Law Firm Marketing: A Complete Guide (with 24 Strategies)

Law Firm Marketing Strategy

As more law firms recognize the potential for generating leads online, law firm marketing becomes even more competitive.

So, how will you stay ahead of competing law firms who are gunning for your business?

You need:

  • A marketing plan and law firm marketing budget
  • Strategies designed for your specific practice area
  • A commitment to follow these strategies
  • The right tools and services to make life easier

The 2021 ABA Survey on websites and marketing noted “the lack of a strategic approach to marketing taken by many law firms.” Only 35 percent of respondents from firms with 2-9 lawyers and 7 percent of solo attorneys reported having a marketing budget.

So, assuming you would like a steady flow of leads to your firm, what areas of marketing should you focus on?

This post covers everything you need to get started with law firm marketing, including:

  • An overview of the key marketing components
  • How to set realistic marketing goals
  • Essential tools for building and executing your marketing plan
  • Actionable law firm marketing strategies to market your firm successfully — with an overview of the key strategies (with examples)

Let’s begin.


Want to dive straight into the 24 law firm marketing strategies? Click here.


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Talk to a marketing expert

“My website continues to dominate all the top website searches in my industry and my business has grown 10 fold as a result.”

Micheal Oykhman
Oykhman Criminal Defence


What is Law Firm Marketing?

Law firm marketing is a specialized area of marketing that focuses on promoting legal services and law practices. It involves implementing tactics and strategies to attract new clients, retain existing ones, and build a strong and reputable brand in the legal industry.

The legal industry has been slow to adopt digital marketing in favor of tried-and-true traditional marketing tactics like networking, print advertising, and radio advertising.

And while these tactics still have a place for many law firms, digital marketing is the new norm. This includes search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, social media marketing, content marketing, and email marketing.

Here’s a quick breakdown.

  • SEO: This involves optimizing your law firm’s website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). This includes optimizing website content, meta titles, meta descriptions, and building high-quality backlinks.
  • PPC Advertising: This involves running paid advertisements on search engines and other online platforms. PPC advertising can be a quick way to get your law firm in front of potential clients.
  • Social Media Marketing: This involves using social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to connect with potential clients, build relationships, and share valuable content.
  • Content Marketing: This involves creating and sharing valuable content that is relevant to your target audience. This can include blog posts, ebooks, whitepapers, videos, and webinars.
  • Email Marketing: This involves sending emails to potential and existing clients to keep them informed about your law firm, share valuable information, and encourage them to take action.

Ultimately, law firm marketing aims to build awareness of your law firm, establish trust and credibility, and attract and retain clients. The best law firms use a mix of both traditional and digital marketing practices.


Why is Law Firm Marketing Important?

An effective marketing strategy is critical to the success of the modern law firm — it’s the only reliable way to attract a steady supply of leads.

If you were to search for your practice area and city, what law firms come up? Odds are the firms you see have invested in law firm marketing, specifically digital marketing.

The firms that invest in digital marketing have greater brand awareness, get their firms in front of more leads, and ultimately get more clients, leading to a greater ROI.


Why Digital Marketing for Lawyers Over Traditional Marketing?

A 2021 study done by Justia found that 64.7% of law firms in the United States see a positive return on investment from their website.

And a 2020 study by Brandmuscle revealed that 79% of surveyed participants consider SEO (which goes hand-in-hand with your website) to be the most effective marketing channel.

Despite that, the ABA found that only 57% of law firms have an annual marketing budget. None of the solo practitioners had a marketing budget, and only 29% of firms with 2-9 lawyers have one.

In contrast, 84% of law firms with 100 or more lawyers have a marketing budget, revealing why these large firms are able to grow at astonishing rates.


How Much Should Law Firms Spend on Marketing?

Law firms with dedicated marketing funds typically allocate between 2% and 20% of their total revenue for promotional activities.

law firm marketing budget

How much should your specific law firm spend? It depends.

For instance, the U.S. Small Business Administration suggests allocating 7-8% of total revenue toward marketing. On the other hand, some experts in the legal sector advise limiting this budget to a mere 2-5%.

In a 2018 survey by the Legal Marketing Association alongside Bloomberg Law, it was revealed that firms, on average, dedicated 6.7% of their revenue to marketing. This means for a firm generating $100,000, they’d typically invest $6,700 in promotional activities.

