How to Build a Law Firm Marketing Plan that Works

A law firm’s marketing plan serves as a roadmap to help lawyers work toward the vision they have for developing their practice. Creating a plan takes the guesswork out of promotional efforts by providing direction and structure to marketing activities.

Developing the brand image of a law firm is a collaborative process that often involves the contribution of several marketing teams responsible for various aspects such as advertising, web content and social media.

Therefore, it is important for lawyers to have a legal marketing plan in place that presents a trackable strategy for expanding their practice.

This way, they can ensure their marketing teams are working towards the same results, while getting the best results from the investment of their time and money.

Marketing plans vary from law firm to law firm depending on a number of factors such as size, geographic location, practice area, and their stage in the business development process. New lawyers may still establish contacts while experienced firms may seek to become more dominant in an area of ​​practice. Thus, a marketing plan for a large estate planning firm in California would be very different from that of a small personal injury firm in Chicago.

While a legal marketing plan doesn’t need to be complicated, it should be a well-structured document based on research. Although every law firm takes a different approach, several building blocks make up a successful and comprehensive marketing plan, including:

• A detailed picture of the location of the law firm and the legal services it offers
• Target customers
• Business development objectives over a defined period
• Specific marketing strategies to reach the target market and achieve company goals
• marketing budgets

An essential part of the process of developing a marketing plan is to first take the time to determine where your law firm currently stands. Try to answer questions such as: how many and what types of customers do you serve each year? How many leads are you getting online? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your law firm? List all of the marketing efforts you’re currently implementing and rate their performance over the past year, whether it’s print advertising, email marketing, or other tactics. Once you have a clear idea of ​​where your law firm stands, it will be easier to determine which direction it should go. To see a sample marketing plan, visit: blfmag.com/sample-marketing-plan.

Identify your target customers
The driving force behind determining the marketing strategies a law firm will use is its potential clients. Without identifying the type of people who would contact your law firm and use its services, lawyers will struggle to know how to tailor their marketing activities to attract the best prospects and meet their needs.

Law firms can perform market analysis to create a profile of their ideal clientele. Include details such as age, gender, location, occupation, level of education, income, and why they would seek a lawyer. If corporations are the law firm’s primary clients, determine their size, average income, and type of industry. This will help law firms determine the key demographic areas they should spend their time and budget on for marketing purposes.

Set specific goals
The backbone of an effective marketing plan for a law firm consists of clearly established objectives. All marketing plans – legal or otherwise – should start with brainstorming what you want to achieve. By setting specific goals, law firms and other businesses can decide where to focus their marketing efforts. Identify what your business wants to achieve in the next three, six, and 12 months. Consider factors such as the number of new clients, revenue, knowledge in your area of ​​practice, and more when developing short and long-term goals.

Do you want to focus on generating a certain number of new leads and prospects? Or do you want to be careful about establishing authority in your area of ​​practice or in a particular geographic region? If you want to attract clients who have never heard of your law firm, your goal might be to reach a set number of new leads each month. If you’re already established, improving your online presence could yield more tangible results for your business.

Goals should be realistic and quantifiable, where possible. This way you can measure the success of your marketing plan and modify it if necessary.

Advocates can use the SMART goal-setting guidelines, also known as Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time-bound. The technique helps to ask questions about what you want to achieve, in what time frame, how much money it will cost and how you will measure the results. Developing a successful marketing plan for a law firm involves research. For example, lawyers should perform market analysis to identify competition in their area of ​​practice and geographic location. Who are they? Are your target customers already using your competitors? How will you stand out from them?

It can be helpful to see where the competition is focusing their marketing efforts and how effective those efforts are. However, just because other companies are doing something doesn’t mean it’s the best strategy for you. Your competitors have reasons for making certain decisions, and they are likely to differ from yours.

Choose the right strategies
Creating a successful marketing plan means selecting the right marketing channels to achieve your law firm’s goals. With so many strategies available, how do you decide which one to invest in?

When considering marketing strategies, focus on target customers. For example, if your prospects are people in their 60s looking for help with long-term care planning, marketing to them on social media probably isn’t the best idea. By studying the demographic habits of their targets, lawyers will have a better understanding of what is likely to work and what strategies to spend marketing budgets on.

Select a few repeatable marketing tactics that align with your law firm’s growth goals and that you can use to reach your target market. These include networking, referral sources, content marketing, social media, email marketing, newsletters, advertising campaigns and more.

A law firm’s online presence begins with its website. Therefore, one aspect of your strategy will likely be to make sure your website is neat, on-brand, and informative. Content marketing is another cornerstone of any law firm’s online marketing campaign. Generating a continuous stream of engaging content that will be useful to prospects – such as blog posts and ebooks – is an effective way to drive more website traffic and achieve other marketing goals.

Law firms often employ multiple marketing companies to manage various aspects of their branding and advertising. In order to determine the scope of a marketing plan, lawyers need to have a clear idea of ​​their firm’s marketing budget. Knowing how much you have to spend can help you select which marketing strategies will be most effective in achieving your goals and how much you can allocate to each.

Track results
Following a marketing plan means tracking its results to determine if the strategies that have been implemented are yielding the desired results. Without measuring the success of various campaigns, lawyers have no way of knowing what works and what doesn’t. If certain initiatives do not achieve the defined objectives, it is preferable to readjust your marketing strategies. Lawyers should always be willing to improve or modify their law firm’s marketing plan based on what proves effective. A law firm’s marketing plan should be viewed as a flexible document that is updated and modified over time as lawyers refine their goals and assess the progress of their law firm. The goal is to set new quarterly goals based on marketing data and metrics.

Developing a plan is only part of the process of marketing a law firm. Lawyers won’t see real results without consistently executing the strategies laid out in the carefully crafted plan. The key is to commit to action. Only then will your law firm make progress towards achieving its goals. Ultimately, the growth of your law firm will be driven by your vision, and a marketing plan that outlines the process for achieving that vision is critical to the success of your firm.

Further reading:
Infographic of guidelines for setting SMART goals:
blfmag.com/SMART-guidelines

See an example of a marketing plan:
blfmag.com/sample-marketing-plan