Creating a law firm marketing plan can take your practice from a small business to a high profile firm. Here’s what you need to know to do it right.
When you’re creating your law firm marketing plan, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.
From blogging with to creating a print marketing campaign that connects with your local community, it can be challenging — not to mention intimidating — to know where you should start.
Don’t panic: we’re here to help you understand the most important marketing aspects to focus on.
No matter which area of law you practice within, or where your practice is located?
Keep reading this post to understand how to create a marketing plan that builds your brand recognition, establishes you as an authority, and gets you more clients.
Know The Competition
When you first set out to develop your law firm marketing plan, one of the first things you need to do is understand the firms and representatives that you’ll be up against.
But why spend valuable time researching your competition?
For one, you’ll be able to better differentiate your target market from their own. This will also help to ensure that the tone of your advertising, the issues you write about, and even the specific marketing materials that you use are different enough from the competition.
No one wants to work with a law firm that is simply the knock-off version of a much better original.
Of course, doing this kind of research will also help you to identify weak points and missed opportunities in your competition’s advertising strategy. This way, you can address those issues within your own marketing plan.
Understand Your Local Market
When creating your law firm marketing plan, it’s essential that, after you’ve gotten to know the competition, you do a deep dive into your local market.
First of all, most of your clients — if not all of them — will likely be residents of your home city and state.
This means that, if you don’t understand the pain points, needs, concerns, and most common legal problems of your service area, you’re not going to be able to get very many clients.
Get to know your local market through a combination of physical, in-person brand building and digital marketing strategy. For example, why not sponsor a local sports team or host a seminar on frequent legal issues in your community?
Then, write a blog post (more on that in a minute) about crime in your area, or tweet your opinion about a popular legal case that’s making headlines in the community.
Also, since almost 90% of consumers say they value the information contained in online reviews just as much as they do advice and referrals from friends and family members?
Ensure that you’re doing everything possible to build up your portfolio of online testimonials.
There’s nothing unethical about asking a client you went above and beyond for to leave you an online review, and it will certainly help you to make more of a connection with your local market.
Blogging Is Key
SEO, or search engine optimization, is far and away the most crucial part of the digital aspect of your law firm marketing plan.
In order for you to rank higher within the search engine results, you need to do everything you can to “optimize” your online content so that Google and other search engines see it as more relevant, useful, and up-to-date than your competitors.
One of the best ways to do just that?
By creating a blog for your law firm.
First of all, businesses that blog have over 434% more indexed pages than those that don’t. This means that search engines will “crawl” your website and “study up” on the kind of content you’re posting. Once your pages are indexed, they’ll be able to show up in relevant searches — increasing your visitor count and conversion rate.
Additionally, blogging also gives you the chance to seamlessly include keywords into your content. Keywords are the phrases that people type into search engines when they’re looking for the services your law firm offers.
While you can — and should — include keywords on your homepage and static web content, it’s also important to constantly add to the number of keywords you’re using.
The more keywords you use, the more likely you are to outrank your competition.
For a template on how to pull of legal blogging that’s written in accessible language but still SEO-minded, check out Craig Swapp’s blog for more info.
Become An Authority
One of the most important aspects of your law firm marketing plan?
Whether the content you create is digital or print, you need to ensure that the tone you’re taking and the actual topics that you’re writing about — and where you’re writing about them — position you as an authority within the legal industry.
For example, when you blog, make sure that you’re externally linking back to authoritative websites and . In addition to creating content for your own blog, as we discussed above?
Also make sure that you’re submitting posts to popular websites, magazines, and newspapers that are well-respected within the legal industry.
Make it a point to understand the current hot-button issues in your chosen legal field — and always get in on the conversation surrounding them.
Even if you can’t provide specific legal advice in your posts and content, you can offer generalized knowledge that addresses some of your most frequently asked questions.
When you write content that is unique, genuinely helpful, and easy for everyday people to understand, you position yourself as a firm that people can trust — and want to work with as a result.
You’re Ready To Create The Ultimate Law Firm Marketing Plan
We hope that this post has helped you to understand the most important aspects of an effective and dynamic law firm marketing plan.
Keep in mind, however, that the strategies listed here are only the foundation of your plan.
In order to continue to be successful, you’ll need to constantly tweak and update your strategy.
You’ll also need to ensure that you have all the proper legal forms you need to hire employees, , and schedule meetings with clients.
Spend some time on our website to get access to hundreds of crucial business templates. Then, check out our digital marketing blog to always ensure that your firm rises above the competition.
