When you start your own law firm, you're not just responsible for knowing and practicing law. Instead, you also must create marketing and business development plans that consistently put you in front of new clients. While this can feel like a whole other job in and of itself, you need a plan to effectively get your law firm name out there.
There is some good news: while you have some important decisions to make about how you'll market and reach your target audience, you don't need to be the one creating and implementing everything that's required to execute that plan.
In fact, it's far better to hand that off to someone else, like an expert marketing agency. Even if you intend to delegate implementation to a trusted marketing team for lawyers like Rankings.io, you need to know some basics so that your input can be used to develop these strategies. Utilize the best marketing for lawyers tips to grow quickly and effectively.
1. Build a Strong Brand
Successful law firms don't just sell services—they project an image that resonates with potential clients. That image, or your law firm's "brand," influences how potential clients perceive and interact with you.
Each attorney has something unique to offer—some qualities or experiences that set them apart from the competition. It's crucial to identify the forte that makes you stand apart from the crowd. This uniqueness can span any number of variables—the type of services you offer, your approach to handling cases, your personal style, your success rates, the experiences you offer to clients, the clients you serve, etc.
Understanding your unique selling proposition (USP) helps you focus on specific key differentiators in your marketing strategy, making your brand strong and memorable.
Your brand is essentially the promise you make to your clients. It's the standard you hold yourself to, and it's how clients know they can trust you. When you consistently deliver on that promise, you begin to develop a reputation of trust and reliability. On the other hand, inconsistent messaging and broken promises can harm your reputation and cost you clients.
1. Master One Channel at a Time
Too many lawyers are tempted to try to do it all, getting mediocre results across the board when it would have been better to focus on just one law firm marketing channel at a time.
Focusing on a single channel allows you to focus your efforts and get the most out of it instead of diluting them across several channels. To get the most out of your marketing efforts, you need to know where your audience spends time to reach them effectively.
There are only five ways an attorney can get new clients: paid media, owned media, earned media, partnerships, professional referrals, and word of mouth. Once you select the best ways, you can speed up your learning curve with other marketing channels and get more consistent results across the board.
To start, pick the channel most likely to convert for you and stick with it before expanding into the next. This way, you'll have a solid base to grow and can snowball your marketing efforts over time.
3. Have a Clear Marketing Plan
One of the biggest challenges in law firm marketing is attempting to run a campaign without a plan.
Without a clear marketing plan, you will not have a direction for marketing yourself. Your marketing plan explains your goals, budget, key performance indicators, and other important details about how you'll execute your strategy. An attorney marketing plan helps you track your bigger law firm revenue goals so that you can continue to scale.
A few pieces of information belong in your law firm marketing plan:
- An analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for your law firm
- Data on your local law firm market, including where they spend time and how they make decisions (which helps you select your marketing channels and tactics)
- Marketing/financial goals for the law firm
- A monthly legal marketing budget
Your plan should not change in terms of the big-picture law firm marketing strategy. But, as you master marketing channels and add in others, as well as receive data about the performance of your initiatives, you can update your marketing tactics or channels used.
4. Understand Ethics Restrictions on Attorney Marketing
This is one of the most crucial elements of getting traction in your marketing without raising any red flags. With marketing, you want to be as compelling as possible in what you say to prospective clients without crossing the line on any ethics rules or best practices in your state.
Review your local, regional, and state bar association's rules to confirm what you can and cannot say regarding your marketing messages.
With so much content created these days for email newsletters, social media platforms, and your website, it's essential to develop a clear system for reviewing content to verify that nothing is published that could cause problems.
5. Always Keep Your Clients First
Your clients want to hire someone with the right education, experience, and track record. But your clients care primarily about themselves and the legal issues they're facing, so your marketing needs to meet them where they are.
No matter how you choose to market yourself, obsess over how to create an outstanding client experience. This will pay off in spades when your potential client feels trust and credibility with you early in the process. Investing in your reputation and creating a personal brand as an attorney can help build up word-of-mouth credibility.
Word of mouth is one of the most potent marketing engines for a law firm of any size. In fact, 37% of clients said that word of mouth and recommendations were the most critical factor they considered in selecting an attorney. When you get a new client, provide them with an outstanding experience and solicit their feedback in reviews and testimonials. This social proof continues to help convert other potential clients.
