Complete Guide to Digital Marketing for Lawyers

What is digital marketing?

Digital marketing is a term for using the internet to promote goods/services. Examples of digital marketing include email blasts, SMS messages, social media posts, websites, and blogs. Unlike traditional marketing, such as tv, billboard, and magazines, digital marketing can be really inexpensive and even free.

There are three primary forms of digital marketing: SEO, SEM, and SMM. SEO (search engine optimization) specialists help businesses rank on Google and other search engines.

SEM stands for search engine marketing, meaning that it costs money to run the ads. SEO is a free way of optimizing your website, whereas SEM requires a marketing budget. Lastly, SMM is social media marketing, including all platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, etc.

Why is digital marketing important?

There is no better way to grow your business in 2022 than by leveraging the power of the internet. From this point on, digital marketing will only become increasingly relevant.

Nearly 100% of people looking for legal advice and 33% of clients looking for a lawyer begin their search online. With these statistics, you have to think, what will make your law firm stand out from the crowd? This article will teach you practical ways to make your law firm shine in the digital marketplace.

Strategies for law firm digital marketing

Crafting effective marketing strategies for lawyers starts with being client-centric. Think from the client's point of view and make every campaign centered around their pain points. Figure out what they need, what emotions they feel, and how to put their minds at ease.

You'll also want to set achievable goals and deadlines. Consider your objectives for the marketing campaign. These could be to generate more website traffic, convert more leads, get more reviews, etc. Your desired outcome will dictate the strategy.

For example, to generate more website traffic, the focus should be on SEO. To convert more leads, you'll want to use tools like Intaker's chatbot, and for reviews, you'll want to utilize text templates and send messages at optimized times.

Which digital marketing channel to use for your law practice

There are many digital channels out there. As you read about all of the social media channels available, think from a content marketer's perspective, which form of digital media will give you the highest return on investment.

LinkedIn:

LinkedIn is the most professional social networking platform and popular with lawyers. 76% of lawyers and law firms using social media have a LinkedIn profile (Source: Justia).

Facebook:

Facebook matches the average demographic of a person looking for legal advice. It is the second most popular social media amongst lawyers and law firms (Source: Justia).

Twitter:

Twitter is suitable for sharing short blurbs, engaging in conversation, and following the news. 37% of lawyers and law firms with social media use Twitter.

Instagram:

Instagram is great for building brand awareness and sharing photos/videos. It falls behind LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter in terms of popularity amongst the legal community (Source: Justia).

Twitter:

Twitter is suitable for sharing short blurbs, engaging in conversation, and following the news.

TikTok:

TikTok is quickly becoming one of the most widely used social platforms. It's still new and not as popular amongst the legal community. Given its favor amongst the Millennial and Gen Z audiences, it could be worth investing effort in the long term.

YouTube:

YouTube is fantastic for showing more of your law firm's personality. It is more time-consuming to create video than other content, but you can also repurpose it on Facebook and Instagram.

Summary:

The easiest route is to start posting on LinkedIn and Facebook regularly. Suppose you have the time to commit to publishing a blog post once a month, or once a week is also great. You can also share the blog content on your social channels.

If you have an intern or marketing agency to help with content creation, it would be good to look into the other platforms based on your present goals. 97% of law firms with 100+ lawyers have internal marketing staff, and 66% of solo practitioners handle their marketing (Source: Justia).

Wherever you fall on the spectrum is excellent. Start taking whatever steps you can to share your content more online. Over time you will have built an arsenal of educational content that improves your Google ranking and provides helpful information to future clients.

Law Firm Marketing Strategies

Video marketing for lawyers

As of 2021, only 24% of lawyers and law firms report using video as part of their marketing efforts, yet over 82% of internet traffic is video driven (Justia & source).

Studies have shown that with a video introduction, you will see a 127% increase in email inquiries and a 138% jump in click-through rates (source). If you get into video marketing now, you can set yourself apart as an industry leader. Eventually, all lawyers will be using video, and the earlier you get familiar with it, the better.

Video marketing can be intimidating at first, but you will become a pro after a bit of practice. All you need are the suitable systems in place to film. You'll need good lighting, a clean background, and a short script to film a professional video.

If you don't have great natural lighting in your office, a ring light is worth the investment. Background can be as simple as a white wall. In terms of length, we recommend keeping videos under fifteen seconds. Of course, there are times when longer-form content is appropriate.

You can film either directly from the app or using your iPhone camera. Capturing video from the iPhone is easiest if you plan to use the same content on multiple platforms. Otherwise, you'll have to remove the watermark from whatever app you initially used to post.

Once you get comfortable filming, you'll likely be able to make a video and post it in under twenty minutes. Creating video content is a great skill to have. As of 2022, an average person spends about 100 minutes per day watching videos online (source). 72% of customers say they prefer learning about new products and services by video (source).

Sending & receiving business texts

For lawyers, text messages are taking over with a tremendous open rate of 98%. Texting is the ideal communication method for sending reminders, sharing files, and providing brief updates. Intaker offers business texting collaboration tools. Your entire law firm can share one phone number and communicate with clients and leads from the Intaker dashboard.

Email sequences and automation

Becoming a successful email marketer involves learning to craft a short message but filling it with as much information as possible. The subject line has to provide value as 47% of people open emails based on only the email's subject line (Business 2 Community).

Although their open rate is only 20%, sending them periodically is a great way to engage with your clients and leads. A captivating subject line and value-packed content are the secret sauce for achieving a high open rate. Intaker offers automation services to pre-schedule text and email sequences, making your job as simple as writing the email.

SEO writing and blog content

We talked a bit earlier about why SEO is essential. You might be thinking this sounds like an extensive skill to learn that will take a serious time investment. Lucky for you, there are sites like Fiverr and UpWork where you can hire freelance writers to write articles at a low cost. If you want to perform keyword research yourself, Google Keyword Planner is an excellent free tool.

There's also no set amount you have to post; even if you blog once a month, that's better than nothing. SEO is a long-term strategy, and a little effort consistently can yield excellent results over time. Beyond written content, you can also improve SEO by linking to Google my Business, guest posting with other lawyers, and creating backlinks.

Some plugins can weigh down your site, making the loading speed sluggish and hindering SEO. Intaker was designed to be SEO-friendly and never negatively impact your site's ranking.

Web design and landing pages

Web design is vital for your law firm's digital marketing strategy to establish credibility. That being said, there are ways to build a quality site with a tight budget. For example, you could use Fiverr or UpWork. If you have anyone tech-savvy at the office, you could even set up a site yourself with Webflow, Squarespace, or Wix.

The one benefit of investing some extra dollars into your web design is that professionals will know how to optimize the site, and long term. It can be worth investing in a high-quality site, but it's not necessary when you're just starting your digital marketing journey.

Setting up landing pages that link to specific bots is also worthwhile. Landing pages are a great way to increase conversion and maximize your online presence based on various search results. You can even make each landing page practice area specific. Intaker offers tools to make this happen.

Online presence is hand in hand with maximizing conversion

Quite possibly, the most critical law firm marketing tip of this article is that online presence maximizes conversion. No matter what strategies you employ, having an online presence is crucial in the digital age.

Some ways to convert website visitors include phone calls, website chats, and forms. Intaker is a website chat that acts as an intake form to screen qualified leads. Intaker also offers a mobile widget, allowing your site visitors to make a call quickly.

Tools like Google Analytics can help you measure and track your marketing efforts and conversion rates. It's important to know what methods are converting, so you can put more resources into those areas of marketing.

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