A law firm owner who wants their marketing efforts to pay off must have a strategy and plan. If you already have both, you must constantly revisit and update them to meet recent trends. But is a strategy the same as having a marketing plan? If not, how do the two differ? Read on to find out.
How Does a Marketing Strategy Differ From a Marketing Plan?
A marketing strategy and marketing plan may sound alike, but they are not the same. You need to understand their difference to use them effectively in your law firm’s effort to increase visibility and attract new clients.
Law Firm Marketing Strategy
A marketing strategy refers to a firm’s overall game plan for reaching prospects and turning them into paying clients. It captures the law firm’s goals, target audience, services offered, core message, and more. By identifying such goals, defining your target audience, and analyzing competitors and market trends, you’ll be better positioned to create a marketing plan.
Therefore, before creating a plan, figure out a strategy. You don’t want to execute the marketing tactics and find out that they won’t reach your target audience or nobody responds to the message. For instance, a prospect may respond better to regular posts on social media than they would to blog posts on a website.
Law Firm Marketing Plan
A marketing plan is an operational document that outlines an advertising strategy that an organization will implement to generate leads and reach its target market. So the law firm’s action plan should contain definite steps for executing the marketing strategy and achieving its goals.
It should also outline the type of promotion you’ll use. This includes whether you’ll use social media marketing or search engine optimization. Lastly, consider the results you want when creating the plan and outline a strategy to help you achieve it.
What Should a Law Firm Strategy Contain?
After figuring out the differences between a firm’s marketing tactics and plan, the next question is what does a strategy contain? Below, we outline what a promotion blueprint should have.
Executive Summary
The first thing to do is to summarize the firm’s marketing strategy based on what you want to achieve. Keep it clear and concise so that anyone who wants to know your game plan can understand it without much effort.
Marketing Goals
Next, clearly define your marketing goals and ensure it aligns with the law firm’s business objectives. Ensure you create SMART goals. It is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely.
For example, suppose your firm’s objective is to increase blog visitors by 20% during the first half of the year. Then, you need to ask yourself why you chose this goal and why it is essential to your firm. If the answer you get is not SMART, you need to adjust the goals.
Target Audience
The essence of a marketing strategy is to reach people; as such, it must have a target audience. First, however, you need to identify and define prospects. So, identify and define your target audience based on their purchasing habits (as it relates to legal services), characteristics, and pain points (the problem they want to solve).
Market Analysis
“Market” here refers to the people, organizations, or businesses that are your current and potential clients. Categorize your firm’s business opportunity based on practice areas, geographical location, target audience, etc.
Competitive Analysis
An excellent marketing plan should make you stand out from competitors and get the clients you desire. But first, you need to discover what your competitors are doing and how they are achieving their goals. Next, learn their characteristics, market share, and how they differentiate themselves from other law firms.
Services Offered
Outline the type of legal services you offer, practice areas, and the people you offer these services to. So, you can’t hope to reach personal injury clients and have criminal litigation in your marketing strategy.
Core Message
This refers to the critical details about the firm you want your audience to know. The core message should go beyond letting clients and prospects understand your services and address their legal and personal needs.
Pricing and Promotion
Lastly, a marketing strategy should have your pricing and promotion plan. Therefore, include your firm’s pricing model and what it contains. Also, add the marketing channels you’ll use and why you chose them.
Contact Us Today!
At EverConvert, our digital marketing experts will help you create a marketing strategy and plan that aligns with your firm’s goals and objectives and get your message across to existing clients and prospects. Contact us today to get started.
