As a lawyer, it’s unlikely that law school taught you very much about how to market your law firm. Sure, you learned about case law and how to litigate but absolutely nothing about the importance of search engine optimization or consumer personas.
If you own a law firm and want to generate interest, get clients, and stay competitive in a saturated market, then this blog is for you.
Here is law firm content marketing 101, everything you need to know about using the power of words to amplify your brand.
What is content marketing?
Content marketing is the strategic use of content that is hyper-targeted toward a specific audience. Successful content marketing is engaging, useful, and resonates with your potential clients beyond simple words and flashy billboards.
Taking a strategic approach makes it instantly shareable. The information is useful and educational while also introducing people to the idea of your law firm.
This type of marketing is the opposite of an email marketing blast or that 401 Pain billboard on I-95. It’s not meant to yell at the world that you exist, it’s meant to build trust and say “We might be smaller than that billboard firm, but we are leaders in the space.”
While this all sounds wonderful, you're likely wracking your brain, wondering where to start. Before we get into the ins and outs of content marketing for law, let’s look at why it’s mission-critical to the success of your firm.
Why content marketing is important for law firms.
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If you hang around enough marketers, you’re likely to hear this thrown around here and there: “Content is king”.
There’s a reason why marketers place such a heavy emphasis on content marketing. A great content marketing campaign will stay in the minds of your target audience. It can engage prospective clients by positioning you as a thought leader in your field.
For example, let’s say that you are a bodily injury firm in a big city. You are competing with large firms that use billboards, commercials, and bus stop ads as their primary form of advertising. You know that your firm is too small to compete with that kind of money, so what can you do instead?
- Create a law firm TikTok account where you answer legal questions
- Start using your website’s blog to publish how to blog posts for your client base (Topic ideas: How File a Bodily Injury Claim; What To Do When You Get Pulled Over; What To Do After a Car Accident)
- Linkedin Q&A sessions that are also live streamed on Facebook and Instagram
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let's get into the actual how-to of your content marketing strategy for your next big legal marketing campaign.
Create a consumer persona.
As a law firm, you may not place that much emphasis on consumer personas, but you really should. Consumer personas are the map to hitting it out of the park with your potential clients. This is home base, and what all of your marketing efforts moving forward will be based on.
A consumer persona is your ideal client profile. Who are they? What do they do for fun? What are their pain points? How can you solve their problems?
Start with simple demographics. Use analytics tools, like Google Analytics to identify the primary demographics of your website visitors. If you use a CRM system, find out if you can extract the demographic data for clients that you have already worked with.
Here’s an example of a consumer persona for the BI firm example that we used earlier:
Clients’ Primary Location: Miami-Dade County, Broward County, Palm beach County
Primary gender: Female
Median income: Just above the poverty line
Age: 30-55
Marital status: Single
Primary language: Spanish, some English
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Now that you have their demographic profile, it’s time to address their pain points.
Pain points are problem areas where your law firm can help them.
Pain points: Doesn't know much, if anything about the legal system, especially when it comes to bodily injury and PIP. Suspicious of lawyers because of the media portrayal of them. Afraid of being taken advantage of, especially because so many attorneys in Miami do not speak Spanish. Often takes bad advice from friends and family because of this distrust.
Content they would like from you: Pieces of content about how to file bodily injury claims and Spanish how to’s; Content about how to find the right BI attorney for their needs; a regular blog that features articles written in both English and Spanish; a strong social media presence with live Q&A sessions.
Once your consumer persona is complete, it’s time to start mapping out your web content and blog for search engine optimization.
Search engine optimization and keyword research.
A big component of law firm marketing that doesn’t get enough attention is search engine optimization and keyword research. If you’re a smaller firm without an entire marketing team, then here are some simple digital marketing hacks to ensure that search engines find your website.
What are keywords? These are words or phrases that you want to rank for. When a client opens Google, these are the words and simple phrases that they query when searching for your law firm. The goal here is to rank above your competitors.
Your potential clients may look up things like car accident law firm Miami, or car accident legal advice Miami. These are your primary keywords: car accident attorney, bodily injury law firm, attorneys in Miami.
How to rank for keywords
This is where content marketing earns its throne in the marketing world. The key to ranking for keywords is to convince Google that you are the most relevant search option for those queries. The best way to do this is by utilizing your web content, but most importantly, your blog.
Google wants to see that you are updating your website content consistently, and that you are getting consistent clicks on your website. Your blog is a powerful tool because it’s long-form content (typically above 500 words), and because it’s easy to update it consistently.
If you look at the big law firms in your area, we’d bet that they utilize a regular blog. Take your content marketing a step further by investing in search engine optimization tools like SEMRush. Want to know the best part? You don’t have to be a keyword expert to use this tool.
With a little bit of research, the right tools, and consistent content, you’ll be ranking in no time.
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Consistency is crucial.
No matter your practice area, a big success factor for your content marketing strategy is consistency and patience.
If you start your blog today, work hard at it for the next month, and forget about it come January, all of your efforts will be wasted. If you’re too busy to dedicate time to creating content, you may need to look into hiring a copywriter or a marketing service.
When it comes to marketing your products or services, think of it this way, most law firms aren’t focusing on this form of marketing. Most of them are going the traditional route, even the large law firms. By reading this article, you’re already ahead of the game.
Wrapping it up.
Bringing in more clients and competing successfully is about more than splashing your partners on a billboard or on the side of a bus. These marketing strategies work, but remember, your competitors are doing the same exact thing.
Instead of taking the road most traveled, build trust by creating and promoting useful content that your target audience actually wants to read. One thing to keep in mind about law firm content marketing is that it’s more about them than it is about you.
Here is what you need to remember:
- Create a consumer persona.
- Create helpful and engaging content for your target audience.
- Don’t forget to optimize your content with relevant keywords and key phrases.
- Distribute what you create on as many channels as possible.
- Be consistent. Be patient.
Do you have questions about content marketing for law firms? Let us know in the comments!