How to Improve Client Experience
Here are some of the best ways to improve client experience:
- Be upfront and honest about how to work with you and what that looks like
- Create clear timelines around communication and response
- Use the words of your clients in your marketing messages (instead of using legal jargon)
- Get your whole team invested in getting positive feedback from your clients
- Listen to client comments about working with you and use that to improve your processes
6. Invest in Content Marketing and SEO
When thinking through the best ways to reach your clients, don't neglect one of the strongest methods of drawing in new business: content marketing and SEO. One report found that search engine optimization was the most effective channel for 79% of marketers across all industries.
Many other marketing methods rely on what's known as digital sharecropping, where you're building your business on some other platform, such as social media or digital ads offered by Google. These methods can really work and drive law firm growth, but you're also reliant on changes in their algorithms and rules.
SEO is a Long-Term Strategy
With your law firm's website, you own both the content and the domain. Building this as a resource hub that establishes you as an industry authority and simultaneously brings traffic from search engine results pages is valuable for long-term success.
In the short term, using paid ads or social media marketing can get you some easy and early wins, but investing in content marketing for a long-term legal marketing strategy to grow your client base is far better.
With all content you create and publish on your law firm website, ensure it's client-focused. Consider the following questions as you draft that content or hand it off to an expert SEO content team:
- What is the legal problem my client is most likely facing when landing on this article?
- What questions will they want answered before placing a phone call to my law office?
- What other resources can I include that make this piece a big value-add for the reader?
If you're ready to try your hand at SEO, check out our comprehensive SEO checklist to see everything that's involved.
7. Invest in Digital Advertising
Law firm online advertising is a strong digital marketing option for reaching your prospective audience when they're most likely to need an attorney.
If you're just starting your law firm, putting more money into digital advertising can work to get your foot in the door with marketing. You may also need to check state BAR associations to ensure your ads follow all regulations. Over time, however, you'll want to move some of that money and time investment into something like content marketing and SEO.
Divide and Conquer
Becoming too reliant on digital ad platforms leaves you without much control over how those ads perform, and a big change or more competition/less attention can tank your results. Without broadening your reach, you could spend a lot of money on digital ads, so diversify as soon as you can.
When deciding on digital ads, think through these factors:
Initial Launch and Exposure
If you are at the early stages of establishing your law firm, investing more in digital advertising can provide an initial boost to your marketing efforts. Platforms like Google Ads or social media ads allow you to swiftly raise brand awareness, attract website traffic, and generate potential leads.
Be sure to keep in mind that legal advertising must comply with specific regulations set out by state BAR associations. It's crucial to ensure your advertisements are ethical, accurate, and meet all regulatory standards to maintain professionalism and avoid anything that could damage your firm's reputation.
Targeted Reach
One significant advantage of digital advertising over traditional methods is its precise targeting capabilities. You can tailor your advertisements based on your potential client's location, demographics, interests, and even their online behavior. This reduces wasted resources on irrelevant audiences and enables you to reach the individuals who are actively seeking your expertise.
Evolving Your Strategy
While digital advertising is a powerful marketing tool, particularly in the initial phases of your law firm, it's not the only marketing strategy. Over time, consider diversifying your marketing mix and reallocating some resources into long-term strategies like search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing.
8. Consider Traditional Direct Marketing
TV, billboard, and radio ads have a level of visibility and prestige that can't be easily replicated in digital spaces. These mediums provide an ideal channel to target local prospects, especially those not as engaged on digital platforms. Moreover, crafting location-centric messages that resonate with the community can significantly improve brand recall and generate more inbound inquiries.
Humanizing Your Firm
One particular advantage direct marketing brings is the ability to humanize your law firm. By using photographs of your attorneys in your ads, you bring a personal touch to your promotion. This strategy showcases the faces behind the business, making it easier for potential clients to connect with you on a personal level.
You want to appear professional, an advocate for your clients, and approachable at the same time.
9. Enhancing Your Law Practice with Social Media Marketing
In today's digital era, social media plays an essential role in an attorney's marketing toolkit. It's a platform that allows law firms of various sizes to connect with potential clients, advertise their legal services, and establish their professional identity.
