The whole point of marketing is to generate leads that turn into new clients. If your law firm’s marketing efforts aren’t resulting in these outcomes, then you’re wasting valuable resources. This DIY law firm marketing guide provides five effective strategies that you can implement to ramp up your firm’s marketing efforts and maximize lead generation without wasting money.
Marketing Tip #1 – The Website as a Marketing Tool
Your website often serves as a potential client’s first impression of your law firm. Without the right marketing components, you miss a valuable opportunity for lead generation. To maximize your website, conduct an audit with close attention paid to the following:
- Clear Communication – Get rid of the legalese and over-the-top language. Instead, use common language that keeps your content succinct and easily digestible for visitors. Make sure to also correct spelling or grammar mistakes that can undermine a visitor’s confidence in your firm.
- Call to Action – A clear and highly visible call to action tells website visitors exactly what you want them to do, from subscribing to a newsletter to scheduling a consultation.
- Functionality and Transitions – Check website links and menus to ensure that they are all working correctly and leading visitors to the right destinations. Broken links can negatively impact the visitor’s experience, potentially causing them to leave the site before answering your call to action.
Marketing Tip #2 – A Marketing Plan
A marketing plan helps your law firm chart the most appropriate course for reaching your business goals. Without it, firm marketing can suffer from disorganization and budgeting uncertainties. Here are some simple steps for crafting a marketing plan:
- SWOT Analysis – A basic SWOT analysis identifies your firm’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This includes consideration of the current legal market in your area and the competition around you. You also want to determine what sets your firm apart from the others.
- Identify your Ideal Client – You need an understanding of who you want to attract with your marketing efforts. Create a client persona. This includes demographic information like age, gender, profession, and income. If your firm caters to businesses, think about things like ideal industries or company sizes. You also want to identify what drives these potential clients to action. What problems and questions do they have.
- SMART Goals – SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based. To put it simply, crafting specific goals that your firm will accomplish within a specified time frame. By writing out your firm goals, you can better determine which marketing tools best meet them.
- Analyze Marketing Tools – In this internet-based society, your law firm has numerous marketing tools to choose from. From social media to website marketing to email campaigns – take some time to consider each of your options and maybe even brainstorm a few new ones.
- Set a Budget – Now that you have a plan in mind, it is time to set a budget. Effective marketing can happen at all different price points, but some actions may require a higher monetary investment. For example, your firm may need a professional designer to improve its website. If no one in the firm has the time or skill to manage a social media campaign, that may require an additional cost. Consider all of these details when establishing a budget.
HubSpot offers a free marketing plan template that law firm leaders and administrators may find helpful at this link.
Marketing Tip #3 – A Consistent Brand
Brand consistency involves two pieces, visual appearance and messaging. Visual brand consistency includes the use of cohesive logos, fonts, colors, and other visual aspects. Message brand consistency means providing the same narrative about your firm across all platforms, online and offline.
Consistent branding across all platforms builds trust in the firm and its provision of services. It also leads to valuable brand recognition. When current and potential clients associate your law firm with a positive experience, they are more likely to choose it for their legal needs. By using a consistent branding message, your firm can reinforce a reputation of providing those positive experiences.
Brand consistency also helps your law firm differentiate itself from other firms in the area. Especially within highly competitive markets, potential clients will make their decisions based on their impressions of the firm. With a consistent brand and a clear message, you can help your law firm stands out from the crowd.
Marketing Tip #4 – The Right Tools
Other important aspects of a marketing plan involve adequate implementation and analysis of success. It’s a waste of money to invest in a marketing plan that is not generating leads, so law firms need tools to help them gauge the effectiveness of their efforts. Here are some to consider:
- Google My Business is a free tool that lets you manage how your law firm appears across all Google products, including Maps and Google search engines.
- Google AdWords allows law firms to target ideal clients while spending marketing dollars in a smart and strategic manner. Services are offered under a pay-per-click model, which means that firms only pay when a person clicks on their ad. Here are few important points when using Google AdWords:
- Google AdWords often provides quicker results than website Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts because it can be implemented in days and is immediately visible when a campaign is created.
- Specific keywords and phrases that best optimize your firm’s webpage help your Google AdWords campaigns to stand out and target a particular audience.
- Firms only pay for Google AdWords based on proven results. The more clicks an ad receives, the more an ad will cost. Firms can set those parameters and determine how payment will be made with a monthly advertising budget. Each ad click results in a predetermined charge to the account. Once those clicks reach a certain amount, the ads stop running until the account limit is increased or the next month begins.
- With Facebook marketing campaigns, law firms can create and run Facebook ad campaigns using simple self-serve tools. The platform also includes tools that help law firms track their performance with easy-to-read reports.
- Stock photo platforms offer millions of image options for law firms to utilize in their marketing efforts. Sites like Unsplash, Pixababy, and iStock provide many photos free of charge with little or no attribution requirements.
- With Google Analytics, law firms can monitor traffic on their website, including how long visitors stay on the site and which pages get the most views.
- Hotjar is a useful tool that law firms can use to create polls and surveys. These marketing efforts can be a great way to examine the needs and impressions of current and potential clients.
- Social media management tools like HootSuite help you manage all of your law firm’s social media accounts. It also gives you the tools your firm needs to schedule posts in advance, examine post analytics, and collaborate as a team.
Marketing Tip #5 – Email Campaigns
Email marketing offers law firms an effective method of communicating with current and potential clients. With email campaigns, you can create awareness about your law firm’s services, including positive case outcomes. There are generally two types of email campaigns to consider: newsletters and automated campaigns.
Newsletters offer a great way to deliver valuable content to current and potential clients. This may include information about changes in the law or events being hosted by your firm. With email newsletters, you can provide readers with a subtle reminder of your top-notch legal service without the obvious sales pitch.
Automated email marketing campaigns help you improve the quality of your law firm’s engagement with potential clients. To implement a campaign, your firm may offer some form of “bait” such as a free eBook download or webinar. It needs to be something that potential clients would find valuable. To access the “bait”, potential clients must provide their name and email address. Then you can automatically add them to your firm’s email marketing list. Using a platform like Mailchimp, your firm can manage and send promotional campaigns.
