DMH Stallard Case Study
Challenge:
DMH Stallard is a modern law firm, providing a range of legal, planning and business services to individuals and organisations. Challenge The company was known as DMH and had ambitious plans for growth when K+R started the PR programme. In line with the firm’s strategy to become a national rather than a regional player in the industry, its main objectives were to raise the profile of the firm and its managing director, Tim Aspinall. The company was, at the time, also looking to attract potential merger candidates, preferably in London, and key areas for growth were focused on the areas of the company’s specialities; IT+ copyright, employment and the public sector.
Strategy:
As budgets were fairly small, a very targeted approach was taken by K+R, largely concentrating on media relations activity. The agency identified the firms’ main audiences as being legal trade press, legal correspondents on national newspapers, business correspondents on regional press and also vertical sector press in areas of their specialities. This approach would enable the company to raise its profile and support key spokespeople within the firm to communicate their areas of expertise and thus grow their client base.
Tactics:
Various different media activities were undertaken which included setting up a series of one-to-one interviews for the MD and key spokespeople and ‘Ghost-writing’ and placement of features giving ‘expert legal advice’. A press office function was also established to create news releases on company news, react to media enquiries and produce a press briefing kit which could be sent to key journalists. Other avenues to achieve media coverage were also explored and K+R constantly monitored the media and responded to opportunities to comment on topical issues. A further tactic taken was to identify relevant speaker opportunities where a key spokesperson from the firm would speak on a current legal issue affecting their clients’ industries.
Results:
DMH’s managing director was named in The Lawyer’s Hot 100 ‘Today’s Leaders, tomorrow’s legends’ for the first time
One-to-one journalist interviews were set up with The Times and the Daily Express, Personnel Today, Microscope, the Lawyer and the Law Society Gazette
In January 2005, a London-based firm, Stallard Solicitors merged with DMH creating a full service law firm which is now known as DMH Stallard
Media coverage on the merger alone reached a circulation of over a quarter of a million
Other results included:
- Regular coverage in core trade and vertical sector press
- Placement of features in: PLC Director on Data Protection ;Property Week on Off Plan Developments; Local Government News on Freedom of Information; and a company profile in The Lawyer
- Speaker opportunities were generated for: CIH Southern Housing Management Conferenceand the Housing Sector Repairs + Maintenance Conference
