Defining your objectives, as any military strategist will tell you, is the key to achieving your goals.

Not that any law firm partner who wants to maintain a growing business and a loyal client base should immediately rush out and buy the collected works of Karl von Clausewitz, Sun Tzu and Julius Caesar - far from it - but strategic planning should be in his or her mind when considering the firm's marketing strategy.This is especially true in light of a recent survey, Marketing the Advisers II, published jointly by marketing consultants Wheeler Associates and market research company McCallum Layton.

The report suggests that everything is not as it should be when it comes to business advisory firms and their marketing - with lawyers being singled out for particular attention.

The report involved 150 law firms including 29% of the top 50 practices in the country.

It cited a catalogue of problems that range from 'insufficient focus on clients' needs' to 'under-investment in marketing resources' to 'misunderstanding of branding'.One of the report's authors, Kevin Wheeler, says: 'The profits of the UK's largest law firms reached record levels this year.

Firms can therefore afford to invest substantial sums to improve their marketing.'However, our survey reveals that many firms are wasting their money, because they are not focusing on those marketing activities which really make a difference when it comes to retaining and attracting clients.'Marketing professionals, both in-house and external, agree that Wheeler's report highlights some areas of concern.

Marketing consultant Sandra Hewett of Sandra Hewett Media Relations, whose clients include Tarlo Lyons, Collyer Bristow and Garretts, says: 'Law firms' marketing departments are only as good as they are allowed to be.

This report rightly points out that some firms are putting the cart before the horse.

You have to look at where the firm is going.

Law firms have been talking to PR consultancies for 10 to 12 years.

Other than in very precise areas such as client crises, you could argue that those PR services have not been needed and that some of the money spent on it has been wasted.'She stresses that firms need to implement business development plans and to establish exactly what their message is before they start spending hard-earned cash on trying to communicate it.James Hudson, marketing director at major City firm Nabarro Nathanson, agrees that clear, long-term goals are crucial if the marketeers are going to deliver the goods.

He says: 'Law firms generally do not look at marketing as something which helps them sell more, which is what I think it is all about.

Some partners still see their marketing people as the ones who organise seminars, produce brochures and sort out trips to Ascot.'That image is changing, albeit slowly.

Tom Rose, marketing director of Clifford Chance, says: 'Lawyers are relatively new to the concept of marketing in comparison to other sectors but law firm partnerships are becoming more sophisticated.'Corrinna Christophorou, marketing director at City IT practice Bird & Bird, agrees: 'We have come a long way since the days when the marketing department was expected to produce a few brochures and organise a few events.'She stresses the importance of communication and understanding of goals within a practice, adding: 'The partnership needs to buy into the concept of marketing.

The relationship needs to be mutually s upportive.

A top 50 law firm is a business - a commercial organisation.

It cannot operate without proper client care and a defined strategy for going forward.'Ms Hewett believes many firms - and their marketing departments - have made major strides when it comes to understanding this fact.

She says: 'They have thought out at every level how to be competitive.

The top firms are looking at mergers, acquisitions and overseas expansion.

The middle firms are being told they are being squeezed and are considering their role in the market-place to make sure they offer good quality; and the niche firms are concentrating on their specific markets.An insight into what is involved in making marketing work comes from Mr Rose.

He says: 'We have a large business development department that the partnership oversees to make sure that value is being extracted from it.

Any marketing strategy has to be based on the need to extend and deepen the relationship with clients.

The role of the marketing department has a direct link with that business aim.' Mr Hudson at Nabarro's points to similar principles in his firm: 'We have made an issue out of making sure our marketing activity dovetails into our business strategy.'But one area of traditional law firm marketing activity has just come under fire - once again courtesy of a report from Wheeler Associates and McCallum Layton.

The pair were commissioned by 40 leading law firms to assess the role of legal directories in influencing clients to select legal advisers.

The results were not impressive.

The report states: 'Legal directories only play a minor role in influencing the choice of lawyers.'Nearly half (46%) of all respondents felt that legal directories are not very or not at all important when selecting law firms.

The report continued: 'Clients tend to use firms they have worked with in the past or that are known to them.

Respondents also told us they seek recommendations from their colleagues, in-house lawyers in other companies and lawyers in private practice.'But should we be surprised? Ms Hewett thinks not: 'Legal 500 and Chambers are important in the market-place but for a broad range of purposes.

Firms should not hope that entries will immediately bring in business.

They are more about brand-building and awareness that develops over the years.' But she says firms should be wary about spending too much time and resources on directory entries.Clifford Chance's Mr Rose agrees that directories are unlikely to yield immediate results: 'There are cheaper ways to build marketing awareness than by spending time and money on legal directories: press stories, publications, seminars - a whole range of standard marketing tools.'Mr Hudson is also not convinced: 'The two main directories are terribly incestuous.

Although they talk about the quality of their research I do not think it is that good.

I expect that more and more people are looking at demonstrations of what a firm has done before more than whether it gets good write-ups in a directory.'DIRECTORIES-- 54% of respondents had used a legal directory in the past to identify a firm or appoint one to carry out work.-- 31% of these had used Chambers and 24% had used Legal 500.

Less than 10% had used one of 11 other directories.-- 54% of respondents felt that the consequences of not taking entries in legal directories would be minimal.-- 16% felt firms would miss out on work by not taking entries.MARKETING-- 57% of law firms surveyed have formulated a set of brand values.-- 44% produce a one-year marketing plan.-- 39% do not hav e a networked database for managing and co-ordinating their marketing.-- 31% of sampled law firms do not commission market research to understand the needs of clients.-- 26% never ask clients whether they are satisfied with the firm's service.