Even the most successful firms and attorneys need well-thought-out marketing plans that are constantly updated and adjusted to meet the changing demands and needs of their present and future law firm clients. An effective law firm's marketing strategy is essential to the success and sustainable growth of every legal practice.
The numbers don’t lie. According to various studies and reports:
- Over 95% of people in need of legal advice and services start their search online
- At least one-third of clients find their attorney on the internet
- Top-ranked pages of organic searches enjoy a mean click-through rate of over 27%
Despite these impressive numbers, too many law firms of all sizes fail to allocate any money whatsoever to their marketing budgets — approximately 86% of solo practices, 68% of midsize firms, and 37% of large firms, to be exact.
Law firms and solo operators who embrace marketing by allocating the proper resources and working with marketing professionals have a distinct advantage over those firms that stick to traditional and outmoded methods of generating business.
How To Promote Your Legal Business
Promoting your legal business in today's competitive landscape requires a multifaceted approach. By implementing a comprehensive marketing strategy, you can enhance your visibility and attract more clients. Here's a concise overview of essential steps to market your law firm effectively:
- Create a Law Firm Marketing Plan: Start by defining clear goals, identifying your target audience, and outlining strategies to reach them. A well-thought-out plan serves as a roadmap for all your marketing efforts and helps create the best legal marketing campaigns.
- Build an Optimized Law Firm's Website: Your law firm's website is often the first impression potential clients will have of your firm. Ensure it’s professional, easy to navigate, and optimized for search engines to improve visibility.
- Focus on Local SEO: Since many clients look for legal services within their geographical area, optimizing your online presence for local search is crucial. Include location-based keywords and claim your Google My Business listing.
- Invest in PPC (Pay-Per-Click): PPC campaigns can drive targeted traffic to your website quickly. By bidding on keywords related to your practice areas, you can appear at the top of search results for relevant queries.
- Create Useful Law Firm Content: Regularly publish valuable content that addresses common questions and concerns of your target audience. This can establish your firm as a trusted brand's authority in your field.
- Engage in Legal Events Offline: Participating in or sponsoring legal events, seminars, and community activities can increase your brand visibility and establish valuable connections.
Implementing these strategies can significantly enhance your law firm’s market presence, helping you attract more clients and build a strong, reputable legal practice.
What Is a Legal Marketing Strategy?
A law firm's marketing strategy links your firm's goals with ongoing marketing efforts. Legal marketing strategies outline objectives, messaging, target audiences, and the services to promote.
While different from a marketing plan, the strategy should guide the plan's actions. The plan details the marketing tactics and steps needed to achieve your strategic goals.
To stay profitable, your legal marketing strategy should attract new clients and keep current ones engaged, boosting brand recognition and ensuring your firm's visibility.
This focus will increase the number of leads you receive and eventually allow you to generate more income.
Difference Between Marketing Strategy and Marketing Plan for Lawyers
Law firms need both a marketing plan and legal marketing strategies, but they are not the same. The marketing plan is a roadmap outlining goals and milestones, while the strategies define how to achieve them. Legal marketing strategies provide the purpose and methods to bring the plan to life. Without both, your marketing efforts risk being incomplete and could hinder long-term success.
How to Create Law Firm Marketing Strategies?
There are several steps involved in building and executing legal marketing strategies. You must identify your law firm goals, analyze any marketing efforts you are currently using, develop a lawyer marketing plan, and then put that plan into action.
Next, you must monitor the results and optimize your attorney marketing strategies as needed.
This work is an intimidating process at first, and it demands time and effort. Fortunately, this article has several legal marketing strategies to help ensure you get an excellent return on the time and resources you invest in law firm marketing.
Set SMART Business Goals for Law Firms
Effective legal marketing strategies clearly define attainable goals for your law firm. Legal marketing strategies that apply the principles of SMART goals are even more likely to succeed.
A SMART goal is defined as specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely.
Let's look at an example of this principle in action.
