For solos and small law firms, competing with the local competition – and their deep pockets – can be intimidating due to the perceived costs and effort. However, attorneys on a budget have several marketing avenues that are available to them that are lower in cost and easy to sustain. When employed smartly and strategically, these marketing resources can help you save time, money, and stand out amongst your local competitors.
Read on for the five marketing resources that every lawyer on a budget should use to help drive more business at a lower cost.
#1 Networking
Referrals can come from a variety of sources and, if you become effective at networking, can contribute to a large portion of your new business at a very low cost. Building a solid, reliable referral network requires a series of consistent but small efforts overtime.
If you’re just starting to build your referral network, or have not yet achieved an effective referral network, it may be helpful to try the following:
- Ask for referrals. Ask fellow lawyers, friends, clients, and former clients to refer you to potential clients. This can be via email, text, social media, letter, or phone call, and is dependent on your current relationship with that person. Regardless of how you ask, remember to ask often to help remind that person to think of you when the occasion arises.
- Thank your referrals. Don’t delay sending a thank you when you get a referral. Even if that person doesn’t retain you, thank the referral source. This will leave a lasting impression on your referral source that could lead to more referrals in the future.
- Reciprocate when possible. A successful referral network is often a two-way street. Send business back to the referral source and be careful to never accept additional work from a referred client that a referral source might want to take. No additional business is worth tainting your reputation.
- Make referrals easy to receive. Have a mobile-friendly website with an easy to remember address. Make your phone number and a contact form prominent on that website. (Tip: LawLytics websites are optimized for any device and support click-to-call phone numbers and contact forms.)
- Return calls and emails promptly. More often than not, a referral source will refer a potential client to more than one attorney. You want to make sure you’re the attorney that is available and ready to receive the referral first and win the client. In order to do so, you need to have an efficient system for taking and returning calls and responding to emails.
#2 Public Speaking
Public speaking can boost your reputation, credibility, and make for an excellent marketing tool for your firm. Delivering engaging presentations on hot topics that are central to your practice can help you build your brand and get new prospects. Additionally, recorded public speaking events can be shared online to multiply the reach of your talk and establish you as an expert in your field.
Depending on the nature of the event, a public speaking opportunity could be very low cost or even free to participate in. To get the most value for your dollar, it’s helpful to pursue speaking opportunities that will put you in front of your target audience.
For attorneys who are looking to grow their business, this may include:
- Potential clients
- A group of people who can influence potential clients
- Brand-building opportunities
To get started booking speaking engagements or to add more to your calendar, think locally, nationally, and outside the box. Your practice area(s) will help to influence the types of events you’re pursuing and the audience you are seeking. For example, a divorce attorney can speak to a wide variety of audiences in multiple settings while an attorney who caters to a more specific trade will have to find trade events to speak at.
#3 Social Media
Building a consistent presence on social media for your firm is one of the leading ways to boost your digital marketing without breaking the bank. To be successful with social media as a way to attract and convert potential clients, you first need to know what your options are, and what will work best for your practice.
The following are the recommended social media “zones” that yield the best results for attorneys:
Green Zone: These are the pillars of a law firm’s social media presence. If you can manage all three, this is ideal – LawLytics makes it easy to connect your social media accounts to your website and to publish new content directly through our platform!
Grey Zone: These platforms could be effective if you’re particularly social media savvy and dedicated to posting content regularly.
- TikTok
Red Zone: These aren’t proven to drive traffic to your website or attract the attention of your ideal client.
- Snapchat
In addition to knowing where to post on social media, it’s helpful to know what content is most effective for driving leads back to your firm’s website. In general, it’s best to cycle between the below six content categories:
- Your story. Sharing your personal beliefs, experiences, and values on your social media are all excellent ways to tell your story as an attorney and as a human being.
- Updates, news, and blogs. Sharing your firm’s blog posts and other news updates on social media is effective for advertising your firm’s value and driving more traffic to your website. By focusing on the educational value your social media (and by extension, your website) provides, you will avoid alienating potential clients with a sales approach and more easily gain their trust.
- Case results. Showcasing your firm’s wins is one of the best ways to attract attention on social media and drive more traffic to your website. Approach this tactic from the perspective of your potential clients. Consider what types of stories or cases they may be interested in discovering your firm handles successfully.
- Client testimonials. Similar to case results, client testimonials validate the hard work your firm does for your clients. If a potential client is on the fence about hiring you for their legal issue, a strong testimonial may be the push they need to make their decision.
