Law firms are slowly letting go of traditional methods of marketing in favor of digital marketing. More than half of lawyers actually believe that digital marketing is important for a law firm, but still allocate a less than 15% budget to online marketing. Many more digital marketing dos and don’ts to review
Some lawyers complain that they are not achieving the desired results with digital marketing, which explains the minimal focus directed towards the same. However, it is crucial to understand what you are doing right and wrong before throwing in the towel.
Online marketing has the ability to propel your law firm by taking your business to millions of internet users. Below is a list of dos and don’ts for your law firm to ensure that you are getting the desired results.
Do Have a Specific Target Audience in Mind
Among the first steps of developing a digital marketing strategy is to identify your target audience.
Who is your ideal client? What legal problems do they have? How and where do they search for services or spend time on the internet? Having the answers to these questions will help you craft a marketing strategy that directly appeals to the people that matter.
This will also save you from spending on an audience that does not convert to paying clients. Segmenting your target customers further when you introduce new services is also easier when you understand them as a whole.
Do Invest in Local SEO
The wise law firm marketers have implemented SEO, but the most successful ones have already adopted local SEO tactics. Local SEO allows you to further optimize your content so that it ranks top among local search results.
Google statistics show that local searches with the words ‘near me’ have multiplied by 150%, surpassing those that do not include this qualifier.
If your law practice serves clients in Northern Illinois, local SEO ranks your content to more people near your locality when you use localized keywords like Rockford car accident lawyer.
Do Analyze and Improve Your Marketing Campaigns
Nearly all digital marketing platforms have a way of tracking the results. Here, you can see the number of people visiting your website, what type of content is bringing in more visitors, and even the specific demographics of users converting to customers.
Analyze this data often to help you improve existing campaigns or inform new marketing strategies.
Don’t Go In Without a Digital Marketing Plan
Digital marketing is so much more than having a website or posting on social media. After identifying your target audience, craft a digital marketing strategy. Among the things to include are your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to help you determine whether your efforts are working.
You should also add the different platforms that you will be using and associated targets. Having a plan gives direction to your marketing efforts and ensures that they are headed towards the right goal.
Don’t Spread Yourself Thin by Using Every Platform
This is a mistake that most law firms who are handling their digital marketing often make. In a bid to increase their online presence, lawyers register on every platform, while implementing a myriad of other internet marketing strategies. Doing this and hoping that one of the approaches will work is a risky tactic.
Determining the channels that are right for your law firm will depend on how well you identified your target audience.
Don’t Be Too Salesy
The primary reason for digital marketing is to convince your potential customers that you are the right person for their legal issues. However, pushing this salesy agenda on every platform or post is going to push away even qualified leads.
Create a marketing balance by including content that simply adds value and does not try to sell your services. This might sound impossible but you would be surprised at how much engagement a fun legal trivia would generate on social media.