In your law firm marketing strategy, setting vague goals like "earning more leads from Google ads" isn't enough. While it's a good goal, it's not clearly defined, making it hard to measure success.
A better goal might be: "Increase leads from Google pay-per-click ads by 10% in 90 days, tracked through Ads Manager. I need 200 clicks per week to achieve this, which would boost client acquisition by 10%."
When setting goals for your law firm marketing strategy, consider:
- Why is this goal important to my firm?
- What metrics define success?
- How will I track progress?
- What’s the timeline for this goal?
If you struggle to identify goals for your law firm's marketing strategy, think about thought leadership, law firms' lead generation, website traffic, brand awareness, and client intake to get started.
Identify Your Target Audience
Identifying your target audience is key to attracting the right clients. A great method is using customer personas, which represent potential clients. Create several personas to guide your marketing efforts.
Each persona includes demographics, interests, needs, and concerns, helping you tailor digital marketing messages to fit their profile.
Analyze Your Niche to Find a Market Gap
To build an effective attorney marketing strategy, start by understanding your law firm's place in the market and analyzing competitors. Identify their strengths and weaknesses to find ways to stand out. For example, if a local criminal defense competitor isn’t using TikTok, incorporate lawyer TikTok into your legal marketing strategies to reach new audiences.
Competitive research doesn’t need to be complicated—review local firms' websites and social media. Once you pinpoint your unique value, highlight what makes your legal services worth choosing.
Your law firm's marketing strategy should include an outline of the services you offer and a list of benefits for prospects who hire your practice instead of a competitor.
Build a Strong Brand
Building a strong brand is essential for your law firm, just like any other business. A well-defined brand helps connect with clients, ensures recognition, and makes your firm memorable.
Effective legal marketing strategies start with a clear vision statement that reflects your core values, such as ethics, professionalism, and client-first service. For example:
"Our firm offers unmatched legal services, prioritizing diversity, ethics, and inclusion."
Next, develop a value proposition highlighting what sets your firm apart. Incorporating these elements into your legal marketing plan strengthens your brand and enhances your strategy.
Think About a Marketing Budget
Your law firm's marketing strategy must also focus on your budget to ensure the best legal marketing campaigns. Digital marketing for lawyers is more expensive than marketing in other industries. You'll need to create a law firm marketing budget to control costs and ensure you can meet your marketing goals.
To create your legal marketing budget, you have to do more than determine how much money you can spend. You will need to determine a percentage of revenue to spend on your digital marketing efforts.
Then, you can divide that amount into a monthly budget. Finally, you will need to predict the return you will get from your law firm marketing budget. You will do this by forecasting the number of additional leads and clients you will acquire.
Measure Your Performance and Adjust Goals
Law firm marketing strategies are never static. You must continually optimize them as you track the performance of your law firm's marketing efforts.
As your strategy evolves into a legal marketing plan, you'll want to determine a metric that you will use to determine whether each marketing activity is successful. For example, if you decide to invest in search ads, you can measure the web traffic to your lawyer landing pages for each keyword you bid on.
If you aren't reaching your goals, you may need to adjust your law firm marketing plan or go back further to adjust your law firm growth strategy.
How to Create a Law Firm Marketing Plan
A successful legal marketing plan is detailed and specific, outlining every aspect of your law firm's operations and growth. It should cover roles, responsibilities, policies, and procedures to ensure clear direction for law firm marketing strategies.
To create an effective plan, assess your current operations and prioritize steps to increase client flow sustainably. Outsourcing to a legal marketing company allows firms to stay involved without overwhelming themselves, delegating tasks as needed.
Grow Law Firm is a premier law firm marketing agency that can handle your marketing needs while you take care of your clients. Give us a call for a free consultation, and let's explore the possibilities.
Whether handled in-house or outsourced, your legal marketing plan should use proven tactics to achieve desired results. Law firm marketing agencies specialize in implementing these strategies for firms of all sizes.
