In our tech-savvy age, it’s easier, faster, and cheaper than ever to market your law firm like a pro. A good marketing plan can be put into action without much trouble and for a low cost.
But why bother with legal marketing in the first place? What good does it do? How much should you spend on advertising? And, what are the best ways for firms to market themselves?
In this post, I have attempted to provide you with a complete guide with free law firm marketing strategies you can use starting now.
How do you market a law firm?
As a successful law firm, you want to focus on delivering the best legal advice available to your clients. But marketing your business shouldn’t be an afterthought – it shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg either.
Simply put, marketing your firm means letting people know about the services you offer so you can get more clients. Steps in this process include making the brand more known, getting prospects’ contact information, getting them to schedule consultations, turning leads into clients, and encouraging repeat business and referrals.
Not your typical version of “word of mouth,” but it might work. Ha!
Traditional methods like word-of-mouth and local advertising can be used to market legal practices.
Digital methods like promoting your law firm’s website and SEO can also be used. It’s important to note that lawyer marketing can be done in-house or by a law firm marketing agency.
Why should you spend money to market your law firm?
Marketing your firm has many benefits, such as making your brand more well-known, getting in touch with new clients, and bringing in more money. By letting people know about your legal services, you can get more clients, improve your reputation, and become known as an expert in your field.
The success of legal practices depends on how well they market themselves. By using a good plan, you can make sure that new customers keep coming in, which will directly affect your income.
It also affects your profit margin by determining the Return on Investment (ROI) you get from your marketing dollars. It’s important to make sure the money you spend pays off and isn’t wasted on strategies that don’t work.
KPIs play a huge part in monitoring your effectiveness – Image by Lukas
Knowing how to market your law firm in the most cost-effective way can make the difference between a thriving business and one that struggles to make money.
When any business uses strategies across both traditional and digital channels, they raise awareness, reach more prospective clients, and bring in more paying clients. This means that money spent on marketing gives a good return on investment.
For instance, Justia, a legal marketing and technology blog, conducted a survey of lawyers across the United States in 2021. The survey found that 64.7% of firms saw a good return on investment (ROI) when they put some of their budget toward building a website for their law firm. Also, 38.9% of those who answered said that this type of marketing brought in the most leads.
Even though marketing is important, many lawyers don’t put enough money into it. Based on a survey done every year by the American Bar Association, only 7% of solo practitioners and 35% of firms with two to nine partners had a marketing budget in 2021. On the other hand, 55% of firms with 10 to 49 lawyers and 84% of firms with 100 or more lawyers planned to spend money on marketing every year.
This difference shows that many successful businesses have one thing in common: they put time and money into their marketing. You can get the most out of your marketing budget and give your practice an edge if you know where and how to spend your money. Don’t be afraid to put money into marketing your law firm if you want to take your business to the next level.
How Much Should You Invest Into Marketing Your Legal Practice?
There’s an old adage: the one who can afford the most to acquire a new client wins. After all, marketing is a key part of any successful business, and that certainly applies to law firms. As the legal landscape becomes increasingly competitive, it’s essential to invest in strategic and cost-effective marketing.
Marketing your legal practice helps you expand your reach and build trust with future clients. It enables you to create awareness around your brand, highlight your unique strengths and expertise, differentiate yourself from competitors, and capitalize on emerging opportunities.
Investing in marketing isn’t just about increasing your visibility – it’s about staying one step ahead of the competition and showing prospects you’re a leader in the field.
The right marketing mix can make your firm exponentially more profitable
Whether you’re launching a new practice or want to increase your existing client base, investing in marketing can pay off. Take the time to understand what kind of marketing mixes are right for you, then set aside a budget and stick to it. Don’t let competitors outshine you – start investing in marketing today and stand out from the crowd.
You may be wondering, “How much money should I put into marketing?” Well, there’s no one answer to this question that works for everyone. But as a general rule, firms should spend about 2-5% of their income on marketing activities.
Who Typically Handles Marketing at a Law Firm?
Marketing plays a crucial role in the success of any law firm, but who is in charge of it? The answer can depend on how big the company is and what resources it has.
In smaller firms, the lawyers may have to do their own marketing. They might be in charge of making marketing plans, website design, coming up with content, Google Ads, and taking care of social channels.
