A law firm marketing plan does not need to be long. It needs to say which work you want more of, who instructs you for it, how those people find a solicitor and what you will do each month.

Start with where your work already comes from

Before you spend anything, look at the last 12 months of new matters. For each one, note the practice area, the fee and how the client found you: referral, returning client, search, a professional introducer or something else.

This usually shows that a few sources produce most of the good work. It also shows gaps, such as a profitable practice area that gets almost no enquiries from the website. Those gaps are where marketing can make the biggest difference.

Choose two or three priorities

Trying to promote every practice area at once spreads time and budget too thin. Pick two or three matter types where you have capacity, good margins and a clear reason a client should choose you.

For each one, write down who the client is, what triggers their search and who else influences the choice. A residential conveyancing client is often steered by an estate agent or a mortgage broker. An employer defending a tribunal claim may ask their accountant or HR adviser first.

Know the SRA rules before you plan

The SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors sets two rules that shape every campaign. Paragraph 8.8 says your publicity must be accurate and not misleading, including what you say about charges. Paragraph 8.9 says you must not make unsolicited approaches to members of the public, other than current or former clients, to advertise your services.

These rules bind the firm as well as its people. Paragraph 7.1(c) of the SRA Code of Conduct for Firms applies paragraphs 8.6 to 8.11, including both of these, to the firm itself.

The SRA's guidance on unsolicited approaches explains that advertising itself is allowed if it is non-intrusive and not targeted at individuals. Adverts on radio, TV, billboards, in local papers, online and on social media are given as acceptable examples. Leaflets are allowed only if delivered across a wide area, not selected homes.

If you work with introducers or lead providers, the SRA's warning notice on marketing to the public says you remain responsible for how those clients were obtained. The same notice warns against misleading claims about the prospects of success, likely compensation, awards or credentials the firm holds, and against "no win, no fee" offers that are not clearly explained.

Pick channels that match the work

Different matters arrive in different ways. The table below is a starting point for matching channels to the work you want.

Make the website the hub, then get found

Whatever channel brings someone in, they will usually check your website before they call. It needs a clear page for each priority matter type, real team profiles, the required price and complaints information and an easy way to get in touch. Our guide to what makes a great law firm website covers the detail.

For matters people search for, search can become a dependable long-term source of enquiries. That means one strong page per matter type, a complete Google Business Profile for each office and a habit of asking every client for a review.

We cover this step by step in SEO for solicitors, including how Google treats individual solicitors and how to ask for reviews within the rules. Fix the website before you spend on advertising.

Use paid search with care

Google Ads can put you in front of people searching for urgent help today. Google's legal requirements policy says advertisers must comply with the local laws and regulations of every area their ads target, so SRA rules apply to your ad text as well.

Send each ad group to a page about that exact matter, not your homepage. Our landing page checklist shows what those pages need, and our Google Ads for law firms page explains how we set campaigns up.

Keep in touch with clients and referrers

Former clients and professional contacts are the source of most referral work. The SRA allows approaches to current and former clients, but email marketing still has to follow PECR.

The ICO's guidance on email marketing says you generally need consent to email individuals. The "soft opt-in" exception covers people who bought or negotiated for a similar service from you, provided you offered an opt-out when you collected their details and offer it in every message. Emails to staff at companies and LLPs follow different rules, but sole traders and some partnerships count as individuals.

For referrers, a short quarterly update and the occasional coffee or event often does more than any newsletter.

A 90-day plan for one priority

Worked example. Say a firm wants more uncontested probate work. Here is how the first 90 days might look.

At the end of the 90 days, compare probate enquiries and instructions with the same period last year. Keep what worked, drop what did not and move on to the next priority.

Throughout, track every enquiry by source and practice area, and follow it through to instruction and fee. That gives you a cost per instruction for each channel, which is far more useful than clicks or followers.

How The Think helps law firms

We are a small branding and web design studio. We work on brand identity, Framer websites, copywriting, SEO and local SEO, and Google Ads landing pages, so we can cover the positioning, the website and the search work in one plan.

We work to fixed quotes. See our law firm marketing page for how we approach it.