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A few years ago, marketing a law firm was both easy and simple. There were announcements everywhere on television, radio, etc. asking if you require a lawyer. Such adverts are used to leave an impression in the minds of clients to use a particular law firm when they require legal advice.
In the modern era, the marketing strategies of law firms are much more focused on reaching a client when they are in a need of specific service that law firm provides. The post-Covid-19 era has brought a great shift in developing a business online because people have become more accustomed to using and providing online services. Many of the businesses have gone fully online with no returning to the office and this shift has definitely given room to bring a change in the marketing strategies.
Before delving deep into the different marketing strategies, it is important to understand the terms marketing strategy and marketing plan.
The term marketing strategy might sound similar to a marketing plan, however, there is a difference between the two and it is important to understand the difference to navigate the marketing efforts in the right direction.
The term marketing strategy not only details the reasons backing the firm’s marketing but also propels the firm’s marketing efforts. On a whole, the law firm’s marketing strategy represents the firm’s marketing objectives, the target market, competitors, and its message to the audience. Having such a marketing strategy places the firm in a better position to develop a compelling marketing plan because the firm won’t be willing to execute its marketing techniques at a platform in a way that is not used by the target audience.
Once the marketing strategy is determined, it can be used to take forward the marketing plan. The firm’s marketing plan basically are the actions the firm is going to take to execute the marketing strategy and accomplish its marketing objectives. The marketing plan also highlights the different types of marketing such as digital marketing or search engine optimization (SEO). While creating the marketing plan, the firm also focuses on the output it wants to achieve from the marketing efforts. Having said that, the following section highlights the different marketing strategies used by law firms in 2021.
Law Firm Marketing Tips for Lawyers in 2021
Build Your Brand
The law firms have to build their brand. When I say building a brand, it not only means what you do but also who you are. The law firm may specialize in an area of law but this doesn’t tell about you. The law firm needs a core message to reach out to potential clients and let them feel comfortable to trust you and to relate to you. The message needs to be related to the image you want to create for your firm. It is an opportunity to sell your unique services to clients. To better connect with prospective clients and to differentiate from the competitive law firms, your law firm needs to have a unique selling point (USP).
Build a Mobile-Friendly Website
Post-covid era people have acquainted themselves with online businesses and to quickly find a solution to their problems, they use mobile because it is both convenient and handy. The law firm should make a website which is mobile friendly to give a better experience to their clients. Not having a mobile-friendly website creates a first bad impression upon the clients and they might tend not to engage with the law firm due to their bad experience. In 2021, Google has also made mobile-first indexing their main ranking and indexing tool which indicates that while crawling the web, Google looks mainly at mobile sites to decide the ranking of your firm.
Improve visibility by using SEO Campaign
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the primary tools for marketing a law firm’s website. This indicates that to rank high in Search Engine Pages, law firms should develop a website and its content that is in line with Google algorithms. 3/4th users always go with the first page on the Google search and if you are not one of them then they will never get to know about your existence. The law firm’s digital marketing agency helps in bringing the law firm into top results by building their website using SEO and link building for lawyers. Most of the law firms target local area clients which call for a good local SEO and it requires Google My Business listing to be fully optimized.
Digital Marketing Agency of a Law Firm
As mentioned above, running an SEO campaign will help optimize the law firm’s website. This requires the recruitment of a law firm’s digital marketing team which will develop the firm’s marketing strategy and put it into operation. Investment in a good digital marketing team is an investment in the good future of the law firm.
Increase presence in the legal directories
In 2021, digital marketing is very important for law firms, and for online presence, it is best to get the law firm listed on the legal directories. The directories like Avvo and FindLaw attract a lot of traffic in the legal industry and are the highest-ranked on the search engines. By getting listed on such directories, law firms can navigate that traffic to their advantage. Such legal directories are one of the best methods of digital marketing to get benefitted for a less cost.
Run an optimized Google AdWords campaign
Another way of marketing law firms is to run an optimized Google AdWords campaign. Such ads stand out at the top of the search results which will help in diverting high traffic to the law firm’s website. That traffic can be converted into high-paying clients to help the law firm grow and become famous among the clients. Hence, optimizing AdWords and hiring a team of professionals who will help the law firm to run such campaigns will boost the firm’s ranking in the search results to bring it on the top.
