Attorney Marketing Articles - BCP Law Marketing

Digital marketing can be a daunting task, especially if you're in the legal profession. The general sentiment of those who practice law seems to be serious or, dare I say it, stiff - a direct contrast to the wild world of marketing online where relatability rules. But this doesn't have to be the case. There are an endless amount of creative law firm marketing strategies that educate, inform, and entertain potential clients while still keeping your integrity intact. Here are 9 simple law firm marketing strategies to help you grow your practice online. Develop Your Law Firm Marketing Plan Start thinking ahead. Do you know where you want your business to go? Have any clue how to get it there? Will you be sipping daiquiris in Barbados when it happens? The best way to answer these questions is to sit down for just a few minutes, think about the law firm marketing strategies we will cover below and create a solid marketing plan. Don't make it long and complex. It doesn't have to be. Just keep it simple. Now what the heck should it include? Your law firm marketing strategies plan should cover the following: Purpose What's your main goal? Are you looking to get new clients? Maybe branch into a new practice area? Strengthen or develop your firm's reputation? Tactics/Elements What strategies will move the needle? Examples include SEO, PPC, Email Marketing, SMM, etc. Metrics How are you going to measure the success of those marketing efforts? Will you count the number of leads or new clients? How many new cases do you need to generate sufficient ROI? Build a Website that Works The first step in any good law firm marketing strategy is to build a strong website. A great website can attract prospects, capture their attention, and entice them to work with you...just based on the value you provide. Make sure to consider the following... Dos and Don'ts of a great law firm website Do invest in custom design - A website should directly reflect your brand. That means utilizing a slick, responsive design that captures your company vision, voice, and values and gives visitors the best experience possible. Spend time on this step. Your website is like a digital storefront for potential clients. If they don't like what they see at first glance, they may just overlook you! Don't overlook technical details - Style without substance is useless, and so is design without tech details. Along with looking great, a solid business website must be functional. That means optimizing for site speed, fixing redirects, removing dead links, considering UX, and much, much more. Do optimize for SEO - Visually, a website needs to be attractive, but it also needs to actively attract visitors. Be sure any content on the site is optimized for SEO by researching industry keywords, making geo-targeted pages, analyzing site structure, and creating an easy-to-crawl sitemap. Don't forget about conversions - Attracting visitors is one thing. Turning those visitors into clients is something completely different! Increase potential conversions by adding clear calls to action (CTAs) to each page of your website. Outline what you want for those browsing, whether it's to signup for an email newsletter or contact you for a consultation. Create a Local Search Strategy If your law firm has a physical location, a local search strategy is going to be where you shine! When a potential client searches Google, they often use local tags to define their inquiries, such as "Law firm in Jacksonville" or "Lawyers near me". A local law firm marketing strategy ensures that your firm website is ranking as high as possible in those searches. To increase your chances, follow these steps: Showcase your Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP) clearly on your website. This can be in the header or footer sections of your site, so it's seen on every page. Claim your business listing on Google and complete every section for the best results. This means filling out your: NAP (name, address, phone number) Website Hours of operation Category and attributes Products and services From the business section Optimize your Google My Business profile even further by adding photos, inside and out, of your business and posting content regularly. Take SEO a Step Further In addition to optimizing your Google My Business page, there are a few more ways to improve your SEO with local search strategies. Create local pages on your website Make sure your service area is clearly outlined by creating pages for each area you operate in on your website. A law firm in the Kansas City metro wouldn't just want to rank for "Law firm Kansas City". Since that area has several suburbs, firms would also want to rank for "Overland Park Law Firm" "Olathe Lawyers" "Law Firm Lee's Summit" etc. These pages can be easily listed under a website's services tab so they're not clogging your website menu. Generate business reviews While optimizing your GMB page is important, great reviews will put your listing head and shoulder above your competition. Consider contacting previous clients and offering an incentive for 5-star reviews. Add your law firm to directories Google searches account for over 80% of searches online. But there are other places customers turn to in order to get info on local businesses. For even more search domination, consider listing your business on the following directories: Bing Yelp Facebook LinkedIn Company Directory FindLaw Nolo Lawyers.com Stand Out on Social Media Social media for those in the legal field can be a bit less straight-forward. There's a lot of temptation to be "everywhere" online, but that isn't really a sound strategy. Before crafting a social strategy, you want to consider the following questions… Where are my ideal clients? What type of message or tone do I want my firm to convey online? In a general sense, your law firm should absolutely be on LinkedIn. It's not only great for social but also as a business directory. LinkedIn also allows you to make great professional connections with others in your field. Any other social platform(s) you choose to post on will be based on the questions above. Do you want to post long-form content or create a community of followers? Facebook is your best bet here. Are you looking to showcase bite-sized tips in a casual or relatable way? Twitter may be for you. If image or video content is more in your wheelhouse, consider Instagram or even YouTube. The options here are endless. Just choose the platforms where you feel you can best deliver value and begin posting. Invest in PPC