Digital Marketing: Tried-and-True digital strategies that work for law firms

By Kevin Vermeulen

In today’s online-first world, most law firms recognize that a robust digital strategy is key to driving new client acquisition and revenue growth. However, many struggle to identify the tactics and methods that will serve them best.

The digital landscape is continually evolving, and keeping up with the pace of change can be overwhelming. Yet there are a few tried-and-true practices that, when effectively leveraged, can significantly boost a firm’s bottom line.

Content marketing

It’s impossible to understate the importance of content marketing, especially for a law firm looking to connect with potential clients and position its attorneys as experts in their areas of practice.

• Blogs: Maintaining a blog is essential to building credibility and trust in the minds of potential clients.
• “Linkbait”: This type of content is intended to attract quality backlinks. Inbound links will improve search rankings and drive more traffic to your site.
• Guest posting: Publishing content on another website can drive referral traffic to a law firm’s site and help raise brand awareness.
• Video: Creating impactful videos and promoting them on various platforms enhances a firm’s standing as a legal industry thought leader, improves SEO and increases the likelihood that the practice will be found online.
• Webinar: Easy to create and versatile, webinars can range from a simple presentation to an online course.
• Podcasting: Whether a firm produces its own podcast or makes its attorneys available to fill guest roles, podcasting facilitates connections with highly engaged audiences.

Email Marketing

Email marketing allows a law firm to make direct connections and nurture relationships with potential clients. However, unless email content is highly relevant and personalized for the recipient, it’s likely to be relegated to the spam folder.

• Offer a lead magnet: Offering something valuable – like a white paper, how-to-guide or checklist – in exchange for contact info is highly effective for building an email database.
• Segmentation: Law firms should target their audiences in a way that aligns with their online interactions. A contact database should be segmented based on topics or services prospects have demonstrated an interest in.
• A/B testing: Testing variants of specific conversion elements will determine which garners the best response.
• Automation: A marketing automation system can place individuals on lists based on their particular actions and then market to them in a more targeted way.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Increasing organic traffic to a law firm’s website requires close attention to SEO.

• Keyword research: Determining what prospects are searching for allows for the creation of content that aligns with their search intent.
• On-page SEO: This involves optimization of content and other elements on a webpage for better ranking.
• Off-page SEO: These actions optimize elements not directly related to a firm’s website.
• Technical SEO: These non-content-related techniques make it easier for search engines to crawl and index a website.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

CRO describes tactics that aim to increase the percentage of users who complete an action on a website, thus converting from a mere visitor into a potential lead.

• Headline optimization: Improving a headline is one of the quickest ways to ramp up conversion across advertising, email, organic search – or anything else.
• Calls-to-Action: A simple yet effective CTA is one of the best ways to drive conversions. Testing different placements, verbiage, etc., will help make the most of this element.
• Landing page optimization: Landing pages should encourage visitors to engage in a specific action. Optimization ensures users can effortlessly navigate and complete the desired action.
• Social proof: Testimonials, case studies, and reviews demonstrate a firm’s credibility.
• A/B testing for UX elements: Testing various components allows marketers to identify the elements likely to work best on their site.

Social Media

Platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram are today’s town square and essential to any legal marketing strategy. But in order to expand a firm’s reach, every post must be optimized to attract more followers and encourage them to share the content.

• Choose the right channel: Not every platform works for every purpose. While LinkedIn is known as the most effective B2B channel, legal marketers should make an effort to understand how their firm’s audience interacts with every social media channel.
• Social listening: Social can help a law firm manage its online reputation, provided marketers stay attuned to what users are saying about their practice.
• Understand the target audience: Firms that understand the lifestyle, personality, needs, and challenges of their social followers are better positioned to create content that resonates and drives engagement.

Paid Advertising

While SEO will eventually boost organic traffic to a firm’s website, it does take some time to see results. Paid advertising is a great way to bridge that gap and immediately generate more online interest.

• Google adwords: An extremely powerful platform, this pay-per-click approach only charges a firm when someone clicks on its advertisement.
• Facebook advertising: Effective and inexpensive, Facebook has some great targeting capabilities and generally performs well.
• LinkedIn: LinkedIn ads tend to generate the most leads for the legal industry. The platform also offers phenomenal targeting by interest, job title, job function, geography, and more.
• Programmatic advertising: This option allows marketers to be more strategic about their advertising spend by serving ads to relevant audiences based on data like demographics, geography, online search behaviors and device usage. It’s an automated buying process that’s done in milliseconds instead of hours or days.
• Retargeting: Retargeting is a form of advertising based on a prospect’s previous online activities. It allows a firm to stay top of mind with potential clients who previously interacted with its site.

There’s no denying that digital marketing is constantly evolving, but these classic and highly effective strategies aren’t going anywhere. Law firms that incorporate these practices into their overall game plan will be well-positioned to achieve their business and marketing objectives.

Kevin J. Vermeulen is a partner in Good2BSocial LLC, a digital marketing agency that focuses on law firms and companies in the legal industry. He can be reached at [email protected]