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2024 edition
How to Get More Clients for a Law Firm
Best Digital Marketing Tactics for Law Firms
Most of your clients will be looking for you online, and even if you’re getting referrals from happy clients, those people are probably searching for your name on Google. Focus your law firm marketing on digital efforts, such as:
1. Create a Mobile-Friendly Law Firm Website to Generates Leads
Your website is often the first impression potential clients get of your firm, so it's crucial to use professional lawyer web design services. These experts create law firm website designs that are professional, engaging, and functional.
A visually appealing site is important, but it must also work well. Ensure fast load times, easy navigation, and mobile optimization, as many clients search on phones. For inspiration, explore our guide to law firm website designs!
— Build Trust with Effective Attorney Bios
Creating effective attorney bios is crucial for building trust as part of the EEAT (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) framework. Highlight your experience, credentials, and personal story in a way that resonates with potential clients. Make it relatable and authentic. Remember, your bio isn't just about listing qualifications - it's about making connections and showing why you're the trusted expert they need.
2. SEO as a Part of Law Firm Digital Marketing Tactics
Virtually all legal marketing strategies will include search engine optimization (SEO) because almost all internet experiences involve search engines. Additionally, people rarely look beyond page one of Google search results. Your law firm marketing plan should provide some clear action items for improving search engine rankings.
Certain types of SEO are usually included in most law firm SEO services. For example, your law firm website needs an SEO-friendly structure, its images must be optimized, and the content formatting must create a good user experience. Keyword research is also vital.
— Local SEO
Most customers use the internet to connect with local businesses. Some perform local searches on a daily basis. When someone is looking for an attorney, they usually want to find a nearby practice. If your legal marketing plan doesn't include optimizing for local SEO presence, those people may not find you.
Let's look at two lawyer marketing tips for local SEO for attorneys that you may not have considered.
The first is to use reputable legal directories for citation building. Ensure you have a completed profile that you have claimed on Yelp, Avvo, YP.com, and other directory sites. It also helps to earn unstructured citations on media sites, lawyer blogs, and other websites.
Next, share your law firm information with main data aggregators. These businesses collect pertinent data about your practice, including address, contact number, and operating name. Then, they send that information to thousands of other websites.
Some aggregators include Acxion, Data Axle, and Neustar Localeze. Try using a tool like Bright Local to get your information distributed.
— On-Page SEO
On-page SEO involves optimizing your law firm's website, so Google can better index it for search. There are three aspects of this process. You have to improve your website's performance, structure, and legal website content. You can accomplish some on-page SEO by updating your content. However, much of this work requires someone with technical SEO expertise.
— Inbound Links
Few law firm marketing strategies improve search engine rankings as effectively as inbound links. Google views links from reputable sites as endorsements, boosting your site's SEO.
Legal marketing agencies recommend creating shareable content to naturally attract inbound links. Awards listings and guest posts on other websites are also excellent ways to earn valuable backlinks, enhancing your reputation and driving traffic. Additionally, long-form content like ebooks and whitepapers can attract links, further building your authority.
Partnering with top legal marketing agencies can help you implement these strategies and achieve your marketing goals.
3. Paid Lawyer Advertising
Law firm PPC marketing is a great way for newer or smaller law firms to gain high visibility for little cost. Pay-per-click (PPC) ads are links to your site positioned above the top organic search results. Each time a user clicks that paid ad link to your site, you pay a small fee. If they don’t click, you don’t pay.
PPC ads are sold by the keyword or keyword string. You can bid on niche long-tail keywords if you have a niche area of practice or a small budget.
However, knowing which keywords are a good value can be complicated, and the relative value of keywords often changes. Choosing PPC management for a law firm can help you get the highest ROI.
— YouTube Ads
YouTube Ads offer law firms a powerful way to elevate your marketing initiatives. Instream ads, strategically placed before or during relevant videos, can drive significant brand awareness and introduce your firm to a wide audience. By showcasing your expertise and unique value proposition through compelling videos, you can attract potential clients and position your firm as a leader within your practice area.
