While the UK’s legal industry is famous for many things, creative ambition hasn’t always been one of them.
On the contrary, the average legal marketing strategy reads something like “Let’s find out what the competition is doing. Then do 3% more.”
There are exceptions – a small number of firms who have realised their customers are real human beings, and every bit as receptive to story, emotion and imagination when suited and booted on a Monday morning, as when sat in their underpants watching Strictly on a Saturday night.
So if you dream of communicating with these Strictly watching, underpant wearing, deal making, occasionally law breaking, but mostly honest and hard working business people, we’d love to chat.
Your buyer has questions. Lots of questions. And they want answers to as many of them as possible online, before they speak to a human being.
Yes, even in the legal market.
The job of your website is to answer as many of these big questions as possible (even the tricky ones about price!). Do that, and your buyers, search rankings and bottom line, will thank you for it.
With the growth of social, email has lost its veneer. But be in no doubt - this is still your law firm's #1 digital asset and most powerful lever for both brand engagement and lead gen.
As with any channel, the key is in the execution. From optimising deliverability to experimenting with creative copy, a world class legal email campaign is built upon a thousand marginal gains.
It's no longer a question of whether your law firm needs to be on social.
The only question is how you will define success - is this about positioning the brand? Is this about attracting stronger candidates for new roles? Is this about direct lead generation within a specific sector?
When you see a law firm grabbing market share of a particular niche, there are one of two explanations:
- Either they don't care how much it costs.
- Or they have a handle on their numbers.
Before investing in exquisite creative or smart media plans for your law firm, first ensure your digital foundations are secure. In particular, this means your brand, your website and your email list. These are your three compound assets that accrue value over time, so make sure they’re capturing every penny.
When your buyer begins their journey, they do so with a number of big questions. And all Google wants to do is return pages that best answer those questions, from the most trustworthy brands.
That means:
This level of transparency is something most law firms resist. But be assured – if your buyer can’t access this information easily on your website, they’re going to find somewhere they can.
But if you are willing to open up, the benefits are substantial. After all, all Google wants to do is answer people’s big questions, so giving that information means better rankings, more traffic, higher conversion rates and better qualification of those leads.
SEO is not complicated. Take the twenty most common questions your solicitors are asked each day under every service line, and make sure your website is answering them in a way Google can interpret and index. The rankings and traffic will follow.
While all marketing is speculative, some channels are a little less speculative than others.
One of the chief variables in determining risk is whether you are building something that accumulates value over time.
In this regard, there are two channels that stand alone:
One thing to bear in mind, is that these things are relative. So (all else being equal) if you are growing your website at 3 pages a month and your average competitor is growing their website at 5 pages a month, you are falling behind. And if your adding 100 contacts to your mailing list a month, but your competitors are adding 500, you are falling behind.
So we need to be crystal clear on the velocity required. We like to aim for 50% beyond the next closest competitor, assuming the quality of activity is comparable.
Most law firms approach their marketing ad spend as follows – set a budget, drive leads as cheaply as possibly within that budget.
Sounds sensible, right?
Nope. It sounds crazy. The budget is arbitrary, and in all likelihood results in the firm leaving a tonne of money on the table.
Instead, there should be an understanding of the approximate value of a lead for each major service line. And the firm should spend aggressively until the average cost per lead has met this figure for each service.
Few firms operate this way. But when you see one aggressively taking market share (particularly in consumer legal markets), this is often the reason why.
Effective marketing is not hard, but it is hard work. And a big part of that hard work is in the research.
For every service line your firm offers, there will be a competitor brand aggressively driving leads and acquiring market share. You need to understand who they are and how exactly they’re doing it:
In amongst this information you’ll find insights that could drive big tactical wins.
Most law firms are now on social media, but few understand why.
And to be clear – “because our competition is”, is not an explanation.
For most firms, that is where the rationale begins and ends. Consequently, they take limited resource and spread them thinly across every single social channel, purely so they have a presence.
This is what we would class as a “brand image strategy”, and it can have its place. But it’s important to never confuse it with a serious social media strategy – that is something else entirely.
There are three reasons why a law firm might invest in the latter:
And to do any of these well, you must commit to the following:
Sound hard work? It is.
Which is precisely why your competitors are rubbish at it as well – hurray!
Before a single blog is blogged or tweet tweeted, we need to do our homework.
Because unsurprisingly, the marketers with the best ideas are usually the ones that know the most stuff.
We need to understand:
Only when we’ve peered into every corner of your market landscape will we get to work. And the good news is that with your help, this needn’t take long!
Frequently Asked Questions about Digital Marketing for Law Firms
Digital marketing levels the playing field for smaller law firms by expanding their reach to a broader audience online. With a well-executed strategy, smaller firms can build brand awareness, target specific niche markets, and showcase their expertise to compete with larger firms.
Absolutely! Social media platforms allow law firms to build brand awareness and visibility, expand their reach, generate quality leads and establish thought leadership within the legal industry. You should use social media to share valuable content, showcase expertise, promote case studies, and interact with your audience.
Key performance indicators (KPIs) should be established to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of different campaigns. Common KPIs for law firms include website traffic, lead conversion rates, organic search rankings, social media engagement, and email open rates. Analysing these metrics regularly helps identify what’s working and what needs improvement, so you can adjust strategies accordingly.
You should focus on regularly producing informative and valuable content, such as blog posts, articles, ebooks, webinars and educational videos to establish your expertise, build credibility, and boost SEO.
You should invest time into creating client case studies and testimonials to showcase real-life success stories and positive client experiences. You should also consider partnering with key influencers in your industry who can vouch for your firm’s credibility.
Our blog provides valuable insights into the world of marketing across multiple sectors. Your go-to resource for success in the digital landscape.
Contact us today for a free consultation to drive change and grow your market share.
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