Focus on the big picture.  When done best, marketing derives logically from a firm’s strategic plan.  The strategic plan goes beyond the budget management focus of an annual operations plan to provide direction and structure to the firm.  A comprehensive strategic plan allows a firm to:

• Know, based on research, what your position is in its market
• Clearly understand (and for the partners to be able to articulate) the structure and changes within the legal industry and how they affect the firm
• Define the firm’s vision for its future and how you will achieve that vision by establishing concrete goals, timelines and metrics for measuring success
• Act to intentionally change the firm’s position to achieve its goals
• Make changes to improve organizational results