Week 2: The Marketing Plan

This week focused on how important Market plans are to every business.  Developing a Marketing plan is often times the most important activity that a CEO will conduct during the year. 

“A marketing plan is a written document containing the guidelines for the business center’s marketing programs and allocations over the planning period” (Lieman and Winer, 1).

For the purposes of this blog, I will direct the concepts that I learn throughout the week towards the legal field.  I will not be the CEO of a company (at least not right now), instead I am earning an MBA to assist in client relations in the field of Business Law.  Marketing planning is a tough concept for most traditional law firms because the typical law firm does not advertise.  Since advertisement is not included in the marketing plan for my law firm, then we have to find other ways to expose our services and work product to the market.

 

This week, I learned that the marketing plan is an operational document and it usually begins at a high level of an organization.  My organization is an 8 person law firm.  The Managing Partner is the strategic marketing planner.  He has a heavy burden because he needs to promote the law firm’s services, while remaining true to a traditional firm’s standards.

 

Now, be careful.  In the previous sentence I made a huge error by grouping Marking and advertising together.  This may be wrong, but the truth is most companies still do it.  For clarification, let me try to differentiate between Selling and Marketing.  “Selling focuses on the needs of the Seller and the need to convert products to cash, while Marketing focuses on the needs of the buyer and the need to satisfy the customer.”  So in truth, even I was a little confused at first.  Based on this definition, when the managing partner writes policy about how to treat clients and how to handle client files, that is marketing.  

 

I’ve watched the managing partner strategically price hourly rates for the senior partners, associates and paralegals at competitive rates with the market.  My firm routinely takes clients to golf tournaments and dinners.  The managing partner regularly attends City and State dinners held by the Mayor and Governor. Also, my firm treats each client exceptionally well.  All of these actions constitute marketing for a firm.  I do not know if there is a ‘plan’ written down anywhere, but I am 100% positive that all of these actions are carefully considered and planned by the Managing partner before they are undertaken.  There is a cost associated with marketing plans so each action should lead to some profit in the long term.

 

Another important concept that I learned and discussed this week was Drucker’s view marketing.  As I was reading Chapters 4 and 5 in the book, ‘Drucker on Marketing’ by William A. Cohen, I couldn’t help but feel like I was being lectured by my boss.  Some of these same principals were uttered to me before and I wonder if he’s read this book (or an earlier version or may one of Drucker’s own papers).  Drucker believed that marketing was a commitment that had to be undertaken by everyone in the organization that has anything to do with customers.  This echoes my boss’ lectures on how everyone needs to address clients and how client’s files should be handled with the utmost care.  Drucker came up with the “5 Most Important Questions you Will Ever Ask About Your Organization.” 

1. What is our mission?

2. Who is our customer?

3. What does our customer value?

4. What are our results?

5. What is our plan?

 

Once a company can effectively answer these questions, they have started their marketing plan.  I think this is a good place to stop and try to understand how our company that we are currently involved in would answer these 5 questions.  If you've read this far in my blog, try to answer these questions in the comments section.  Thanks.  See you next week!