Marketing legal services can feel rather daunting for small law firm attorneys, and with good reason. These days, the massive volume of vendors peddling flashy but often dubious solutions can amount to white noise, making it difficult to discern which marketing techniques work and are worth leveraging.
As an attorney, you may be asking yourself if some of the latest marketing methods are even necessary. After all, law firms prospered for ages through Yellow Pages advertising and word of mouth as long as they focused on providing high quality services for their clients in a picturesque office.
The answer, for better or worse, is yes, you do need to keep up with marketing trends to gain a competitive edge in today’s legal services market. But the good news is that knowing is half the battle. By understanding how today’s available tools are setting up law firms for success, and implementing these for your own practice, you stand to be rewarded with a wealth of consistent new client leads.
Depending on your location and practice area, traditional advertising, i.e., offline advertising, may be a good fit for your law firm. Traditional advertising media such as TV still yields significant returns if you are strategic with your ad placements and audience targeting. Along with billboards and print ads, they remain effective in generating brand awareness and driving website traffic.
However, radio is gone as effective marketing. Monthly newsletters and consistency in social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, your own personal podcast as well as guest speaking appearances on other podcasts in the industry have collectively become the most cost efficient and effective way to stay relevant.
It’s important to remember that today’s consumers are more empowered and inclined than ever to evaluate their options online, and no matter how they hear about you, they’re likely going to conduct research on the web before making any hiring decisions. Launching an interactive, user-friendly website is a great place to start, and setting up the aforementioned social media pages for your firm is a proven way to engage prospective clients in this era of digital connectivity. Meanwhile, deploying cost-effective online advertising campaigns allows you to accurately target potential clients who might be a match for your firm’s areas of practice.
When it comes to online legal directories, these will prove just as indispensable to your law firm as the Yellow Pages used to be. By leveraging search engine rankings and the broad exposure of large vendors to drive traffic to your website, online directories make it easy for your future clients to find you when they are actively searching for legal services.
Regardless of medium, one important caveat is to always avoid oversaturating the market with advertising, as this can lead to recipient fatigue, a decline in engagement, and a sullied reputation for your firm. Reducing the number of advertising messages that you deploy and ensuring you offer only the most pertinent and relevant information is a reasonable approach when advertising your services.
If you take away one insight from this article, it should be that today’s marketing innovations have made it easier than ever for law firms of all sizes to generate leads. As you read this, there are countless individuals searching for an attorney in your area. With the right set of marketing tools, it has become easier and more cost-effective to reach the right target audience to grow you firm.