Take the Right Steps to Get Your Message to Potential Clients
It’s hard to believe, but just a little over 50 years ago, it was still considered unethical for attorneys to advertise. That all changed with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Bates v. Arizona, in 1977. Now, it’s not enough to go to a good law school, perform well, and pass the bar. If you want to succeed in the practice of law, you need to know how to effectively market yourself. In today’s world, that means that you need to understand digital marketing strategies and tactics. Unfortunately, those concepts are rarely taught in law school.
So where do you start? How do you know what will be effective and what won’t? Here are some fundamental mistakes you don’t want to make as you conceive and implement an online marketing strategy.
Failing to Differentiate Your Practice
When prospective clients are searching for legal services online, they have a number of questions, but the most important one is pretty straightforward—why should they hire you? Let’s face it—unless your practice is very esoteric, there will be a lot of attorneys who offer the same types of services you do. You need to provide prospective clients with information that will help them differentiate you from everyone else.
There are some common factors that most prospective clients will consider:
- How much experience do you have, and what type of experience is it? More experience is generally better. Be sure to tell prospective clients if you have considerable trial experience or if there are other unique experiences you have had.
- What kind of results have you obtained? Though past results are no guarantee of future success, they resonate with prospective clients. Make certain web visitors know of important victories during your career.
- Do you provide special services? Can you offer legal services in a language other than English? Are you willing to meet with people at a location that’s more convenient for them?
Failing to Properly Optimize Your Online Presence
You can have the most compelling and persuasive online content, but it will be all for naught if no one ever sees it. That’s the function of search engine optimization (SEO). While SEO cannot guarantee that you’ll be listed first in Google for your practice area and geographic location, failing to use SEO makes your visibility a crap shoot at best.
Failing to Spend Appropriately on Online Advertising
The old adage that you have to spend money to make money is especially true when it comes to online marketing. More specifically, a well-constructed social media advertising campaign will typically more than pay for itself in the long run. In addition to the new clients it will bring, it can help you gather the information you need to fine-tune your online message and marketing strategy.
Limiting Yourself to a Single Social Media Platform
Based on the nature of your practice, one social media platform may produce a better return on investment than others. For example, if you handle mostly business-related legal matters, LinkedIn advertising may be more productive than similar strategies on Instagram or Facebook. Nonetheless, there can be significant advantages to a strategy that integrates advertising across a number of social media platforms.
Failing to Understand Your Audience
There are situations where you can expect that the content for your digital marketing will be viewed by other legal professionals—you may intentionally want to encourage referrals. As a general rule, though, your content will be viewed by lay people. Don’t bore or confuse them with legal terminology. Tell them how you can help them in ways they will understand. Prospective clients don’t want to know the law—they want to know that you know the law and have the skills, experience, knowledge, and resources to protect their legal rights.
GetLegal Offers Comprehensive Digital Marketing Services for Attorneys
At GetLegal, we bring decades of online marketing experience to lawyers and law firms across the United States. To learn more about how we can help you design and implement an effective digital marketing campaign, call us at 817-359-7077 or use our convenient online form.
