13 Top Law Firm Marketing Tips According to 17 Lawyers

Chris Dreyer

CEO and Founder

Rankings.io

One of the cornerstones of law firm marketing is finding the tactics that work best for you. Every firm has a unique way of marketing, but there is no need to reinvent the wheel.

You can learn a lot from peers who are already getting traction with their marketing efforts. Hearing from them can teach you what they're doing and give you a faster jumping-off point.

Law Firm Marketing Strategies That Work

Simply having a law degree and experience under your belt isn't enough to attract and retain clients. Potential clients have a myriad of choices at their fingertips, making it imperative that your law firm stands out. Effective marketing is no longer a luxury; it's a necessity. But with so many channels and tactics available, where should you focus your efforts?

Successful law firm marketing requires a strategic and multifaceted approach tailored to your specific practice areas and target audience. This means going beyond traditional methods and embracing innovative strategies that reach clients where they are—online and in your local community.

From generating leads through search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to cultivating a robust referral network and leveraging the power of social media, law firms must employ a combination of tactics to build brand awareness, establish authority, and drive conversions.

In the following sections, we'll explore proven marketing strategies that have helped law firms across the country grow and thrive. By implementing these actionable insights, your firm can enhance its visibility, attract quality leads, and ultimately achieve sustained growth.

Here are the top tips from 17 lawyers who are winning the game in law firm marketing strategies.

1. Be Authentic

Potential clients form an idea of you the moment they see your marketing. It is very important that your marketing material be authentic to who you are and what you have to offer.

Authenticity in your marketing builds trust and sets clear expectations for the client experience. When your marketing promises align with your actual services, it fosters a sense of reliability and integrity—traits that are crucial in the legal profession.

You want the experience you provide to match the marketing promises you make. Focus on the ways that your law firm delivers incredible experiences to clients and ensure that these unique elements shine through in your marketing efforts. Authentic marketing not only makes you more appealing to potential clients but also strengthens your brand identity, setting you apart from competitors who may present a generic or exaggerated image.

For example, if clients say you're a great communicator, lean into that in your law firm marketing. Highlight how you keep clients informed at every stage of their case, respond promptly to inquiries, and make complex legal processes easier to understand. You'll attract people who value clear and consistent communication, which means you’re more likely to meet and exceed their expectations. This matchup will allow you to deliver a great client experience consistently, thereby reinforcing your brand's authenticity and credibility.

Additionally, authentic marketing can involve sharing stories and testimonials from real clients. Client testimonials and case studies are powerful tools that showcase your firm's genuine compassion, expertise, and results. When potential clients read or hear directly from those you've helped, it builds an emotional connection and trust that polished but impersonal marketing materials simply can't achieve.

Being authentic also means acknowledging and addressing your weaknesses or limitations in your marketing. If there's a particular area where you don't practice, be upfront about it and perhaps provide recommendations to other trusted attorneys. This transparency can enhance your reputation as an honest and reliable professional.

Ultimately, authentic marketing is about being true to your firm's values, strengths, and style. Authenticity in marketing creates a seamless bridge between client expectations and their actual experiences, leading to higher satisfaction, more referrals, and long-term success.

2. Be Consistent

It might not seem like the most flashy tip, but consistency counts.

Regularly executing your marketing plan demonstrates reliability and reinforces your brand’s presence in the minds of potential clients. This steady, methodical approach may not seem exciting, but it's the foundation upon which strong, enduring client relationships are built.

There's a lot to be said for showing up regularly and executing your attorney marketing plan. Many lawyers are too tempted to move on to something shiny and new before they've given an existing option enough time. Be wary of anything that promises quick results.

Consistency in your marketing efforts means maintaining a steady flow of communications and branding across multiple channels. Whether it’s through blog posts, social media updates, newsletters, or advertisements, your message needs to be seen repeatedly to make an impact. The law firm that consistently publishes informative, well-crafted content and engages with audiences is the one that stays top-of-mind when legal issues arise.

