Introduction
As we live in a highly competitive world it is essential to market your law practice effectively. Therefore, developing marketing skills must be part of your continuing personal and professional development. And for that, you need to take time to reflect, set your learning goals, find appropriate solutions and monitor your progress.
Finding the right recipe to market your law practice will take time and effort, so consider consulting experts. Certain marketing tasks are better being outsourced to people who you trust to do them well. However, tasks such as managing your firm newsletter, creating and managing online content, maintaining your website and managing social media can all be delegated.
There are many ways to market your law practice to new and existing clients and the general public. Listed below are proven methods for how to promote a law firm:
Choose a Specific Type of Law
Be aware of the unique value that you’re offering to clients. Whether you’re a new attorney or looking to go out on your own, it’s wise to focus on a specialty area of law. Being known for a specific practice type is the best way to a successful career. Instead of being a general practitioner, set yourself apart by choosing one type of law to focus on.
For instance, you could focus on tax or trademark issues. Or you could specialize in family law matters and build your practice that way. When a potential client is looking for a lawyer, they normally already have a specific issue in mind. Therefore, they are more likely to find and trust a lawyer who focuses on a specific type of law.
Choose a Specific Niche
After you’ve chosen a specialty, differentiate your services even more and choose a niche within your branch of the law. For example, if you’re a business lawyer, focus on a specific type of business, like retail or manufacturing. Or if you’re an immigration attorney, you could target clients from a particular country or region.
These types of sub-specialties and niche practices make it much easier to distinguish yourself from the legal crowd. Make sure customers know that you are focused on this niche by including it in your website or promotional materials. Then you can focus on growing your client base within that community of businesses or individual clients through referrals.
Build a List of Clients and Referrers
Market your law practice by building up a list of prospective clients and referrers. Some of that will happen during the course of regular business operations. So instead of calling all of your contacts right away, keep your contact list at top of your mind throughout your day-to-day activities. This could lead to a bigger referral list and a more healthy business over time.
Create a Helpful Website
It is essential to every law practice to set up a website that showcases what you do. For example, it should clearly state your specialty and your niche. If you offer several different services within your type of law, outline them clearly. Furthermore, your website should also offer helpful resources to potential clients.
For instance, offering a free e-book or a list of links for people looking for general information within your area of expertise. Offering these resources will bring more people to your website. And those people are more likely to need your services at some point since they are already looking for resources on similar topics.
You can highlight your education and expertise on specific topics on the site. Show your visitors how you can help them solve their problems. Finally, don’t forget to promote your accomplishments and awards.
Give Away Free Resources in Your Community
Once you’ve created some free resources for people who visit your website, go one step further. Make connections with people and businesses in your community who can promote your information. Furthermore, give those resources away to them for free because it can help you amplify your reach. Providing free information and resources for people in your area can help you build useful connections and trust in your brand.
Network with Local Businesses
Market your law practice by helping other business owners throughout your community. When you help others they are more likely to refer potential clients to you at some point in the future. To network in your community, you can ask for some business cards to keep in your office. Or provide some referrals to other local businesses.
Build a Social Media Presence
Social media can be a powerful marketing tool for all types of businesses. Build up networks using your client and referral lists or lists of contacts within your community. Afterward, provide information on your business and other legal resources. Moreover, many social media platforms have dedicated groups for specific topics and personas. Join those groups or offer free advice online and earn great exposure. Others in the group will appreciate your input and even share your willingness to help other family and friends.
Allow Others to Share your Content
In addition, you should make it as easy as possible for those who use social media to share content from your website. Add share buttons to your website that make it as easy as possible for people to post links to your blog posts or e-books to their social networks. You can also encourage people to share your content.
Use Social Media to Find Resources
You can also use social media as a way to find resources and experts. For example, find bloggers for guest posts, experts to interview for your newsletter or other professionals you can network with. To do this, you can sign up for personal accounts on social media and follow people in your industry. Then connect with those people and ask if they might be interested in collaborating with you.
Start Small with Advertising
Advertising can be one of the quickest ways to build traffic. Choose a very targeted outlet that attracts people in your specific market. For instance, if you’re a business attorney who focuses on local retailers, consider using a trade publication that also focuses on local retailers. Using a small publication will allow you to keep your advertising budget small at first.
Then you can gauge the results of your first campaign before making a huge monetary commitment. For example, ask new clients how they found out about your services. That way you’ll be able to tell how well your advertising efforts are working. If you find that your ads are getting positive results, consider increasing your budget. Investing in more advertising can help you grow even more, especially if you already have some evidence it can work.
On the other hand, don’t raise your budget if you see no positive results. Sometimes advertising with a particular outlet doesn’t work out. Don’t keep investing in something that doesn’t work. Instead, look for another type of outlet for your advertising budget. Keep measuring what is bringing you new clients and don’t be afraid to try something else.
Focus on Customer Service
Market your law practice by focusing on customer service. In order to get referrals, you need to make sure your clients are satisfied enough to tell others about you. Providing great customer service is an essential part of your overall marketing strategy. To make sure your clients are satisfied, make it very clear what they should expect when they hire you.
Ask Your Satisfied Clients for Help
Get more referrals by asking your satisfied clients for feedback or review. Furthermore, ask them if they know anyone else needing similar legal help. Make it clear to them that you are open to taking on new clients. Moreover, consider offering a discount or perk for people who refer others. Hand out extra business cards or similar materials so that clients and others can easily pass along your information.
Write a Book or Legal Guide
Market your law practice by writing a book or a guide. The cost is relatively inexpensive and they provide much better exposure than just handing out a business card or firm brochure. A guide should be dedicated to a specific topic, like “The Ultimate Guide to Michigan Car Accidents” and provide useful information to the consumer. These guides can be distributed anywhere from public libraries to community events and many other professionals may even keep them in their lobby. Not only are you providing useful information, but you become an expert on a certain area of law.
Give Presentations to Lawyer Groups
Speaking in front of lawyer groups at local bar association meetings and legal seminars gives you great exposure as an expert on an area of law. Lawyers in attendance will note you as a speaker and recognize you as an authority on a topic. This is a great way to get niche referrals from other attorneys.
Offer Free Seminars to the Public
Lawyers have successfully used this same technique over the years. Many probate firms offer “Free Estate Planning Seminars” to educate people on the most recent estate tax issues. These are beneficial to the public, but they are really just selling the services of the sponsoring attorneys to the attendees. And, you are much more likely to get a new client if you give them free information and legal advice. Attendees also share their newfound information with others and this multiplies the number of potential new clients that can be generated at a free seminar.
Conclusion
To sum up, an effective marketing strategy is a critical tool for building your legal career. When you’re busy running a law firm, spending time on marketing and advertising might not be possible. Especially when starting out, advertising and marketing professionals can take some of this responsibility off of your shoulders.
Furthermore, they will also be more knowledgeable about how to go about promoting your firm. Therefore, it can be worth it to work with marketing and advertising professionals when first starting to promote your business. Since these professionals can help you choose the right outlets and measure your success.