By Jen Ruppert

My friend who has built a long and successful career in sales always tells me – and anyone else who will listen: “Everything is sales.” Whenever she utters this maxim, my rejoinder is: “You are dead wrong! Everything is marketing!” I am 100% confident that Seth Godin, author of This is Marketing and other revered books on the subject would eagerly back up my claim. Godin says:

“The entire organization works for and with the marketer, because marketing is all of it. What we make, how we make it, who we make it for. It is the effects and the side effects, the pricing and the profit, all at once.”

I manage marketing for a law firm. Lawyers typically think of marketing as a cost center or a task that pulls them away from billable work. Many of them consider branding to be window dressing. I do my best to convince them, but not having a J.D. sometimes puts me at a disadvantage. What if the detractors could shift their mindsets to think of marketing as integral to everything they do?

I am not just the person who manages their website, helps land their biggest client, or secures their next speaking engagement. With all of my efforts, I know that I am marketing the quality of the attorneys’ law and motion work, their ability to communicate effectively with clients; their knack for finding creative solutions to complex legal matters; and their skill at obtaining defense verdicts. If they do a great job, I have a much stronger value proposition. And if they willingly work with me to tell these compelling stories about the prowess of our firm, the more problems we can solve for clients. Together.

This is why I will call my boss first thing tomorrow morning to recommend Godin's book. And it's why you should too.