Marketing a law firm is an ongoing effort. You want to consistently measure your marketing efforts and keep track of emerging trends to stay on top of the most effective law firm marketing strategies. That’s because people’s needs and expectations change over time. So, you must be ready to shift your message to keep up and continue to capture your audience’s attention.
At the same time, all your marketing messages should be accurate and professional to reflect your core values. Attention to detail and thorough planning should be pillars of your marketing strategy.
Could you repurpose your old marketing strategy in 2022? You still need to update and revamp at least a few pieces. So, where do you start? Here are the top seven marketing techniques and business areas you need to focus on to build a solid marketing strategy for promoting your practice this year.
1. Define and Consolidate Your Brand
If you have a brand playbook, take a few hours to review its content and identify any pieces that no longer represent your practice. Your company evolves, and it’s only natural that your brand grows to keep up.
If you’ve never had the time to put together brand style guidelines, now is the right time to define your brand. You want to be clear about what you stand for, who your best clients are, and what messages you can use to attract them to your practice. This way, you have a solid basis for your marketing efforts for more effective campaigns.
2. Set Clear Marketing Goals and Budget Accordingly
New year, new business goals—make sure you also align your marketing goals to support your overall growth. Continuing the excellent work you started last year is a great idea, but you also need to add new techniques and marketing channels to your mix to maximize the return on your marketing efforts.
As you set new marketing goals for 2022, make sure you plan a realistic budget to go with your strategy. Calculate how much every client is worth and decide what acceptable costs are for generating new leads and converting them into paying clients. This way, you know right from the start how much you can afford to divert towards paid advertising and how much you should use for “organic” growth.
3. Boost Local SEO
Every law firm’s marketing strategy should include a local component. That’s because, in this industry, people tend to look for experts who can be easily reached for in-person interaction. As much as 46% of all Google queries are local, so in 2022, you want to focus on local SEO to leverage “Near Me” searches and rank high in search results for queries that include your exact location.
To start, you need to update and optimize your Google My Business page—if you have multiple offices, make sure each has its account. It’ll help you build trust with Google and people who look for your services online. Plus, it’s an easy way to communicate every update about your practice fast.
Last but not least, you want to make sure you optimize your website for local keywords. Run a round of keyword research quarterly to see what terms and phrases people in your area use to look for your services online and produce content that can help you rank for those keywords.
4. Lead with Value and Thought Leadership
As more and more companies invest in their online presence, you’ll need new ways to differentiate your practice from competitors. To make it happen, you need to consolidate your position as an expert in your niche.
High-quality content is one of the best tools to build thought leadership. Take the time to analyze your potential client’s pain points and identify the topics that can help you build trust with them.
You don’t need to explain exactly how you fix their problems to become an authority as a law firm. Instead, you want to focus on addressing the fears and anxiety of legal issues.
Put together a content marketing strategy to produce content regularly to educate and help your target audience overcome anxiety and avoid additional costs. Simply put, teach them to be better clients.
Ideally, you experiment with multiple types of content for increased visibility. In 2020, only a quarter of the US law firms used video for marketing, and you can use this to your advantage. If you start using this type of content now, you’re likely to capture and maintain the audience’s attention in this niche.
5. Integrate Social Media Channels into Your Marketing Plan
Yes, law firms, too, can benefit from a curated social presence on one or two social channels. This way, you can connect with your audience using tools they’re comfortable with and reach people who wouldn’t become aware of your existence otherwise.
A successful social media strategy for law firms is focused on adding value to your audience while also highlighting the human side of your brand. So, make sure you plan specific content for every channel to meet your audience’s expectations.
6. Stay on Top of Your Web Presence
When searching for your company online, people will stumble upon more than just your website and social channels. And they’ll want to read information from third-party sources, such as review sites or forums, for example, to understand more about your services and expertise.
That’s why you must update your business’ name, address, and phone number on third-party platforms that list your practice. It’s not always easy to claim these profiles, and sometimes, you might have to pay a fee to get access and optimize them for better reach.
However, controlling what information is available about you online is an investment that pays off. As a guideline, you want to focus on the platforms that show up on Google’s first page when you search for your law firm’s name online.
7. Work with a Team of Pros to Improve Lead Quality and Conversion Rates
It’s no secret that marketing is becoming more and more popular among law firms of all sizes. You no longer have the time for DIY marketing experiments—not if you want to see results and grow your practice in 2022.
Many of your competitors already have internal marketing staff or work with external consultants regularly. You need a good team in the back end to support your marketing efforts.
Marketing is more than generating leads. You must also nurture these leads and be consistent in building trust and thought leadership. You need help to follow up with people who contact you and ensure customer satisfaction every time someone gets in touch with your brand. And the best way to do this is by hiring a team of experts to support your marketing efforts and increase the return on your marketing investment.