Your Firm's Marketing Plan Should Be a Road Map to Success:

To create a marketing plan, you must start by:

• Defining who you are and what you do
• Describing your clients and prospects
• Identifying the most effective, efficient ways to reach them
• Establishing short- and long-term goals.

  Your marketing plan will serve you well if you keep in mind that each marketing activity must

  1) clearly communicate your firm's marketing message (who you are and what you do), 2) Reach your key target market(s), 3) Use the most effective efficient channels to reach them, and 4) Bring you closer to meeting your stated marketing goals.

  Your Marketing Plan Should Be a Road Map to Success

By Terry Graham, M.A.
Legal Marketing Consultant

Upfront planning allows your firm to focus its marketing efforts by engaging in "target marketing," that is, reaching a clearly defined audience with a meaningful message that is designed to generate business. A well crafted, firm-wide marketing plan permits effective target marketing by providing a road map for all of your firm's business development activities.

Most firms use marketing professionals during the marketing planning phase to provide objectivity and expertise which may not be not available inhouse. By producing a comprehensive, tailored plan before undertaking any promotional activities. you can be assured that the time and money you invest in marketing will yield far greater results.

The steps to creating a marketing plan are:

Defining who you are and what you do

Describing your clients and prospects

Identifying the most effective, efficient ways to reach them

Establishing short- and long-term goals.

Who Are You and What Do You Do?

Defining your firm's services provides the foundation for all of your marketing activities, so it is critical that this definition truly reflect your firm's practice. Interviews with principals and senior attorneys, the management committee and/or department heads provide the basis for your practice description.

Who Are Your Clients (and Prospects)?

Developing a clear, comprehensive description of your clients and identifying which legal services they use is the next step in developing your marketing plan. Then, client segments ("target markets") are analyzed and ranked in their order of importance. As your client base is identified and described, valuable information regarding your practice will emerge.

Once your markets are identified, short- and long-term marketing goals can be set. For example, if your firm is satisfied with your service and client mix but wants to increase its client base and revenues, the goal may be to attract 20 new clients (from target markets) in the next 12 months, with 15% annual growth for each of the next three years.

Reaching Prospective Clients

When determining how to develop more business, your marketing consultant will ask how your firm landed its present clientele. New business often comes through your current and past clients and other "referral sources" including contacts made through professional, social, political, and fraternal associations.

Business may have also resulted from "public relations" activities such as public speaking; announcements of new hires, partners, and promotions; and articles written by your attorneys or quotes attributed to them in the media. Newsletters, a web presence, firm-sponsored events, community outreach, and paid advertisements in target media are other possible sources of new business.

A review of all your marketing activities and results will probably reveal that:

Satisfied clients are the greatest source (possibly as much as 80 - 90%) of new business, both in terms of new matters you handle on their behalf as well as new clients that they refer to you.

Referral sources (other than past or current clients) have produced significant new business.

Other promotional activities such as public speaking, media/web coverage, newsletters, firm-sponsored workshops, advertising, etc. have brought in new business when they reach your target markets with a clear marketing message.

Law firms serving consumers where an event triggers the need for a lawyer (personal and workplace injury, criminal defense, DUI, etc.) may find that a greater percentage of their business comes from leads generated by mass communications (radio and tv ads, print and yellow pages advertising, etc.).

The Finished Product: Your Strategic Marketing Plan

With your firm description in place, target markets identified (i.e., clients, prospects and referral sources), and the most effective, efficient ways to reach them defined, your next step is to design strategies that will make it possible to achieve your marketing goals and then assign responsibilities for various marketing activities within a specific time frame. Depending upon the size and requirements of your firm, an in-house marketing director or outside consultant should guide the implementation of your strategic marketing plan.

Your firm's marketing plan will serve you well if you keep in mind that each marketing activity - in order to be successful - must: l) clearly communicate your firm's marketing message (who you are and what you do), 2) reach your target markets (clients, prospects, referral sources), 3) use the most effective, efficient channels to reach them, and 4) bring you closer to meeting your stated marketing goals.

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Terry Graham, M.A., is a legal marketing and public relations consultant. She can be reached at 415/686-8442 or tg@terry-graham.com. Check out her website at www.terry-graham.com

© 2009 Terry Graham. This article may be reproduced and distributed as is, with no changes and with all attribution, including author's copyright and contact information intact. Any other use constitutes a violation of copyright.