Have a Plan

Have a plan

It's probably the word 'marketing' in the term 'marketing plan' that turns people off. The 'strategic' varieties are even more off-putting - even for professional marketing people ('strategic' being generally interchangeable with the word 'important' and having the same impact on the plan's contents).

So let's just call it a plan; a plan to develop your firm or practice group, a plan to make more money, a plan to get high quality clients. The point is, any plan needs to be clear about its purpose and to give you a means to be able to measure "how it's going" at any point in time.

What's in it?

It sounds obvious, but your plan should:

• Clearly define what you want to achieve. Your overall goal may be lofty (to be the 'best') but your objectives need to be specific. For example, "To attract five new clients to the firm and grow five existing clients by the end of the financial year"

• Define how you will achieve your aim. What your methods will be - networking, brochures, presentations etc, and
• Define what success means. How will you know when you've achieved what you wanted - how will you know how it's going? New files? Increased billings? New contacts?

Measurement is critical. There is no point discovering it was all a waste of time after a month or a year. You need to make assessments as you go so you can change your methods and approach if necessary. A setback does not mean the plan was bad or that you should abandon everything - but it does mean you should give a few minutes thought to what might work better or when it might work better.

If you want a bit more definition in your plan, a standard one will include:

• who the "target" of your plan is (who you're trying to get to. This is usually about saying clearly who or what kind of clients you are chasing), and
• a "SWOT" (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis - which just means working out the things that could stop you, and the things that will help you, as you work towards achieving your aim. These could be things you can change, or things you can't. The important thing is to know what you've got going for you and what is going to be a waste of your time.

A "live" document?
Some people in the planning business like to stress that plans are "live" documents in that they mean nothing if they are not actively referred back to and adjusted.

A technically brilliant, genius marketing plan will still be a total waste of time for your firm if it is not reassessed against the "how will we know it's working" criteria, nor adjusted to suit changes in circumstances (inside or outside the firm).

Planning worksheet*

1. What am I trying to achieve in my firm/practice group? (Be specific.)

2. What do I want the firm/practice group to look like in five years?

3. What are my best methods to get there? What marketing methods might I employ?

4. How will I know how I'm going (how will I measure progress)?

SWOT analysis for my practice

* From Marketing Essentials for Law Firms
Marketing Essentials for Law Firms is a free basic DIY for marketing your law firm. It's short, sharp and includes practical worksheets that will get your firm or practice group on track.

For your free copy, please contact Alicia Patterson on +613 8611 8188 or a.patterson@house-communications.com