While attorneys offer a highly specialised service, they are not excluded from requiring a digital media strategy to attract clients and grow their firms. Online marketing is crucial for law firms to build meaningful interactions with potential and returning customers. This is done by carefully growing and analysing analytical data gathered over time. When your law firm successfully interacts with clients online, you build brand awareness, establish yourself as a thought leader in your field, and put your firm at the top of people's minds when they need your services most. So what does a law firm need to think about when creating and executing a successful digital marketing strategy? Here are some of the key touch points.
Establish who your client is
First, find out who you want to reach. Since 4.66 million people use the internet, it is important to find the right clients. If you don't know where to start, hire a digital marketing agency to help you study the market and figure out what trends are operating in your specific industry area. You could start by making a profile of your dream client, then look at your current clients and look for similarities to figure out what kind of client you ideally serve. Digital marketing is much cheaper than traditional marketing, and when used correctly, it works very well. It goes straight for your target customer, but first, you have to have a clear idea about who that is. As a law company, you'll have an area of expertise. For example, if you're a divorce lawyer, you shouldn't try to get clients who need help with environmental law. So focus on your core area and curate content that specifically speaks to that niche of clientele.
Focus on your core objectives
Digital marketing for a law company has two main goals: keeping clients and making sure your firm has a good reputation among people who need legal help. To reach these goals, you need to set up a lot of smaller goals that enable this to happen. This also entails understanding how past clients have come to hire you. What are they trying to find? Where do they look for you? Do a lot of people visit your website, but only a small number actually follow through on hiring? If you used social media more and made your law website better, would you get more clients? If your law firm has a good digital marketing plan, you can actually track how a client found you back to the first time they interacted with your business online. This process of collecting data, doing research, and making a report is called "attribution modelling." It helps you figure out how clients find and hire your services. When you have this information, you can then make better decisions about the marketing budget and strategy for your law business. Which in turn allows you to follow through on your core objectives.
Create a strong legal website
Most law companies have a website. In fact, good clients actually expect you to have one. A strong website for your law company builds your business's credibility and gives potential clients an overview of the services you offer. It's both a sales pitch and a hub of information, and it's the heart of the law firm's internet marketing strategy. A successful website does the following for people who might become clients:
- It shows off how good your law firm's services are.
- It provides contact information.
- It offers great case studies.
- It shows what your law company stands for.
- It gives answers to frequently asked questions as a way to build trust and move up in search engine rankings.
Your law firm's website should be easy for possible clients to use, whether they're on a computer, a tablet, or a phone. It should also be set up so that search engines can find and rank it, and each page should have a clear call to action that tells potential clients what to do next to get in touch for your services.
The bottom line
Law firms are businesses like any other and as such require a strong digital marketing strategy that revolves around a credible website, and a cohesive ecosystem of strategic digital interactions. When done well, all of this will build credibility, improve brand awareness and bring in clients. While this can be an expensive exercise, it’s worth its weight in gold and spend should be made available for it.
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