Even the highest quality legal services may not translate into profits without adequate marketing efforts. The legal profession is a crowded field, and law firms need marketing plans that get their practices in front of potential clients.
In today’s digital society, online marketing becomes extremely important. Consumers spend countless hours on their computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. In order to effectively market, law firms must create and develop a robust online presence. While this may seem like a huge undertaking, it doesn’t have to be with the right information and tools.
Keep reading for a simple guide to help law firms master online legal marketing.
Hootsuite Helps Manage Social Media Channels
HootSuite is a social media management tool that law firms can use to easily schedule and update multiple social media channels. Lawyers use this tool to manage their online presence and even prospect for potential new clients.
Solo and small firm attorneys handle numerous tasks each day. The thought of adding social media marketing to that long list can feel exhausting. However, with Hootsuite, even the smallest firm can efficiently connect with clients while measuring audience engagement. This information is crucial to gauging the effectiveness of social media content.
Some additional benefits of HootSuite include:
- Simple posting to such social media platforms as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn from a single dashboard.
- A reduction in the amount of billable time spent on marketing efforts.
- Previews of posts before they go live on social media.
- Auto scheduling that automatically publishes posts at predetermined times of day, so law firms can choose to publish at times when potential clients are most likely online.
- Listening posts that search social media for keywords relative to practice areas and alert law firms when found.
Create Personalized Content for Social Media Marketing
The most effective legal marketing strategies use personalization to target desired audiences. Social media marketing is no exception. To stand out from the crowd, law firms need content that specifically speaks to the interest and needs of potential clients. Here are two steps for accomplishing this goal:
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Step #1: Research a Target Audience
For successful social media marketing, lawyers must consider the population they hope to target with their legal marketing efforts. Who are these individuals? What are their interests, life circumstances, and legal needs?
Social media makes it easier to find this type of information. With a little research, law firms can find all types of data about their desired audience, including:
- Age ranges
- Location
- Time spent online
- Influencers they follow
- Topics of interest to them
Lawyers can use this information to create audience personas that address the different types of targeted audiences for more personalized content delivery.
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Step #2 Choose a Customer Relation Management (CRM) system to manage social media conversations
Consumers have come to expect personalized experiences from business marketing. They appreciate these efforts because it makes them feel like valued customers. Law firms need to duplicate this same feeling among their clients. Firms can include small details of interest to clients on their social media platforms. For example, a domestic relations law firm may include content about family therapy or credit repair following a divorce.
A social CRM can be helpful in this regard. Using machine learning, natural language processing, and text mining, CRMs help law firms evaluate the success of their marketing campaigns using real data.
Synchronize Advertisement and Marketing Messaging
Multi-channel marketing involves marketing to consumers through various media channels. Today’s consumers may use a variety of mediums when searching for legal services, so it can be challenging to identify the most effective medium for your marketing methods. For this reason, it’s important for law firms to use a variety of channels.
Here are some tips for successful multichannel marketing:
Tip #1 Integrate the message
Law firms need to communicate a consistent message across all marketing channels. Potential clients want to see consistent visual elements like color schemes, graphics, and fonts. All of these individual pieces work together to create a cohesive brand for law firms that clients will respond to regardless of which medium they found the firm through.
Tip #2 Use Each Channel Thoughtfully
Each media channels comes with strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, though there needs to be consistency in all marketing efforts, firms should not simply copy and paste content from one channel to the next.
Content should adequately address the interests of the people most likely to use that platform. For example, the members of a LinkedIn business group have different content expectations from a Facebook parenting group. Law firms should consider the unique strengths of each media platform when developing content.
Tip #3 Guide Clients Through the Various Media Channels
An appropriately integrated marketing campaign seamlessly transitions potential and existing clients from one channel to another channel. A law firm’s website can effectively point visitors in the direction of the firm’s social media posts, and vice versa. Blog posts are also effective for integration, as are television advertisements that include a call to action to the firm’s website.
Lead Magnets for Lead Generation
Lead generation is ultimately about attracting high-quality clients to the firm. It bridges the gap between searching for potential clients and potential clients searching for a law firm. With an effective lead generation process, law firms increase their chances of securing potential clients.
Here are a couple of steps law firms can take to use lead magnets for lead generation:
- Use a dedicated landing page on the website with a concise interest form for visitors to complete.
- Offer something of value to the client. This could be an informational PDF, a newsletter, or a free consultation. For example, a bankruptcy law firm may offer a general bankruptcy preparation checklist.
Law Firms can Master Online Marketing
A robust marketing plan must be part of any successful law firm’s growth plan. With this simple guide, law firm leaders can master online marketing to better compete within a crowded legal field.
About Erika Winston:
Erika Winston is a freelance writer with a passion for law. Through her business, Personal Touch Edits, she helps legal professionals deliver effective written messages. Erika is a regular contributor to TimeSolv and a variety of other publications.