Law Firm Marketing Plan: A Step-By-Step Template [Free PDF]

law firm marketing plan pdfWhy are you investing time and money into digital marketing?

That’s the question your law firm marketing strategy is designed to answer.

Documenting your strategy is a crucial first step that lays the groundwork for all of the marketing tactics you move forward with. It’s the framework that helps pinpoint your goals and the methods you’ll use to meet them.

The reasons why law firms invest in digital marketing are varied but should answer:

  • What’s the specific purpose of this year’s plan?
  • What do you hope to achieve with each initiative in 2022?

Besides just “winning more clients,” you may want to:

  • Establish your firm as an authority in the practice of family law in your area
  • Establish your firm as the clear go-to for child custody rights in your area
  • Ensure the firm’s online presence and messaging is consistent with the firm’s real-world prestige
  • Generate marketing leads/followers by engaging your website audience and content readers
  • Generate sales leads and new prospective clients in your area

By being specific, you can target precise actions and real-world campaigns to achieve each goal.

Get started by downloading the marketing plan template and using the following steps to build your strategy.


Create a

Successful Law Firm Marketing Strategy

In 10 minutes or less!

Our template will help you to:

  • Define your SMART goals
  • Craft your brand story
  • Create your customer personas
  • …and more!
Download Now

1. Define your SMART goals

To start, you’ll want to define your marketing goals. But not just any goals — your SMART goals.

Here’s what that looks like in the downloadable marketing plan:

smart-goals-template

The idea behind your marketing plan is to set attainable goals. By ensuring the goals you set are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound), you’ll be more likely to meet your targets.

We recommend everyone starting a law firm do this.

Define the goalposts upfront so that you know what’s working and what isn’t.

Instead of saying “generate new clients and cases,” you can say:

I want to increase the number of leads generated per month from our newsletter from 15 to 30 per month. If I convert 25% of leads, I’ll convert 3.75 more leads to clients per month. I’ll reach this goal in 6 months.

When creating your goal, think about the following:

  • How many new leads (prospective clients) would you like each month?
  • What quantity, in a month, would you consider “good,” or a success?
  • How many would be “not good enough”?

Afterward, align each goal with a purpose. Why is this one of your goals? What are you hoping to achieve?

Here are a few marketing goals to consider:

  • Brand awareness
  • Lead generation
  • Thought leadership
  • Client acquisition
  • Increase customer value

2. Build your brand

Even law firms need to invest in building their brand. A strong brand helps you resonate and connect with the right type of client, both of which are important for growth.

To start, determine what your vision statement is. Begin by thinking about core values central to your brand, then turn those values into a one-to-two sentence summary.

Law firm McCarthy Tetrault started with their values:

mccarthy-value-prop
(Image Source)

And turned those values into a one-sentence statement highlighting what they stand for.

mccarthy-usp
(Image Source)

From there, figure out what your value proposition is. It’s your unique promise to clients that sets you apart from the rest.

McCarthy Tetrault highlights the diversity of their law firm, alongside their focus on innovation, making up two value propositions.

From there, you can write your unique selling proposition (USP). It’s a one-sentence breakdown of your value propositions, showcasing what makes you unique.

McCarthy Tetrault’s USP would look something like:

We are the only law firm in Canada that embodies diversity in the workplace. We use the unique perspectives of our lawyers to generate innovative solutions.

Use this section of your marketing plan to build your brand.

marketing-brand-story-template


3. Define your audience

Next, identify your customer persona. This is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal client.

With a customer persona, all your efforts in acquiring and retaining new clients can be highly targeted to the client’s needs. This leads to happier clients, better reviews for your law firm, and more referrals.

Fill out the table in the marketing plan using market research and insights into your business.

customer-persona-template


4. Identify a gap in the market

Figuring out where your law firm fits into the market can help you position yourself favorably.

When you know who your competitors are and their strengths and weaknesses, you can pinpoint what you need to do to stand out.

For example, if competitor A isn’t focusing on their criminal defense marketing, you could use that to your advantage by making yours the best it can be. This will help you win local clients who may have otherwise gone with a competitor.

Competitor research doesn’t have to be hard. The simplest thing to do is to look up law firms in the same practice area who service the same area as you. Then do a deep-dive on their website and social media to see how they match up.

A quick Google search will pull up your local competitors.

google-competitor-search

Use this information to fill out the Gap Analysis section of the marketing plan.

gap-analysis-template


5. Make note of your budget

Using the law firm marketing budget tool below, you’ll be able to calculate how many new leads you can generate per month and at what cost.


Law Firm Marketing Budget Estimation Tool


Investing VALUE/mon will yield between.

0 - 0 Sales leads per month.
$0 - $0 Costs per lead.

Please contact us to discuss your budget to see how we can best serve you.

The minimum monthly budget is $1,000.


Keeping track of this information is important so you can proactively shift the emphasis of your marketing efforts to the methods that are performing best.

Use the following table to document your budget and estimated number of leads per month for each practice area.

marketing-budget-template


6. Choose your marketing tactics

The next step is to use the information from the previous steps to determine what tactics you’ll use to meet those goals.

Take a look at the 22 law firm marketing strategies. Pick at least 5 that you want to execute and consider how you’ll do that.

Then fill out the table in the marketing plan.

marketing-tactics-template


7. Measure your success

The key to any successful digital marketing campaign is tracking the success of your activities.

For each tactic, identify which metric you’re going to measure and how you’ll measure it. For example, if you’re looking to generate leads with your blog, you could monitor how much traffic you get from the blog and your keyword rankings.

Use the following table to track your results:

marketing-metrics-template

Now that you understand how to develop a law firm marketing strategy, let’s look at our highest recommended techniques.

Create a detailed law firm marketing plan with our free template

A comprehensive marketing plan is critical to success as a law firm.

You need to know your target client, what they’re looking for, and how to reach them. Our free PDF will help you create a custom law firm marketing plan tailored to your specific needs and goals. It’s a free template that you can fill out, and it’s chock-full of resources you can use to level up your law firm marketing in 2023.

Get started today by downloading our free PDF.


Create a

Successful Law Firm Marketing Strategy

In 10 minutes or less!

Our template will help you to:

  • Define your SMART goals
  • Craft your brand story
  • Create your customer personas
  • …and more!
Download Now