Law Firm Business Development And Marketing Strategy

A marketing strategy for a law firm is a written plan that connects the results you want to the channels most likely to help you achieve them. Without one, budgets can easily drift toward whatever a supplier is promoting that month. Corinne McKenna has spent 25 years in the legal sector, beginning her career on the sales side. At LexisNexis in the UK and New Zealand, she managed key law firm accounts and earned recognition as an award-winning sales representative. This experience gave her an early understanding of how solicitors make purchasing decisions and what helps a partner say yes. She has also spent 14 years writing for law firms.

Paul and Corinne have built and run two businesses together. Corinne founded The Legal Copywriting Company in 2012, and they served as co-directors for 12 years before launching Lawtelligence. Their plan is grounded in real experience: they’ve had to win clients using their own money and decide which marketing efforts were worth continuing. Paul also brings more than a decade of IT sales and project management experience at EMC and DXC Technology, and he checks every recommendation against your data before it becomes part of the plan.

You work directly with both directors. We are small and keep our overheads low, so you pay for senior thinking, and the strategy is yours to carry out with your own team or with us.

How can we help with your law firm’s marketing strategy?

We start with a meeting with the partners and a review of your figures, then deliver a written strategy and walk you through it. We can help with:

• A review of where your instructions come from now, using your enquiry records and Google Analytics data.

• Choosing the practice areas to grow, based on the fees each brings in and how much competition you face for it.

• A profile of the clients you want more of, including what they search for and who refers them.

• A review of the competitor firms your prospective clients compare you with.

• Your positioning, so every partner can explain in one sentence why a client should choose your firm.

• A channel plan setting out how much effort to put into your website, search, digital PR and social media, and what to stop doing.

• A budget and a 12-month timetable, showing which tasks your team can do in-house.

• Targets for enquiries and instructions in each practice area, with tracking that shows what each channel returns.

• A review every quarter, so the plan changes when your market or your priorities do.

If you would like us to carry out the plan as well, our law firm marketing agency service covers the work itself.

Get in touch

“I’ve been working with Corinne to support our website development and our lawyers over the last few months. She’s taken the time to understand our target audience and write creative, interesting copy and articles from day one. And a very friendly, personable (non-AI!) approach too. Highly recommended!” John McAuley, Nexa Law

If your firm spends money on marketing without a clear idea of what it brings in, book a free 30-minute call with Corinne to talk through your plans. Phone: 01691 839661 or email: corinne@lawtelligence.co.uk

Frequently asked questions

What should a law firm marketing strategy include?

A law firm marketing strategy should say which practice areas you want to grow and how you will reach the clients you want. It should also set a budget and measurable targets. A good strategy checks that your website meets the SRA rules, such as the price information the SRA Transparency Rules require for some services.

What is the difference between a marketing strategy and hiring a marketing agency?

A marketing strategy decides what to do and why, while an agency carries out the work. Our strategy service gives you a written plan you own, which you can deliver with your own staff or hand to any supplier. A strategy can also show which of your current spending to stop before you commit to anything new.

How much should a small law firm spend on marketing?

There is no fixed figure, because the right budget depends on how much each new instruction is worth and how many you need. We work back from your growth target to a budget you can afford, then show where it goes furthest. Our article on how much small law firms should spend on marketing explains the thinking in more detail.

Can we carry out the strategy ourselves?

Yes, the strategy is tailored for your firm, with each task assigned to a person and a month. Some firms manage social media and reviews in-house while bringing in outside help for technical work like SEO. We’ll highlight which tasks your team can handle and which may be worth outsourcing, so you can choose what works best for you.

How do you know which marketing is working for our firm?

We’ll set up tracking for website enquiries and phone calls in Google Analytics, and your team can note where each new client heard about you. Then, by comparing those records with your fees, you’ll be able to see which channels are bringing in paying work.

How often should a law firm review its marketing strategy?

We recommend a brief review each quarter and a more comprehensive review once a year. Quarterly check-ins make it easier to shift budget away from channels that aren’t bringing in work and respond to changes in how Google ranks law firm websites. The annual review is a great opportunity to revisit your practice area priorities as your firm grows.

Would you like a marketing strategy for your firm?

Tell us which work you want more of, and we will show you how we would plan for it. Call 01691 839661 or email corinne@lawtelligence.co.uk, or use our contact form.