Being able to gather leads and prospect customers for your law firm is key to your firm’s overall success. Utilizing different marketing strategies to capture the attention of clients will earn you a well-rounded campaign as well as maximize the number of customers you are able to reach with your marketing materials. Today, we will be focusing on the sector of advertising. While advertising may not make up a bulk of your marketing strategy, it is a key piece of paid media that can be the difference in how your firm is perceived by customers.
A Breakdown of Law Firm Advertising
Law firm advertising is a paid way that you can get your firm in the eyes of your customers. There are many different forms of advertising that you can choose from when constructing your strategy. Here is a list of examples:
- Online Advertisements through Google, Facebook, etc.
- Video Advertisements through YouTube
- Print Advertisements
- TV and Radio Advertisements
These are only a few of the methods you can utilize in your advertising strategy. Doing research on your target audience as well as the landscape of the law industry can help provide insight into which route your firm wishes to go. When taking a look at advertising for your law firm, be sure to pay attention to and utilize these four tactics to ensure you are maximizing your potential.
Tactic One: Know Your Target Audience
Knowing your target audience and the people you want to bring into your law firm is crucial when developing an advertising plan for your firm.
“Not only is knowing your target audience beneficial when crafting content, but it is also key in understanding trends and habits that can place you in the hands of your users more efficiently,” explains Seth Price, Managing Partner of Price Benowitz Accident Injury Lawyers, LLP, and CEO of BluShark Digital.
To first choose a target audience, analyze your current clients and compare them with the services you offer. If you are looking to focus on a specific area of your law firm with your advertisements, only look into your current clients in that area to get a better idea of who you should be targeting. Once you have looked into your current clients, start thinking about if this is the demographic group you want to stick with in the future. Be sure to look at age, income level, gender, race, and other demographic factors to develop specific personas to utilize when creating your advertising content.
After identifying the target audience you want to focus on, conduct research into their online usage habits and their reasons for searching. Different age groups emphasize different platforms with their online presence. Knowing the apps and platforms your target audience focuses on can help you focus your advertisements on these platforms to capitalize on their online activities. Also, understanding the motivations this target audience has for searching can help you craft your advertising messages to their needs. Whether it’s for fun, for a loved one, for themself, etc. you can utilize these insights to create well-targeted advertisements.
Tactic Two: SEO
When starting advertising for your law firm, getting SEO running efficiently and quickly can help take your strategies to the next level. Optimizing the content you are putting out there for customers can help gain trust and earn clicks from your users based on the advertisements you are putting out there.
Having a website that is trustworthy and that has content users can click on can lead to users staying on your site for longer periods of time. The longer a user is on your site, the more of a chance you have to convert them into a qualified lead. SEO helps to increase your website’s visibility and therefore increases Google’s trust in your law firm. Earning backlinks and creating relevant content can create a level of authenticity that Google prioritizes. Here are a few ways to get started with SEO:
- Keyword research
- Incorporating keywords into content
- Relevant blog topics and content pieces
- Google Business Profile
- Internal linking
SEO is an ever-changing process that requires continuous monitoring. Setting up your strategy and having a relevant, trustworthy website will keep your customers coming back to learn more about your firm and the services you offer.
Tactic Three: Establish a Focus for Your Strategy
Oftentimes, when you develop an advertising strategy for a specific area of focus instead of the firm in general, you can see results more quickly and effectively. Having a direct focus and centered strategy for an aspect of the firm can help you understand the best ways to capture the target audience you have identified.
When looking at what to focus on for your strategy, you should also be taking a look at what your competitors are doing. Oftentimes, if your competitors are running advertisements and/or focusing on a specific sector, you should put resources into another focus in order to capitalize on the sectors they are missing. If the focus area of your campaign can capture the needs of the target audience while also capitalizing on what your competitors aren’t doing, you can see results quicker and ensure you are making the most of your investment.
Tactic Four: Tailor Strategies Based on Your Needs
Effective strategies do not work for all firms and all companies. It’s important to tailor your strategies to match the goals and the target audience you set in the beginning. If you try and implement the exact same strategy that you saw your competitor do, chances are you won’t see results. Conducting research and taking a deep dive into your customer profile, current marketing strategies, platforms, etc. can help you establish yourself in the best position to begin an advertising strategy.
When looking to get into law firm advertising, you should understand the areas that your firm wants to improve and what your customers' needs are. For example, if you do research and a lot of your customers are saying they are having trouble with all of the forms and organization parts that come with their case, you should advertise your services as a way to solve this need. Show them that your staff is organized and has handled similar cases through your advertisements.
In terms of the needs of your firm, if you are looking to reach a certain goal for the number of car accident cases you have, conduct strategies that specifically work to hit this goal. Whether it’s researching high accident areas in your surrounding community and tailoring your advertisements to those locations or advertising on websites that frequent car accident victims go to, craft strategies that can solve both your needs as well as your customers.
The Bottom Line
With law firm advertising, the bottom line should be to gain new customers and to craft your law firm as the top choice for clients. Be sure to highlight the benefits that your firm poses to potential customers and what helps to set you apart from your competitors.
Understanding your target audience, utilizing SEO strategies, focusing your strategy, and tailoring your strategy to your needs are ways that you can ensure your advertising reaches your goals.
Want to learn more? Be sure to check out our Ultimate Guide for Personal Injury Lawyer Marketing.