CREATE A MARKETING PLAN FOR AN ASSOCIATE (And Get Them to Stick to It!).

• Author: Buchanan, Leigh-Ann A.

Early on in my career, a well respected mentor and rainmaker told me: "You are only as valuable as your book of clients, many of whom could care less about whose name is on the door of the firm where you practice." It's never too early for new attorneys to envision themselves as valuable assets that require individualized marketing strategies for business development success. As legal clientele become increasingly savvy in accessing alternative resources to obtain general legal advice, and as the new normal of legal services delivery continues to evolve toward a focus on engaging specialized counsel, most legal marketing professionals agree that associates should go to market early and often.

An effective legal marketing plan should be authentic, results-oriented, relationship-driven, and combine passion and innovation. These elements serve as the groundwork for any successful marketing strategy at the associate level.

Authenticity

A legal marketing plan goes beyond putting pen to paper to memorialize a discrete revenue goal. Instead, it requires a degree of introspection to ensure that one's marketing efforts are authentic and, therefore, more likely to be fruitful and yield positive results. Challenge associates to take ownership of and accountability for setting their personal marketing goals. If, for example, they desire to increase contacts within a specific industry or target organization, develop a plan tailored towards meeting that objective. Avoid pushing an associate to focus his or her efforts on an area or topic about which he or she may not be comfortable. If one's marketing strategy is driven by authenticity and desire, then when the pressures of the practice begin to weigh heavily, the chances of success increase substantially.

Develop Results-Oriented Plans

Have a frank and open conversation with your associate about his or her definition of a marketing success. Does success mean converting 10 existing relationships into 10 engagements? Does success mean increasing his or her profile locally, at the state level or nationally? Does success mean publishing a certain number of articles on one or a variety of legal issues? Does success mean securing several speaking engagements to brand the attorney as a subject-matter specialist? Perhaps success means converting his or her passion for community service into meaningful business opportunities? Defining one's vision will provide a framework within which to measure legal marketing...