Developing a Social Media Strategy
A successful social media strategy requires a clear understanding of your law firm’s marketing goals and a thoughtful plan about how to achieve them. Being present on all social media platforms isn't necessary or practical. Instead, focus on the platforms most relevant to your target audience.
Once you've narrowed down the platforms—LinkedIn for a professional social media presence, Instagram for a more visual appeal, or Twitter for swift updates—consider the kind of content that will resonate with your audience. Sharing valuable content like blog articles, legal updates, or case studies can position your firm as an expert in the field.
Engagement Is Key
But remember, social media isn't just a broadcasting tool; it's a platform designed for two-way communication. Engage with your audience by responding to their comments and messages and participating in conversations relevant to your practice area.
10. Harness Online Reviews and Testimonials
Online reviews count for a lot in today's digital-centric world. Prospects frequently cite reviews as a key factor when seeking legal help or considering a law firm for their needs. Reviews provide potential clients with social proof—real-world experiences from others who have used your services and have been satisfied with the results. As a result, positive online reviews can significantly influence a prospect's decision to choose your firm over others.
Client testimonials are also key to establishing trust and credibility. When past clients share their positive experiences, it provides anecdotal evidence of your firm's competence and reliability. This can be very persuasive to potential clients browsing your website or social media profiles.
A strong testimonial can highlight the benefits of using your services, giving prospects a clear idea of what they can expect if they hire your law firm.
11. Networking Opens Doors
Networking plays a vital role in marketing to potential clients and can open doors to new opportunities. As an attorney, your reputation and connections directly influence your ability to attract and retain clients.
For example, professional bodies can be the perfect networking platform, offering abundant opportunities to meet like-minded professionals. These could range from local chambers of commerce to national professional law associations or industry-specific groups. Being actively engaged in these organizations not only broadens your professional network but can also help you stay updated with industry trends and gain new skills through workshops or seminars.
Attend Legal Marketing Conferences
Conferences are a fantastic way to immerse yourself in your industry and connect with like-minded professionals. They are powerful platforms for the dissemination of knowledge, the exchange of ideas, and the creation of networks.
Participating in legal marketing conferences gives you an opportunity to learn about the latest trends, legal updates, technological advances, and best practices in the legal world. They showcase expert speakers, host educational sessions, and facilitate interactive workshops, enhancing your knowledge and skills.
On the networking side, attending a conference provides a unique chance to engage with other professionals in your field, forge new connections and partnerships, and promote your legal practice on a broader scale. On top of all this, they can provide a source of inspiration and rejuvenation, helping to keep your passion for your profession alive and kicking.
12. Tracking Your Marketing Efforts
Just like in a courtroom, fact-checking and analyzing data is a critical part of your law firm's marketing strategy. This is where the value of tracking your marketing efforts comes into play. But why is it important, and how can you do it effectively?
Measuring the success of your marketing campaign performance enables you to see not just what’s working and what’s not but also to understand why. It's essential to gain insight into which strategies result in leads, consultations, and, ultimately, clients. It helps you optimize your resource allocation, ensuring you're investing time and budget into platforms and strategies that provide a good return on investment.
Tracking performance also provides a clearer picture of your target audience’s preferences and behaviors. Capturing key information like peak engagement times, popular content types, and common user paths can help you create more effective, targeted content and campaigns.
In essence, without tracking performance, you will be steering your strategy blindly, basing decisions on assumptions rather than data.
Key Takeaways to Get More Clients Now
Growing your law firm is an exciting venture, but it requires clear strategy and execution to get the best results. To recap, here are the key aspects of marketing yourself as a lawyer:
- Choose one channel to master first, then expand to others once you've developed winning tactics and have gotten consistent results
- Use a marketing plan to reflect on how your day-to-day and weekly activities all contribute to your bigger marketing goals
- Develop rules and plans around how you'll comply with attorney ethics requirements
- Put your clients first on every channel and in every marketing message created
- Invest in content marketing, digital advertising, social media, and direct marketing over time
- Get visibility through PR opportunities in your local region or practice area
Whether you're a personal injury lawyer, a family law attorney, or in some other area of law, it's hard to balance the daily responsibilities of most legal professionals with all the tasks of running and tweaking a marketing campaign.
If you're ready to launch your SEO and content marketing strategy now to show up at the top of Google search results, contact Rankings.io to discuss in-depth research, implementation, and reporting handled by our team of experts.
