Marketing your law firm, whether you like it or not, is a necessary part of attracting and retaining clients.  Because despite how adamant you may be that providing a good service should be enough to grow your business, marketing plays a critical role in the overall success of your law firm.  

What’s more, marketing your law firm today isn’t the same as it was 20 years ago.  Whether you just opened your practice or have been at it for some time, it’s easy to fall behind on the latest marketing methods and tips to get the most return on your investment.  Without further ado, here are five top tips for marketing your law firm in 2022. 

1. Your Website Matters

Your website should be the cornerstone of your entire marketing strategy. But why does your law firm need a website when your business is visible from the street or featured in the local paper?

It establishes your credibility

If a potential client Googles you and can’t find a website for your law firm, they may question the validity of your business. After all, in a world where even amateur photographers have websites, why wouldn’t an attorney have a website as evidence that they exist.

Your law firm’s website is an opportunity to shine by showcasing your strengths and proving you’re as credible, if not more, than your local competition. Use the real estate on your website to highlight cases you’ve won, and share customer testimonials— show a prospective client why you’re the best person for the job. This is done by both demonstrating your abilities and the human element of your business. Beyond the content of your website, the design and user experience matters equally.  

It must look professional and well constructed, with an easy-to-navigate layout. For this reason, it’s highly recommended to hire a skilled professional to design your website.

Your design should have:

• High-quality photos

• Clearly stated services and practice areas

• Awards and recognitions 

• Previous experience

• A strong call to action

It Generates Leads and Increases Visibility

The better optimized your law firm’s website is for SEO, the higher you’ll appear on Google results. The higher you appear in Google’s search results, the higher the likelihood that you’ll be found by someone seeking legal representation in their area.  

By nature, humans want as effortless of an experience as possible. 95% of web users will never click past the first page of Google search results, aka Google SERP. Yet 25% of people will call the first three law firms listed. In short, if you don’t show up on page 1 of Google, you may as well not exist.

It Will Streamline Your Client Intake Process

If you’re a smaller firm without the luxury of a front desk staff, then your website can serve as a full-time receptionist. It can provide answers to frequently asked questions, helpful information such as your location, the option to self-schedule consultations, and a client intake form for prospects to fill out that will automatically push their information into your intake software. 

From that point on, prospective clients are tracked from every stage of the client journey, ensuring that no engagement opportunity is missed. Client intake software seamlessly moves leads from one stage to the next thanks to custom marketing workflows, not only saving you time but delivering a positive customer experience at each step. 

2. Embrace The TikTok Era

We live in a digital world where people are more distracted than ever. While words will always be valuable, it’s a lot easier to grab someone’s attention with a video than a wall of text. Platforms like TikTok are fun and entertaining, and during these times of Covid, a climate crisis, and political unrest, many are looking for an escape from the exhausting news cycle. Entertainment aside, video also humanizes your business which, in turn makes you and your staff more relatable to legal consumers.

The great thing about video is that there are so many different ways to use it as a marketing tool. Some lawyers find great success in adding a quick 30-second legal tip to their social media channels each week. Others create funny, relatable videos about the seldom seen side of an attorney’s life. It all depends on how much work you’re willing and able to put into video creation. In the end, it’s better to have something than nothing, so don’t fret over production value or media experience. Regardless of whether you’re ready to learn a TikTok dance or not, one thing is for sure, video grabs more people's attention in today’s distracted society, even if as simple as a quick informational video recorded with your iPhone.

3. Five Stars or Bust

We live in a star-rated world where consumers value a Google review as much as they would a personal recommendation. Not only will a strong rating on Google make you look more credible to prospective clients, but it will also result in a higher ranking on Google search results.  Remember— the winners are at the top. If you don’t have a Google My Business profile set up yet, then you might want to do that—now!

Don’t be afraid to ask for reviews — in fact, it’s encouraged, particularly when clients have visibly or verbally expressed their satisfaction with your service.

If you somehow manage to get a poor review, don’t panic. One negative review in a pool of positive ones won’t risk damaging your overall reputation. The best way to respond is to remain calm, apologetic, and offer a solution if you can. 

On the other hand, if you’re noticing the same negative points coming up in reviews, it may be an opportunity to address the problem area and make changes where necessary. Even though criticism can be hard for your ego, reviews can be an extremely effective way to learn what’s working and what’s not.

4. Leave the Legwork to Marketing Software

Email remains one of the most ubiquitous forms of communication. For that reason, launching a weekly newsletter is still an extremely effective way to stay top of mind. If you’re thinking, “You want me to learn TikTok and now you’re asking me to take time out of my already spread thin schedule to write a weekly newsletter?” don’t worry, there's software for that.

The last thing lawyers need is a more time-consuming task to add to their plates. That’s why delegating your marketing efforts to automation software can be a time changer. Marketing automation makes it easy to send scheduled and tailored content to specific email lists using audience segmentation software.  

With automation, you can create a digital marketing campaign that delivers pertinent messages to the right person at the right time, on autopilot. Automation features like drip email marketing send out emails based on triggers of your choice, whether someone signs up for your newsletter or schedules a consultation. 

What’s more, you can track every interaction and analyze contacts’ behavior thanks to data so you can fine-tune your marketing strategy.

5. Start a Blog

A blog is a great way to create fresh content on your website that keeps Google’s search engine happy, while also establishing your authority and legal experience. The more relatable and informative you can make every blog post, the more likely legal consumers are to read and share your content.

If you’re not sure where to begin, try starting with addressing your clients' most frequently asked questions. Offer a hot legal tip of the day, or highlight one of your staff members. Get to know what the most commonly searched phrases are related to your practice area like “how much time do debt collectors have to sue for payments?” or “Is it legal to record a conversation?” Finding out what questions people are asking can be a great source for writing information for your legal blog.  

Make sure that you sprinkle your blog with plenty of relevant keywords that will push your content even higher on Google search results, which is known as SEO (short for search engine optimization.) Check out our guide to law firm SEO marketing here.

Stand Out and Grow Your Practice

Law firm marketing can seem like a time-consuming part of running a law firm that you’d rather not have to deal with. Nevertheless, it’s a necessary ingredient for law firms who want to generate more clients at a steady pace.

Yet marketing your law firm and generating a steady stream of leads isn’t all it takes. You’ll need to have an effective system in place to keep track of all of your contacts and ensure no opportunity gets missed. When you consider that the average law firm takes three or more days to respond, it’s easy to see that many busy lawyers struggle to keep up with the success of their marketing efforts.

Sources Cited

Matt G. Southern, Search Engine Journal, Over 25% of People Click the First Google Search Result, July 14, 2020
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-first-page-clicks/374516/#close

Nathan Thompson, OptinMonster, 10 Crucial SEO Ranking Factors You Need to Know, March 8, 2022
https://optinmonster.com/seo-ranking-factors/