How is Your Marketing Plan Coming Along?
Be honest. Do you have a written marketing plan? Well, join the other 95% of lawyers who don’t – at least that is the percentage of business people that don’t have one according to Drew McLellan over at Small Business Branding. And I agree. Further, I concur with Drew that a “To Do List” doesn’t count.
His excellent post “What is your lack of planning costing you?” is short and sweet. First, he cites a number of anonymous sayings we can all agree with, which is why his point about the costs of failing to plan is right on target. Specifically:
- “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
- “Measure twice, cut once.”
- “A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.”
- “It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.”
What I liked most was his five reasons why a lack of planning is so costly:
- Spend more money
- Reach fewer of the right people
- Be swayed by persuasive sales people rather than staying the course
- Be less efficient
- Grow your business more slowly, if at all
Finally, I couldn’t resist adding a couple of my favorite adages (authors unknown) when it comes to planning:
- “When all’s said and done, a lot more is said than done.”
- “Planning without action is futile, action without planning is fatal.”
http://www.legalmarketingblog.com/admin/trackback/72697
As both a lawyer and a non-law firm business leader, I have seen first hand the results of ineffective marketing. Even though the practice of law is a profession first, it has to operate as a well-functioning business to survive. Too often the survival of a law practice is more because of happenstance than sound business practices. Even a lawyer in a solo practice should have a written marketing plan to do things like identify its niche, define its brand, assess its market and outline a strategy for increasing its market penetration.