But it’s essential to note that major firms with expansive budgets can skew this statistic. Empirical data suggests that many smaller entities usually dedicate closer to 2% of their revenue to marketing, which translates to $2,000 for every $100,000 generated.

Related – Law Firm Marketing Budget: A guide to setting your law firm’s marketing budget.

The exact percentage can be influenced by several variables, including:

  • The firm’s specialization
  • Geographical location
  • Intensity of local and specialized competition
  • The firm’s standing in the industry
  • Long-term value derived from clients or potential leads

We’ve put together a budget calculator where you can calculate how many leads you could get with different budgets.


Law Firm Marketing Budget Estimation Tool


Investing VALUE/mon will yield between.

0 - 0 Sales leads per month.
$0 - $0 Costs per lead.

Please contact us to discuss your budget to see how we can best serve you.

The minimum monthly budget is $1,000.


Building a Law Firm Marketing Plan

One thing you need to be is intentional with your lawyer marketing.

It’s important not to wing it. Be confident in your entire marketing plan before spending any money. Don’t just hire any old law firm marketing agency that promises you the world.

Here are a few things you should document before spending any money.


Who Is Your Ideal Client?

Identifying your ideal client persona sets the foundation for your law firm’s marketing to be successful.

Begin by analyzing your most successful cases and client relationships and ask yourself, “What common characteristics do my best clients share?”

law firm client persona

Consider factors like their legal needs and demographics. Having a solid understanding of the problems your ideal clients face lets you align your marketing messages with their unique challenges.

You can pinpoint what practice areas (if you have many) and types of cases give you the best ROI so you can target that client group specifically. Then invest your marketing spend in tactics that target your ideal client specifically. Ultimately, you’ll end up with not just more clients, more more satisfied clients.


What Makes Your Law Firm Different?

Even law firms need to invest in building their brand. A strong brand helps you resonate and connect with the right type of client, both of which are important for growth.

To start, determine your vision statement. Think about core values central to your brand, then turn those values into a one-to-two-sentence summary.

Law firm McCarthy Tetrault started with their values:

mccarthy-value-prop
(Image Source)

And turned those values into a one-sentence statement highlighting what they stand for.

mccarthy-usp
(Image Source)

From there, figure out your value proposition. It’s your unique promise to clients that sets you apart from the rest.

McCarthy Tetrault highlights the diversity of their law firm, alongside their focus on innovation, making up two value propositions.

From there, you can write your unique selling proposition (USP). It’s a one-sentence breakdown of your value propositions, showcasing what makes you unique.

McCarthy Tetrault’s USP would look something like:

We are the only law firm in Canada that embodies diversity in the workplace. We use the unique perspectives of our lawyers to generate innovative solutions.


What Are Your SMART Goals?

You want to define your marketing goals. But not just any goals — your SMART goals.

law firm smart goal

The idea behind your marketing plan is to set attainable goals. By ensuring the goals you set are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound), you’ll be more likely to meet your targets.

We recommend everyone starting a law firm do this.

Define the goalposts upfront so that you know what’s working and what isn’t.

Instead of saying, “generate new clients and cases,” you can say:

I want to increase the number of leads generated per month from our newsletter from 15 to 30 per month. If I convert 25% of leads, I’ll convert 3.75 more leads to clients per month. I’ll reach this goal in 6 months.

When creating your goal, think about the following:

  • How many new leads (prospective clients) would you like each month?
  • What quantity, in a month, would you consider “good” or a success?
  • How many would be “not good enough”?

Afterward, align each goal with a purpose. Why is this one of your goals? What are you hoping to achieve?

Here are a few marketing goals to consider:

  • Brand awareness
  • Lead generation
  • Thought leadership
  • Client acquisition
  • Increase customer value

What Are Your Law Firm’s Services?

Knowing exactly what your services are is key to any successful marketing campaign. You should understand the types of cases you best handle, who your clients are, and how your services address the specific needs of your clients.

To start, you should:

  • Define Your Services: Clearly document what legal services you offer. This clarity helps align your marketing efforts.
  • Identify Client Needs: Understand the problems and challenges your clients face so you can position your services as solutions to these issues.
  • Differentiate Your Offerings: Highlight what makes your services unique. Is it your expertise in a niche practice area, your track record, or your client service approach? Knowing this helps in crafting compelling marketing messages.
  • Target the Right Audience: Once you know your offerings well, you can identify who needs them most — that is, who’s your ideal client.
  • Align Offerings with Marketing Strategies: Tailor your marketing strategies to showcase your services. For example, if you specialize in corporate law, your marketing should target businesses and emphasize your expertise in this area.

