Confident campaigns, thought leadership and project management

June 25, 2026|Kim's Blog, Lawyers, Marketing|

At the recent PM Forum online workshop on “Campaigns, Thought Leadership and Project Management” almost half of the delegates were at manager level and the remainder were executives. Some were in general marketing and business development (MBD) roles whilst others held specialist communication positions. Some were focused on sectors including: real estate, private client, financial institutions and construction. The majority of delegates were from law firms. Key themes emerging included confidence, integration and internal communication. Confident campaigns, thought leadership and project management – integration and internal communication.

Campaign management themes: confidence, integration and internal communication

At the outset and from conversations throughout the workshop, the following themes emerged

Desire for MBD professionals to be more confident in promoting a strategic campaign approach – this includes educating fee-earners on the benefits of adopting a campaign approach
The importance of sustained internal communication to achieve engagement at the planning stage and throughout the life of a campaign
Ensure campaigns are integrated throughout the communications, marketing and business development phases and underpinned with great project management. And follow the client journey and the buying process – from awareness, to engagement and onto conversion

Campaign highs and lows

Throughout the workshop, delegates joined break-out groups to discuss their shared experiences. These were the main takeaways.

Different types of campaigns:

Brand
Digital marketing
Thought leadership
PR
Events

Benefits of campaigns:

Targeted
Aligned messaging
Structured
Can measure results
Not just marketing noise/“random acts of marketing”
See Why fee-earners should let marketing help develop campaigns

Main challenges with campaigns:

Lack of buy-in from sector leads to focus
Lack of stakeholder buy-in
Everyone has a campaign idea
Lack of resource/budget
Not enough skills and knowledge within the team
Cost of hiring external agencies
Understanding the value of MBD
Getting the right information out of fee-earners
Time!

Campaign weaknesses:

Fee-earner time constraints
The need for various sign-offs
Factoring in time to follow up
Reporting back progress (need for fee-earners report back their conversations)
Getting content into the right format and onto the right channels

Campaign strengths:

Setting a benchmark for a good campaign
Collaboration with broader team efforts
We have good content
We have a dedicated research/insights team to do the research
Campaigns are aligned on messaging so we don’t cross over contact

How could we improve campaigns?

Be more confident in educating fee-earners on the value of adopting a campaign approach
Have faith to propose bold ideas with a “wow” factor
Be more assertive (politely) in applying a structured approach to campaigns and projects
Use internal communication to impact the voice and message – people need to be talking about it
Bring in the right people at the right time
Plan the business development activities to follow on from the communications campaigns
Use internal communication to generate more interest, enthusiasm and action in campaigns

When considering the success criteria of campaigns one delegate observed: “If objectives are not clear then targeting (markets), planning, execution and effectiveness will suffer”. Another commented that different fee earners have different expectations of what good looks like so defining the objective is key. Another delegate stressed the importance of being flexible and adaptable to accommodate market changes as a campaign is planned and rolled out.

“It’s about delivering something that has value and impact. Also not having a preconceived idea and always coming back to what the audience wants to hear rather than what we want to say”.

On project management, the delegates in breakout groups agreed:

Human resources are the biggest challenge. Securing time from fee earners is difficult
Secure the support of a senior fee-earner as champion
Plan around industry events and have with clear data to support buy in
Use GANTT charts
Improve the quality of internal communication that supports fee-earner needs
Participate in fee-earner catch-ups, adapting our schedule to their schedule
Organise lunchtime spotlight sessions around campaigns – to inform fee-earners and align teams
Continue to communicate internally in the latter stages of campaign, rather than the planning and implementation phases only
Have regular team catch-ups to maintain collaboration and momentum on projects
There is a need for better tools within the firm and greater alignment on processes
Utilise the resources we already have and make the most of them (tools such as Monday.com or Asana are beneficial)
Give fee-earners confidence in what the campaigns are about so they feel able to speak about them
Conduct more thorough resource planning – and break down activities into tasks and bitesize pieces

Please remember that there are various digital marketing workshops from PM Forum to assist with the technological aspects of planning, developing and measuring campaigns: PM Forum – PM Forum

