In Black And White : Legal Marketing Strategies & Insights : Paula Black & Associates : Law Firm Marketing, Branding and Positioning

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We’ve spent the past few weeks looking at your firm brand. What it is, how it’s conveyed and what it means. Now I’d like to move on to another branding topic: your personal brand. We all know it’s not enough to simply do a great job anymore… you need a competitive advantage. Something that will make YOU stand out. YOU are your brand. Your personal brand will help you leverage your assets, strengths, expertise and experience. Forget what others think today—perception is reality, and if you can create a memorable brand you can differentiate yourself from the competition.

Question of the week: Have you defined your personal brand?
 

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Getting together for the Holidays is at the core of what the Holidays are all about. They are about connecting and supporting one another. As we move into 2010, let's hold on to that thought...

 While fostering a legal marketing habit can often be a solo activity, there's no better inspiration than enlisting the help and support of other firm members. Whether it's other attorneys or staff, their help, encouragement and ideas are imperative to business development success. Collaboration with others—even peers who practice in other areas of law— can make your marketing efforts even more powerful, allowing you to keep each other on track, spark new ideas and even join forces in joint marketing efforts and strategies.

Question of the week: What are you doing to inspire legal marketing within your firm?

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Our question of the week was: Where do you stand when it comes to your marketing and business development strategy?

Results

1. I have a plan and review it on a monthly basis. - 20%
2. I have a plan and review it on a quarterly basis. - 0%
3. I have a plan but haven’t looked at it since I wrote it. - 50%
4. I have been meaning to write a plan for years and 2010 is the year I will start. - 30%
5. I have no time or interest in writing a marketing and business development plan. - 0%

Thanks to everyone who participated in this week’s poll...

Congratulations to the 20% of you who write a plan and refer to it  regularly. Your plan is a living breathing document that gets adjusted and fine-tuned as you move along, good job! 80% of you don't have a plan, yes I'm talking to the 50% of you that write it... and the big problem is putting it into practice... it's as though you NEVER wrote it in the first place. And lastly, I love to see that 30% of you are making a commitment that 2010 is THE YEAR.

My Thoughts: Having a plan is one of the most important steps in your marketing and business development journey. For the next few weeks I will be blogging on creating a 2010 plan… ideas to include and tactics to monitor. Individual marketing plans should set forth what you will do over the next 12 months to maximize relationships with key clients. It should also include activities to enhance your credentials as an expert in your practice area or industry of focus.

The key is to keep it simple and easy to incorporate into your daily business activities. It is constantly changing and evolving and needs to be revisited and updated often.

Howard Berlin of Berger Singerman points out…

“In addition to the firm’s overall marketing plan, we ask the partners to submit their individual marketing plans to the marketing director. The marketing director is the coach. They know the playbook and can make recommendations on how to best execute the plays. After that it is up to the attorney or practice group, with the support of the marketing director and staff, to run the plays and clinch the victories.”

Black Pearl: For help in writing your strategic plan, there is a wonderful book written specifically for lawyers: Tom Grella’s aptly titled “The Lawyer's Guide to Strategic Planning.” I highly recommend it for anyone looking for  guidance.