8 Best Inbound Marketing Tips for Law Firms

Since Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram became popular marketing tools for consumer brands, people started looking for information about legal services and law firms on social media. It’s easy to reach thousands of audiences with a single advertisement on social platforms. You can enjoy a higher engagement rate along with chances of being referred from one social media user to another.

This gave rise to the use of popular social media channels, blogs, and websites to share work.

In fact, 96% of respondents in an Attorney at Work survey say that they use social media. And 70% use it as part of their overall marketing strategy.

As an attorney or a law firm struggling to get more clients, you should definitely utilize inbound marketing techniques.

What is inbound marketing?

As the term suggests, inbound marketing implies techniques to attract customers organically via original and compelling content. Blogging, social media marketing, content curation are some of the ways to create compelling content.

The inbound marketing takes into account the marketing funnel with which you can target and filter the qualified leads and convert them into your clients.

Did you know, Inbound (content) marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates 3x as many leads, according to Demand Metrics?

8 best ways to use Inbound Marketing

A survey by 310creative.com reported that,

95% of potential clients looking for legal advice use the internet to find answers first.

Here are some handy tips to help you get started with inbound marketing to bring in more clients.

Promote a specific area of law

One article in Medium.com pointed out that Complex Litigation, Corporate Law, Intellectual Property, and Healthcare Law are four of the most lucrative legal practice areas for any attorney today, while most clients look for legal services such as commercial litigation, real estate law, personal injury, labor and employment, and family law.

The idea is to pinpoint your legal expertise and establish yourself as a thought leader in that area. Make sure your clients and potential instructing agents know that you are focused on a particular expertise.

Once you’ve determined your specialization, you can start promoting your expertise on websites, blogs, and social media channels like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

Other ways to further establish your authority is to get yourself ranked as a leading lawyer for your particular expertise in the main legal directories and get nominated in specialist categories at the relevant awards.

Don’t Forget your Existing Clients

Referrals from previous or existing clients are still one of the most effective ways of getting new clients. Your existing clients know you, trust you, send you to work, and pay you; hence it’s important to keep that relationship stronger.

Aim to be more than just their lawyer, position yourself as an indispensable advisor.

Aim to be more than just their lawyer, position yourself as an indispensable advisor.

There are many ways you can keep touch in base with your clients. With almost everyone using social media, you can consider adding them and use this opportunity to send occasional information, promotional material, special offers, etc. Sending emails to remind them of any event, to wish them on a holiday, and wish them on birthdays are few other ways to keep your existing and previous clients closer to you.

The happier they are with you, the likelier they’re to refer you to more clients. If you may feel awkward about following them on fancy social media channels like Facebook and Instagram, you can consider keeping in touch base with them on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Create an Effective Website

Wasp in 2016 reported that,

51% of owners perceive websites as a top 10 marketing tool used by Small Businesses.

It’s true that an effective website is crucial to the success of your marketing efforts. Eventually, your clients would want to know about you, learn about your expertise, and get in touch with you. Without a website, you’re less likely to attract potential clients. Moreover, you would need to build a website that works on every device and platform. A responsive website is a must. Over 90% of smartphone users in the US surf internet through their phones.

If properly developed and supported, your website can be your best performing salesperson.

Building a website alone isn’t enough to grab the client’s attention. You must consider branding your website by

• Using your logo and Law Firm name.

• Using your brand colors.

• Stress Your Advantages.

• List your Law Firm with Google MyBusiness.

• Use social listening to create content.

• Optimize for SEO.

• Share Testimonials.

• Display achievements and practice areas on Attorney Profiles.

Use Content to Build Your Credibility

If you want to generate more clients and establish yourself as an authority in a particular area, you need to write about it.

Content is the key to attract visitors to your site. Developing targeted content or niche content can help you rank in Google’s Search Engine from where you can find your audience. One of the best ways to create content and build trust is blogging.

A blog post should be at least 1,000 words, with a title and proper key phrases pertaining to legal issues that people are likely to type into Google or search through Siri (e.g. “How to file for divorce” or “How to file a personal injury claim?”).

You can consider blogging through your own website or even consider guest blogging. The idea is to get the word out as quickly as possible. You can leverage the power of social media to promote your content to the mass.

Don’t be afraid to provide free information

People love free information as much as they enjoy Pro Bono Services. Take this opportunity to share free information to people through Social Media channels like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook

Most attorneys chose to provide free information through their blogs and occasional social media posts. You can make a habit out of it and share occasional free information about certain legal areas, difficulties most people find when filing a lawsuit, how to approach real estate legal services, etc.

Build a Social Media Presence

Ok, so you own a social media profile. What next?

To be able to use social media as a marketing tool, you should know what works and whatnot. Many law firms and attorneys refrain from posting on social media because they believe it’s too informal and risky.

When harnessed correctly, you can yield a lot of clients through social media. Consider following these tips to stay relevant on social media.

• brand awareness and thought leadership

• Increased search engine rankings for your website by virtue of social media bookmarking

• Getting content from your website in front of a targeted, valuable audience

• Networking with thought leaders in your field

• Development of new business relationships

• Increasing website visits with warm leads

• Generation of new business for your law firm

Establish Trust through Reviews

Online reviews are just like referrals made by your clients, but only easily accessible.

Most small and medium businesses get new customers through positive reviews in Yelp, Google My Business, Facebook, etc. You can exactly do the same and ask your clients to write a positive review for your firm in Google My Business, Facebook, Law Directories, and other Business Listings.

It makes sense to ask happy clients if they would mind reviewing you. We’re sure they will definitely write a Google review for you.

If it isn’t Measurable, Don’t do it!

The beauty of inbound marketing is that it’s measurable and transparent. You’d exactly know how many people visited your website, their age group, gender, income level, etc. It’s easy to track the success of online ads through Google Adwords and Facebook Marketing. You’d know how much you spent on a particular ad, how many people clicked your ad, and how many of them became your customers.

If it isn’t measurable, don’t do it! Listing your business in Yellow Pages, Newspaper, and directories is still a norm, but you wouldn’t know if those advertising tools are actually generating business for you.

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There are more than eight ways to make your inbound marketing approach a success. Get in touch with Mark Gray Law, an attorney law firm in Ankeny, to understand how they used inbound marketing to become a prominent law firm. Mark Gray Law Firm works closely with Searchable Design LLC, the best digital marketing agency in the US.