Whether you’re new to the legal industry or have been around for a while, take note. It’s essential to keep researching and improving how to market your law firm.
Are you sure you’re currently incorporating all of the best law firm marketing strategies to attract new clients? Further, do you stand out ahead of other competitors in your area?
Consider this fact about the global legal services market size. It states that over the next 8 years, the industry is expected to grow by 5.3%.
In other words, it’s in your best interest to invest in all of the best marketing ideas for law firms. Doing so can make a huge difference when a potential client is choosing between you and another legal service available near them.
The good news, though, is that you’ve come to the right place with this thorough marketing guide. Detailed below are all of the best tips and tricks for marketing your law firm in today’s competitive landscape. Keep reading to learn how the right techniques can attract clients and boost the profitability of your law firm.
Why You Need Smart Marketing for Your Law Firm
Before we dive into how to market your law firm, it’s important to understand the main purpose behind these techniques. All industry leaders know the value of effective marketing for any kind of business. At its core, marketing endeavors to connect businesses (or law firms) with paying customers.
It can be tempting for many lawyers to cut corners when it comes to marketing. After all, these lawyers might already be well-established in their local communities. They could make a justifiable living just by reaching clients via word of mouth.
On the other hand, perhaps you’re looking to expand your clientele and, therefore, profit margins. If so, more strategic marketing will be essential.
Giving more time and resources to your law firm’s marketing plan will make it more likely you receive a higher return on investment (ROI). Though it takes time, your law firm will be sure to benefit in the long run with smarter marketing.
Don’t Be Afraid to Seek Professional Guidance
If you’re already overwhelmed with the idea of marketing your law firm, don’t worry. Perhaps the best way to market a law firm is to work with experts in the industry.
It’s true that there are plenty of marketing agencies out there that promise high ROI for any marketing investments. Still, you should be looking to work with marketing professionals with experience specific to law firms.
Doing so makes sense since marketing to potential legal clients can be delicate. This is particularly true when it comes to consumer-facing legal practices that are sensitive in nature.
For example, if you work in family law, many of the cases that come across your desk can be emotionally turbulent for your clients. You wouldn’t want that marketing plan or website to promote a lighthearted, carefree aesthetic. Rather, it would make more sense to present an authoritative, reliable tone.
With so many intricacies of legal marketing strategies, working with reputable experts could be your best option. Take the time to think about what makes your law firm unique. Then, you can work with your hired marketing agency to develop the most ideal strategies.
Successful Marketing Starts with a Well-Developed Brand Identity
Successful law firm marketing will require more than just a random assortment of promotional messages. Instead, your law firm needs to hone in on its unique, recognizable brand identity.
Any business’s brand is, in essence, the personality it presents to consumers. Your law firm needs a well-developed brand identity so that potential clients can remember your legal practice when they might need it.
Defining your law firm’s brand can be a fun process. Start by thinking about your firm’s core values and its unique quirks. How is your legal practice different from everyone else’s?
Your established brand identity will use specific design elements throughout all marketing strategies. This includes your law firm’s logo, its tagline, the color scheme for marketing materials, the tone of voice used in any copywriting, and more. To determine your law firm’s ideal brand identity, it might be wise to consider how your target audience would relate to it.
Think About Your Target Audience
As mentioned above, the kind of law you practice will affect the rest of your marketing strategies. You’ll need to know how to market a law firm specific to your target consumer audience.
A proper marketing plan is directed at these people and strives to build a relationship with them. It’s up to you (and your trustworthy marketing agency) to determine how this group of people might be defined. What are their core values and buying habits?
For some legal practices, your target audience might not be everyday consumers. Instead, you’re looking to work with businesses and corporations as the entities that hire you. Still, you need to understand why they might want to hire your firm, specifically, in order to develop a marketing plan directed at them.
Whether your law firm needs to market to families, criminals, or companies, there are ways to strategically connect with them. Then, you can start to build a reliable reputation among those target consumers throughout the future.
The Benefits of a Reliable Brand Reputation
One of the most significant benefits of strategic marketing for your law firm is establishing your brand’s reputation. As a lawyer, you know that your reputation is of paramount importance. Your clients, your colleagues, and your community need to be able to trust you.
As you start to develop your law firm’s brand more fully, allow it to become a story. Why did you decide you want to practice law? Is there a way you can include this story in your marketing content?
Storytelling and genuine relationship building can take your brand’s reputation even further. When consumers can relate to your law firm on a more personal level, they’ll be more inclined to trust you. In the legal profession, this kind of trust between attorneys and clients is of the utmost importance.
