There was a time when legal marketing campaigns consisted of not much more than “word of mouth” to attract new clients. While a referral from friends or family remains a popular way to find a lawyer, things have changed a bit with the introduction of digital marketing through channels like social media platforms and Google Ads. In the past year, 34% of people combined found lawyers by researching a firm’s website or through organic search with an online search engine.
Digital content marketing methods cover a few avenues for you to explore and fine-tune, driving ideal clients to your firm. It’s more important now than ever as people begin to do their own research for law practices to serve their needs. You can take advantage of these five lawyer marketing strategies, allowing your law firm to stay competitive at every opportunity.
1. Decide on Your Branding
Branding is a key consideration when designing legal marketing strategies, as it’s the backbone of your firm. Establishing your brand requires you to decide how you want to maintain your integrity, and it represents the value you want to bring to clients. That is, what kind of reputation do you want to present to clients?
There are both tangible and intangible aspects of legal branding:
- Tangible branding: includes your logo, firm name, building location, office décor, and business card layouts.
- Intangible branding: includes your client perception, professional conduct, company values, character traits, and business persona.
Above all, effective branding strategies tell your firm’s story to clients. Think about what you want them to know and remember because this is what will make you stand out from the competition. Whether it be client reviews, phone calls, or email exchanges, every interaction a potential or existing client has with you either boosts or deflates your branding.
2. Develop a Social Media Presence
Social media marketing is on the rise with no slowdown in sight. According to the American Bar Association’s TechReport, 86% of lawyers utilize a social media platform as part of their lawyer marketing strategy. In addition, more than 50% of these respondents use social media for client development. So it’s clear that to stay competitive, you must use social media as part of your marketing campaign.
Whether you’re a personal injury lawyer or a criminal defense lawyer, using a well-placed social marketing movement can help increase your client base. Social marketing develops a series of activities around issues that are important to your community. So, to make the most of this strategy and drive potential clients to your firm, you should know the needs of the populations you look to serve. Demographics such as older people, those who are U.S. noncitizens, people living with disabilities, and survivors of domestic crimes are examples of groups who may need specialized legal services.
Understanding client needs allows you to effectively present the message you want, which in turn promotes your brand.
3. Employ SEO
Search engines like Google can help clients find what field of law they need and which firm provides their desired services. However, you know that you must stand out in a competitive market to reach those clients. To successfully do so, your digital content must include search engine optimization (SEO) to rank your website high on the first search engine result page (SERP).
In recent years, nearly 30% of internet traffic has come from online organic searches, and it’s likely this percentage will increase over time. Consider using SEO marketing methods to help your business drive in the most organic traffic and search engine hits:
Search engines rely on the SEO elements of discovery, relevance, and authority to determine which sites will appear first on SERPs. You can certainly implement SEO marketing strategies on your own, or you can look to an expert in digital content marketing to help you design an SEO-friendly website. Digital marketing and technology platforms can help you do the following:
- Produce engaging content to attract clients
- Provide links to internal content that you’ve already published
- Suggest external links to authoritative sources, verifying statistics you want clients to know
- Research for relevant keywords and phrases related to your services.
- Structure your content with SEO titles and headings.
- Analyze search results and edit content based on the findings.
4. Create Engaging Content
The quality of your content creation makes all the difference in whether a potential client continues reading and researching your firm. If a person ends up believing that you’re not the answer they’ve been looking for, all it takes is one click to move on with their search.
Develop an engaging online presence by using one more of the different content marketing methods, including:
- Blog posts
- Newsletters
- Virtual seminars
- Informative Videos
Engaging content can help turn those who are shopping for legal services into new clients by explaining what services you offer in a way that sparks interest. Tailor your digital content to the forms that your potential clients are most likely to view.
However, it’s worth noting that not all content is created equally - decide which marketing funnel stage you want to gear specific content. This makes an important difference in how you reach people based on where they are in their “purchasing” decisions.
- Top-funnel content attracts internet searchers, and a high-value, SEO-friendly blog is an ideal place to start.
- Mid-funnel content keeps visitors learning more about you, so think about how you want to structure your website landing pages.
- Bottom-funnel content aims to convert potential clients into existing clients. Consider offering white pages on case studies. Include a call-to-action for consultation, too.
By creating quality legal content that provides value, you attract new clients and deliver relevant information they can use when seeking services. As a result, you and your firm will stand out as an authoritative leader.
5. Utilize Paid Marketing
While organic lawyer marketing campaigns are cost-effective, they can take a long time to produce results. For small law firms and solo practitioners, advertising and marketing costs are not typically a priority in the budget. As of last year, the ABA reports that only 45% of small firms - under 10 lawyers - and solos combined have a marketing budget. With this in mind, a paid marketing strategy may be worth your while to see faster returns down the road.
Paid marketing means paying for advertisements that are targeted to specific audiences instead of waiting for clients to find you. Paid marketing campaigns are generally utilized based on users’ search engine entries or their activities across social media. You can gear your content marketing strategies to specific platforms, such as sponsored Linkedin posts and Facebook ads. Channels use many factors to target your potential clients, including locations, interests, Amazon purchases, or frequently visited pages.
Paid marketing methods usually have a set budget that will allow the advertisements to run for an allotted time or a specific number of hits received. Despite having an upfront cost, paid marketing utilizes data and market trends that are not directly accessible to the average online user. This can be beneficial for new and smaller firms looking to create a name within the community and provides an edge over the competition.
Look to Scorpion for Your LawyerMarketing Solutions
Legal marketing efforts are not what they used to be. The competition is fierce, and there’s so much more involved in staying ahead of the game. But you’ll see the marketing campaign results you desire while working with Scorpion’s full platform of tools, including marketing services, website management, and ad-buying. Make your practice an authority in your legal field.