Being confident in your services can help you craft hyper-specific marketing campaigns that resonate with your ideal audience, giving you the best ROI.


Who Are Your Law Firm’s Competitors?

There are useful insights you can get by looking into your competitors and their marketing strategies. Not only can you figure out what works for them, but you can also identify gaps in their marketing strategy that you can exploit.

For example, your competitors might not be using video marketing — that presents an opportunity for you.

Start by conducting research to find other law firms that offer similar services in your area. Examine their strengths, weaknesses, and online presence to understand their entire approach.

It’s as easy as searching “[practice area] lawyer in [city].”

local law firm serp

You can use a tool like SEMrush to take it a step further. Copy the URL of one of the competitors you find on Google and input it into SEMrush’s Organic Research tool.

From there, you can identify their top-performing keywords and pages and even identify even more competitors. Here’s an example.

organic competitors semrush

Once you have a clear picture of your competitors, focus on your law firm’s Unique Value Proposition (UVP). What sets you apart? Is it your expertise in a specific legal area, your track record of successful cases, innovative service delivery, or exceptional client care?

This uniqueness should answer the question, “Why would someone choose you over a competitor?” and be a part of your marketing efforts.

It’s important to keep a finger on the market and regularly assess your competitors’ strategies to stay ahead and adapt your approach to maintain your unique market position.

By understanding your competition and clearly articulating your distinct advantages, you can craft marketing strategies that not only reach but resonate with your desired clientele, setting your firm apart in the crowded legal landscape.

After answering these five questions, you can implement actual law firm marketing strategies.


The Strategic Advantage of Outsourcing Marketing for Law Firms

Choosing to outsource your law firm’s marketing efforts can be a game-changer.

While you might have the ability to manage some marketing activities in-house, the expertise and efficiency offered by a specialized law firm marketing agency are invaluable.

These agencies bring thousands of hours of experience and up-to-date knowledge of legal marketing. They know the ins and outs of current marketing trends, from SEO and content creation to social media management and brand development. By leveraging their skills in crafting compelling narratives, optimizing digital presence, and engaging potential clients, they help in driving not just traffic but qualified leads to your firm.

At JurisPage, we stay on top of the latest marketing trends, keeping our client’s marketing strategies at the cutting edge. We have a team of expert PPC and SEO specialists with thousands of hours of experience doing one thing — helping law firms get more leads.

If you want to elevate your firm’s marketing strategy, reach out for a free consultation to explore how we can help.


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Marketing Tactics:

24 Law Firm Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Firm


1. Build a Well-Designed Law Firm Website

Most law firms are online — 94% — and use their website to promote their services.

Not only does a website provide potential clients with an easy way to learn about the firm’s services, but it also serves as a platform for attorneys to showcase their expertise and establish themselves as thought leaders in the legal industry.

It’s the starting point for many law firm marketing strategies we’ll discuss in this blog.

Related – 101 Best Law Firm Websites A list of the best law firm websites out there.


Make Sure Your Website is Easy to Navigate

Focus on user experience when you’re putting together your law firm’s website. Users should be able to find all of the information they need to decide whether or not to hire your services.

Have clear calls to action and a thought-out navigation bar/menu. Bonus points if you have a page for each of your services.

law firm website navigation

Organizing your pages into categories that make sense for your practice area and services is good practice for both user experience and search engine optimization.


Visual Aspects Help You Make a Good First Impression

Visual design is important for a law firm’s website as it can impact a user’s perception of your firm and influence their decision to hire you.

Start with high-resolution photos that reflect the professionalism and ethos of your practice. This includes pictures of your team and your offices.

attorney-bio-image
(Image Source)

Your law firm’s logo should be clear and positioned prominently. Remember that your branding, from colors to typography, needs to be consistent.


Use Content to Attract and Persuade

Creating persuasive content for your law firm’s website is crucial in convincing potential clients to choose your firm over competitors. Well-crafted content can help establish your firm’s expertise, authority, and credibility in your practice areas, making it easier for potential clients to trust and feel confident in your services.

