Like any industry, success in legal practice depends on generating new business. Just how to market firm services most effectively can pose a vexing question.
Every firm can develop a successful marketing strategy that speaks directly to its most promising prospective clients, but where should they start?
Lawyers hoping to improve their legal marketing must have a detailed and nuanced understanding of the market in which they have a competitive advantage. No matter if you are just starting out or have practiced for years, you can use accurate and thorough data about the relative profitability of time spent on different kinds of matters, client generation/retention, and historical trends to reveal insights about where the path to sustainable law firm success lies.
You could have the best legal team in the world, but none of that will matter if people don't know about you. Search Engine Optimisation or SEO is crucial in ensuring people can find you on Google. By improving your SEO you can help make sure that your website shows up before your competitors on organic/unpaid Google search results. SEO is important because unlike Search Engine Marketing, it doesn't stop when you're not putting money into it.
SEO is a long term strategy that requires regular updating and optimising. A good way of continuing to improve your SEO is by writing blogs as they will give Google more pages to crawl for keywords. Upload blogs frequently and keep them interesting and relevant to your industry and your clients and you'll see your results begin to improve.
You and your team are experts in your field, so lean on that expertise. Consider hosting or participating in webinars for example. Webinars are an excellent opportunity to not only get you and your firm exposure, but they are also highly valuable in displaying your expertise. Collaborating with other law firms that are not in your niche or with industry-adjacent companies can expose you to a much larger potential client base.
If you have satisfied clients, ask them for video testimonials. These are excellent marketing tools as they can be used on social media and your website. Why are they effective though? Surveys have found that 90 percent of users trust user generated content (UGC) to influence their purchase decision. In other words, people will trust what your clients have to say about you more than what you have to say about yourself. Video testimonials are an excellent way of converting prospective clients who are still making up their mind about you.
Once you understand your most productive and profitable market, you will want to speak to it through appropriate channels. There is a seemingly endless array of communication channels from which to choose, and there isn't a single option that will be universally effective. For instance, a law firm that specialises in insurance coverage and subrogation issues may find it effective to advertise through insurance trade publications and organisations. Whereas a criminal defence practice may reach its clients most effectively through engaging with community service organisations and paying for SEM. What is important is that the channel you choose should be one that your potential clients will tend to use to find legal services.
That ideal channel may not be apparent from the outset. More likely, once you identify the specific market you want to reach, you'll see multiple channels through which you can potentially access it. Utilise CRM tools to efficiently track what platforms/activities are most effective for your business and then focus more of your resources into them.
It is no secret that, whatever channel you choose for speaking to your law firm's market segment, once you get the attention of prospective clients the medium of the internet will probably come into play. Whether your clients find you through a Google search, social media or click through to your website from a specialised database of legal experts, it's more than likely that potential new clients will next check you out by visiting your online home. The challenge for your legal practice is how to convert those visitors into clients.
In this day and age, it is no longer enough to simply have a "Contact Us" link on your web page. That's essential, of course, but more and more, it's not sufficient. You need more functionality. For example, LawMaster's New Client Enquiry workflow allows you to automate the intake of online enquiry forms directly into your firm database, seamlessly translating a potential client's visit to your website into a lead that can initiate and facilitate personalised follow-up and delivery of relevant marketing materials.
To learn more about how LawMaster's innovative solutions can enhance your firm marketing and new client communications, contact us today.