Meet Michelle—a top performer praised by managers and peers. Yet two coworkers constantly belittle her, causing stress and anxiety.
Michelle reports the bullying to her supervisor and HR, but despite documented complaints, nothing changes.
One evening, as she lies in bed unable to sleep, Michelle picks up her phone and Googles "workplace bullying." This leads her to a local employment law firm’s website and a free downloadable checklist titled: “Are You the Victim of Workplace Bullying?” Michelle reviews the checklist and learns that yes, she is a victim of bullying, and she has options and rights. The next day, she calls that law firm and gets the help she needs.
Giving away helpful information to prospective clients has many legal marketing benefits and is at the heart of nearly every effective content, digital, and relationship-building marketing strategy. It may seem counterintuitive to give a valuable product or service away, but businesses do it all the time to instill satisfaction, encourage referrals, and boost sales.
Employment law firms can’t offer free shipping or merchandise samples, but they can provide an even more valuable product: knowledge.
Why Giving Away Information Works for Employment Lawyers
Employment law content is a hot commodity and providing it for free is a proven way to generate more business.
As an employment lawyer, there are two ways to distribute free content:
- Ungated—post it openly on your site and amplify via email and LinkedIn.
- Gated—offer the download in exchange for an email address.
Whichever way the information is disseminated, the marketing benefits can be considerable:
Test the Market: Measure downloads, website traffic, and social media engagement on free content to gauge what topics people are interested in. Use this information to create even more in-demand content and, importantly, to understand which practice area there is a market for. For example, if you recently wrote and posted a blog on your state’s new law regarding equal pay and it is receiving a lot of visitors, this indicates that it’s a good time to launch a legal marketing campaign focused on the firm’s wage and hour practice attorneys.
Branding: Free, valuable content allows potential clients, referral sources, the media, and others to get to know your firm, your services, and your expertise. When an employment law firm consistently posts and shares useful information, it generates name recognition and a reputation for being a trusted leader in the area. Furthering the example above, a marketing campaign focused on the firm’s ability to resolve equal pay issues ensures that your firm’s or attorney’s name comes to mind when any kind of pay dispute arises.
Grow Contacts/Leads: Employment law firms can use free information to build their email contact list, which is really a list of people who may one day be a client or refer someone who will be. Creating a valuable resource, like a list of local, state, and federal government agencies that regulate employment or an FAQ on workplace harassment, can work wonders for your law firm marketing strategy. Plus, when a potential client sees that you care enough to offer complimentary legal advice, it can help turn them into a new client. Make the resource available for download to anyone who enters their email address. Just be transparent that they may receive marketing emails from the firm in the future (and, of course, give them the option to later opt out of those marketing emails).
Increase Website Traffic: Posting interesting and helpful content on your firm’s website and sharing links to those posts through social media and emails will increase visitors to the website. Content marketing is a must-do employment law marketing tactic if driving traffic to your firm's website is one of your marketing goals (as it should be since law firm websites are the crown jewel of legal marketing). Posting FAQs like “Can my employer fire me for social-media posts?” and sharing them via HR Facebook groups drives qualified visitors to your site.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Search engines reward in-depth, keyword-rich content—think guides titled “FMLA Eligibility Checklist for Texas Employees.” The more relevant your resource, the higher you’ll rank when prospects search for help. Like Michelle did in the situation above, people go to search engines for help finding all manner of services — including attorneys. In digital marketing, SEO is important for both organic and paid search results to ensure your website appears high on a search engine results page.
Want to outrank competing employment-law sites? Scorpion’s Ranking AI analyzes 40,000 data points to surface the factors Google is rewarding right now—helping your FLSA or discrimination pages climb the results. Learn more.
What Free Information Should an Employment Law Firm Offer?
- Blogs
- Attorney-authored articles published by other media
- Legal alerts
- Case studies, including firm matters and those in the news
- Checklists
- FAQs
- Infographics
- E-books
- White papers
- Videos
- In-person or online free events
- Recordings of in-person or online seminars or presentations
- Podcasts
Wondering what topics to cover? New local, state, or federal laws and regulations on issues like overtime, independent contractors, and benefits are always helpful. Consider a series of one-page primers on specific areas of law, like wage and hour, discrimination, sick leave, health and safety, etc.
Another type of free information employment law firms often offer is an initial consultation. Discussing the issue with an employment law attorney before hiring them gives people peace of mind and ensures the attorney-client match is correct.
Whether it’s free content or a consultation, always be aware of the line between providing useful information and giving free legal advice or establishing an attorney-client relationship. When in doubt, consult your state bar or the American Bar Association’s professional rules and responsibility.
Ready to turn HR questions into signed retainers? Let’s talk. Scorpion’s employment law marketing team can map out a content plan that fills your pipeline—without adding unnecessary work to your plate.