This is yet another reason it’s so crucial to stay consistent with any branded materials. Soon enough, people will start to associate your reputable qualities with your branded design elements. When they see your law firm’s logo, they should be inspired by the confidence and security of your brand.
Research Your Area’s Law Firm Competition
If you’re still looking for inspiration to develop your law firm’s brand, check out some competition. After all, the United States has more than 439,000 law firms as of 2022 alone.
There should be plenty of resources online for you to gauge what a successful law firm brand looks like. Do a few quick Google searches for legal practices in major cities throughout the country.
What design elements do you see as a theme amongst them? How does their consumer base interact with their website and marketing materials?
Don’t be afraid to draw inspiration from your competition, either. While you don’t want to copy them all together, you can discover what marketing methods work well for them. Then, you can incorporate your own version of these strategies under your own law firm’s brand.
Take the Time to Put a Detailed Marketing Plan Together
Together, your brand identity and your defined target audience compose your law firm’s marketing strategy. It indicates what style of marketing messages your business would be sensible to produce. It doesn’t, though, outline where you’ll promote, what the content would be, or how often you’ll be producing it.
That’s where a detailed marketing plan comes into play. Your law firm’s marketing plan is a jam-packed document with all of the marketing strategies you plan to incorporate in the near future.
A marketing plan considers everything: budgeting, social media platforms, who you’ll pay to publish the materials, etc. Developing this document to its fullest extent will help you take the right steps toward growing your clientele as quickly as possible.
One question to ask when drafting your marketing plan might include whether you’ll hire an internal marketing team, outsource the work, or both. You’ll also need to be ready and willing to pay for some of the more effective marketing services available.
It’s also wise to include a timeline for your marketing plan. Are you planning ahead for a year, for example? Remember, if you need professional guidance, work with your hired marketing agency on this crucial document.
Be Ready and Willing to Include Marketing in Your Budget
Now that you know what will be included in your law firm’s marketing plan, how much will these strategies cost you? Even if you don’t hire a third-party marketing agency (which you should), no successful business can increase profits without covering some costs in the first place.
We’ve all heard the phrase. “You must spend money to make money.”
The more you’re willing and able to spend on a healthy marketing budget, the better. You’d then be certain to witness a higher ROI when it comes to growing your law firm’s positive reputation.
Marketing expenses come in all shapes and sizes. You should be prepared to pay for physical materials such as business cards or branded t-shirts. In the digital world, paying for targeted social media ad campaigns could connect you with new clients you otherwise might never have reached.
Of course, be wise about how you spend those marketing funds. Make sure you are well-researched and know what marketing techniques are actually worth your initial investment. Working with an experienced marketing firm can help ensure your legal practice invests in the strategies that will actually drive growth in the long run.
All Digital Marketing Techniques Point Back to a Website
Speaking of marketing strategies, you’re likely wondering where to even begin. Well, the best place to start is with your law firm’s website. Every business’s website is the foundation for all other digital – and physical – marketing strategies.
Both social media profile pages and business cards should have your law firm’s website listed. This website will be where most – if not all – of your potential clients will start their research of your legal practice.
There are a ton of intricate ins and outs of successful law firm Internet marketing, too. Since they should all direct back to your website, its design needs to be strategies and of the highest quality.
It’s where you can house contact information, for one thing. Plus, it’s a chance to even further establish your brand as a leader in your specific niche of practicing law.
Because your website design has such serious potential for making or breaking your law firm’s brand reputation, you’d be wise to prioritize it sooner rather than later. With the right structure and aesthetic, your website could be just the ticket to inspiring a questioning potential client to call and hire you.
Your Law Firm’s Website Design Needs a Positive User Experience
So, what goes into an effective website design for a law firm such as yours? Some lawyers might be tempted to simply type out business hours and contact information on a plain design background. This, though, is not enough to attract or retain potential clients.
Consider this statistic. The unfortunate truth is that 38% of online users will leave a website if its layout is unappealing.
In contrast, a business’s website that focuses on the overall user experience can do really well in converting potential clients. A positive user experience has both visual appeal and seamless navigation.
Experienced website designers know how to fine-tune a website’s visual appeal. Some design rules require a specific amount of negative space between text columns. Your brand’s color schemes could also play a role in affecting the optimal design.
Another key component of a positive user experience is the ease of use. Any website visitor should be able to navigate the menu, scroll down, or load new pages without technical difficulties.
