How a Diversified Digital Marketing Plan Can Future-Proof Your Law Firm

In all industries, everything begins with a plan. Whether it’s sales, growth, or marketing, leadership must implement a plan with measurable goals. 

But what happens when the unexpected strikes?

That exact question ran through the minds of many executives at legal firms during the COVID-19 pandemic. With many business models built on in-person experiences and traditional marketing, pivoting to a virtual world came with a significant learning curve. 

And, since then, not much has changed. 2023 marketing trends data from Deloitte states:

“From geopolitical conflicts and economic instability to the ongoing threats related to climate change, CMOs are facing no shortage of external challenges.”

So while law firms have grown more accepting of a digital world—marketing efforts included—one thing is clear: a strong marketing plan must be in place to future-proof your firm.

The Future of Marketing 

As the old saying goes, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Diversification is one of the best ways to see a return on investment regarding dollars. For companies who relied solely on traditional marketing tactics, such as advertising on billboards or in printed material at conferences, return on investment was minimal or even moot during the pandemic. 

This realization led to an increased interest in digital marketing: a future-proof way to generate business, regardless of the state of the world.

Today, video, content, and email marketing are at the heart of many campaigns—for a good reason. These tactics have proven to provide marketers with the best ROI (return on investment), with video leading the way at 89%.

The success of your marketing endeavors is primarily based on whether or not you’ve future-proofed your firm. In order for businesses like law firms to succeed, implementing a solid marketing plan that aligns with the needs of today’s consumers is imperative. 

How to Develop a Marketing Plan

There are three steps to building a performance-driven marketing plan:

Evaluate

Do gather your data on historical performance, infrastructure, success potential, marketing assets, competitors, industry trends, and resources.

Don’t be overwhelmed by the planning phase. You’ll see the proof is in the pudding once you execute!

Establish

Do establish your budgets, goals, audiences, and campaign strategies.

Don’t skip this step! Determining your budget early in the process will allow you to build a realistic marketing strategy based on your available resources. This may be a time to decide whether to hire, outsource, or retain a marketing agency. 

Execute

Do pull the trigger on your marketing plan to find out what works and what doesn’t.

Don’t forget to be flexible! You may need to adjust and adapt to your audience, but give it time!

Future-Proof Your Law Firm

While the choices seem endless and the methodology constantly changes, successful firms will hire savvy, forward-looking marketers to simplify and optimize the marketing process. 

Business owners must engage in a proper marketing strategy, which is often misunderstood. To develop a successful marketing plan that will future-proof your firm, you will need to really evaluate the why and how of your marketing plan. 

Throwing large budgets at advertising campaigns on the wrong platform is one of the many ways a law firm’s marketing plan can fall flat. For example, if you’re a firm specializing in estate planning, TikTok is not likely the platform for you. Is it hot right now? Yes. Is it where your target demographic of 35- to 65-year-olds reside? Absolutely not. 

A strong marketing plan will help you reach your target audience and present messaging that resonates with them, too!  

For more marketing resources geared toward your industry, take a look at the Damn Good Marketing blog. You can make it even easier on yourself by subscribing below, where you’ll get damn good information delivered to your inbox—a future-proof way of communicating! 😉