Most legal practices have the lawyers double as marketing personnel – Image by Snapwire
In bigger companies, marketing may have its own department or even a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). These individuals are responsible for creating and implementing comprehensive strategies that help the firm achieve its business objectives.
They work closely with attorneys to make sure that the firm’s message is the same across all marketing channels and that efforts are in line with the firm’s goals. They oversee the marketing team to make sure the law firm marketing plan gets implemented in a timely, efficient manner.
No matter how big the business is, there needs to be someone in charge of marketing. This makes sure that the message is clear, consistent, and hits home with the audience. It also helps keep track of how well marketing efforts are working so that strategies can be changed as needed.
Why Do Law Firms Market Themselves?
Marketing for a law practice has a simple goal: to bring in and keep clients. Marketing is all about getting people to know about your firm and the services you offer, and then getting them to choose you over your competitors.
By using a strategic plan, almost all practice areas can get more clients and be seen by more people. This can be done through traditional advertising, social, email, and law firm SEO, among other ways.
Marketing can also help your business build a good name and gain clients’ trust. By making useful content that shows your expertise and thought leadership, you can position your firm as a trusted advisor and go-to resource for legal services in your chosen practice area.
Ultimately, the goal of marketing in legal practices is to drive revenue by attracting new clients and retaining existing ones. To do this, you need to know a lot about your target audience and be willing to change and improve your strategies over time.
What Are the Top 5 Benefits of Law Firm Marketing?
Marketing is essential for any business, including legal practices, and there are many benefits to investing in a strategic marketing initiative. Here are just a few:
Branding and Visibility are huge benefits to lawyers seeking new clients
Effective law firm marketing can increase your firm’s visibility and make it easier for potential leads to find you. By optimizing your website and social media profiles, and using targeted advertising along with content marketing, you can ensure that your firm is visible to those who are looking for legal services.
Differentiation from competitors: In a crowded marketplace, it’s important to differentiate yourself from competitors. By developing a strong brand and highlighting your unique value proposition, you can stand out from the crowd and attract clients who are looking for something specific.
Reputation building: Marketing can also help to establish your firm’s reputation and build trust with clients. By creating valuable content and sharing your expertise, you can position your firm as a thought leader in your field.
Increased revenue: Ultimately, the goal of marketing is to drive revenue by attracting new clients and retaining existing ones. A well-executed law firm marketing strategy can generate leads, convert them into clients, and increase the lifetime value of those clients.
Cost-effective: Marketing doesn’t have to be expensive. There are many cost-effective tactics that can be used to promote your firm, such as email, social media, and content creation. By focusing on tactics that deliver the best ROI, you can achieve your business objectives without breaking the bank.
Law firm marketing can help various practice areas increase visibility, differentiate from competitors, build reputation, drive revenue, and be cost-effective. By developing and implementing a strategic plan, law firms can achieve their business objectives and grow their practices.
Remember: even if you only get a prospective client to a sign-up for a free consultation, your marketing efforts have done their job.
7 Traditional Marketing Techniques for Law Firms
Online marketing has become more popular in recent years, and even the most successful practices can still get a lot out of traditional marketing methods. Here are seven tried-and-true “old school” ways for law firms to market their services:
Networking can take on several forms – Image by Matheus Bertelli
Networking is a tried-and-true way to build relationships and find new business opportunities. Going to events in your field, joining local business groups, and talking to people in your field can help you build your professional network and get your name out there.
Print advertising: Even though digital media are becoming more and more popular, print advertising is still a good way to reach potential leads. By putting ads in local newspapers, magazines, or phone books, you can reach a specific audience and make more people aware of your business.
Direct mail: Campaigns that use direct mail can be very specific and personalized, which makes them a great way to reach potential customers. You can show off your expertise and talk about the benefits of working with your firm by sending letters, brochures, or other promotional materials directly to people or businesses.
Word-of-mouth referrals are a powerful way for law firms to market themselves. By giving clients great service and building strong relationships with them, you can get them to tell other people about your business.
Public speaking is a great way to show prospects you know what you’re talking about. You can do this by speaking at industry events or by holding your own seminars or workshops.
Sponsorship: If you sponsor local events or groups in your community, you can get your name out there and connect with potential customers in a meaningful way.
