Effective Strategies for Building Your Client Base
You’re starting a new criminal law practice and you know that you need an effective marketing plan if you hope to stand out from the competition. Criminal defense is one of the most competitive types of law practice, so many others will be out there offering the same services as you.
Before you do anything else, stop and ask yourself a few questions:
- Why have people hired you in the past?
- What would your former and current clients say are your best attributes?
- What types of cases do you prefer to take?
The First and Most Important Steps to Marketing Your Criminal Defense Practice
Before you start spending money on marketing your practice, you need to have a clear sense of how much you can afford to spend. That means you need to put together a budget. Surprisingly, most lawyers don’t do that. In a study conducted by the American Bar Association, just slightly more than half of all law firms had any type of annual marketing budget (55%), and less than 10% of sole practitioners had a formal advertising or marketing budget (7%). Your budget should include assessments of:
- Your bandwidth for new cases
- How much you need to generate, on average, from each new client
- How much you can spend
Once you’ve put together a budget, identify who your optimal clients are. Are you looking to handle DWI/DUI claims? Do you have special knowledge or expertise in drug crimes? Do you want to focus exclusively on white collar or cybercrimes? The more targeted your marketing, the more cost-effective it will be. Consider the demographics of your ideal client—age, gender, income, location, and the types of crimes for which they’re under investigation, arrested, or charged. That will help you know how and where to reach out.
Once you’ve identified your niche, make a list of the things people will want to know about you. You may want to put together an FAQ page for social media or website marketing.
Take some time to understand and craft your value proposition—a statement of the potential value you offer prospective clients. Among the potential components of your value proposition should be:
- A statement of your experience, including the number of years in practice, any specialized areas of practice, and for each area, a general idea of how many cases you’ve handled in the past
- A statement of your emotional connection and personal commitment to clients—something to indicate that you understand the potential consequences of a criminal conviction and that you’ll work hard to protect your clients’ constitutional rights
- Testimonials from satisfied clients
- A listing of any awards you’ve received
Let GetLegal Help You Craft and Implement an Effective Marketing Plan
At GetLegal, we provide a wide range of digital marketing services to lawyers and law firms nationwide, offering an extensive selection of digital marketing tools to help strengthen and build your law practice, from full-service website development (with custom content and design) and search engine optimization to pay-per-click campaigns, directory placements, video production, online reputation management tools, and social media strategies. To take advantage of our 20+ years of experience, go to https://www.getlegalpracticebuilder.com or call 1-877-359-7077.
