Marketing Ideas For Law Firms in 2023 - Step-by-Step Guide
Introduction
Marketing a law firm doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, once you keep in mind some basic differences between marketing for the legal industry and other niches, you will be well on your way to setting up an A+ marketing plan for your firm without investing thousands of dollars in marketing agency fees.
In this post, we’ll show you the nine pillars you and your team need to work on to stand out for your competitors and hook your potential clients into your digital ecosystem.
Law Firm Marketing: The difference
Marketing a law firm has a lot to do with being in the right place at the right time instead of chasing clients.
In many circumstances, this is not only true from a legal point of view but also from a pure consumer behavior perspective.
So, unless you have a crystal ball (tell us if you do! We’d like to try it), the only way to be top of mind at the right time is to spend 90% of your efforts on brand awareness instead of splitting your resources evenly with direct marketing.
Step-by-Step Brand Awareness Marketing plan for law firms
Define your target audience
Identify the specific types of clients the firm wants to attract, such as businesses, individuals, or government entities. Once you have a clear understanding of your target audience, find out the following:
Their real-life problems
The real-life implications they could face if they don’t solve those problems
The places where your target audience hangs out online
The TV/radio shows, podcasts, magazines, and newspapers they consume.
The average age, gender, and lifestyle (if applicable)
Conduct benchmarking research
Research your firm's competitors and analyze how they relate to their target market. This step is extremely important and can be easily done by using social media and Youtube. Just search your competitors and see which of their posts or videos do better than others. That will give you a quick overview of what your market resonates with in real-time.
Keep in mind that you want to benchmark fairly recent content (not older than two years) since consumer behavior is highly affected by changes in technology and many other factors.
Develop a unique selling proposition
Determine what sets your firm apart from its competitors and articulate this in a clear and compelling way.
Remember. If your target market sees your firm in the same light as other firms, they will start comparing prices, and therefore your services will be seen as a commodity (that’s not good!)
This step is key to eliminating as much competition as possible. The ideal scenario would be for you to come up with an offer so compelling and unique that your market cannot possibly compare you to your competitors.
If that happens, congrats! You just created a “category of one” for yourself, and your prospects won’t be able to compare your pricing to other firms.
Build a strong online presence
Create a professional website and establish a strong presence on social media platforms. The key here is to keep your online assets as clean and up-to-date as possible. If you currently lack resources (i.e., you are doing everything on your own), it’s best if you focus only on one social media platform at a time.
If you don’t know what platforms to focus on, go back to points 1 and 2 and figure out where the bulk of your market hangs out.
But as soon as you have the resources to double down on your social media presence, you can use a content repurposing strategy to syndicate your content to many platforms, hence creating “brand omnipresence.”
Establish thought leadership
Publish articles and blog posts on relevant legal topics, speak at industry events, host webinars, or even start your own podcasts.
You don’t have to do everything at once. Just pick one or two places to get started and be consistent with it.
Relating back to content repurposing, you could, for example, write a weekly blog post and then record yourself reading that post and turn it into a podcast. You can even pause your reading and comment on specific points to make the podcast more personable.
If you decide to start your own podcast, keep in mind that you can use it as a networking tool by inviting guests to your show.
This works extremely well when you invite experts from other industries to speak about the issues that they are facing, so you can comment on the legal implications of (and possible solutions to) those problems.
For example, if you own a personal injury law firm, you can invite an expert from the insurance world to talk about automobile accident statistics. Then you can discuss ways drivers can legally protect themselves.
Leverage referral networks
Build relationships with other professionals and businesses that can refer clients to the firm. As soon as your firm puts out daily/weekly content online, you can ask other businesses in adjacent niches to create content with you, hence striking a partnership that can be cultivated in the long run.
These first-level partnerships can be as simple as creating guest blog posts on each other’s websites or working together to make a couple of Instagram Reels.
Host events
Organize events such as seminars, workshops, and networking events to engage with potential clients and build relationships. Just like online collaborations, in-person ones can be a great way to get referrals and further build your thought leadership, especially if your law practice focuses on serving your local community.
Many lawyers we speak with tell us that the reason why they became attorneys is that they wanted to help “those that don’t have a voice.” So if that’s the case for you as well, we recommend also organizing these live events for the most vulnerable!
Measure and track results
Using metrics such as website traffic, social media engagement, and new client acquisitions to track the success of the marketing efforts is crucial to building a brand that will last in the long run and outpace your competitors.
Just like law, marketing is all about attention to detail. You cannot expect good results if you don’t track those subtle changes in image colors, ad copy, the tone of your voice in your videos, your exact targeting for your ads, etc.
Measure all the parameters, then eliminate what’s not working and double down on what does work.
Over the course of a few months, you should have dialed in an effective marketing mix that will allow you to create content in a sustainable way (consistency is key!) at an affordable price and that gives you great evergreen results.
Read this: How to Build a Brand in 2023
Need More Help?
If you need more help, don’t contact a marketing agency.
Most marketing agencies will help you grow, but will take a very big cut of your profits.
On top of that, working with a marketing agency is like opening a tap. As long as you work with them, you’ll see results. But as soon as you part ways, you will have little to nothing to show for it.
Your best bet is to create an A+ low-cost remote team that works exclusively for you.
That way you get to keep all your results for the life-time of your firm and, you get everything done at a fraction of the cost.
If you want to know how we can help you set up your own in-house marketing systems and automate the whole process for you, sign up for our newsletter or book a 30-minute no-obligation Remote Team Freedom consultations by clicking here.
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