The idea of a law firm marketing plan may seem daunting to some. But once you’ve defined your target market and assessed your competitive advantage, it’s much easier to create a strategy that will help you reach those goals. Here are five steps to keep in mind when building or revamping your law firm marketing plan.
Define your target market
The first step in your law firm marketing plan is to define your target market. The target market is the group of people you want to reach with your marketing. It’s often defined as a group that needs legal services, but not all potential clients will fit this description.
For example, if you are building a website for lawyers, then the “target market” would be lawyers, legal professionals, and other law firm staff. But if your website also offers online courses on practical topics like social media or contract drafting, then other groups might have an interest in these products: small law firms hoping to expand their reach online, general practitioners getting ready for retirement, or even individual consumers looking for ways to protect themselves from fraud or scams when working with potential law firms.
By identifying these additional audience segments and understanding their needs, you can think through which channels will work best—and how much time and money should be invested in each one.
Assess your competitive advantage
Once you’ve identified your target market, it’s time to assess your competitive advantage. Your competitive advantage is the thing that makes your law firm stand out from the competition. It’s what gives you an edge over other law firms in your area and helps clients see why they should hire you instead of another firm.
Do some research by looking at other law firms in your area and asking yourself: What do they offer? How are they different from me? If you were a client looking for a lawyer, would you notice this difference between yourself and them?
Perform a SWOT analysis
Perform a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is a good way to identify your firm’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as opportunities and threats. It can also be useful for identifying strengths and weaknesses within individual departments or teams in your law firm.
Set goals and develop an action plan to reach them
A marketing plan is not just a document; it’s the key to your future success. The first step in creating a compelling law firm marketing plan is setting goals and developing an action plan to reach them.
You can’t just start with a goal, though—you need to know how you’re going to achieve it. You can do so by asking yourself the following questions: What does your ideal client hiring process look like? How many leads do you need per month? Which channels are most likely to deliver those leads (or what should be considered for additional ones)?
Implement a brand strategy
When it comes to building a compelling law firm marketing plan, your brand strategy is the foundation. A strong brand strategy should reflect the values, mission, and vision of your law firm. A good brand strategy can be as simple as a statement or it can be a complex document that includes several pages of information about who you are and what business you do.
Regardless of how long your brand statement is, it should be consistent across all marketing channels. This means that people get an accurate sense of who you are and what law areas you specialize in when they visit your website.
Your brand strategy should also be flexible enough to adapt to changing circumstances so that when one particular approach no longer works for attracting new clients or retaining existing ones, there are additional strategies available for success.
Conclusion
The market is changing, and you need to be able to adapt to the new ways that potential clients are looking for lawyers. That means being open-minded, flexible, and willing to change with them. It also means finding ways to reach the right audience on social media—and not just using it as another place where people can complain about their legal issues.