These are only some of today’s essential web design techniques your law firm needs to incorporate. That’s why the best law firm web design is developed with the target online audience in mind.
The Basics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
When you’re interested in a new subject or need the answer to something, what do you do? Gone are the days when we would run to our local library and use the Dewey Decimal System to find the resources we need.
Here in the 21st century, we simply Google our query. That’s why search engine optimization (SEO) is such a powerful marketing strategy for your law firm.
Search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, or Bing use complex algorithms to “rank” websites after an online user queries something. They’d type in keywords and phrases and wait for the list of results.
When a potential client searches for something related to your law firm, then, you should strive to be at the top of that list of results. A top-ranked website on Google, studies show, can benefit from a 34.36% click-through rate (CTR).
For your law firm, proper SEO techniques should not be underestimated. Most potential clients don’t need to hire a lawyer regularly – they just need one once. If your website isn’t easily found from a simple Google search, you’re likely missing out on too many opportunities.
Position Your Law Firm as a Thought Leader with an Educational Blog
How, then, can your law firm’s website increase its SEO rank? One of the best ways to do so is by developing a consistent educational blog.
Here’s why. A website’s SEO rank depends on many factors, but the actual details are known only to the search engine algorithm developers behind the scenes.
From context clues, though, we can make educated guesses. We can conclude that SEO ranking is affected by things like the kind of content contained in a website, the speed of a web page loading, how long online users actually spend on each web page, and more.
These assumptions have led many businesses to create useful, meaningful blog content. Thinking about curating SEO blog articles that answer common questions in your legal field. Be sure to publish these articles on a consistent schedule, because those search engines will notice.
Effective law firm SEO blog content could not only boost that search engine rank. In addition, an educational blog in your legal niche can establish your law firm as a reliable thought leader in the industry. The subsequent authority and credibility, though it takes time to establish, make an educational blog an ideal marketing strategy for law firms.
Google My Business Is a Noteworthy SEO Service
Another important law firm marketing example is of using Google My Business. You’ve seen these business profiles when you’ve searched for something on Google, right? The well-developed Google My Business pages have the business hours, location, online reviews, and even photos.
The best part? Well, Google My Business is free for any company, including your law firm.
Ranking that Google My Business page within search results, though, is not free. It’s important to consider the cost-benefit here. Every time someone searches for the kind of legal practice you run in your local area, you need all the help you can get to show up at the top of that list of results.
To check this, do some quick test runs to search for different kinds of businesses in your area. What details about the Google My Business pages stand out to you? Have your found yourself working with brands that have these well-developed profiles?
Local SEO Is an Important Marketing Strategy for Law Firms
Of the many useful SEO strategies for your law firm’s website, Local SEO might be one of the most important ones. Local SEO strategies can ensure your website’s rank on Google matches your geographical area specifically.
While all visits to your law firm’s website are beneficial to the SEO rank, that’s not the main goal of attracting traffic. Rather, you want to convert visitors into paying clients. Doesn’t it then make sense to focus on online users you might actually work with?
Law offices are nine times out of ten geographically focused. For that reason, you don’t necessarily need to attract online traffic from all around the country.
Well, with Local SEO’s more direct targeting of consumers, you’re in luck. You can prioritize getting a higher SEO rank in your local community alone.
If you’re still unsure about this marketing strategy’s value, check out these more detailed benefits of Local SEO strategies. Local SEO is at the top of the list when it comes to marketing ROI you can enjoy.
Which Social Media Platforms Make Sense for Your Law Firm?
Now that you have a better understanding of the major search engines, let’s take a look at a smaller scale. In many ways, today’s social media networks are miniature search engines. Haven’t you searched for a specific product or brand on Instagram or Facebook before?
It’s not uncommon for consumers who need a lawyer to go straight to social media before Google. Seeing a lawyer’s social profile can provide a lot more personal insight as compared to a more corporate-feeling website.
If you’re already overwhelmed by the vastness of social media marketing, don’t worry. You don’t have to be on every social media platform. In fact, it’s wiser to focus on two to four platforms that make the most sense for your law firm.
Think about your target audience. What social media platforms do they spend the most time on? How do they interact on those platforms?
Next, consider what kind of content you want to plan out and post on a consistent basis. And yes – consistency is key with social media marketing. If you can’t commit to publishing regular Instagram posts, for example, then maybe it’s not the right platform for you.
Proper Social Media Marketing Is About More Than Just Hashtags
Once you know which social media platforms your law firm can benefit from, it’s wise to plan your content ahead of time. Most platforms allow you to schedule posts up to several months in advance. This could save your marketing team a lot of time and energy.