Advertising Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a quick way to generate leads and increase website traffic. The best law firm marketing strategies combine a good mix of free and paid tactics. Everything listed above is free, while PPC advertising requires some investment. There are several elements that make PPC campaigns work. Here's what's included in our management service packages: Competitive campaign analysis Account setup or restructuring Initial campaign development & strategy A/B ad split testing Ongoing keyword development and tweaking Budget management Help with optimizing landing pages ROI analysis And more! Consider Social Ads Google ads aren't the only way to get eyes on your business. Social media advertising is a great way to build brand awareness, gain followers and fans, and get visitors to your website or landing page. The main difference between paid social ads and paid Google ads are the objectives. Some common objectives for social advertising are: Grow social audience Increase brand awareness Boost post engagement Generate new leads Consider this option only if your goal is to grow on social media. If you're just looking for increased web traffic, you may be better off sticking with Google PPC! Create Great Content Content marketing is an important (but often overlooked) aspect of law firm marketing strategies, mostly because there are so many different types of content to create. Do you remember the question we asked earlier? What type of message or tone do I want my firm to convey online? Similar to social media, the type of content you'll create for your law firm will depend completely on your brand voice & vision. Take a look below to find some ideas to inspire your content marketing plan… Business Blog The easiest way to generate visitors to your website is by creating consistent, SEO-optimized blog posts. Blogs can be on a variety of topics, but for law firms, we suggest sticking to quick tips for those who might be seeking any legal counsel and, if you're comfortable, showcasing the employees in your firm. Infographics Infographics are graphics that help visualize important information or data related to your industry. Some examples of what you might include on an infographic for your law firm are facts & statistics related to your area of practice, breaking down the elements of a case, step-by-step, and even common law terms and what they mean in layman's terms. Video Content If you're comfortable and have the capability, video marketing can be extremely beneficial for business marketing. The subject matter can be the same as both business blogs and infographics. The length of the videos isn't important; the key here is to create videos compelling enough to grab the attention of potential clients wherever it's posted. Company Newsletter Newsletters are a great way to keep potential, current, and former clients informed of the happenings in your firm. In addition to updating subscribers about the company itself, you can also include tips for your area of practice and law-related news you think would be valuable. Implement Email Marketing Speaking of newsletters, email marketing is essential if you want to grow your business online. According to HubSpot, effective email marketing can generate $38 for every $1 spent. That means that the ROI is a whopping 3,800%!! There are a few things you'll need in order to implement a successful email marketing strategy for your law firm though, take a look below… Choose an email service provider - There are several options here. You'll want to choose a provider that meets the needs of your business. If you're new to email marketing & you're doing it alone, you may want to test different providers to get a feel for what they offer before committing. Some popular options are: ConvertKit MailChimp and Constant Contact Create an email list - Chances are, you already have a database of potential subscribers. Whether these are former or current clients, or perhaps people who've expressed interest, you'll want to gather these together to form a cohesive list. Segment your audience - The great thing about email marketing is that you can break up your subscriber list to send different messages to different audiences. There are many ways you can segment, but we recommend at least creating lists for past clients, present clients, and prospective clients. Track your results - Once you've chosen a provider, created your list, and maybe sent a few emails to your subscribers, you'll want to measure a few metrics. Open Rate - How often your audience opens emails sent CTR (clickthrough rate) - How often subscribers who open click email links Unsubscribe Rate - The rate at which subscribers well...unsubscribe Build an Automation Sales Funnel Once you've set up your email marketing service provider, and you've gotten more comfortable with email marketing, it may be time to dig deeper to gain leads. Enter...the sales funnel. A sales funnel is a huge part of a robust law firm marketing strategy. A sales funnel captures prospect's contact information (usually email) and, once you have a potential clients' details, nurtures them through a series of emails that add value and educate them about your area of expertise. This helps to build trust, show credibility, and build a relationship as the potential client can get to know you. A basic sales funnel has 3 main steps: A great product - What are you selling? For law firms, what you're selling are your services. A compelling offer - How can you get a prospect's attention? You have several options here, but some common lead magnets are: Webinars Infographics White Papers Case Studies Checklists Video series Free training A customer purchase (client gain) - This step, the conversion, is the single most important step. It's the ultimate goal. This is an advanced strategy. And while you can absolutely create a sales funnel on your own, working with a knowledgeable partner like BCP Law Marketing can help simplify this and other often complicated tactics. Build Your Law Firm Marketing Strategy with BCP At BCP, we're committed to turning every marketing dollar into results. We can help to develop a comprehensive law firm marketing strategy that will help you stand out from the competition and attract clients online. If you're ready to take your law practice to the next level, let's talk! Contact us now to book a Marketing Accelerator Session. Let us get you on the fast track to success! 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9 Best Digital Marketing Strategies for Your Law Firm

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