You probably don’t know any law firms that are famous for their content marketing. It’s true that the legal market has a reputation for being a bunch of stuffy suits that are far too logical and left-brained to bother with faff like blogs or social media. We don’t subscribe to that kind of thinking. Content marketing for law firms is a legitimate and highly lucrative strategy if done right.
What is content marketing for law firms?
Content marketing is a form of marketing that utilises content. Does what it says on the tin, really. Content covers a whole range of things like blog posts, engaging social media posts, webinars, downloadable educational packs, podcasts, and more. There’s really no end to the different kinds of content your law firm can produce as new platforms and new forms of content are springing up all the time.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. The creative side of content marketing for law firms is certainly exciting, but it all means nothing if its not backed by a strong strategy. At the end of the day, all this work is to get your law firm more leads. A content marketing strategy takes time and effort to produce properly.
Benefits of content marketing for law firms
Improved SEO
By utilising blog posts and articles, you can begin to boost the SEO of your website. (SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It’s the practice of creating content in a specific way to help improve your site’s rankings and traffic by making it more appealing to search engine’s algorithms.) Great content is rewarded with high placements on search engines. Once you’ve written some informative and useful content, you’ll start seeing your firm pop up at the top of search results – all without cashing out a penny to Google.
Increased brand awareness
Putting out engaging and attractive content on different social platforms isn’t just for likes and shares. By continually putting out quality content, you’re spreading your brand awareness across the internet. 89% of B2B researchers use the internet to scope out their options before they commit. With great content marketing for law firms, you’ll be able to attract clients to your brand and assure them that your law firm is reputable with increased brand awareness.
Bolstered email marketing list
81% of B2B marketers say their most used form of content marketing is email newsletters – and there’s got to be a reason for that, right? Email newsletters are a great way to nurture your leads and continually reestablish your connection with them. Sharing your content via email newsletters is another great way to further the visibility of that content and ensure it gets the most reach possible.
Increased reach
Essentially, all this work we’re doing with content marketing for law firms is to increase your brand’s reach. Especially if you work in local targeting, you’ll be able to reach potential clients that live on your doorstep and are in need of the services that your firm provides. Think about it. A potential client is far more likely to search ‘law firms near me’ than ‘patent law for dummies.’ By increasing your firm’s reach, you’re far more likely to be the law firm that spring to mind when a potential lead needs your services.
Improved website authority
By creating great educational and valuable content, you’re bound to have other individuals or brands referencing your content on their site. This is how you create backlinks that boost your website authority. A backlink is when another site provides a ‘follow link’ back to your website. When you make content that people want to share and reference, you’re sure to win a bunch of backlinks.
Great return on investment
Content marketing’s returns are fantastic as the content created afterwards is known as ‘evergreen.’ That means that once the content is created, it will continually bring in value to your law firm.
Creating a content marketing strategy for law firms
So, you’re sold on content marketing for law firms and all its plentiful benefits, but how do you crack this proverbial nut? There are plenty of ways to get started with your content marketing strategy. We’re broken it down into five easy steps to get you started.
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Research your target audience
If you want your content to connect, you first need to understand your target audience inside and out. Where do they spend their time online? What’s their job title? What are their hobbies? Are they family-oriented? Sports fans? These are all vitally important questions to be asking because you’ll better understand how to connect with these individuals.
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Content that engages
Once you know who you’re talking to and what they want to hear, it’s time to create. Quality, consistent content is the secret to content marketing success. From landing pages to podcasts, every piece of content should tell a story about your law firm and its services.
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C.O.D.E.
In marketing, we have a little abbreviation that we like to spread around: C.O.D.E. It stands for Create Once, Distribute Everywhere. Now that you’ve spent all that time making engaging, educational content that is specifically designed to catch the eye of your target audience, you need to spread it around. Social media! Website! Email newsletter! Anywhere and everywhere!
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Conversions
The whole point of all this great content is to get your law firm leads. As such, you should be including plenty of CTAs (call to actions) to convince users to complete a goal. Want them to sign up to your newsletter? CTA! Want them to contact you via a form? CTA! Want them to download your educational content? CTA, CTA, CTA!
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Analytics and performance
Sometimes content can be hit and miss… And that’s okay! What’s important is figuring out what works, and what doesn’t, and sticking to what does. Remember, even if a piece of content flops, you’ve just learnt something new about your audience. Analysing your content determines your ROI (return on investment) and allows you to optimise your content as you continue to create.
If your law firm could use some creative content marketing to help engage your target audience, contact us for a free consultation and discover how we can help elevate your brand with our expertise.
