It’s hard to believe that we are now 20 years into the 21st century. So much change has occurred in law firm marketing and it seemingly never stops. The “next big thing” in digital marketing seems to happen every five minutes! No wonder so many lawyers are confused about what strategies will work best for their firms.
With over a decade of experience in working with more than 20,000 attorneys teaching law firm marketing and management strategies, we think we have a pretty good handle on what lawyers need to do to get more clients. After all, that is the entire purpose of marketing — to make more money for your law firm! And there are really three areas where you need to focus your efforts:
- Lead generation
- Lead conversion
- Client retention
A lawyer’s most important lead generation tool: your law firm website
Best practices for legal websites have changed a lot in the last few years, and if your site is showing its age (meaning you haven’t made any changes in the past 3-5 years), it’s time to upgrade your #1 lead generation tool. Today, your website should:
- Incorporate responsive design so it shows up correctly no matter what device prospects are using to find you: mobile, tablet, desktop.
- Be fast to load. Site speed is a major ranking factor for Google and a slow site will discourage prospects from staying on your web pages.
- Have optimized content for local search as well as a blog that you can promote via social media and email.
- Have live chat to capture prospects that need answers fast.
- Showcase reviews on your website to boost the trust factor.
- Follow all on-site SEO rules so you rank high in search engine results.
- Have a clear call-to-action that allows you to capture visitor information for lead conversion purposes.
A lawyer’s most important lead conversion tool: a great intake system
According to the 2019 Clio Legal Trends report, 64% of potential clients reported they had contacted a law firm that never responded. 79% of those potential clients said they expect a response within 24 hours. If your firm is not responding immediately to incoming leads, you are missing out on a great deal of potential revenue!
You simply must have a solid intake process in place to succeed at lead conversion. It’s non-negotiable! (See our post on How to Build a Stellar Law Firm Intake System.)
A lawyer’s most important client retention tool: email marketing
As much as we all complain about the size of our Inbox, the fact remains that email marketing is the most effective (and cost-effective!) way to stay in touch with current and former clients and improve your retention rates. A monthly newsletter is still one of the most reliable ways for lawyers to keep nurturing their relationships with current and former clients.
Email marketing should be one of the cornerstones of your law firm marketing plan. To learn how to develop a marketing plan for your law firm that will help you boost your bottom line in 2020, click below for our free webinar.
