For criminal defense attorneys, an impactful marketing strategy is essential for consistently attracting clients. Let's dive into the key elements of a successful marketing approach and explore how you can implement them to grow your criminal defense practice.
Start with Your Goals
Most tips and tricks that people talk about can be good for marginal improvements, but the best advice we can give—after helping criminal defense attorneys across the country succeed—is to start with where you want to take your firm.
Often, if you’re thinking about improving marketing, it’s because you want to generate more cases, keep your attorneys’ caseloads full, or hit a new revenue mark.
Most of the criminal defense attorneys we work with set annual revenue goals, and then we work together to reverse engineer how we’ll get there together.
When you do this, you’ll find areas that need improvement (and a plan to do that). You’ll find areas of opportunity to take advantage of, and you’ll find ways to improve your processes to maximize revenue.
In terms of marketing, once you have your goals—or your north star—in mind, you can examine a few key areas to make improvements.
Your Brand
Just as you meticulously build your case before heading to court, maintaining a strong brand is crucial for establishing trust and credibility with your target audience. Your brand is more than just a logo—it's a reflection of your values and what sets you apart from the competition in criminal defense.
As a criminal defense attorney, your brand must help you attract more clients. You’ll want to focus on your reputation, what makes you unique, why you are the right choice for potential new clients, and present yourself as the go-to choice for the criminal defense matters you specialize in. Your website, your social media, your video and photography, your advice, your victories, your successes, your awards, what people say about you—are all very important parts of your brand.
Website
Your website is one of the most critical marketing assets you own. For people who have been charged with a crime, they’re looking for help, and your website often serves as the first place potential clients visit to learn (and decide) if you’re the right firm for them.
While you might hear advice around tips, tweaks, and technical changes, the best advice we can give is to make every client who visits your website feel sold on the fact that you are the right choice. You do that by bringing yourself, your story, and your value to life through video, content, and showcasing your successes, highlighting the reasons why you are the right criminal defense lawyer.
Reviews
Reviews are important. They’re important enough to invest in a system to get more consistent reviews. Every successful case needs a review. Make it part of your client workflow and encourage clients to share their experiences through reviews.
It’s important to note that reviews aren’t a “do it once and forget it” function. Do it always, and it will help your firm grow revenue.
Scorpion offers a robust case management integration to assist you with this, if needed.
Video
Take a fresh look at your website, social media, and online properties that represent you. If you have a video, watch it. Does it effectively represent your firm? Would you hire yourself after watching it?
If you don’t have a video, get one made. Besides the fact that video helps make your firm stand out and sell its value, it has numerous applications across all of your digital marketing efforts.
Here are a few examples of criminal defense firms that do a good job with video:
- DUIHeroes | Washington DUI Defense
- Patituce & Associates | Ohio Criminal Defense
- Gannes & Musico | New York Traffic Violations
Firms that use video are more successful in their digital marketing efforts than those that don’t.
Determine the Case Types You Want
Before you invest in search engine optimization work, content generation, video content, social media, or anything else, make a list of the types of criminal defense cases you want.
The cases you want are what you should invest in. A common mistake we see is that criminal defense attorneys are not focused on the cases that drive their revenue. Do you really want expungements? Or are there cases you want the phone to ring with?
Whatever those are, those are what you should put your money behind in digital marketing.
I Want to Invest in Digital Marketing & Ads. Now What?
Assuming you have a solid foundation for your practice, it may be time to take it to the next level and start attracting the calls and cases you want.
If you don’t have a great foundation, don’t pass go. Without it, your digital marketing and advertising become more expensive. The key to great digital marketing is putting out the right message, the right creative, and the right persuasive reasons to choose your firm. When you’re there, that’s when you should put your money to work to drive people to your practice.
Here are a few common places to start driving cases to your firm:
1) Search Engine Optimization
SEO is a long-term strategy to show up when people search for your services locally. It has the best return on investment, but it takes time. It’s not just about writing content—it’s about a whole host of things that give Google, Bing, and other search engines the signals they need to rank you as a top option. This world is full of misinformation, but consistent, valuable, authoritative content that people want to read and learn from will win in the long run.
2) Local Service Ads
Running Local Service Ads with Google gets your firm in top ad positions when people are actively looking for a criminal defense firm. It’s a great starting point for advertising. Like anything digital advertising-related, as more criminal defense lawyers run these ads, they become more expensive. Since their introduction, the cost of running Local Service Ads with Google has increased every year. Supply and demand.
3) Search Engine Ads
When people search specific terms in specific geographic areas you want to advertise in—your ads can show up here. This is another very common way attorneys get cases today. And just like LSAs, the more attorneys who compete in the Google Auction, the more expensive it gets.
There are ways to combat this and turn the tables in your favor. Integrating your case management system with your marketing allows technology to make instant decisions about what works and what doesn’t. Over time, your advertising budget, targeting, and search terms are optimized to focus on what drives your revenue.
The key to these ads is having a great, compelling message. For every search, you want to deliver the most persuasive reason for someone to choose you. The ad gets the click. The website closes the lead. Don’t overlook this.
4) Social Ads
Nearly everyone uses social media these days. If you survey your last 100 clients, most of them are on at least one platform.
That means you can reach potential clients with ads before they even start searching. In marketing, we talk about the funnel—this is top-of-funnel advertising. It creates awareness, which is beneficial for everything else you do digitally.
Social ads serve many purposes: awareness, engagement, and lead generation. The key is to provide real value with custom creative that people will actually engage with.
5) Content Marketing
Content marketing is a powerful tool for educating your audience, building trust, and establishing your firm as a thought leader.
Whether it’s in-depth blog posts, video content (on your website, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram), or other useful resources, providing valuable information helps drive engagement and attract new clients.
Intake
Your client intake process is one of the most significant levers for achieving a successful outcome.
Too many firms don’t treat potential new clients with the urgency, compassion, and care that’s required. This is always worth a fresh look. Great intake makes firms more money. It’s proven.
Scorpion offers helpful technology—LeadsAI and IntakeAI—that enables your practice to understand how calls are being handled, how leads are being converted (or not), and ultimately where you can improve to close more cases.
You can also enhance this content to reach a wider audience. More awareness. More eyeballs. All of it helps grow your practice.
When creating content, focus on your audience’s needs. Provide value. And always weave in your brand to reinforce your identity.
Our Last Piece of Advice: Keep It Fresh
This article is long, so if you’ve made it this far, congratulations.
Every 2 to 3 years, you should completely refresh your online presence. The best criminal defense attorneys (and firms in general) do this. They redesign their websites. They shoot new video. They get new photos. They ensure their message, content, and tone accurately reflect who they are today.
A lot changes in three years. Technology changes. The world changes. Your firm changes.
You may have added attorneys. You may have expanded into new practice areas. Your client experience or case management systems may have improved (and if they haven’t, you should consider that too). Staying ahead isn’t just about having fresh marketing—it’s about improving your operations, systems, and tech as well.
Growth Partners
Marketing your criminal defense firm can feel complex—and time-consuming.
We’ve got your back. Our technology was designed to help firms like yours grow revenue, capitalize on opportunities all around you, and stay ahead of the curve.
Our team brings 25+ years of experience in criminal defense marketing. We're here to help save you time, bring you expert guidance and partnership, and ultimately help you grow into the future, together.
Contact us today to learn how we can help you grow.