Law Firm Website Content Blog Post
(Image Source)

Your website is often the first point of contact for potential clients, so your content should be informative, engaging, and easy to read.

We’ll touch on content in more detail later on, but here are the essentials for any law firm’s website.

  • Attorney bio pages
  • Contact page
  • Blog
  • Practice area pages

About This Marketing Tactic

Pros & Cons

  • Increases visibility
  • Communicates your value to customers
  • Central hub of all marketing
  • Easy to implement with a law firm website builder
  • Upfront cost (and maintenance)
  • Keeping it up to date is time consuming

Time to Complete

  • 1–3 months on average

Budget

  • $5,000+

Practice Areas

  • All practice areas

Top Metrics

  • Brand sentiment

Client Results

Trey Porter Law is a leading criminal defense firm in San Antonio, Texas.

The firm focuses on DWI, DUI, and public intoxication defense. JurisPage was approached to support the firm with a new website design and a comprehensive Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaign to generate higher visibility in Google’s search results and attract sales leads and inquiries.


The results are #1 rankings for the most competitive DWI terms in the San Antonio market.

The #1 keyword rankings include “San Antonio DWI Attorney,” “San Antonio DWI Lawyer,” and “San Antonio Public Intoxication Attorney.” Through the implementation of an SEO campaign, the firm has increased its monthly traffic by over 800%.

san antonio dwi defense

2. Start by Building a Brand Story

Most law firm marketing sounds the same.

For example, do these sound familiar:

  • Aggressive Representation. – Criminal Defense
  • No win. No fee. – Personal Injury
  • Caring and Compassionate. – Family Law

Your firm needs to stand out.

Define what makes your firm unique — your USP, or Unique Selling Proposition — and you can build an original brand story around it to stand out from the crowd.

It should be a specific, defensible trait that differentiates your law firm from competitors. And most importantly, it should be something your clients actually care about.

For example, Weisfuse & Weisfuse highlights that they’ve been in business for over 30 years to inspire confidence.

weifuse-weifuse-homepage
(Image Source)

Once you work out what’s unique about your firm, build it into your entire value proposition to resonate with your target audience.

And you can use that information to build on your brand, including your law firm logo and website.


What’s Your Law Firm’s USP?

It’s easy to see what’s unique about Lisa Feldstein Family Law, for instance:

lisa-feldstein-law-office
(Image Source)

She specializes in helping families start families through third-party reproduction.


How Do You Differentiate Yourself from the Many Competing Law Firms?

Your brand can also be communicated through your tagline. Rather than a generic tagline such as “Attorneys at Law,” how about being a little more descriptive?

Here’s a good example from Dennis & King in Tennessee and Georgia:

dennis-king-law-tagline
(Image Source)

Most law firms employ a dry, academic tone. The tone of your content will be reflected by your brand, and there is nothing to say that law firms must be overly formal with their clients.

Check out the language/tone used in this example from law firm Irigonegaray, Turney, & Revenaugh LLP. in Kansas:

Irigonegaray-Turney-Revenaugh-Tone
(Image Source)

Once you’ve established your branding and messaging, work it into all your marketing channels: website, social media, professional networks, offline literature, etc.


About This Marketing Tactic

Pros & Cons

  • Differentiates your firm
  • Communicates your value to customers
  • Can be time-consuming
  • Can lead to analysis paralysis

Time to Complete

  • 2–6 weeks
    • Between consultation with your team members, strategy calls with consultants, and integrating your new brand into your marketing, expect to invest a few weeks of your time

Budget

  • DIY – Free (Low)
  • $2,000 – $5,000 (Medium)
  • $10,000 – $25,000 (High)

Practice Areas

  • All practice areas

Top Metrics

  • Brand sentiment

3. Demonstrate Credibility, Authority, and Capability

A solid law firm marketing strategy should involve both passive and active marketing activities.

A good example of passive marketing is your law firm website’s copywriting and design, which can help build credibility and authority for your firm.

Here’s a stellar example of how you can establish credibility immediately.

chadi-company-homepage
(Image Source)

Chadi & Company demonstrates instant authority by showcasing their vast experience and reviews right on their homepage.

When there are so many law firms out there, you’ve got to show your expertise in the field front and center.

Let’s break down what potential clients want to see when they get to your law firm website.


Awards You’ve Received

Don’t be shy. Highlight any awards you’ve received to get instant credibility in your field.

