Whether you have a long history in the legal industry, or are just starting out, you know how important it is for your brand to gain recognition. The legal industry is competitive, and if you hope to find success, it is critical that you have a strong presence online.
But when you spend all of your time with your clients or in the courtroom, you may not be sure where to start with your online law firm marketing strategy. Here are four tips that you can use to create a comprehensive marketing strategy that will give your law firm the edge it needs to stand out amongst the competition.
1. Start By Looking at What Has Worked
To start, consider your online marketing strategy over the last year. Think about where the last ten clients you brought on came from. Did you receive submissions through your website's contact form? Did your clients come to you through social media? Or did they find your law firm after doing a Google search for an attorney in their area?
The answers to these questions are critical. By determining where the majority of your clients are coming from, you can better focus your marketing efforts on what has worked, and stop putting money towards the ones that have not.
2. Consider Where You Are Spending Your Time
Next it is time to audit where you are spending your marketing efforts and not seeing any results. It is time to take a hard look at these marketing activities to determine whether they should be more carefully refined, or whether you should get rid of them entirely. If your marketing efforts are generating leads that are failing to convert, then it may be worth your time to more carefully refine your marketing strategy.
But if your marketing efforts are yielding next to no results in one area, maybe pay-per-click marketing, for example, then you may want to ditch the effort entirely and spend that money in an area that will more likely produce results.
3. Evaluate Time Spent With Clients
Once you have done an audit on where your marketing efforts have been successful and where
they have not been, it is time to take a hard look at the time that you are spending with your clients. Where are your potential clients spending time connecting with potential lawyers? Are they focusing on communicating via direct messages on social media? Or are more potential clients making phone calls into the office?
It is important to consider how the pandemic has shifted the ways that potential clients are attempting to connect with lawyers. These days, you will probably need to take both an in person and online presence approach to time spent with clients. It may also be worth your time to provide opportunities to schedule virtual consultations upon request, or be willing to visit clients wherever they may feel most comfortable. Meeting your potential clients where they need you most is a sure fire way to turn them into clients who remain loyal long after their legal case has been resolved.
4. Define Your Marketing Time and Adjust
Finally, think about how much time you have to spend on marketing every week, and how much time should be spent on marketing every week. If you believe that you can handle it yourself, then there are some basic questions to take into consideration.
What marketing efforts are you going to be able to consistently commit to on a regular basis? Are there ways that you can automate these processes to reduce marketing time? Which marketing efforts are you knowledgeable and experienced in? Do any of these fall within your area of expertise?
If not, or if time is limited and you do not believe that you can handle the marketing effort that your law firm requires, then it may be time to consider outsourcing your marketing efforts to a digital marketing agency or another expert digital marketer. This way, you do not have to worry about casting too broad of a net, and you can narrow your marketing efforts on the ones that are going to miss and produce the most favorable actions for your business.
Here is the bottom line…
Digital marketing is the way of the future, and you will need to devote some of your efforts into building up your law firm's online presence. You do not have to be overwhelmed by trying to do it all like digital marketing firms do. Focus on your law firm and what has and has not worked for you thus far in order to figure out which marketing areas to turn your efforts to.
When you get critical with your existing plans, you can refine your strategies to further meet your ideal client’s needs. And when in doubt, do not hesitate to call in reinforcements and get the marketing professionals working on your site.
Your comprehensive online marketing strategy does not have to be overwhelming when you take the time to focus your law firm’s efforts where they will generate their greatest return on investment.
Meranda M. Vieyra is the owner of Denver Legal Marketing LLC. She is one of the most visible legal professionals in Colorado law with over 20 years of service in the Denver legal community. Her award-winning marketing firm has earned a strong reputation as the go-to for impactful, cost-effective legal marketing strategies. She has helped her clients secure coverage by well-known publications and has obtained local, national, and international awards on their behalf. Meranda enjoys working with solo practitioners and small law firms helping them attract recognition, promotion, and visibility to their practices. She also advises medium-sized and national law firms on business development and marketing strategy. Meranda is a lecturer and author on issues related to marketing including how lawyers can use LinkedIn effectively, how to develop a personal brand, and the promotion of legal services through community service. In 2018, she was honored to be named to the 40 Under 40 list by the Denver Business Journal and to be given the 10 Under 10 Award by the Metropolitan State University of Denver Alumni Association (top 10 alum of the decade). In 2019, Meranda was named in the Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Business by the Colorado Women's Chamber of Commerce and in the Top 100 young professionals in Colorado through the Gen XYZ Awards published by ColoradoBiz Magazine.