If you’ve been around in the Saltmarsh Marketing world for a while, you’ll know that I talk a lot about knowing who you are and who you serve. Positioning yourself to stand out in an incredibly noisy online world means being clear and confident about your brand. How are you different from others in the same space? What are your unique strengths and values? What do you want to be known for, on a personal and professional level?
Because I like to walk the talk, this blog will shine a light on why I don’t position Saltmarsh Marketing a traditional marketing agency.
Turning twenty years of legal marketing experience into uniqueness
In over two decades there are a number of things I’ve learnt that helped bring me to the conclusion that Saltmarsh Marketing needed to be a collaborative squad of specialists who know how to get things done.
The inner workings of creative agencies or how marketing freelancers work remain a mystery to a lot of lawyers and legal folk. There is so much variation in pricing, team set up, hierarchies and how work gets delivered. Having worked with every possible type of freelancer and marketing or creative agency over the years, I knew what would make me and my clients in legal happy. And that was creating a lean, mean marketing team of senior marketing experts – all focused on delivering results, without the overheads.
This really is all about positioning – because there are some brilliant specialist legal marketing agencies out there, doing a brilliant job, who I consider to be awesome friends and peers. Like me, they know who they want to help and how they can do it best. There is space in this industry for every uniquely different legal marketing business.
I’ve also learnt that generalist marketing service providers – be it freelancers or agencies – usually have a surface level understanding of law and the legal sector. No matter how experienced and expert they are at marketing. While a fresh pair of eyes may be a breath of fresh air, the legal sector has a unique set of challenges and restrictions when it comes to marketing. I made it my mission from the start to create a squad that boasts both a deep understanding of the context, nuances, and future – of both marketing and legal.
We’re a team of senior individuals all doing what we do best – drawing on our own unique strand of experience and specialism. Having worked with traditional marketing and creative agencies regularly over the years, I know the importance of a place where you can be confident you’re getting work that isn’t being passed down through a hierarchy, with meaning and messages at risk of being lost along the way.
Marketing is about long-term growth
Marketing isn’t fluffy; it’s a long-term commitment to cutting through the noise and focusing on driving ROI in the most efficient way possible. It’s about growth and collaboration. That’s why Saltmarsh Marketing is less a legal marketing agency and more a growth partner.
Short term tactics sure have their place in a marketing strategy; campaigns can drive fast-paced growth especially when they’re based around a specific theme or objective. But growth needs a long-term strategy focused on committed consistency, regular research, executing, testing, learning and optimising. Then repeating! This takes long-term commitment and definitely doesn’t happen overnight.
We’re flipping everything on its head
We lead by example when it comes to positioning and client targeting. We don’t work with everyone – we work with the brave, the bold, the entrepreneurial. Those who are ready to zig where others zag, eager to be playful with creativity while respecting the boundaries of legal marketing.
Walking the talk is a big value of ours. In motivating our clients to be disruptive and playful, we lead from the front. Our own marketing strategy relies just as much on transparency, vulnerability and the power of personal brand as it does on sharing our knowledge and insights.
We educate our own clients on the importance of knowing and communicating their values and what we care for. Us? We care about people – our team, our clients, our community. We value flexibility and that’s how we work as a team with each other, and with our clients. As someone who created my own business as an evolution of leaving the employed workforce after having my children, one of whom has special educational needs – diversity, inclusion and accessibility is the cornerstone of what we believe in.
We’re following the way the world is going; we work remotely, collaborating smartly as a squad of self-employed specialists. We’ve always got one eye on the future, keeping up-to-date on all things tech and innovation in the world of marketing andlegal.
You’ve heard about Alternative Legal Services Providers or ALSPs. So true to our spirit of disruption, we like to think of Saltmarsh Marketing as an ALMSP (Alternative Legal Marketing Services Provider.)
But most of all – we’re a squad.
Meet the Saltmarsh Squad
So let me introduce you to the squad; some of whom you might deal with directly, some of whom you can be confident are keeping this well-oiled marketing machine running smoothly.
Helen Tayloris the organisational force behind the team at Saltmarsh Marketing, keeping everything running smoothly so we can stay focused on delivering for you.
Sam Platten brings creativity to Saltmarsh clients with personality-laden social posts to website copy and slick graphic design. Sam’s got the creative ideas that make your legal business shine.
Yvette Askeris a web dev wizard who creates user-friendly websites that don’t just look great—they convert. Her passion is making sure your online presence stands out in all the right ways.
Frank Stebbing is a branding powerhouse, helping growth-including legal services transform their image and strategy. He’s the guy who helps you stand out in a sea of sameness — and he’s got the track record to prove it.
And of course there is HelenSquared – a joint venture with Helen Foord that brings together more than 40 years combined legal marketing experience to give you two Helens for the price of one.
There’s no one way to do this legal marketing thang
If there’s one takeaway I’d love to leave you with, it’s that there is no one way to build a marketing function. A full in-house marketing department might be your answer. Working with a traditional marketing agency might be what your business needs.
But if you want a bold brand and marketing strategy that stands out – and you’re ready to bravely do things differently … The Saltmarsh Marketing Squad might just be the team you need in 2025.