Many lawyers are too tempted to move on to something shiny and new before they've given an existing option enough time. This impatience can derail even the best-laid marketing plans. SEO, content marketing, social media, and other digital strategies require time to yield results. Unlike quick-hit tactics, these methods build a strong foundation for sustained growth. Regular and consistent efforts compound over time, leading to greater recognition and trust among your target audience.

3. Invest in Digital Marketing

Law firm owners have no shortage of ways to get the word out there about their legal services. Traditional marketing efforts do have their place. But you can use digital marketing to more precisely target your ideal client.

Unlike traditional marketing, digital platforms allow you to target your ideal clients with pinpoint accuracy. By leveraging data and analytics, you can identify and reach specific demographics, ensuring your marketing efforts are focused on the individuals most likely to need your services. Tools such as Google Ads and Facebook Ads provide robust targeting options, from geographic location to interests and online behaviors, maximizing your return on investment.

Diversify your law firm marketing plan by adding digital avenues and social media so you have more options. A diversified approach ensures that if one channel underperforms, others can pick up the slack, providing a stable flow of new leads. For example, combining SEO with PPC advertising, content marketing, and social media engagement creates multiple touchpoints for potential clients. This omnichannel approach not only broadens your reach but also reinforces your brand presence across various platforms, enhancing credibility and trust.

A key component of digital marketing is website optimization, including both user experience and search engine optimization (SEO). A professionally designed, fast-loading, and mobile-friendly website is crucial, as it often serves as the first impression prospective clients have of your firm. By optimizing your site for search engines, you increase the likelihood of appearing in organic search results for relevant queries, driving high-quality traffic to your site. Coupled with compelling content that answers potential clients' questions and showcases your expertise, this can significantly boost your visibility and authority in your practice areas.

4. Don’t Be Afraid to Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

One of the best ways to set yourself away from your competition is to step out of your comfort zone. It's not easy to take a strong marketing message and push it out into the world, or to make your first lawyer TikTok video.

But these might be the action steps you need to take to resonate with your ideal audience.

Marketing can be difficult when you start, since you must be open to trying new things. A knowledgeable law firm marketer can help you find the things that will work for you. This keeps you from one at a time learning that info through trial and error.

5. Have a Plan

Too many law firms attempt to pull off marketing without a clear plan or law firm marketing strategy. Without a plan, lawyers can take on too many marketing initiatives at once. That's a sure path to burnout and lackluster results.

Without any meaningful results, it's tempting to conclude that marketing just doesn't work. The more likely story is that you weren't strategic about picking the marketing methods that would most likely work for you.

It's not a good idea to haphazardly chase new experiments, even though you want to be open to trying new things. If you want to try something new in your law firm marketing plan, step back and see how this might fit into the bigger picture.

6. Keep an Eye on Your Competition

Watching your competition gives you a sense of what edge others are trying to gain over you. Although you wouldn't copy their messages or methods, it's valuable intel.

For example, maybe other law firms speak about their practices with multiple attorneys. If you're doing solo law firm marketing, you might position yourself as providing a more personalized and dedicated touch.

If someone else is dominating billboards, maybe you decide not to play there at all. Instead, you might go all in with your content marketing strategy. You can even use competitor analysis search engine optimization (SEO) to see if you have the potential to surpass other law firms, too. By keeping an eye on your competition's SEO strategies, you can glean valuable insights into what works and avoid potential pitfalls.

Analyze their high-ranking pages to understand the topics and keywords driving their traffic. This helps you identify gaps in your own strategy and discover new opportunities to capture search engine real estate your competitors currently own.

Beyond just tracking keywords, study your competitors' on-page search engine optimization elements, such as title tags, meta descriptions, and internal linking structures. See how they structure their content and the user experience they offer, which can be crucial in attracting and retaining organic traffic. Are they leveraging blog posts, landing pages, or video content more effectively? Are there specific topics or questions they address that you could cover more comprehensively or from a new angle?

By continuously learning from and adapting to your competitors' successful strategies, you can refine your SEO approach, stay competitive, and ensure your law firm stands out in search engine results.

7. Stand Out From Your Competitors

Today, clients have plenty of options when picking a lawyer. It's not enough to bring your schooling and credentials to the table. You probably already know who your competitors are, but keeping an eye on them is only part of the puzzle.

