Marketing Plans, Part 1: The Essential Components

February 14, 2023
Spotlight Branding

During the survey period for our 2023 Legal Marketing Trends Report, the overwhelming majority of respondents indicated that they needed help with their marketing plan. In this two-part series, we’re looking at the most essential components of what needs to be included in your marketing plan.

1. Goals & Initiatives

If you run EOS or a similar sort of framework in your firm, you likely already have things like a core fous/mission statement, a detailed target market, a unique selling proposition, and more. You also likely have goals for the year planned out. These items should be included at the start of your marketing plan and serve as guideposts for the marketing you undertake.

2. Marketing Channels

These are the different marketing initiatives you’re planning for. However, you’ll want to separate them into different categories or buckets. For example:

Digital: Pay-Per-Click Ads, SEO, Content, etc.
Print: Direct mail, magazine ads, etc.
Events: Local festivals, trade shows, etc.
Public Relations: Charity, PR, Awards, etc.
Referrals: Client, vendor, employee, other

The key here is to think about ALL of the different marketing you’ll be doing and organize it accordingly. Some channels may have more initiatives than others, and that’s okay! Tailor it to your firm’s needs.

3. Budget

You obviously need to know how much you’re spending! Of course, you’ll need to know how much each of your channels will cost. From there, you’ll cross-reference that number with your total budget and begin to apportion money appropriately. You may have to start making decisions to cut some initiatives out, or you may have the opportunity to look into spending more in a certain channel.

There are other elements that you can include such as various analyses of your clients and competitors, but these are the absolute essentials. The beauty of a marketing plan is that there’s no wrong way to do it—just make sure you have your roadmap laid out in front of you and that you keep a close eye on it to track your progress.

In part 2 next week, we’ll talk about how to actually put these elements together!

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Spotlight Branding

Spotlight Branding is a content marketing and branding firm for lawyers and other professionals. Our goal is to help you create an online presence that positions you as a credible expert in your field, keeps you connected with your network in order to stay top of mind and increase referrals, and to become more visible online so prospects can find you!