Kojo Mattah, National Vice President of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG), has called for collaboration between legal practitioners and marketers in order to fully exploit opportunities in their chosen fields.
Making the appeal at a public lecture recently organized by his outfit in Accra dubbed: ?A Tale of Two Passions: Marketing and the Law,? he said there were only three general professions ? law, marketing and accounting ? that cut across every industry. However, these can be revised to law and marketing.
Mr. Mattah said CIMG organizes Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programmes for members and non-members to dialogue and give corporate institutions the ability to acquire and apply knowledge that could raise their image.
Ace Ankomah, Managing Partner, Bentsil-Enchill, Letsa & Ankomah, in a presentation, said marketing and the law must merge to mutually exploit ?certain areas.?
He noted that in the legal service, lawyers cannot advertise themselves in newspapers or on any public platform to seek clients while marketers too cannot operate beyond certain jurisdictions as prescribed by the country?s laws.
?The lawyer should therefore seek the services of marketers and vice versa to complement each other.?
Mr Ankomah revealed that in the US, for example, where massive law firms have been established, the services of marketers are indisposable.
However, he said in Ghana, though the legal profession forbids practitioners from directly creating awareness on their services, some defy the directive under Rule 2 of Advertising Touting & Publicity and advertise themselves.
Mr. Ankomah stated that the legal industry could employ marketers who have the expert knowledge and strategies to source for clients into their firms through referrals, networking, word-of-mouth, relationships, internet and publication, internal marketing and reputation particularly in cases of litigation.
He further highlighted relevant categories on a firm?s marketing strategy such as process, programme goals and focus on clients? need which he said must not be underestimated.
Additionally, he said accountants, marketers and lawyers get 70 percent of the invitations-to-pitch for new business, manage and grow large accounts as a proven strategy, adding that ?client relationship must be nurtured and managed.?
He criticized marketers who assume they have expertise to handle legal issues in their operations, adding that marketers should rather tackle relevant areas where they have been known to excel.
?By Abubakari S. Ajarfor