Making those regular social media posts is a great start. Successful social media marketing that is worth the ROI, though, involves way more attention to detail.
The best use you can get out of social media marketing is the development of genuine relationships with your following. This kind of engagement goes beyond likes and comments. Prove to this digital community that you keep up with their day-to-day lives and needs.
When you prioritize this authenticity and relationship building, your online audience will be grateful. It’s this kind of intentional connectivity that can even allow social media to be a healthy outlet for users.
Social media is also essential for developing loyalty to your law firm’s brand. The more you authentically interact with social media, the more you’re creating a personable reputation. It only makes sense that, in case these followers need to hire a lawyer, you’ll be the first one they contact.
Don’t Underestimate the Value of High-Quality Video Content
To further establish your law firm as an expert in its field, consider developing educational video content. So many digital marketing trends indicate the increasing value of this content style.
In relation, the most popular social media platforms of today might surprise you. Research indicates that American adults spend the most time on TikTok and Youtube. Notice that these platforms both exclusively make use of video content.
Don’t let this convince you that a shaky smartphone video of your staff is a good idea, though. It’s only high-quality, well-produced video content that online users take seriously – especially in the legal field. You’ll need to be willing to either invest in your own professional recording equipment or outsource a production team.
Plus, you can feature video content you’ve curated on your website itself. With the right caption and ability to hold the attention of website visitors, these videos can enhance that SEO ranking.
Email Marketing Campaigns Can Be a Great Asset
Over time, your database of previous clients can continue to be an avenue for successfully marketing your law firm. Every time you work with a new client, be willing to ask them if they’re willing to receive your law firm’s regular email newsletter.
Of course, it’s smart to offer any website visitor the chance to sign up for your email newsletter, too. You might be surprised at how many people would find value in having this kind of content sent to them.
Monthly, bi-monthly, or even weekly email marketing campaigns are effective and, often, affordable. Depending on your website hosting service provider, you might have access to a certain number of emails to send from your website each month.
For example, one service plan on Wix includes up to 5,000 monthly emails sent from the attached domain. Plus, you can always buy more if the need arises.
Regular email marketing campaigns are an ideal way to keep reminding previous and potential clients about your services. The more you can present your branded promotional materials, the more likely they’ll be to remember you when your services are needed.
Take Advantage of QR Codes and Centralize Your Marketing Links
Though they weren’t as possible when they first started coming around, QR codes are now a staple marketing technique for all kinds of businesses. If you want to take advantage of every opportunity to connect a potential client to your law firm, you might want to think about one, too.
One great way to utilize a QR code is by featuring it on your business cards. Of course, you’ll still want to include the main contact information for your law firm such as the website and phone number. The QR code, then, can be used to send users to supplementary URLs.
Take this chance to connect users to your social media profiles, for example. That way, you can start developing that genuine relationship with them from the get-go.
Another way to optimize your QR code is with the use of something like a LinkTree. These links open up a tree to your own customizable list of web page destinations.
If you use this free marketing tactic on your social media profiles or a QR code on a business card, you’ll be doing yourself a favor. Expanding your brand’s reach is always worth these extra touches.
Make the Most of Analytic Data Available
No matter what digital marketing strategy you employ, be sure to see if analytic data will be available. This is most important when it comes to your website’s SEO performance.
You’ll want to take a detailed audit of your website’s SEO performance on a regular basis throughout the year. Which web pages attract and retain the most attention from your site visitors? Is there any content that you can revise or even remove to improve the site’s overall function?
In addition, though, even analytic insight into your social media content engagement could help you improve marketing efforts. What kinds of content posts are the most effective at getting your followers to interact with your brand? Do they gravitate toward informational material or more personal content about your brand?
You should also consider investing in targeted social media ads on a regular basis. Successful social media marketing can skyrocket when these boosted content impressions reach an even wider audience than your normal following. Plus, your social media ad will generate a useful data report that will show how well it performed.
Make Friends with Your Local News Outlets
At this point in the article, you know how essential it is to prioritize networking and relationship-building. Well, it can be good marketing practice to extend this networking to your local news outlets.
If you have friends in the journalism field, you can get ahead of any stories that might have to do with a case you’ve taken on. This kind of publicity can go a long way in establishing your law firm as an authoritative one in your community.
