5 top tips for marketing your law practice
Digital marketing might not be high on the list of priorities for busy lawyers, but in today's fast-paced digital landscape finding innovative ways to market your law practice is a crucial aspect of overall business strategy. Not only does digital marketing help service existing clients by sharing knowledge and up-to-date information, but it is vital for developing relationships with new and prospective clients.
While most law firms have a website highlighting their services, sharing descriptions of their team members, and showcasing their specialisations, many still rely on traditional marketing practices like referrals, word of mouth and industry connections to bring them new business. Still, without a comprehensive digital marketing strategy, these practices could be missing out on sharing their unique expertise while also gaining new business.
So how does a law firm grow without leaning on age-old methods? Is digital marketing the solution? And if so, what social media channels should you focus your energy on, and why?
In this article, we cover 5 of the most successful law firm marketing strategies.
1. Make your website stand out from the crowd
It goes without saying that every professional business today should have a website, and law practices are no different. And while many firms have a standard website that showcases their services, team members and areas of expertise to gain real success in a digital marketplace, there are various other principles you can utilise to make your website stand out from the crowd.
These include:
- Create a marketing plan that focuses on your ideal client
- Get clear on your law practice ethos/ values. Showcase these factors in your website copy
- Use a professional copywriter who understands your business to write your website copy with your ideal client in mind
- Highlight what makes your service unique and what value you bring to your clients
- Work with a content marketing expert who can help you create a meaningful and targeted strategy to showcase your business to a broader audience
2. Make the most of local SEO
Once you have your website up and running, it may be tempting to think that it will do the hard work for you, and while websites are a must-have, you want to make sure that your clients can easily find what you do, who you do it for and what services you offer. One of the most important ways of doing this is ensuring your website is optimised using local SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).
So, what is local SEO? Broadly speaking, SEO is a formula used by the Google search algorithm (and other search engines) that helps clients searching online for a local lawyer or a particular area of expertise find your website ahead of your competition. This is achieved by using targeted keywords in your website copy. But good SEO and website optimisation are not just done through keywords alone. There is also the importance of consistent and trustworthy content, the creation of backlinks from other websites and technical SEO to consider.
Other SEO factors that can help your law practice get easily found online include:
- Correctly structured website content and copy using targeted keywords
- Create a Google My Business profile
- Create a profile with local business associations that will link back to your website
- Run an SEO technical audit that will highlight what needs to be implemented
- Write consistent and comprehensive blogs, FAQs and articles on your website that answers your client's most searched for queries and showcases your expertise
SEO can be overwhelming for those not experienced with digital marketing, so it is important to engage the services of someone specialising in SEO content creation and strategy to help you get the most out of Google.
3. The power of blog writing for law practices
Many people think that blog writing is not as central as it once was, but that couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, your blog is one of the most essential pieces of content on your website.
Not only are blogs crucial for being found online and ranking higher in search engines, ultimately leading to more business for your law practice, but they also allow you to showcase your knowledge, expertise and client success stories which in turn builds trust and promotes authority with your audience and within your industry.
Tips for writing engaging blog content:
- Write on topics that showcase your expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness
- Create content based on servicing your clients' questions and needs, like FAQs, explainer articles, opinion pieces and proactive news articles
- Optimise your blog content for SEO using targeted keywords
- Write scannable content that includes sub-headlines and bullet points
- Use language that is easy for your clients to understand
- Be consistent in your posting and messaging
Writing a blog is just the starting point for content creation that gets results. No content works harder for you and your website than blogs. But, to feel the impactful benefit, we advise you to enlist a copywriter and content strategist who will help you write and structure your content professionally while knowing how to amplify your content for truly amazing results.
4. Create engaging client newsletters
Having a strategy for creating digital newsletters is one of the best ways to keep your clients aware of your business and your offerings. While a client newsletter is ideal for showcasing your latest blog posts and important and valuable information you may wish to highlight, like case studies and important dates or law changes, it can also be a place to be more playful and authentic with your audience by sharing light-hearted and engaging team news if that fits within your content strategy.
A client newsletter is also an excellent place to share and upsell new and existing services. Although selling doesn't feel natural to many, a client newsletter is an ideal platform to highlight new services and their value without being overtly pushy.
One question we often get asked when it comes to client newsletters is how often you should send one. The answer is specific to each law practice and depends on the firm's size, the number of clients in your database, how much relevant news and information need to be shared, and when. This is where you can get expert value from a professional content strategist who can assist you in brainstorming content, creating an engaging structure and ultimately finding the best action plan for your law firm.
5. Social Media for law firms
Social media marketing is a powerful tool for businesses, and law firms who don't have a social media presence could be missing out on driving traffic to your website, fostering connections with existing clients, and creating new business.
So, what social channels should you be using? It all depends on who your target audience is and what you want to achieve. Below we look at some of the main social media platforms you can use to market your law practice.
While Facebook users have somewhat declined globally, New Zealanders remain active users, with around 81% of the population claiming to use the platform (statista.com). Facebook is a popular social media platform for advertising your law practice and services via organic reach or paid advertising. It is also a great place to share blog posts, opinion pieces, the latest news, and client success stories that point to your website or landing page.
LinkedIn is the perfect social media platform for showcasing your specialist knowledge, creating connections with others in the legal industry and attracting more clients. Unlike Facebook, where you can be more playful with your audience, your LinkedIn profile should reflect your professionalism, highlighting your expertise and career achievements. Posting informative blogs, videos, awards announcements, client reviews, and testimonials is a great way to build more trust and authority on LinkedIn and in your industry.
Although Twitter is known as a microblogging platform, its fast-paced nature is a great place to update clients on news items and important information quickly. Although more informal than LinkedIn, it is still a good platform for sharing your industry knowledge, creating connections with others in your industry, and attracting new clients.
YouTube
YouTube might seem like an odd choice for law firm marketing, but with the rise of TikTok, the use of video on social media platforms is rising exponentially. YouTube allows law firms to create content like explainer videos or give their expert opinion on newsworthy law changes and how they will impact your clients. You can also use video to showcase your business story, services and offerings and share these videos via Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, client newsletters, and your website.
Creating a marketing strategy for your law firm
Our final tip would be to take the time to create a detailed law firm marketing plan to have a clear roadmap to refer to throughout the year. In this plan you can identify what channel you would focus your marketing strategy on and the cadence of the content that you need to produce.
As you can see from the information above, we have only just scratched the surface of creating a cohesive and consistent marketing strategy for law practices in New Zealand. There are many other things like paid media advertising, case studies, client testimonials and utilising your expertise to make you a thought leader in your industry. At Creative Content, we have a team of experts who can assist you in content strategy, content creation, SEO, copywriting and more. If you are ready to take your law firm to the next level with a results-driven marketing strategy, don’t hesitate to contact the Creative Content team to see how we can help you today.