Build and optimize landing pages
The aim of law firms’ marketing is not only to get more traffic on their website but also to get high-paying clients. Using optimized landing pages in law firms’ marketing brings this change. Landing pages should be written professionally and optimized for specific action-related keywords. Such action keywords are unique for a particular service the law firm wishes to promote.
Optimized Voice Search
Voice search is completely changing digital marketing for law firms in 2021. It is becoming the main tool of driving major traffic to law firms’ websites as it gives the answers to the questions of users they ask. The law firm’s digital marketing team should focus on SEO for their websites to take voice search into consideration. Now, users ask their digital assistants such as Alexa, Siri to find out answers to their questions, and using it now will make the law firm a leader in its competitive market.
Video marketing
Where the law firm uses video as its marketing strategy to promote their law firm, it is going to get more featured in the top results of Google search results page. It not only builds the trust of the client but also enhances credibility and turns the visitors of the law firm’s page into clients. Video marketing for law firms may be used to introduce the team of lawyers of the firm, feedback, and testimonials from clients, etc.
Newsletter Marketing
This will remain as one of the key marketing strategies for law firms. Asking the visitors or clients to sign up for the firm’s newsletter and then getting regular updates from the law firm will help it retain a top position in the minds of the clients. This will keep the clients informed about your updated knowledge about the specific practice areas of law. This can also include articles published on the firm’s website, case studies, and other news related to the firm.
Content Marketing
Content is the key. Digital marketing for law firms mainly focuses on the content which will help clients to know about you and the services provided by you to the clients. The law firm’s website discusses the service and each practice area of the firm which helps the prospective clients to get the right information they are searching for. If the client is looking for a particular service and the law firm’s website presents the information on the first click then the client is likely to contact the firm. As mentioned above, SEO will help in creating landing pages for each practice area the law firm deals in and it will give the firm a chance to optimize its content related to those keywords to improve rankings in the search results. The content is not only limited to pages but also includes blog posts, articles, infographics, videos, and other social media posts discussed in this article.
Social media Management
This is one of the marketing strategies for the law firms which is going to shape the way marketing works in 2021. Be it any social media like LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook, to stay connected with the larger community, the law firms need to maintain their pages on such websites. Facebook helps in targeting the general public whereas, LinkedIn will grab the attention of other professionals or businesses looking for legal services.
Email Marketing
Email marketing strategy remains one of the efficient ways to market law firms. Although it is not the only marketing strategy, it grabs the attention of potential customers. It helps in reaching out to both currents as well as prospective clients. Emails are basically to educate and encourage people or the larger community to engage with the law firm when in need.
Including live chat to the firm’s website
Adding a live chat option to the law firm’s website will help clients to get immediate answers of their questions which will turn the traffic into clients. It doesn’t require your time as the marketing team working on this will look after this and it can keep the website open for business 24/7.
Invest in Digital Public Relations
The key challenge that lawyers or law firms face in the competitive market is building relations and developing trust with the clients. As we know, the post-covid era has changed the way of communication and hence, the way of conducting business. Even the publications like magazines and newspapers have gone digital now. Therefore, hiring a team to look after digital public relations (PR) is another great tool for a law firm’s marketing. The PR team will help in creating and establishing an online reputation among the people and help them believe that they can reach out to the firm when they are in need. The PR team will help by mentioning the lawyers in the legal news or by getting endorsements from third parties which enhances the reputation and credibility of the firm.
CRM Support
This will help the law firms in simplifying the client sign-up process, case management, monitoring email-marketing campaigns, keeping a track of text messages or phone calls. If a law firm has incorporated the above marketing strategies then CRM support will help in addressing the queries of new clients.
Conclusion: Law firm marketing tips
Marketing a law firm digitally comes with many challenges with the main focus on gaining the trust of the clients. The digital marketing team plays a great role in taking the law firm’s digital presence to the next level. The law firm’s marketing plan has to consider the best digital marketing strategies to boost its presence online. Putting the above-discussed law firm’s marketing strategies into practice will definitely help the law firm’s website not only to grow and remain in the top searches but also to convert the traffic into paying clients. SEO for law firms plays an important role in marketing and ranking the law firm in top searches using many ways such as mobile-friendly websites, voice search optimization, AdWords optimization, and content optimization.