Even though it’s not as popular as it used to be, cold calling is still a good way to get leads. By contacting prospects directly, you can quickly find out if you could work together and start to build a relationship.
Traditional marketing techniques can still be highly effective for law firms. By incorporating some of these tactics into your marketing strategy, you can expand your reach, generate leads, and grow your business.
7 Digital Marketing Tactics to Grow Your Legal Practice
In today’s tech-savvy world, law firms need digital more and more if they want to grow their business. Here are seven effective ways that law firms can use digital to bring in new clients and make more money:
Video marketing: Making videos that show off your firm’s expertise, give legal advice, or share client testimonials can be a powerful way to connect with potential clients and get them interested.
Search Engine Optimization helps your law firm’s website rank higher
Optimizing your law firm websites to help you rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs) makes it more likely that people looking for legal services will find your firm. Without getting too deep into the weeds, strive to create content that helps with link building so your website borrows credibility from other sites. Make sure to optimize your Google Business Profile, too, so you can attract more organic traffic.
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising: Running PPC campaigns on search engines and social media sites can help you reach a larger audience and get leads quickly.
Leverage Social media marketing: Creating a strong social media presence by regularly posting interesting content, responding to comments and messages, and building relationships with followers can raise brand awareness and help with lead generation.
Content marketing: Making useful and informative content like blog entries, infographics, and videos can help your business become known as an expert in its field and bring in new leads.
Email marketing: Sending newsletters, updates, and promotions to your email list on a regular basis can help people remember your business and bring in repeat business and referrals.
Online Reviews and Managing Your Reputation: Asking customers to leave positive reviews on sites like Google, Yelp, and Avvo can help your online reputation and bring in new customers. It can also boost the effectiveness of local seo because that relies heavily on citations and reviews to validate the quality of your services.
By adding these strategies to your overall plan, you can reach more people, get more attention, and grow your businesses.
8 Best Practices for Marketing Yourself as a Lawyer
Lawyers can find it hard to market themselves and their services, but there are some best practices that can help them do it well. Whether you are a personal injury, family law, criminal defense, or another practice area, marketing cannot be undervalued.
Here are eight of the best ways for a lawyer to market himself or herself:
Always follow guidelines: both federal and state consumer protection laws govern advertising in the legal field. These laws make sure that ads are honest and don’t lie, and that any claims they make are backed up by facts.The Bar (ABA) recently changed its rules of professional conduct to help lawyers understand how to follow rules about advertising in the digital age.
These rules cover a wide range of topics, such as what claims are false or misleading, what counts as advertising, when firms can try to get new clients, what must be said about specialties, and what must be on firm names and letterheads. To stay out of trouble with the law, it’s important to follow these ABA rules to the letter.
Define your target audience: Find out what kind of customers you want and make sure your marketing messages and strategies are geared toward them.
Develop a strong personal brand. Creating a brand that is consistent and easy to recognize can help you stand out from the crowd and gain the trust of potential clients.
Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of gaining influence – Image by Suzy Hazelwood
Telling stories about your successes, failures, and experiences (i.e. case studies) can help potential clients connect with you on a more personal level and build a stronger connection.
Create valuable content: Making blog posts, articles, and videos that are of high quality and useful to your target audience can help you become an expert in your field and bring in new leads.
Build a strong online presence. In the digital age, attracting and keeping clients means having a professional website that incorporates best practices for web design, posting regularly on social media, and maintaining a good reputation.
Network with other professionals in your field and build relationships with current and former clients. This will help you get referrals and grow your client base.
Measure your results. Keeping track of how well your marketing efforts are working and making changes to your plans can help you get better results and a better return on your money.
By using proven marketing strategies, small law firms can get a steady stream of clients and grow their business regardless of practice area because the overall processes are the same.
A well-rounded plan includes ways to spread the word about the brand, bring in new customers, keep the ones you already have happy, and ask for referrals.
It can also offer more convenient ways for people to contact you such as live chat widgets on your law firm’s website, text messaging capabilities, click to call buttons and automated text back functionality in the event you miss an incoming call.
Even though you can use your own resources to run your marketing campaigns, it’s often better to work with an outside agency.
To reach your target audience, it’s important to use a mix of traditional and digital marketing methods when planning your marketing goals.