If your competitors are successful with their marketing efforts, it's likely because they know their value proposition, target clients, and the channels to reach those clients. This includes a strong focus on local SEO, which ensures they appear prominently in search engine results pages (SERP) for potential clients in their specific geographic area.

To stand out, your law practice must offer something unique and make sure clients in your local area can find you. This often means niching down and owning your category while leveraging local SEO tactics to ensure your firm shows up in searches related to your specialty and location.

For example, if you're a personal injury lawyer, you might focus on one kind of accident, ensuring your practice area's landing pages are optimized for local search terms. Or you may be known for securing fair settlements from insurance companies, with client reviews and testimonials highlighting these successes prominently in local directories and your Google Business Profile. Perhaps you specialize in catastrophic or permanent injury cases, and your law firm's marketing plan includes localized blog posts that resonate with potential clients searching for that expertise in your area.

Combining a unique value proposition with robust local SEO efforts can help you outshine your competitors and attract the clients you want to serve.

8. Create Educational Content

"Creating educational content to inform the community & potential clients. This is the main reason why we put on numerous workshops throughout the year that are free to the public. It gives us an opportunity to educate the community and offer our services in case they would like to learn more."

Jordan Lulich, Managing Partner

Your messages won't always be in front of your ideal client exactly when that person is ready to hire a lawyer. Creating educational content generates demand from future clients. By setting yourself up as a knowledgeable resource, people will come to you when they need help.

The most obvious place for this content is social media marketing, but there are plenty of other places for great educational content. For example, posting helpful content on your law firm blog can introduce your firm to people at the top and middle of the content marketing funnel.

9. Become a Thought Leader

<div class="blog-post-body_content"><div class="blog-testimonial_flex"><div class="blog-post-body_left-column"><div class="column-left_inner-container"><img src="https://assets-global.website-files.com/6495917a9b1fcb0e0296b6f1/649daf0a6b317de32e045225_Price-McNamara-circle.png" alt="Price McNamara, Owner" /></div></div><div class="blog-post-body_right-column"><div class="quote-text"><i><p>"Being an author is a powerful marketing tool. It provides credibility and authority and stands out among the noise. Authors are naturally recognized as experts in their field. Potential clients will distinguish you from most every other attorney in your field of practice. YOU “wrote the book” about their legal problem.</p></i><i><p>Your book also lets you attract potential clients who are in the early stages of considering hiring an attorney without forcing them to schedule a consultation…Additionally, once you get the information you need to send them the book…you can follow up with the potential client over time until they are finally ready for a consultation.</p></i><i><p>Writing a book can be time consuming, but it doesn’t have to be. Traditional paper and pencil or keyboard-form writing can work just fine, but consider other writing options as well. Some do as I did, recording my thoughts verbally on a voice to text platform, then rearranging them into manuscript form.</p></i><i><p>It doesn’t have to be long to be helpful and effective. You can dictate answers to some of the most frequently asked questions that you hear from clients, mistakes to avoid, how you help your clients through the process. Use interesting examples from past clients you’ve helped. Easy top-of-head knowledge for you is truly valuable and much appreciated information for your perfect client facing a legal issue for the first time."</p></i><p class="testifier">Price McNamara, Owner</p><div><a href="https://jpricemcnamara.com/">ERISA Insurance Claim Attorney J. Price McNamara</a></div></div></div></div></div>

Prospective clients aren't the only ones who like content from someone who is passionate and intelligent.

Search engines like Google prioritize ranking content that delivers on the EAT principle. That means that quality, SEO-driven content shows expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.

Writing a book is just one way to be a thought leader. You can use podcasts, video marketing, LinkedIn posts, and so much more to show how engaged and knowledgeable you are in your legal practice area.

10. Use Messaging that Matches the Client Experience

When prospecrive clients visit your law firm's website, they’re seeking not only information but reassurance that your firm can meet their needs and expectations. It's imperative that the messaging on your site genuinely reflects the client experience you'll provide.

