In 2017, lawyers will be under pressure to achieve more, provide more to their clients, and get the most out of their marketing efforts. It is no longer just about practicing law but finding even more clients to represent. The goal is to beat your competitors in every aspect of the practice. To be a successful lawyer in 2017, you’ll not want to miss any good opportunity to improve your practice. You’ll need to exploit every opportunity that brings in more success to your firm, and that includes having a professional team to market your practice.
In the last few years, major steps have been taken in legal services marketing. We have seen the emergence of new marketing tools and promotion strategies launched by legal practice development experts. However, competition in the digital marketing arena has grown even stiffer. It is no surprise why many lawyers in 2017 are paying high fees for dismal results yet they won’t stop spending primarily because their competitors are spending more. The successful lawyer is the one who pays for results not for the latest magic button promising to drive hordes of clients to his or her office within a few days.
Here are few key factors to consider in a results-oriented legal services marketing approach:
The overall design of your website
The overall design layout, branding, content, and feel of your site says plenty about your services. Your website design and content will determine whether visitors end up becoming clients or leave to a competitor with a better site.
A good marketing team will help you build a great website that provides aesthetic and functional values. With a majority of potential clients browsing the Internet through mobile devices, you’ll need a responsive site that displays properly on desktops, smartphones, and tablets. Your marketing partners will ensure that your visitors get the best experience while browsing your website.
There are many things you need to consider when evaluating the effectiveness of your website. For instance, does the website present you as a person who is easy to reach and talk to? Does it show your qualifications and testimonials from satisfied clients? There are two things that influence potential clients seeking legal services:
- Trust
Reputable lawyers often feature in their websites badges, seals, certifications, and awards from various associations that they belong to. The seals and awards show potential clients that yours is a trustworthy firm led by a person who is distinguished in the field. You can also include biographies of your legal team with all the relevant details such as their education achievements, awards, and notable professional accomplishments they may have achieved in the course of practicing law. Such information makes clients trust you enough to handle their cases.
- Scheduling and fees
Potential clients visiting your website are often wary of ending up with a lawyer who charges sky-high fees. It is important to feature sufficient information about consultations, fees, and any special offer you may be having. Most potential clients will likely call you after they have a rough idea of the fees you charge. For example, if you provide free consultation or only charge clients after they win their cases, then make sure the information is prominently featured on your website.
There are many more website and content marketing strategies that a good marketing company can do to make your website a successful marketing tool for your firm.
Law firm SEO
Unlike SEO for other industries, law firm SEO is a completely unique field with a different approach. SEO for lawyers requires a local strategy in which you target people in your city or immediate area looking for your kind of services. To reach these potential clients in your locality, it is essential to have local citations that will help them find you with ease.
You also need a proper mix of usual SEO techniques such as on-page optimization, backlinks, and content promotion. Participation in the local and national legal directories and websites is essential too. Most of these SEO techniques can be expensive and time-consuming if you are not familiar with the game but with the help of a good marketing company specializing in legal services promotion, you can reach your goal of getting top positions in search engine results for the best keywords.
A legal service marketing firm is staffed with specialists with all the necessary skills and knowledge to implement a local SEO strategy that will increase the likelihood of your firm being shown in the map results of Google and Bing. Their marketing team will help you to create optimized local pages on your site with all the right signals to make Google display your firm on their map listings and Google map feature. Local SEO tactics are important to your success in 2017. They bring you qualified leads and help you to take your business to the next level.
Better PPC management
PPC is still a relevant digital marketing technique for the successful lawyer in 2017. It is still one of the most effective ways of attracting new clients to your firm. However, PPC competition within the legal space is still at cut-throat level. Without proper guidance and management, PPC can be unnecessarily expensive for a lawyer. You need to have a team of skilled PPC experts to handle your promotion needs. A good legal marketing team is equipped with the latest tools and techniques to help your law firm reach its marketing goals via PPC.
A successful PPC strategy for attorneys begins with extensive market research to compile the best keyword data in your field of practice. The marketing team will then use specialized tools to analyze your top competitors’ PPC strategies and methods to identify which tactics they are using and create a strategy that will give you a competitive advantage. Based on this research, the team will create custom campaigns with the best messages to drive traffic to your website. They’ll even go as far as monitoring and improving all your PPC campaigns every day, week, and month.
The team of PPC experts can even test ads, messages, or landing pages to determine which combination gets the best response from your target demographic. Today’s PPC is no longer a set-and-forget strategy. It requires constant monitoring, tweaking, and improvement, which is why you need a good marketing partner to handle your PPC tasks while you concentrate on the legal needs of your clients.
Social media marketing for law firms
A successful lawyer in 2017 will need to have a prominent social media presence. Social media provides a tremendous opportunity for a law firm to reach an even bigger audience, maintain close contact with existing clients, and grow its business.
Social media marketing can enhance your firm’s online visibility, increase your name of brand recognition, and improve your SEO. Social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn are useful tools that can help you to connect with potential clients and increase word-of-mouth referrals. If you have not yet started using social media marketing then you are leaving a lucrative opportunity to your competing law firms.
A majority of social media users often recommend products and services to their peers, family, and followers. With a good legal service marketing strategy that focuses on social media networking, these users could be recommending your law firm to their friends and family.
An experienced legal marketing firm knows how to create dynamic social media marketing campaigns that will focus on the goals of your firm and adapt the goals to the latest trends in social media. Most have cost-effective strategies that yield great results.
Conclusion
Legal practice is a demanding profession. It is nearly impossible to concentrate on satisfying the ever-growing demands of your clients and market your services at the same time. The successful lawyer in 217 is one who knows the value of delegating marketing duties to the professionals. In fact, some of these legal marketing professionals are former practicing lawyers who understand what clients look for in a trustworthy lawyer. They’ll help you to market your firm while you concentrate on meeting the demands of your practice. Call us or write.