Delegate feedback

Delegate aims and objectives for the workshop

Develop into a more senior role of managing campaigns
Improve campaign performance
Help to shape strategic campaigns and support the team with successful delivery
Gain confidence running campaigns end to end as opposed to running elements
Bring ideas/structure/direction to existing campaigns/thought leadership
Have moved into a more senior role with managing campaigns
Would like to learn how to bring wider aspects of marketing together in a campaign
Be able to confidently plan and articulate campaigns for practice groups and ensure that I’m effectively managing these campaigns
Learn any new tips / guides for co-ordinating, delivering and managing campaigns effectively (particularly for reporting)
Relatively new to my role so very much want to learn more about campaign management
Gain wider campaign knowledge and confidence to help with role progression
Gain confidence in taking full ownership of campaigns
Lead more strategic campaigns
Strengthen campaign planning
Part of my role involves creating and coordinating campaigns, so I would like to build my confidence and develop a clearer method to make them easier to coordinate

Delegate takeaways from the workshop

At the end of the workshop, delegates were invited to share their biggest takeaways. I’ve attempted to group them on similar themes

Objectives and strategy
- Align objectives before proceeding
- Move from a “doing” marketing role into a genuinely strategic one
- Campaigns need clear objectives, stakeholder alignment and project management and to be followed through, measured and improved, not just delivered
- Importance of stepping back to see the bigger picture when you’re planning your campaign
- Determine what success looks like for the campaign right from the start

Fee-earner engagement and internal communication
- Look at ways to get fee-earner buy in
- Importance of internal engagement throughout the campaign
- Focus on internal comms and internal buy-in (not just lawyers, BD teams etc too)
- Importance of communicating to fee-earners what you want them to talk about and giving them enough resources to be able to do so
- Campaigns need to provide fee-earners with valuable things to talk about
- Importance of buy-in
- Use lunchtime drop-in sessions/ fee-earner sponsors to champion campaigns among their peers and increase internal engagement
- Internal engagement and building confidence with internal stakeholders is very important. We should clearly communicate what each campaign is about and at what stage it is at

Planning and project management
- Use research to gather insights and shape campaigns focused on the client’s wants and needs
- Spend more time in getting the planning right – resources, what the audience wants and the wow factor
- Review professional project management tools
- Tools we can use for project management
- Importance of discipline/execution/follow through
- Importance of collaboration
- Use a GANTT chart for project planning and forecasting activity

Other
- Empower the team to think big
- Will review the case studies in detail!
- Read Tim Prizeman’s book Thought leadership manual by Tim Prizeman
- It’s nice to know a lot of other teams are dealing with similar challenges!

One delegate summed things up with clarity “Adopt a strategic, insight-led approach to campaigns that are underpinned by strong client understanding and integrated thought leadership – moving away from reactive activity to delivering sustained and measurable impact”

Delegate poll results

Delegates like to benchmark their views against their peers. It’s also interesting to compare the results against those in previous sessions:

What is your MAIN role?

42% Marketing
17% Business development
17% Campaign management
8% PR/Communications
8% Events
8% Something different (overseeing all of the above)

How confident are you about developing and implementing campaigns? (1=low, 10=high)

Which aspect of the session is of most interest?

0% Context – Strategy and marketing/BD
15% Campaigns – benefits and developing communications campaigns
15% Thought leadership campaigns
15% See examples of best practice and share with peers
8% Overcoming barriers, implementation and project management
46% Everything – I am a sponge today!

What’s the MAIN focus for your campaigns?

43% Service line
29% Sector
21% Whole firm
0% Particular territory/office
0% Key clients/ABM
0% Campaigns to promote events/newsletters
7% Something else

Where are you weakest in campaigns?

36% Objectives
36% Clarity on markets and services
7% Planning and execution
21% Effectiveness

Having seen the definition of thought leadership, do you think your campaigns are mostly:

57% Communications campaigns
21% Thought leadership campaigns
21% Something else (e.g. events)

Are your campaigns integrated with your sales/relationship management plans?