Great Customer Service Is Key for Return Customers
This law firm marketing guide has cited several different strategies as the most valuable. It’s true that a well-designed website can impress potential clients when they visit it. Local SEO is invaluable when it comes to attracting people who might need your legal services.
Attracting potential clients and impressing them, though, can only go so far. The deepest, most fundamental marketing strategy for your law firm is to prioritize customer service.
The best and most reputable customer service strategies take time and practice to perfect. You need to be able to predict your client’s needs and then meet them.
This also means you likely have to balance a potentially emotional connection with your clients as a lawyer. After all, you’re representing a case that they sincerely care about in some way.
The soft skills of developing genuine customer relationships will keep your brand’s reputation strong. Some of the best marketing techniques you can use, then, including being a good listener, serving their needs before yours, and checking on them even when you’re outside of the office.
Ask Existing Clients to Submit Online Reviews for Your Law Firm
Your clients are never going to be more grateful than right after you’ve won them their case. In these moments, try to find the right time to ask them to fill out an online review regarding your law firm.
The value of having as many positive online reviews as possible can’t be overstated. Your law firm’s online reviews could make a difference in a potential client’s choice between hiring you or a different lawyer. Many online users take these reviews from previous customers very seriously.
Online reviews are great for both increasing brand awareness and enhancing your website’s SEO rank, too. Google can take into account how many positive reviews your law firm has received. So, send them to the Google My Business page of your law firm so that the review can have an even more impactful purpose.
Don’t be afraid to ask your existing clients to give you this marketing edge. If they’re happy with your level of expertise and service, they should be more than happy to help.
Traditional Advertising Can Still Be Valuable
You might be wondering about how to grow a law firm offline. Yes, the Internet is perhaps the most powerful marketing tool for any modern business. Still, there are plenty of other, more traditional marketing methods that continue to be effective.
It might be worth researching what traditional advertising avenues your target consumer audience might tune into. Would buying a thirty-second radio advertisement offer a healthy ROI? Would it make more sense to invest in a television ad at a certain time of day?
Don’t forget about printed advertisements, either. Sometimes, a well-placed and attractive newspaper advertisement can catch just the right person’s eye to lead a new client to your law firm.
Be willing to get creative with these offline marketing methods, too. As an example, consider an ideal advertisement placement for a DUI lawyer. You can find many of these ads conveniently located all throughout your local bar and restaurant bathrooms.
Physical Promotional Products Can Help
By the way, it’s not just newspapers and magazines that can get your law firm’s logo printed on them. In today’s vast corporate landscape, the branded promotional products industry has skyrocketed.
You’ve likely seen a ton of these examples. Companies, including law firms, have invested in branded coffee mugs, pens, notepads, water bottles, keychains, and phone covers – you name it. If it can be mass-produced, it can likely be customized to promote your law firm’s brand.
It’s completely fine to stick with the basics when it comes to promotional products. Pens and notepads with your law firm’s contact information can get the job done quite well. This is especially true if you happen to leave them in strategic locations around town.
Still, don’t be afraid to get creative with these customized items. Is there a way you can get your law firm’s marketing message in front of your clients every single day via something like a steering wheel cover, as an example?
Do some research and ask around to see what products might make sense for your law firm. Some of the more expensive options could also make great holiday gifts for clients.
Other Ways to Find New Clients and Grow Your Law Firm
Digital marketing methods and analytic data can be a surefire way to generate profitable ROI. Remember, though, that your law firm’s true success is developed through the genuine relationships you build with your clients. That means in-person opportunities can be some of your best chances to meet potential new clients.
For this reason, you should always have your law firm’s business cards on hand. Keep a stack in your pocket or your car whether you’re just going to the supermarket or even your kid’s baseball game.
Simple chit-chat with a new friend could lead to a business opportunity. Be certain to take advantage of each one.
Your local community also likely hosts professional networking events that could prove profitable for you. Keep an eye on when and where these events take place so you can expand your professional network every chance you get.
If you’re still struggling with how to get more clients as a lawyer, though, don’t worry. Expert law firm marketing agencies exist to help extend your brand’s reach to a wider audience.
Start Investing in Today’s Top Law Firm Marketing Strategies
Now that you’re more familiar with the most effective law firm marketing strategies, it’s time to take action. Be willing to invest financial resources into ensuring your long-term profitability.
In fact, that’s how our team can help. We specialize in helping law firms like yours succeed in their local markets. We want to help your law firm stand out ahead of any other competitors in the area.
That’s why we hope you take a look at our website to see how we can take your marketing plan to the next level. To start, browse through our marketing blog articles.
