If you are looking to expand your law firm’s online presence, you need to properly market your services. Many individuals looking for legal services will look online, so you need to present a site that exhibits your skills and knowledge base. The best way to do that is to have a comprehensive understanding of how to do marketing for a law firm.
Creating a Marketing Strategy
Successful law firm marketing starts with a strategy. The plan you create will help your firm meet its goals. You will identify your target audience and budget. Once you have those elements figured out, you can start keyword research, take a look at your online review strategy, and start regularly posting on social media. Your plan should constantly evolve, so you will want to analyze your results.
Determine Your Budget
If you have never dedicated a specific budget to your marketing strategy before, you may not know where to start. Consider how many cases you will need to bill each year in order to meet your Revenue goals. Determine how many website visitors you would need to convert into actual clients to make that a reality. You also need to consider what type of competitive market your law firm falls into. No matter what you do, remember to stick to your budget. You do not want to face Revenue problems down the line because of overages.
Identify Your Target Audience
Once you know what you can reasonably spend on your marketing strategy, you need to nail down your target audience. It is likely you already know who your ideal client is because of the practice areas you service. You will want to turn that ideal client into an online profile. You can do this by breaking down their age, occupation, income level, and other elements.
Research Keywords
To rank on Google, you need a strong keyword strategy. No matter what practice areas you are targeting, it is crucial to conduct careful keyword research. This will ensure your content will outrank the competition. Tools like Semrush and Google Analytics can help.
Increase Online Reviews
One of the primary factors influencing whether a potential client will seek your services is your online reviews. If your firm is currently lacking reviews, consider reaching out to prior clients to request feedback. If you have negative views that you have not addressed, respond to them appropriately or report them if you know they are spam.
Post on Social Media
As you build your online presence and start to see an increase in lead generation, it is essential to implement a social media strategy into your overall marketing plan. Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin are the most common platforms attorneys use to share their services with wider audiences.
Evaluate Your Efforts
After you have had your strategy in place for a while, you will want to take the time to evaluate your efforts. Google Analytics and Ahrefs are common platforms to analyze search engine results, keyword rankings, and ad interactions.
Best Practices for Law Firm Marketing
Remember that your marketing strategy will need to evolve in order to stay on top of SEO trends and best practices. However, even as those practices change, there are critical principles you should always abide by. Remember to always focus on the client, invest carefully, and analyze your results. If you are struggling, you may consider outsourcing to a professional digital marketing agency.
Remember Your Prospective Clients
Prospective legal clients go through stages when seeking legal services. As you know, most people looking for guidance are dealing with a difficult situation. It is crucial to maintain a level of professionalism and care as an attorney. Use your marketing strategy to address pain points and explain how your services can help them move forward and resolve their legal issues.
Consider Your Strategy Before Investing
While large law firms sometimes have the opportunity to spend thousands of dollars on marketing, smaller firms and solo practitioners do not always have that luxury. Fortunately, marketing does not need to be expensive. If you are just getting started, remember to focus on the strategies that make the most sense for your law firm, its budget, and your overall goals.
Regularly Collect and Analyze Data
Initially, evaluating data can seem overwhelming, but it is crucial to your success. You need to be able to measure your law firm’s efforts to ensure that the money you are putting toward marketing is helping your law firm expand as you want it to. You will need to track how your clients find you, evaluate your website’s organic traffic and add clicks, and determine the success of your keywords and overall page rankings. With that data, you can move forward strategically with a new plan or continue the plan that you initially put in place.
Outsource Your Marketing Needs
Depending on your caseload, how many attorneys are at your firm, and how quickly your business is growing, a marketing strategy could seem like too much to pile on top of your plate. Fortunately, there are outsourcing options. You could hire a marketing consultant, SEO specialist, web designer, or comprehensive digital marketing company to manage your firm’s website, social media pages, and overall online presence. With the right marketing professionals developing your strategy, you will be able to execute a successful strategy in the short-term and long term.
Digital Marketing: Next Steps
There are multiple approaches you can take when it comes to how to do marketing for a law firm. If you are just getting started, you will need to conduct keyword research, develop strong, relevant content, and create a consistent schedule. And depending on your strategy, you may need to make a significant investment. No matter which strategy you choose, you need to keep your goals in mind throughout the entire process. This will ensure your firm stays on track and improves its online presence. If you are struggling with your marketing strategy, there are professional services out there that can help you manage your website, social media presence, and more.
Annette Choti graduated from law school 20 years ago, and is now the CEO & Owner of Law Quill, a legal digital marketing agency focused on small and solo law firms. Law Quill is the only legal digital marketing agency that provides unique, SEO-optimized content, pre-packaged content, and courses for lawyers to learn SEO themselves through Law Quill Academy. Annette used to do theatre and professional comedy, which is not so different from the legal field if we are all being honest. Annette can be found on LinkedIn or at annette@lawquill.com.
