Content on law firm websites shouldn’t just be high-quality. Content should target the right potential clients. Attorneys may think content should appeal to a broad audience. They may fear that by writing ultra-specific content, they’ll miss attracting more web visitors.
But traffic for the sake of traffic is useless in online legal marketing.
Attorneys should write for and connect with their ideal potential client (and referral sources). Attorneys may find their content flops when they try to appeal to everyone.
One of the best ways to be sure that your law firm’s content will reach the right people is to create client personas.
Why Attorneys May Benefit From Creating Client Personas
A client persona is an imagined individual (or individuals, in some cases) created to represent the ideal client. Your content should have detail, and your client persona should have detail, too. The more detailed the description, the better you can target the right prospective clients.
By writing quality content that addresses their questions, you’ll speak to their personality. Your content may resonate better when it’s focused to a specific kind of person.
Personas can help attorneys narrow their audience. What questions does this particular demographic ask? What is the best way to convey that information to them? Personas can ensure that you have clarity about who you’re speaking to.
There are some questions worth asking to narrow the field and reach the right clients. Start with the basics when you create a persona and increase your specificity over time.
- What is this person’s age?
- Is your potential client married?
- Do they have children?
- Is he/she educated?
- How educated?
- What is their personality like?
- Who or what motivates them?
- What is their behavior like?
A fictional persona for a personal injury attorney might be a person with a faulty knee or hip replacement.
This person may not realize they need legal representation. Their journey to your law office may be more complicated than that.
Perhaps they know something is wrong with their knee post-surgery, but they’re not sure what’s the matter. He or she may be Googling questions about their post-surgical experience. They may even ask Google about the particular make and model of their replacement.
This person might know that their knee or hip replacement is faulty but aren’t sure that they have a case. Answering questions for both of these personas provides the information they need to move forward.
It helps position your law firm as an authority on the matter. That can encourage real individuals to contact you.
Should Attorneys Create Multiple Client Personas?
In some cases, creating multiple personas to reach the right audience can be valuable.
Here’s an example when multiple client personas may be appropriate:
Estate planning attorneys may need to consider multiple client personas if they expect that adult children may be assisting elderly parents or that a husband, wife, and adult children will all be part of the planning process.
Other factors to consider may be more technical.
Does this person do their web browsing from a desktop? A laptop? Your ideal client’s age and work schedule can dictate where they’ll be browsing from.
Younger clients may be more likely to do research on the go with a smartphone. Older clients may be more likely to resort to a desktop computer for research.
A college student arrested for a DUI might use their smartphone to discover what to do after an arrest. If their parents are the ones looking for an attorney, they may be more likely to use a desktop.
(LawLytics uses responsive law firm website design. No matter where a potential client finds your legal website content, it’s optimized for their screen size and device.)
The choice a potential client makes to contact your law firm is not a binary, yes-or-no decision. It’s often a series of steps. It may start with a person who’s unaware they need legal representation.
Consider all the steps they take along the way, and how those may differ from person to person.
When you do, you have a better chance of connecting and providing them with information needed to make a decision. You may inspire them to pick up the phone or fill out an online consultation form for your law firm.