0% Yes – really well
93% Yes – but we could do better
7% No integration

Which research methods have you used? (multiple choice)

71% Roundtables and panels
57% Collaboration with a third party
50% Email surveys
43% Industry or sector benchmarks
43% Case studies
36% Face-to-face interviews
21% Delphi method (expert panel)
21% Telephone surveys
7% Monthly or quarterly polls

For guidance on research methods, see client feedback playbook – How professional services firms (January 2026)

During campaigns you collaborate with (multiple choice)

64% Trade, business and professional associations
57% Referrers
57% Media organisations
57% (International) network
50% Existing clients
43% Key clients
0% Educational establishments

Which objectives are there in your campaigns (multiple choice)

79% Social media engagement
79% Web site visits
57% Strategic positioning/market share
57% Number of new clients (conversion)
43% Number of enquiries
43% Reputation, awards and league tables
43% Revenue/fees/profits
36% Meetings generated
36% Return on investment (ROI)
21% Internal engagement/amplification

Which tools do you use for campaign/project management (multiple choice)

43% Team project management tools
43% AI enabled tools
36% Mailing list/specialist software/apps
29% Task breakdowns and network diagrams
29% Resource/budget planning
29% Project management methodology/software
21% GANTT and RACI charts
7% Agile

Project and team management systems used:

Asana Manage your team’s work, projects, & tasks online • Asana
Excel Four tips to track projects in Excel | Learn at Microsoft Create (and RACI template)
Microsoft Planner Microsoft Planner | Daily Task and Work Management
Monday com | Your go-to work platform
Motion Motion | Meet Motion Calendar. Try it for Free (usemotion.com)Smartsheet The enterprise work management platform (smartsheet.com)
Teams Create buckets to sort your tasks – Microsoft Support
Trello Manage Your Team’s Projects From Anywhere | Trello

View of biggest problem with campaigns now?

21% Unclear or unrealistic aims/expectations
21% Scope creep
21% Integration with other aims/projects/campaigns
14% Lack of M&BD time/resource
7% Culture (politics, lack of rewards)
7% Lack of fee-earner engagement
7% Poor internal communications/silo mentality
0% Project management processes/systems
0% Lack of senior support

Professional services thought leadership and campaigns case studies

Marketing case studies: Sponsorship, brand campaigns June 2026

Business Development (MBD) property firm case studies December 2025

Marketing and Business Development (MBD) law firm case studies November 2025

Marketing and Business Development (MBD) accountancy firm case studies November 2025

Strategic marketing case study – Brand at Mishcon de Reya November 2025

Strategic analysis – PWC’s UK Legal Services Market Report 2025 September 2025

Marketing case studies – Digital thought leadership campaigns February 2025

Marketing and BD case studies in legal, accountancy, consultancy April 2024

Law firm media relations and integrated campaigns (Kysen) December 2023

Case studies: Marketing and Business Development at law November 2023

Professional services marketing/BD case studies August 2023

Being more strategic – Case studies and insights (Ireland May 2023) June 2023

Major survey of investors and developers reveals growth opportunities in evolving industrial real estate market | Forsters LLP | Leading Mayfair law firm May 2023 (with FTI)

Strategy case studies and more matrices February 2023

2023 financial benchmarks for law firms (kimtasso.com) April 2023 (Hazelwoods and Crowe)

The Drum | How Addleshaw Goddard Increased Brand Awareness By Combining Poetry And Law December 2022

Thought leadership campaigns: Arcadia, JLL and Remit (kimtasso.com) December 2022

Legal marketing case study – Thought leadership campaigns (kimtasso.com) November 2022 (Howard Kennedy)

World Shaping Wealth: the impact of affluence on the next economy (taylorwessing.com) May 2022

Law firm thought leadership update (kimtasso.com) June 2021 Davitt Jones Boult, Howard Kennedy, DLA Piper, Moreton Fraser, Stephens Scown, Passle legal thought leadership league table

Professional Services Thought leadership update – (kimtasso.com) November 2020 FTI, Bidwells, Grist, FieldFisher

Accountancy marketing case study – MHA (kimtasso.com) June 2018