— Over-The-Top (OTT) Advertising
Over-The-Top (OTT) advertising provides law firms with a powerful tool to reach their ideal clientele. With OTT, you can hyper-target your audience based on demographics, interests, and viewing habits, ensuring your message reaches those most likely to need your legal services. This precision targeting eliminates the waste associated with traditional TV ads, maximizing your return on investment and attracting highly qualified leads.
4. Facebook Paid Advertising for Lawyers
Attorney Facebook advertising is a key part of successful law firm social media marketing, thanks to Facebook's large audience. Law firm marketing experts know that mastering lawyer Facebook ads can be challenging, but the results are worth it.
One of the best reasons to add Facebook to your law firm marketing plan is its targeting feature.
Start by creating a Facebook business page, which is essential for running ads. Each ad campaign is built around specific objectives and can include multiple ad sets. Facebook's advanced targeting features allow you to reach people based on location, interests, demographics, and past behavior, making your campaigns more effective.
Testing ads and including a strong call to action is crucial for a successful campaign.
5. Lawyer Content Marketing Strategy
Legal marketing plans will almost always include lawyer content marketing. Strong content marketing is necessary to make your law firm stand out and let people know about your legal services. Content creation also aligns with many other marketing objectives that law firms have.
One of these objectives is building authority. The content you write can help establish you as a thought leader or trusted resource for information regarding your legal specialty. Additionally, if you write content that answers questions your potential clients have, you will increase traffic to your website.
Good content earns backlinks and can help increase conversions. Your law firm marketing plan will further define the kind of content you will create and where you will publish it.
6. Video Marketing for Lawyers
If content is part of your law firm's marketing plan, consider adding law firm video marketing to engage even more potential clients.
Yes, video can be a complex content format, but it's something law firms must master to succeed in digital marketing. When you use video in your legal marketing strategies, you will experience increases in traffic, engagement, trust, leads, and conversions. Content with video is also much more likely to appear on page one of Google search results.
— Promotional Video
One popular video type for law firms is the promotional video. These are videos that you use to introduce your law firm and legal services. Promotional videos are often scripted and serious, with high production values.
A promotional video might have a top attorney from your practice discussing how you help clients, cases you have won, and the area of laws that you practice. Another option is to make client testimonial videos. These have a lot of credibility with audiences.
— Educational Videos
The purpose of promotional videos is to encourage people in need of a lawyer to contact your law practice. However, your law firm's marketing plan should also include ways to engage prospects who are higher up in the marketing funnel.
Educational videos allow you to share information with people and show off your expertise. This exposure helps increase law firm brand recognition, trust, and authority. These videos are also likely to earn links from other websites. You can begin making educational videos by simply answering some of the legal questions you commonly encounter.
When exploring video marketing for law firms, you'll notice a wide range of production quality in videos from different practices. Some are carefully filmed and edited. Others may be shot using the attorney's own smartphone. As a general rule, promotional videos should be more polished, while educational videos can have a more casual feel. However, the most important thing is that your content is engaging.
7. Email Marketing for Law Firms
Email marketing is a key lawyer marketing strategy, offering great ROI for law firms. While social platforms like TikTok get attention, email remains one of the most effective ways to reach your audience.
For a successful marketing campaign, segment your email lists by factors like sales funnel stage, legal interest, location, or demographics. Sending valuable content tailored to specific audience segments builds trust and credibility, increasing engagement with your law firm.
— Email Drip Campaigns
An email drip campaign is a series of personalized marketing emails you send prospective clients because they meet some targeting criteria. These emails provide helpful information about your law practice and encourage recipients to move to the next stage in the buyer's journey.
— Email Marketing Newsletters for Law Firms
Email newsletters are a powerful way to share information about your legal services and keep potential clients engaged. Even if they don't need an attorney now, newsletters help you stay top-of-mind and boost referrals.
Keep them brief—highlight key updates, link to your website, and share case studies, lawyer profiles, infographics, or news about your practice and community involvement.
