If one thing's for sure, the legal sector has a long way to go before it steps into the modern-day marketing world. Outdated websites, a few leaflets and word-of-mouth referrals used to be the alpha and omega of law firm marketing; today's law firms are scrambling to catch up to modern-day tactics. As one of the slowest sectors to feel the sting of digital disruption, law firm marketing has remained firmly stuck in the past - but it's never too late to catch up.
Why does your law firm need marketing? With an online presence and a strong marketing strategy, you put your law firm in the spotlight to attract new clients and new legal talent: all legal firms have to be on the lookout for reliable, talented lawyers to join the team, as well as cases to work on and clients to work with. Word of mouth simply isn't enough in this day and age - the saturated legal market will eat up your law firm if you're not willing to adapt to modern ways. Outperforming your competitors is the only way you'll get potential clients down the funnel to hire your team.
Perfecting your law firm marketing strategy doesn't need to be a long and painful process - even the uninitiated can get to grips with basic marketing principles and get the word out there. Growing your business should be a top priority for your firm - like we said before, attracting top talent and winning clients is how any law firm becomes successful. Don't sit around and wait for that magic word-of-mouth recommendation to bring work in, put in the effort and demand results.
Traditionally a lot of law firms have relied on referrals and local flyering to market their services. Word of mouth has so much power, but there's a stronger revenue stream on the Internet. Any law firm that hasn't embraced the power of digital is missing out on customers from across the world - without a website you don't have an online store-front and your services are restricted to offline. Use your website to tell the world who you are and what you've achieved.
Today's Internet is all about video - almost all of your potential clients will prefer to consume video content. Embracing new mediums gives your law firm a current edge, but video doesn't have to mean 'flashy.' You can embrace new mediums while staying within your brand identity. Our top tip for video creation? Make sure it's accessible to everyone with accurate subtitles and captions by using Trint's powerful transcription software. Your video content is an investment, so make sure it's working for you at all times and for all audiences.
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is incredibly important for your law firm. Making a website and creating online marketing materials is one thing, but if potential clients can't find you, you'll never see any results. Get to know the basics of SEO, then optimize your website's content to ensure it's high quality, on topic and easily crawled. Those subtitles on your video content? They'll help you boost your SEO if they're searchable with tools like the Trint Player. Get some more top tips for search engine optimization here.
While social media might seem like a very modern concept, let alone digital marketing tool, traditional businesses like law firms can see a lot of success on social platforms. Social media has proven to be an invaluable marketing tool, so exploring how it could potentially boost your profile and attract new clients is smart business sense. Maybe your law firm won't need an Instagram account, but joining the conversation on Twitter and opening a Facebook profile for your practice is a great way to expand your reach. This will help you reach new clients and provide a way for current clients to interact with your firm.
If there's one thing for certain about modern marketing, it's that it's always changing. It's essential to keep track of how well certain streams are performing for any law firm marketing strategy. Analyze which areas of your marketing plan are performing well, and work out how to improve in the areas you aren't seeing results in.