Including text is fine (and great for SEO), but it’s even more visually effective if you can include logos or images of your awards.

lawyer-awards
(Image Source)

Client Testimonials and Reviews

Showing off glowing testimonials and reviews given to you by past clients is almost mandatory in any solid law firm marketing plan.

Whether you choose to create a separate page for testimonials or showcase client reviews on your homepage, make sure they stand out and are easy to read.

Here’s an example from Chadi and Company:

chadi-company-reviews
(Image Source)

If you want to take it a step further, we recommend creating a few video testimonials for your website. They’re seen as more reputable as they’re less likely to be manufactured, making them feel much more powerful and authentic.


Case Studies and Successful Cases to Demonstrate Expertise

Showing off the cases you’ve won is a good way to foster confidence.

Oykhman Criminal Defence Law has a comprehensive, up-to-date page highlighting every successful case they’ve handled.

And it’s organized, so clients can find cases similar to theirs.

oykhman-case-studies
(Image Source)

Other items that are worth a spot on your website include a list of your practice areas and all of the lawyers at your firm (with bios).

About This Marketing Tactic


Pros & Cons

  • Establish trust and credibility
  • Can be used on social media and directories
  • Increase conversion rates when present on web and landing pages
  • Awards cost money, expect to pay $100 – $300/mon
  • It can be time-consuming to solicit reviews and create case studies

Time to Complete

  • Expect to spend 2–3 hours per week writing case studies, applying for awards, and soliciting reviews

Budget

  • NA

Practice Areas

  • All practice areas

Top Metrics

  • Website/landing page conversion rates
  • Visits from referring award websites
  • Engagement on social media posts

Get More Traffic & Leads

Talk to a marketing expert

“My website continues to dominate all the top website searches in my industry and my business has grown 10 fold as a result.”

Micheal Oykhman
Oykhman Criminal Defence

4. Run an SEO Campaign to Improve Visibility in Google’s Search Results

Law firm SEO needs to be a prominent part of most law firms’ digital marketing strategies in 2023.

Here’s why.

  • 96% of people looking for legal advice go to a search engine.
  • Google processes 8.5 billion searches a day.
  • 53.3% of all website traffic comes from organic search (and Google alone gets 89% of all desktop and mobile search traffic)

-IMAGE-

Bottom line: You need to be seen on the search engine results pages (SERP) to get clicks and traffic.

Certain aspects of SEO for lawyers are always going to be necessary.

Related – A Beginner’s Guide to Law Firm SEO: A comprehensive beginner’s guide to SEO, specifically for law firms.

Things like good keyword research, having professionally written titles and descriptions, optimizing images, maintaining a logical website architecture, and using a fast and secure hosting platform are best practices for SEO at all times.

With that said, let’s take a deeper look at some areas of SEO anyone serious about attorney marketing should consider.


Attract Quality Leads with Keyword Research

Keywords play a pivotal role in the SEO strategy of any law firm. They serve as the cornerstone of your content, and by leveraging the appropriate keywords, you can draw targeted traffic to your site.

The key is to use keyword research to find long-tail keywords that are highly relevant to your practice area.

Long-tail keywords are usually made up of four or more words. “DUI lawyer in Texas” is one example.

Why long-tail keywords? About 91% of Google searches use long-tail keywords, and they’re often easier to use to help people find exactly what your law firm offers.

long tail keywords


Content Is King

We’ll talk a bit more about content later, but from an SEO perspective, content is an essential “currency” for your law firm.

The main goal of writing content should be to become a topical authority in your practice area. That is, a person who is perceived as an authority of a particular niche service.

Creating in-depth, original content that answers the types of questions that are in your target audience’s minds will help you do that.

Here’s a good example from Kazarian Law in California:

Kazarian-Law-Blog
(Image Source)

Every high-quality piece of content is another chance to get to that coveted top spot on Google.


Get More Inbound Links

Link-building is essential for improving your rankings. It’s a primary ranking factor, as high-quality inbound links are viewed as “votes of confidence” by Google.

Many of the best strategies involve creating high-quality content that people are inclined to share.

Another good way to get backlinks is to join associations and put yourself in the running for legal awards (or purchase them).

