The first step to creating a law firm marketing plan is to define your goals. The direction of any law firm is set by who you are and where you see your law firm in the future.

Why Set Goals?

To most people, goal setting is one of the fluffier aspects of marketing. They’d prefer to get to the hands on stuff like advertising, creating a website, or sending out newsletters. So why take the time to set goals?

The main reason to establish goals is to clarify exactly what you want and how to make that happen. If you were planning a vacation, you’d first look at destinations. Once you were clear where you wanted to go, you could then plan how to get there (air, car, train, bus, etc), where to stay (friends, hotel, motel, cruise ship, etc), and activities you might do (swimming, camping, amusement parks, etc). Business goal setting is similar. If you don’t know where you want to go, you’ll never be able to plan how to get there.

The mere act of setting goals and writing them down is extremely effective, yet most people don’t bother doing it. In the book What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School, Mark McCormack cites a Harvard study conducted between 1979 and 1987. In 1979, Harvard MBA graduates were asked “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?” 3% of graduates had written goals. 13% had goals but they had not written them down. 84% had no specific goals.

In 1987, Harvard followed up. They found that the 13% with unwritten goals were making twice as much as the 84% with no goals and those 3% with clear, written goals were making ten times as much as the other 97% combined!

What Types of Goals Should You Set?

The goals you set for yourself will be highly personal, based on what you want to do, have, and be. There aren’t any right or wrong answers – after all, one reason you probably went into business for yourself was for the freedom. Now it’s up to you to mold your future the way you want. Here are some questions to get you started.

Personal Business Goals

  • What are your strengths?
  • What do you love most about practicing law?
  • Which areas of law do you enjoy the most? Why?
  • Which areas of law do you prefer not to do? Why?
  • Which areas of law do you have the most experience in?
  • What types of people would you like to work with?
  • Describe your perfect work life 5 years from now. Where do you see yourself? What are you doing? Who are you working with? How much are you making?

Firm Goals

  • What is the mission of your firm? The vision?
  • What are your short and long term goals?
  • Are you looking to grow and expand the firm or do you prefer to work alone?
  • Describe where you’d like your firm to be 5 years from now. How many clients does it have? How many partners? What kinds of work does it do? How much revenue does it bring in? What kinds of people work there? What’s a typical day like?

Lifestyle Goals

  • How will you balance your life with work?
  • How many days of vacation will you take?
  • What activities give you the greatest sense of meaning and purpose?
  • What do you currently think and/or talk about most of the time – either what you want or what you don’t want?
  • What’s the one thing you’ve always wished you could have done? What’s stopping you from doing it?
  • If you won the lottery next week, what would you do now that money is no option?
  • Describe what your ideal life will look like 5 years from now. How much will you be worth? What will your family life be like? Where will you live? What kind of car will you drive? What organizations will you work with or contribute to? What causes will you support? How will you look and feel physically?

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