More than 6 billion people use the internet. Imagine the exposure your legal practice would get if a fraction of that number sees your campaigns daily.
Promotion is the only way new clients will find and patronize your law firm. Marketing not only helps you secure more clients, but it also enables you to retain your loyal clientele.
Growing your law firm has little to do with your experience or specialty. In the modern era, the most successful establishments are those with the best marketing strategies and systems.
Whether you are starting a private practice or have been heading a law firm for a long time, learning how to grow online can take your practice to the next level. This guide will break down the crucial law firm marketing procedures into simple steps to grow your legal practice online in a relatively short period.
1. Establish Your Brand
Identify Your Strengths
All legal practitioners look the same to prospective clients. To separate yourself from others, identify your strengths and ask why a client should hire you. Your deductions will guide you in identifying your ideal targets and strategizing the most effective ways of promoting your unique offerings.
Define Your Ideal Target
After establishing what you bring to the table, identify who would need your services. Consider their age, gender, status, location, and lifestyle. These details will allow you to streamline your approach to those who will most likely request a consultation. It will also guide you in creating personalized marketing campaigns that speak to their situation.
However, if you find it challenging, hire an attorney marketing personal injury services. These services first understand your business and then tailor all your marketing strategies accordingly.
Ensure Legal Marketing Compliance
The rules for marketing are stricter for law firms compared to other businesses. According to federal and state Bar Association regulations, law firm marketing must include the following:
- A disclaimer about zero guarantees of successful outcomes.
- Zero misleading comments or claims on specialization superiority without proof.
- An “Attorney Advising” label on mail covers or email headers.
- The client’s consent to publish testimonials.
To ensure compliance, consult your state Bar Association to be sure of the regulations pertaining to your location.
2. Create New or Upgrade Existing Online Platforms
Most clients will find you in an online search. To ensure your law firm is visible in search results, you must have an online presence.
So, create a business website for your law firm. Ensure it has all your contact details and the precise directions to your office. Websites that experience the most traffic are easy to navigate and mobile-friendly. To improve visibility, ensure your website is SEO-friendly so that all your on-page and off-page optimization endeavors won’t go to waste.
While your website is up and running, create social media profiles. Your social media profile or page will encourage visits to your website and legal services. You can also use your social media profiles for networking, targeting leads, and building referrals.
3. Build Trust with Local SEO
If this is your first attempt at online marketing, you are probably behind other firms in the area. Trust is crucial in patronizing a service in today’s world. To build trust, pay attention to your local audience.
Most of your clients will come from within your locality before your practice achieves statewide or nationwide fame. Thus, you must cater to local SEO to ensure that people around you know there is a law firm near them.
Encourage Feedback and Online Reviews
Building trust is easy if most people have positive things to say about your service. Data shows that over 90% of customers will check online reviews before purchasing a product or service. So, encourage current and past clients to leave positive reviews on your website and popular third-party review sites.
In addition to review sites, clients can comment on GMB directories to spread the word on your service to a wider audience. Although you can encourage customers to write positive reviews online, don’t offer any incentive. Incentivising clients is unethical marketing behavior that can have severe consequences, especially for law firms.
Get a GMB Profile
One of the most important steps to build trust with local SEO is creating a Google My Business (GMB) profile online. GMB is more than a local directory. It can make local businesses visible to a global audience.
The process is as simple as creating any online profile. However, ensure the details, including the law firm name, business address, and contact information, are consistent across every online publication or listing. You can also add attention-grabbing pictures and videos of your office to the profile.
4. Create Content
Make Blog Posts
Blogs remain one of the most effective content creation strategies that can help law firms generate traffic from local and global audiences. Use your blog to provide answers to the burning questions of clients and targets. The more helpful your content is, the more traffic you will generate.
Upload Videos
Videos are now the most effective way of marketing a brand or service through content creation. Start a channel on online video sharing or streaming platforms such as YouTube and Patreon to reach scores of audiences and also generate passive income.
Like blog posts, ensure that your published content provides solutions to common problems affecting people with respect to the legal system.
5. Measure Your Progress
Track Website Traffic
Your company website will play a significant role in reaching your marketing goals. So, monitor the traffic it generates to extract data-driven information you can use to improve your current marketing strategy.
Use website optimization tools like Google Analytics to gather intel on your website’s progress. Website optimization and tracking tools can help you identify major traffic sources and user or visitor behavior.
Get Incoming Calls Data
As you take more calls for inquiries or consultation bookings, keep track of the data. Installing a call tracking framework lets you know the number of callers redirected from each marketing source, including your website, social media handle, or paid ads.
Review Social Media Interaction and Analytics
Social media interaction is also an effective way to get feedback on the impact of your published content. The number of likes, subscriptions, and comments on your content tells a story of your marketing progress.
You may also check the analytics section of your social media channels for a comprehensive breakdown of your daily, monthly, and yearly progress. This will include the most viewed content, average viewing time, and the highest earning content.
Takeaway
Law firm marketing is crucial to online growth in this digital age. It is a complex process that starts by highlighting your strengths and identifying your ideal targets to enable personalized, relevant promotions.
Establishing an online presence in the form of a business website and social media pages is not enough to generate organic traffic. Like many professionals in various disciplines, you must create content consistently through articles, videos, or audio recordings. Also, measure your progress as you continue to apply winning marketing strategies with these steps.
While these steps can help you achieve a successful marketing campaign, self-promoting your law firm can be exhausting, time-consuming, and capital-intensive without professional assistance. So, contact a law firm marketing specialist near you to speed up your growth and boost your online visibility today.
