No matter how large or small your firm’s marketing budget is, these 5 tips will help every lawyer drum up more business.
If you’re starting a solo or small law firm, you’re probably pretty confident in your ability to run a successful law practice. As a result, some lawyers might cut back on marketing and rely on word of mouth and low hanging fruit to get your practice running. But in the long run that is going to do more damage than good. That pool of business will eventually dry up. No matter how great you and your practice is, you want to grow and thrive to get your brand in front of as many eyes as possible.
A large or more established firm might have a huge marketing budget with experienced, on-staff marketing personnel or ad agencies on retainer to handle all the marketing work for them. But those lawyers running a solo or small law firm, and especially if you’re just starting out, your marketing budget is going to be lean.
But it doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do. There are many different marketing strategies out there that come with a great return without costing an arm and a leg.
Here are five ways to effectively and affordably market your solo or small law firm.
Email Email Email
Industry statistics say email marketing is one of the most effective strategies out there. That may be due to the fact that you’re marketing to not only your current clients, who have already purchased your services once, but you’re also marketing to people who are already familiar with you and your content.
But in order to get to that step with non-clients, you need to be upfront and ask for their email when new visitors come to your website. The best way to do this is to offer up something valuable, like information or a free consultation in exchange for their email. Also, pro-tip, the best days to send your client development emails (like newsletters, promotions, firm updates, etc.) are on Tuesdays, followed by Monday and third-best is by Wednesday.
Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is critical no matter your line of work. Your law firm is no exception to this increasing trend, especially if it’s a law firm catering to local clients. In other words, you need to engage in local search marketing aggressively. The good news is that taking advantage of local SEO for promoting your law firm isn’t rocket science.
To increase the efficiency of your local search marketing, you will need to keep your marketing material and website content consistent. The best way to make this happen is to use the same local keywords in all your assets, such as your Google My Business page, landing pages, social media profiles and website.
Usually, you can create local keywords by adding the name of the city or locality to the main keyword. For example, when “Personal Injury Lawyer” becomes “Orlando personal injury lawyer,” it turns into a local keyword. Scatter suitable local keywords throughout your website to let Google know that you intend to capture the local audience.
Social Media
Today, a social media marketing strategy is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal. Some of the most used social platforms include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn, and people are relying on social media for more than the latest news and business trends. The social media online community is growing, it is a force to be reckoned with.
Marketers are aware of this fact and do not want to cling to traditional marketing strategies.
Lawyers have not been left out of this situation. They know how hard it is to survive the cutthroat competition, in this business without resorting to social media law firm marketing. Take advantage of the targeted advertising services offered by social media platforms. It makes it easy to make sure your ad appears where it’s likely to do the most good and reach the right people.
Video and YouTube
Here’s a tip for increasing your rank in Google search results by taking advantage of the Internet’s second-ranked search engine, YouTube!
YouTube is a subsidiary owned by Google and in terms of internet credibility, Google often gives preference or credit to websites with a YouTube link. This means leads will find your firm more easily on Google.
As technology advances, YouTube has become somewhat of a new rule in marketing. Replacing past marketing methods completely if not making them obsolete. Essentially, you can now market your law firm easily with video. But you don’t need to be a professional filmmaker to reap the benefits of video marketing and YouTube. All you need is a phone or a computer/laptop webcam to get started.
Referrals and Networking
Referrals are the quickest, most reliable and highest converting leads for new and experienced lawyers alike. A steady flow of referrals means accelerating the growth of your firm and easing your worries regarding getting new clients.
One easy way to start getting more referrals is to attend networking events with other lawyers and professionals that can refer you new business. However, getting referrals isn’t as easy as showing up, shaking hands and chit-chatting. Some effort is required in order to see a return on your investment. Here are some tips that you can use to ensure your next networking event is a profitable one.
- Do your research on the event, people, and businesses that are attending before even getting there.
- Follow up with new contacts and referral sources within two days.
- Know your ideal client and how to describe them to new contacts.
- Know the host. The event host will know everyone at the event, so they are probably one of the best people to be familiar with.
