Digital marketing: Demand generation fundamentals for law firms

By Guy Alvarez

In today’s hyper-competitive legal marketplace, no law firm can expect new clients to simply arrive at its door. Its marketing team must first make prospects aware that the practice even exists and then convince potential clients that the firm and its attorneys are capable of addressing their most pressing needs.

That’s where demand generation comes in.

Unlike traditional marketing tactics, demand generation focuses on creating demand for services rather than simply promoting them. By leveraging branding, education, and relationship building, this holistic approach aims to generate awareness of and interest in a firm’s services by guiding prospects through the client’s entire journey, from discovery through conversion.

For legal marketers, this starts with identifying prospects’ needs and providing valuable insight into how the firm’s services can improve their lives or businesses. When approached thoughtfully, demand generation pulls prospective clients toward the firm organically, educating them on the value of its expertise and ultimately leading them to engage with the practice.

Developing a strategy for demand generation

Lawyers and legal marketers should begin developing a demand generation strategy by asking a few basic questions:

• Who should be targeted?
• What do they need, and why?
• How will they be reached, and where? What does success look like?
• When is it time to check in, change course, jump on trends, etc.?

Data is critical to answering these questions. Most law firms already have access to information that could be helpful for audience segmentation, target market demographics, and so on. Such metrics will provide valuable insight into who future clients are as well as firm offerings they might need or want. Delivering timely, relevant content through the right channels is essential; data will also prove crucial in guiding those decisions.

The demand generation process

Even the most robust demand generation strategy won’t deliver the desired results unless it is thoughtfully executed. Essential steps in this process include:

 

1. Focus on brand awareness through content marketing, thought leadership, and social media efforts. By consistently employing SEO best practices, marketers will improve website visibility and increase the likelihood that prospects will discover  firm content.
2. Lead magnets, data analysis, landing pages, and event follow-up are critical. Firms should offer high-quality free content as well as gated content that requires prospects to submit contact information. Once the connection is made, it’s vital that firms follow up on those leads.
3. Nurture leads with targeted email programs and personalized content. Scalable marketing automation tools can assist in content development and ensure the right content is delivered to the right audience at the right time. Giving sales and marketing teams access to the same data will facilitate a more comprehensive approach to lead nurturing.
4. Optimized landing pages and an enhanced user experience will improve conversions. Firms should consider implementing lead-scoring programs to better understand which leads are actually converting.
5. Tracking results and optimizing are essential, as insights gained over time can be leveraged to improve efforts in all areas. Firms should have a reliable process for measuring and interpreting results.

Overcoming challenges to effective demand generation

While demand generation offers tremendous benefits, successfully executing a strategy presents some challenges.

Consumers and businesses increasingly expect more from brands and tend to favor businesses and organizations that seem to align with them or speak to them on a more personal level. If a demand generation strategy is going to deliver on its promise, legal marketers must ensure their content is always relevant, compelling and personalized. Creating material and experiences that resonate requires access to data that provides meaningful insight into prospects’ needs.

To ensure the quality of their metrics, marketers should examine data sources with a critical eye to identifying potential gaps. Ideally, the data will provide a complete picture of a firm’s ideal client. That picture is beyond valuable; it’s virtually impossible to execute a successful demand generation strategy without it.

The bottom line

Harnessing the full power of demand generation requires law firms to develop a clear view of clients and prospects and formulate a robust plan for reaching them. Once the fundamentals are in place, firms stand to reap significant benefits across the entirety of their marketing funnel, resulting in more engagement, more leads, and ultimately more clients.

 

Guy Alvarez is a partner in Good2BSocial, L.L.C., a digital marketing agency that focuses on law firms and companies in the legal industry. He can be reached at [email protected].