Publicity Contracts: Building Alignment with Legal and Marketing/PR

Have you ever braced for impact at the thought of your latest marketing/PR masterpiece undergoing the legal team's scrutiny?

Creativity clashes with caution, and for marketing and legal teams this means there are often challenges to collaboration. The creative flow of marketing efforts frequently encounters resistance from legal's focus on compliance and risk management, leading to tension and a reluctance to integrate legal perspectives early on. This divide complicates customer advocacy initiatives, especially when trying to involve customers in public-facing roles such as speakers or co-authors in case studies, due to potential legal constraints.

Harnessing your legal team’s insights early in your customer advocacy outreach  ensures a smoother path to showcasing your brand through customer voices and it starts with one little thing…

SHOW ME THE CONTRACT

You can accelerate your advocacy program by using contracts to identify publicity opportunities where your customers are able to participate in case studies, speaking opportunities, press releases and more.

For B2B customer advocacy marketers, contracts are an opportunity to understand if there is an existing standard for publicity from your merchant/client.

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When I first started working in customer advocacy, my interactions with the legal department were limited, making them the least frequent touchpoint in my day to day work.

I remember the teams being so distant that when someone said "Send it to Legal" there was rarely any mention of a colleague's name - just a faceless entity known as "Legal" (yikes!).

I still remember a particular marketing strategy meeting where the mood noticeably shifted the moment there was talk of involving legal. For those of us in marketing, it was like watching a sudden downpour dampen a team's creative spark and momentum entirely.

Marketing and Legal are both deeply communicative and language-focused functions of a business:

Marketing professionals are passionate communicators who use expansive language to captivate customers and audiences.

Legal professionals are cautious communicators who use contained language to establish boundaries and rules of engagement for a brand and stakeholders.

This fundamental difference often feels like a barrier to effective collaboration, especially in customer advocacy, where enthusiasm and creative messaging are key. The concern that legal will strip away the essence of our campaigns with their restrictive language is a source of anxiety for many of us.

However, this challenge also presents a unique opportunity. By understanding and leveraging the specifics of customer contracts (i.e. publicity clauses) early on, we can navigate these waters more effectively. This approach not only reduces friction but also strengthens our advocacy efforts, making legal considerations an integral part of our strategy rather than an obstacle. Let’s explore how to make this work to our advantage, turning potential tension into productive collaboration.

Contracts are not constraints; they are a way to proactively identify publicity opportunities to collaborate with your clients and secure customer advocacy participation!

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HOW TO WORK WITH LEGAL TO STRENGTHEN YOUR CUSTOMER ADVOCACY OUTREACH

Educate Both Teams: Start by educating both marketing and legal teams about each other's roles and objectives. Marketing should understand the importance of legal constraints, while legal should appreciate the necessity of marketing's creative communication strategies.

Establish Clear Processes with Contracts: Develop clear processes and guidelines for collaboration between marketing and legal. Define the roles and responsibilities of each team in the review and approval process of customer advocacy materials.

Early Engagement: Involve legal early in the planning stages of customer advocacy initiatives. This allows them to provide input and flag potential legal issues before significant resources are invested in a campaign or initiative.

Build Trust: Foster open communication and trust between marketing and legal teams. Encourage regular meetings and discussions to address concerns and find common ground.

Develop Templates and Guidelines: Create standardized templates and guidelines for customer advocacy materials that incorporate legal requirements while allowing for creative expression. This streamlines the review process and ensures consistency.

Facilitate Dialogue: Act as a liaison between marketing, legal, and external customers to facilitate dialogue and ensure that everyone's concerns and objectives are addressed.

Stay Informed: Keep abreast of relevant regulations, industry standards, and legal developments that may impact customer advocacy activities. This proactive approach helps anticipate and mitigate potential legal challenges.

Celebrate Successes Together: Recognize and celebrate successful collaborations between marketing and legal teams. Highlight the benefits of working together effectively to achieve common goals.

Wait! What if I am not a B2B marketer? What if my company doesn’t have a contract structure with a publicity clause?

Advocate, advocate, advocate - become a champion for building trust between internal and external stakeholders by working with your company’s legal department to identify opportunities to include a publicity clause. This may even be an opportunity to pull in other teams like Sales, Public Relations, and Finance to determine if there is a way to strategically position a benefit to customers in exchange for publicity.

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