog post first reported the lawyer ratings specialists layoffs. Milligan received an email directly from one of the fired ratings specialists, a group she described for the National Law Journal as ‘long-term lifers with Martindale-Hubbell.’
Read the full article at
http://kevin.lexblog.com/2008/12/articles/law-firm-marketing/martindalehubbell-doesnt-get-it/