8. Local Community Engagement
Community involvement is a cornerstone of effective legal marketing, building your reputation and forging strong connections within your area. Here are some key points to consider:
- Sponsor local events, such as charity runs or fundraisers, to raise awareness of your firm.
- Offer free educational seminars or workshops to share legal insights and establish yourself as an expert in your practice area.
- Collaborate with other local businesses to cross-promote each other's services.
- Participate in community forums or join local organizations relevant to your field.
- Provide pro bono services to community members in need, showcasing your dedication to serving the community.
Share your involvement through social media posts, or press releases, showcasing your firm's commitment to the community. These genuine connections create trust and attract potential clients who value a locally-invested law firm.
9. Live Chat Bot
Implement a live chatbot on your law firm's website to enhance accessibility and generate more leads. Chatbots provide instant assistance to potential clients 24/7, answering basic questions, scheduling consultations, or even capturing contact information. By offering immediate support, you increase the likelihood of converting website visitors into potential clients. Ensure your chatbot is well-programmed with relevant information about your practice areas and integrates smoothly with your existing lead generation systems.
10. Digital Marketing Agency for Law Firms
Partnering with legal marketing companies, especially those specializing in SEO for law firms, can significantly boost your online presence and drive more prospective clients to your website. These agencies help optimize your site to align with your goals and set up call tracking to measure results, offering insights for continuous improvement.
Key benefits of hiring a legal marketing agency:
- Increased Online Visibility: Rank higher for relevant keywords, attracting more potential clients.
- Targeted Traffic: Reach prospective clients actively searching for legal services in your area.
- Competitive Advantage: Stay ahead of competitors in search results and be the first point of contact.
- Expertise and Efficiency: Save time and resources by outsourcing to a legal SEO expert.
- Improved User Experience: Enhance website performance, usability, and navigation to keep visitors engaged.
- Measurable Results: Track SEO progress and ROI to make informed decisions.
Investing in legal marketing services helps attract qualified leads searching for legal services. Choose a marketing company with proven success in the legal industry, ensuring they understand the relevant keywords and client needs.
Legal Marketing Strategy Tips for Law Firms with Smaller Budgets
Some lawyers may not have a budget that allows them to hire a law firm marketing agency. If this is your situation, the tips below will allow you to benefit from digital marketing with a small budget.
11. Social Media Marketing for Lawyers
Not every platform suits all lawyer marketing strategies, but Facebook and LinkedIn are essential for brand building. Facebook offers wide audience reach and boosts credibility, while enhancing SEO. Experimenting with content helps grow followers and engagement.
LinkedIn connects you with professionals, key decision-makers, and influencers. Lawyers can create individual attorney profiles on LinkedIn to build personal branding, while a company profile helps target businesses. Both platforms increase brand recognition and thought leadership, introducing your law practice to new audiences.
12. Blogging as a Law Firm Marketing Tool
Lawyers can share legal content through their website, blog, or guest posts on other platforms. Maintaining a blog showcases your expertise, especially when you focus on a specific niche. This not only builds your reputation but also improves SEO by giving Google more pages to index. Writing guest blogs can also generate valuable backlinks, further enhancing your online presence.
Writing content is a great way to showcase your knowledge and expertise, especially in your main practice area. To do this, try toWriting content is a great way to showcase your knowledge and expertise, especially in your main practice area. To do this, try to focus on a very specific niche or passion. This focus will truly allow you to share your depth of knowledge in your area of legal expertise.
13. Attorney Case Studies and Client Testimonials
Your lawyer marketing strategy should blend passive and active digital tactics to achieve your goals. Passive marketing includes a well-designed website with clear, informative content. Displaying client ratings and years of experience on your homepage builds credibility and trust. Every visitor to your site will see these details, reinforcing your legal practice's reliability.
