The legal sector continues to grow at a swift pace. New entrants to the market, regulatory changes, and the progressively diverse needs of clients mean that if today your law firm is not investing in digital legal marketing, then most probably you’re getting lost in the wood.
Every business is unique when it comes to marketing. Today, many firms rely on digital marketing to propel their venture to the next level, and law firms are not exempt. In the new digital era, many people check the credibility of the business online before spending their money on a consultation. Marketing has moved online, and you too should if you want to find and maintain clients.
Here are the top four digital legal marketing strategies to help your law firm generate more traffic and leads consistently:
Increase Visibility with Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization is the process of improving your site traffic to a website or a webpage from search engines. SEO helps your website to achieve top rankings on a Search Engine Results Page (SERP). This leads to increased visibility for relevant searches in the unpaid results section of Google.
Importance
The legal sector is highly competitive, so you need a strong SEO to help your law firm rank at the top of the search results. Clients use Google, the world’s largest search engine, to find lawyers in their area. If you’re not on Google, it means your firm will get drowned out by the competition.
The goal is to find potential clients who are searching for services like yours. According to a Google Consumer Survey, 75% of people never proceed to the second page of Google, 93% of online experiences start with a search engine, and 96% of people will search on Google when looking for legal services. Therefore, ranking high in search results is the best way to attract more clients to visit your website and turn those prospects into paying clients.
Tips for Success
- Identify keywords your target audience is using to search for law firms like yours and use them strategically throughout your site to increase your chances of ranking for these terms in the search engines.
- Use location-specific keywords to reduce competition level and target local clients searching for legal services.
- Increase the length of time visitors spend on your web pages.
- Reduce the bounce rates by making your descriptions clear and your content more relevant to your chosen keywords.
- Focus on long-form content marketing, commonly known as Practice Area Power Pages.
- Make your web page mobile-friendly.
Run an Optimized Pay Per Click (PPC) Campaign
Pay per click advertising involves the process of paying search engines to make your website visible for relevant keywords. You pay a fee for every click on your ad. Although PPC can be more costly than other forms of digital legal marketing, you’re likely to get faster results and more insightful data in the process. However, it may take a few weeks to months to get the desired results, and that’s why you should invest in simultaneous PPC so they can generate leads faster.
Importance
PPC campaigns can be a good value for money since you only pay when a user reaches your website. You can choose to spend as much or as little as you like. With PPC, you’re likely to get results almost immediately as compared to organic search engine optimization.
You can set up your PPC campaigns to measure effectiveness to help you know exactly how much your return on investment is. Additionally, you can choose your audience based on demographics such as location, age, language, and device.
Tips for Success
- If there is high competition in your practice area, consider running google ads. Create key landing pages on your website and run your own paid ads to get better leads.
- Work with a PPC expert to help you determine the right keywords to use.
- Use keyword tools to check the demand.
- Set your targeting parameters.
- Plan your advertising budget to ensure every coin is put to good use.
Social Media Marketing
While most lawyers are familiar with social media marketing, it’s the most underutilized area. Whether it’s Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or Instagram, these platforms will serve different roles in your digital legal marketing.
For instance, if your target audience is the general public, a Facebook account will help you to stay relevant and connected to your audience. If your goal is to attract professionals, then creating a LinkedIn page is the best thing to do. In the current digital world, it’s more than likely that most of your clients are using social media daily, so use it effectively.
Importance
Many users will interact with your social media profiles for longer periods before they’re ready to reach out to you. Therefore, the main aim should be to nurture your audience, so you become their first choice once they’re ready to hire a lawyer. Through posting engaging content that’s relevant to your target audience, social media marketing helps you to gain followers, build trust, and attract more clients.
Tips for Success
- Always post content that is unique and relevant.
- Determine which platforms are right for you. Figure out a platform that works best for your audience and work with it until you’re generating consistent leads, then you can advance to other platforms.
- Use social media management tools to schedule your posts.
- Track key metrics such as engagement, reach, followers, views, page visits, mentions, and shares to measure your results and help you plan for new campaigns.
Generate a Content Marketing Strategy
Your law firm needs an effective content marketing strategy that will not only grab your audience's attention but also help you show your worth. Quality content can help you create awareness of your brand and demonstrate expertise. You can provide free content in the form of:
- Educational blogs that offer legal assistance
- Case studies
- Videos
- FAQs
- Articles that provide legal updates
- Email campaigns
Importance
Content marketing increases the visibility of your law firm. Continually providing your audience with actionable content helps to build a lasting relationship with them. Offering content that offers free advice, education, and solutions without a sales pitch helps build trust with your current customers and prospects.
Content marketing helps in generating inbound leads. Having top-notch content on your site creates a digital footprint, providing an opportunity for your business to appear in the search results. Additionally, as your content gets promoted and shared, you get to connect with your audience through comments, which allows you to answer questions that your prospects may have.
Tips for Success
- Understand the audience you’re trying to reach and focus on how your content can benefit them.
- Publish quality content regularly.
- Document your content marketing strategy.
- Produce timeless content that can work for your law firm for a long time.
- Tune your content into various content types such as videos, presentations, and infographics, and share it on different platforms to increase your reach.
- Build your email list so you can send links to your subscribers every time you publish new content.
Final Thoughts
In Conclusion, digital legal marketing offers a wide range of options to grow your law firm or personal law practice. Successful integration of digital marketing calls for the need to engage with your target market and consider necessary precautions on topics such as ethics and data privacy. However, when done right, digital legal marketing strategies can transform your law practice by generating more connectivity and securing future growth.
