When was the last time you used a phone book? Like most of us, the answer is probably “years” or “I can’t even remember.” The Internet has made the phone book obsolete. Today, people looking for information go online and that is where your law firm needs to focus its legal marketing to connect with potential clients.
In fact, the COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated the daily number of online searches. Google reports that the number of searches online has exploded from 3.6 billion per day to more than 6 billion per day since COVID-19 hit. That’s an increase of 60% in nine months.
So, yes, your focus needs to be on marketing your law firm online. And these five things are essential to help you get there:
#1: Law firm website
Your law firm website is the hub of all your online marketing activities. It is essentially your virtual office at a time when most of what we are doing is virtual. And if you think of it as an extension of your physical office space, it makes sense to have your law firm website be as professional, welcoming, and efficient as your “real” office by having:
- A responsive design website that shows up perfectly no matter what platform is being used: mobile, desktop, tablet, etc.
- A Live Chat function that welcomes visitors and answers their questions in real-time.
- Easy-to-read, engaging, informative content that speaks directly to your ideal target market.
- An obvious call-to-action on each page that gives visitors simple, direct access to your firm for help, download a free report or ebook, etc.
- Reviews and testimonials to establish trust with potential clients before you ever meet them. The easiest way to do this is to add review software to your site that publishes all your positive reviews automatically to your site.
#2: Law firm SEO
The primary goal of law firm SEO is to design and optimize your website to target your ideal client so that when a prospect who fits your ideal client profile does a search, they find you first instead of your competitors.
Practicing SEO is like practicing law: you really have to know what you are doing to get a good result. In other words, don’t try this at home. Get an expert.
#3: Law firm pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
Most legal consumers start their search for legal help online. The majority of those search results pages include a mix of pay-per-click (PPC) ads at the top and bottom of each page along with organic search results.
Done correctly, your PPC ad campaign should put your firm at the top of search results pages for your ideal clients. And bonus: if your law firm website SEO campaign is performing as it should, prospects will see your firm multiple times on the same page. When prospects see this, it says to them that your firm is a trusted, authoritative source — making it more likely they will contact you first for legal help.
#4: Law firm email marketing
As much as we all complain about the size of our Inboxes, 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 is also a great way to drive traffic to your law firm website, and there are several types of email campaigns that work well for lawyers, including:
- Following up with new leads— let prospects know what their next steps are in hiring an attorney with a series of emails that lead them to book an appointment.
- Lead magnet— give away a Freemium — an eBook or access to informational Videos.
- Obtain reviews— once a case is settled, email clients asking for a review with links to your pages on review sites. Making it easy for them to leave a review for you will result in more reviews, which helps to drive more traffic to your site.
#5: Law firm social media
Everyone is spending more time on social media these days thanks to COVID-19. Social media provides law firms with a great platform for telling their own stories. By doing so, you humanize your firm, which helps you build emotional connections with prospects. Sharing stories about your firm’s achievements or even giving people special insights into your firm’s personality is a great way to connect online with potential clients.
The more valuable information you share on social platforms, the better you are able to showcase your experience and expertise. Sharing your blog posts on social media is a must, both for attracting prospects and for SEO. Beyond that, you should also curate timely content from other sources to share with your followers as well as your own success stories.
Sound like a lot to manage?
Legal marketing can be complicated, especially if you don’t know what you are doing. If that’s the case, then talk with us about your biggest legal marketing challenges during your complimentary marketing strategy session with one of our Rainmaker marketing experts. Click below to get on our schedule for a legal marketing strategy session. It’s fast (30 minutes). It’s free. And it will help you wrap your head and hands around the best legal marketing strategies to deploy for your firm.