People who visit your webs ite are looking for reasons to trust you and view you as a credible source of legal advice and services. Some items that build that trust include:
- Testimonials and reviews from satisfied clients
- Images of awards and achievements you have received
- Case studies
Testimonials build trust by highlighting successful case outcomes for previous clients. Sharing client reviews, especially video testimonials, can enhance credibility. Case studies showcase your expertise, demonstrating how you've achieved positive results, which helps build confidence in potential clients.
Ensure your website lists all practice areas and includes detailed attorney profiles to further establish trust. A balanced law firm marketing plan should integrate both passive and active strategies to meet your goals.
14. Remarketing and Retargeting for Social Media and Blogs
While remarketing is usually a tactic that marketers use for eCommerce, it also has a place in online marketing for law offices. Fortunately, you can use technology to engage with prospects who have interacted with your practice online.
Lawyer Remarketing Strategy
Remarketing is a key component of any law firm marketing plan, helping you capture more leads by keeping potential clients in the sales funnel.
Clients may visit your website or click an ad but not take immediate action. They might get distracted or not be ready to hire a lawyer yet. For example, someone interested in your special traffic ticket rates might not contact you right away but may reconsider later.
Remarketing shows your ads again to these prospects, giving them another chance to engage. Since it targets people who've already interacted with your firm, remarketing often delivers high conversion rates.
Law Firm Retargeting Strategy
Sequential retargeting is a specific form of remarketing that keeps potential clients engaged without boring or frustrating them. In this process, instead of showing the same ad again, you create display advertising to engage the user.
This setup creates an engaging ad experience. Additionally, you can use the ads you run to address barriers or roadblocks to conversion that prospects might encounter.
15. GMB and Google Ads for Law Firms
Many law firms invest heavily in Google ads but struggle to see a good return because they target competitive, expensive keywords without proper planning. This is a common pitfall in a poorly managed legal marketing campaign.
To build an effective law firm marketing strategy, follow these steps:
- Research long-tail keywords.
- Create compelling ads tailored to those keywords.
- Build targeted landing pages.
- Test and refine landing pages to increase conversions.
Since pay-per-click advertising is costly, ensure each click delivers results. When done right, PPC can outperform SEO due to its quicker turnaround.
Google My Business
When you create a law firm's Google My Business profile, you make it easier for people to find you when they want to hire a local attorney. This profile contains information about your practice, the services you offer, your contact information, your hours, and more.
You need a Google My Business account to appear in local search results and Google Maps searches. Additionally, Google My Business allows you to post updates about your business and interact with customers who have reviewed your business or asked questions.
You can even post pictures of your legal team and business. An account is also required to run local service ads.
Google Ads
There is so much to cover on the topic of Google Ads for lawyers that it warrants its own article. However, these pointers will help lawyers who are trying to bootstrap their own marketing campaigns:
- Move away from head terms to focus on longer keyword phrases
- Add zip codes to location targeting efforts
- Use keywords in your ad copy
- Learn about keyword bidding and create a strategy that works
- Test different variations of ad copy
Keep in mind that most people hire locally and advertise accordingly.
Google Local Service Ads
Local service ads are not the same as pay-per-click ads. They work to help you gain local leads by getting people to contact you by phone and are billed by lead, not click. Ranking factors for these ads are also different. They are based on distance, your bid, online reviews, and other considerations.
16. Legal Directories
Creating profiles for your law firm on legal directories like FindLaw and Avvo can boost your search engine rankings, thanks to their strong SEO efforts. These profiles also drive traffic from potential clients and provide valuable backlinks to your website.
Keep your profiles updated with any changes, like location or hours, and ensure your Google My Business is current. This helps improve your visibility in search results and enhances your page rankings.
Boost Your Law Firm's Growth with Legal Marketing
The advice and insights provided here create a powerful marketing tool that allows you to grow your law firm's brand and acquire more clients. These tips allow you to diversify your marketing activities and are designed to work with a range of marketing budgets.
You aren't alone if you review these tips and still find legal marketing intimidating. It's easy to achieve your goals while focusing on serving your clients — just connect with law firm SEO services that will help you create and execute your strategy.
FAQs on Legal Marketing
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