- Firm highlights. Your firm is more than your case results and testimonials. Show another side of your practice with a “behind the scenes” perspective that displays the work culture and personality of your firm. Think of what you’re doing in your everyday office life that you can quickly capture and convert to social media.
- Community engagement. To dominate your local market, you need to be present in the local market. This means being involved in community groups and events and finding ways to give back. Not only will you feel good about giving back, this also helps build your firm’s reputation as one that cares for both their clients and their community.
#4 Google Business Profile
For the solo or small law firm looking to stand out from their location competitors on search, GBP can be an invaluable resource with a $0 price tag. A GBP business listing that is fully optimized, regularly updated, and 100% accurate can help your website’s visibility on search.
Google Business Profile is a free business listing intended for local businesses to manage their online presence on Google Search and Google Maps. After creating a Google Business Profile, your firm’s listing shows up directly in searches and Google Maps making it a core element of helping potential clients find your website where they can discover answers to their legal questions and connect with your firm.
Your business listing can help drive business to your firm in more ways than one. For example, potential clients can reach out via phone or chat directly from the listing. They can also browse client reviews, interact with your Q&A section, or view photos of the office or staff that you’ve shared. Most importantly, potential clients have an easy way to go directly to your firm’s website to learn more and get in touch.
Check out our Guide to Google Business Profile for first steps and optimizations. Don’t have a Google Business Profile, or need help? LawLytics offers free Google Business Profile setup assistance for members.
#5 Content Marketing
High-quality written content is the best, most reliable marketing tool for growing your firm’s visibility online. Not only does it serve to educate your potential clients about your services and their legal issues, but it plays a direct role in connecting your website with more relevant and local searches. Plus, effective content marketing is possible to achieve for even the tightest budget.
Below are a few of the key factors to consider when employing your firm’s content marketing strategy.
How Google Works
The way in which Google determines what results to return for any given search is highly rational. When a potential client conducts a search, Google sorts through all of the available pages and tries to return the best and most useful information related to the search. What this means is that your website content should ultimately reflect and complement what potential clients are searching for on Google.
Understanding the search behavior of your potential clients is knowing that a majority of them will be doing some independent research on their legal matter before making the decision to call your firm. In doing so, they are likely going to be asking Google complex questions. Most potential clients aren’t simply searching for “Car accident attorney Seattle” but rather “What do I do after I get rear ended?” High-quality website content will support these long-form searches with answers that help build trust and authority with the potential client.
Correct and Effective Formatting
Headers and subtitles are useful for both your potential clients and search engines to read and understand your website content. For your potential clients, headers and subtitles help guide them through your content with visual cues on the subject matter and order of importance on the page. For search engines, headers and subtitles help to quickly determine what the page is about, index the information, and use it to connect your website with more relevant and local search queries.
To create effective headers and subtitles for your web pages, it’s best to keep your potential clients in mind. The best headers and subtitles will be both descriptive and concise. In addition, it’s useful to vary your headers and subtitles across different pages so that it’s easy for potential clients and search engines alike to navigate your written content.
Using Local Content
Local pages are law firm website pages that provide relevant local information to your potential clients. These pages aren’t designed to cast a wide net on search engines, but rather attract a highly-targeted pool of web visitors.
Local content is relevant to your potential clients’ problems and interests while also specific to their geographic location. The closer your website content can get to matching the searches of your ideal client, the more often it will appear as a search result for those relevant and local queries. The more often your website is appearing in the search results of your ideal client, the more your website traffic will consist of high-converting leads and thus you have reached your goal and your website is successful.
There are several ways you can go about integrating local marketing into your law firm web pages. The following are a few ways in which you can begin targeting more local traffic using your website content:
- Localized headers and subtitles
- Incorporating local questions
- Using local landmarks
The LawLytics Content Engine
Google has repeatedly stated that high-quality content is an essential ranking factor in search. Luckily, giving both Google and your potential clients what they need can be low cost, quick, and easy with the LawLytics built-in content generation tool. This tool is helping attorneys publish pages of practice area content to their websites in just minutes.
The complete content engine is included with your membership cost – an added value that would cost hundreds, or even thousands, elsewhere. With over 250 topics to choose from across 14 practice areas, keeping your website fresh and optimized for Google and your potential clients is now easier, faster, and cheaper.
Get an Attorney-Specific Website Solution with LawLytics
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