Reputation Marketing
By Katie Terrell Hanna
December 20, 2022

The ultimate law firm marketing guide

When you’re ready to expand your practice and get new clients, developing a marketing plan will be critical to your success. A combination of print advertising and online marketing will help your law firm grow.

Here’s what you need to know about legal marketing to hit the ground running.

What does marketing do for law firms?

Marketing can benefit law firms in several ways:

  • Increases word-of-mouth referrals
  • Generates high-quality leads for prospective clients
  • Bolsters your firm’s reputation for legal services
  • Establishes your firm as an authority in your practice area
  • Helps your firm engage and keep current clients

How do law firms attract clients?

While research shows that referrals are still the largest source of leads for lawyers, 75% of consumers seeking legal help consulted online resources at some point during the decision-making process. Besides referrals from friends, family, and other attorneys, law firms use the following marketing tactics to attract potential clients:

  • Social media marketing
  • Content marketing
  • Search engine optimization (SEO)
  • Law firm website
  • Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
  • Listings in lawyer directories
  • Direct mail
  • Print advertising

What should an effective law firm marketing plan include?

Define your law firm’s target market

Determine the type of person most likely to need legal assistance in your practice areas and tailor your law firm marketing strategy to your target audience. Attorney lead generation will look different for each firm.

For example, estate planning attorneys might use direct mail or print advertising in publications for seniors, while DUI lawyers may focus on reaching a younger audience through social media marketing.

Determine your marketing budget

Schedule your marketing spend from month to month and decide which metrics you’ll use to determine if your strategies are getting the return on investment (ROI) you hoped for.

If you’re a small law firm with a small budget, there are affordable tools you can use to develop your own marketing campaigns, so you don’t need to pay for marketing services or hire a marketing expert.

Conduct a competitive analysis

Understand your competitors, their pricing and their target market. Next, identify your own firm’s unique value proposition and use various marketing channels to communicate this message with potential clients. For example, your firm may stand out because of your experienced or award-winning attorneys, innovative approaches or glowing testimonials.

Choose your marketing channels

Attorney marketing can include both print and digital marketing channels.

While you don’t have to use every available channel, consider a combination of marketing strategies. Law firm SEO, content marketing, email marketing, website design, direct mail, print advertising, social media posts and paid social media ads are all great avenues to consider when developing your lawyer marketing plan.

Use these marketing strategies to generate and convert leads

  • High-quality website with live chat: Build a professional and visually appealing website optimized to capture local search traffic. Your landing page should include your contact information and the location of your law offices, positive reviews and a call-to-action (CTA).

With Broadly, you can get a dedicated web designer to build a site tailored to your firm, including a web chat feature that allows you to immediately engage with potential clients.

  • Social media posts: Whether you post educational videos on TikTok, answer questions on legal sites or post infographics on LinkedIn, make sure social media has a place in your overall marketing strategy.
  • Blog content: A blog filled with engaging and relevant content will help increase traffic to your website and show how knowledgeable you are about the legal industry.
  • Email marketing campaigns: Email marketing can help you convert leads and nurture current client relationships. Automation tools make it easy to reach out, whether that’s through a monthly newsletter or a personalized text reminder.
  • Facebook and Google ads: Targeted pay-per-click (PPC) ads are often more affordable and generate higher-quality leads than print advertising. Pay-per-click ads can be especially helpful for new law practices that aren’t getting referrals yet.
  • Print marketing materials: Make sure you have attractive business cards to hand out to your clients, friends and other attorneys. This will make it easier for people to refer you, so your firm can get new business. You may also want to consider direct mail or print advertising as one of your marketing initiatives.

Launch your marketing efforts, measure your results and optimize

You don’t need to hire a marketing agency, but you should assemble a marketing team, even if it’s an informal one. Create a schedule and determine who will be responsible for each channel. Set measurable goals and benchmarks and decide how data will be collected. Test different strategies and measure the outcomes so you can optimize your marketing efforts in the future.

Get new clients with Broadly’s marketing solutions

Online marketing for attorneys may seem overwhelming, but you can grow your law practice in no time with the right tools. Broadly offers web design, reputation management, email marketing and streamlined external and internal communication tools for growing law firms. It’s more than just customer relationship management software. It’s a full suite of marketing tools for lawyers.

Schedule a demo today to find out why Broadly is the only solution you need to make the most of your marketing efforts.

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