First impressions matter, and your website is often the first interaction a potential client has with your firm. Ensure your tone, language, and content speak directly to your target clients' concerns and aspirations. For instance, family law firms should emphasize compassion and understanding, while injury law firms might highlight their aggressive approach to securing compensation and their track record of success.

Authenticity and consistency are key. If your site promises prompt communication and personalized service, then every inquiry should be met with a swift, thoughtful response. This builds trust and sets clear expectations from the outset.

By aligning your website messaging with the actual client experience, you foster trust and reduce the gap between what clients expect and what they receive. This alignment can significantly improve client satisfaction, as prospective clients will feel more comfortable knowing that what they see and read online will be what they get in person. Ensure your law firm website is a true reflection of your practice’s values, approach, and dedication to client success.

11. Get Reviews from Clients

Nearly 70% of potential law firm clients look at online reviews before hiring a lawyer. Word of mouth on review platforms backs up all the marketing messages you put out there.

Online reviews also give your clients a window into what it's like to work with you from start to finish.

Law firm clients have a choice in who they hire, and they put a lot of weight on comments made by others. People like to hear what people like them have to say about a business or a service.

Reviews on your Google Business Profile and legal directories work well as standalones. You can get mileage out of them by reusing them as testimonials or case studies on your law firm's website.

12. Build Connections with Referral Partners

Word of mouth from former clients isn't the only important connection for lawyers. Referral partners are also a must.

In an industry where trust and reputation are paramount, a referral from a satisfied client or a fellow attorney can carry far more weight than an advertisement or a cold call. These word-of-mouth endorsements come with a built-in level of trust, as they're often made by someone who has firsthand experience with your firm's services and results. This can lead to higher conversion rates, as potential clients are more inclined to trust recommendations from people they know and respect.

To maximize referrals, actively cultivate relationships with past clients and other professionals in your network. Treating your clients with the utmost respect and providing exceptional service isn't just good ethics—it's good business. After a successful resolution, politely ask clients to refer your services to others who might need legal help. It's also instrumental to network with other legal professionals and firms that don’t cover your practice area but can refer clients needing your expertise.

Word of mouth and direct referrals can make it easier to convert your prospective clients. A few select referral partners who drive business your way can uplevel your marketing and provide a steady stream of clients.

13. Work with an Experienced Marketing Partner

It's tough for a law firm to juggle everything required to see marketing success. The best lawyers recognize that outsourcing things like marketing leads to better results.

There is no shortage of people who offer legal marketing services. The hard part is finding someone you can trust.

When you partner with an outside expert, you'll save time because of all the work they take off your plate. This frees you up to concentrate on what you do best—providing exceptional legal services to your clients. An experienced marketing partner will handle everything from creating compelling content, managing your social media presence, and optimizing your law firm's brand to tracking analytics and refining strategies for continuous improvement.

You also gain confidence in knowing that your marketing partner will build a law firm marketing strategy with your specific needs in mind. This eliminates the pressure to try out multiple marketing initiatives randomly. Instead, you'll be able to take a strategic and focused approach. A targeted strategy ensures your law firm marketing budget is utilized effectively, allocating resources toward initiatives that yield the highest return on investment.

Elevate Your Legal Marketing Strategy with Expert Guidance

A comprehensive and multifaceted marketing strategy is not just beneficial—it's essential. Each element, from leveraging PPC advertising and harnessing the power of referrals to seamlessly integrating SEO and maintaining client-centric messaging, plays a pivotal role in your law firm's success. However, the complexity and intricacies of these strategies can be daunting, especially for small to mid-sized law firms that may not have the resources to manage them in-house.

Staying ahead requires not only knowledge and experience but also the ability to adapt to ever-changing digital trends and client expectations. That's where working with a seasoned law firm marketing agency becomes invaluable.

Rankings.io has earned its reputation as a legal industry marketing expert by spending years in the trenches with law firms. We've seen what works and where most lawyers go wrong with marketing.

Start getting results faster by working with a qualified law firm marketing partner you can rely on for the long term. Contact us today to see what we can do to help you grow your law firm.

Get actionable law firm marketing tips delivered straight to your inbox.

Thank you! Your submission has been received!

Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Share this with your peers