Here are some other suggestions for attracting links:

  • Guest posts: Submit guest posts to reputable websites in your industry to earn valuable backlinks,
  • Infographics: The beauty of infographics is that they are informative and easily shareable. Every time another website posts your graphic, you should get a backlink.
  • Blogging: High-quality content will naturally attract attention on other websites and generate backlinks.
  • Podcasting: You could create a podcast where you discuss legal topics or field questions, encouraging backlinks.
  • eBooks, case studies, and other downloadable content: Books, eBooks, reports, white papers, and other high-quality content can be used as lead magnets or distributed freely to encourage backlinks from other websites that may find your content useful for their visitors.

types-of-law-firm-seo-link-building-opportunities


Get More Local Leads with Local SEO

According to Statista:

21 percent of consumers use the internet to find a local business every day, with only one percent of people never searching for businesses online.

Law firms are no different. People are searching for businesses like yours right now. Unless you optimize your business for local search, you’re missing out on prospective clients.

To attract clients in your geographical area, you must set up a Google Business Profile. It’s a way to take control of how your business appears on Google and includes reviews, photos, and your firm’s contact info.

We’ll dive more into local SEO later.

About This Marketing Tactic


Pros & Cons

  • Generates high-quality website traffic and sales leads
  • Results, once achieved, tend to last for an extended period of time
  • Increases a firm’s visibility in Google Maps, exposing potential clients to the firm’s positive reviews
  • Can take 6–12 months before a positive ROI is achieved
  • Requires a high level of experience and expertise

Time to Complete

  • Onsite optimization: 4–6 weeks
  • SEO campaign: Ongoing

Budget

  • $1,000/mon (Low)
  • $1,500 – $3,000/mon (Medium)
  • $5,000 – $10,000/mon (High)

Practice Areas

  • Personal injury
  • Criminal defense
  • Family law
  • Employment law
  • Worker’s compensation
  • Estate planning

Top Metrics

  • Search engine rankings
  • Organic SEO traffic
  • Total sales leads

5. Write Blog Posts and Articles In Your Practice Areas

You can provide several types of legal content and resources on your website and beyond.

Contributing articles to your own blog, guest blogging for other sites, submitting legal content to publications — all these activities are great content marketing strategies with many benefits.


Demonstrate Know-How and Expertise In Your Main Practice Areas

Cory Wilson, a Criminal Defence Lawyer in Calgary, publishes many articles on their website, reflecting their many practice areas.

cory-wilson-blog
(Image Source)

The key here is to focus on a specific niche (and trust us when we say that no niche is too… well, niche. It should be something you’re an expert at or a field you’re passionate about).

The more you blog, the more your reputation will grow. You’ll become an industry leader in your niche and get invited to speak about issues close to your heart.

While blogging can seem challenging, it doesn’t have to be. Just create quality content your clients will find valuable, and results will come.

About This Marketing Tactic


Pros & Cons

  • Free if you write the articles yourself
  • Positions the writer as an authority in their respective practice area
  • Attracts long-tail keyword traffic related to specific services your firm provides
  • Time-consuming for attorneys not trained in content marketing
  • Ineffective if a content audit and digital marketing strategy is not created

Time to Complete

  • Blog writing: 2–4 hours/1,000 words
  • Blog SEO: 30 minutes/article
  • Blog promotion: 1 hour/article

Budget

  • DIY – Free (Low)
  • $150 – $500/1,000-word article (Medium)
  • +$500/1,000-word article (High)

Practice Areas

  • All practice areas

Top Metrics

  • Organic keyword rankings
  • Blog article sessions
  • Sales leads from articles

6. Create Promotional and Educational Video Content

An important part of your content strategy might be video.

Many law firms struggle with video, but it’s not going away.

You’re 53 times more likely to feature on the first page of Google if you include video, according to this infographic from Filmora. Video builds credibility and trust, generates new leads, and improves conversions.

It’s a big topic, but let’s take a look at a few areas where you can focus your attention to attract new clients with video.


Promotional Videos

Promotional videos usually introduce your firm and your lawyers to the world.

They are often highly polished, like this one from The Maine Criminal Defense Group:

If possible, ask your best clients to create video testimonials for you. It builds credibility and authority, going a long way to convince leads that you’re the right person for the job.

Here’s a great example from The Foray Firm in Illinois.


Educational Videos

There’s also a need for educational videos. Showing off expertise in your practice areas can demonstrate to potential clients just how effective you’ll be as their lawyer.

Trey Porter Law creates videos for all of the major FAQs that his clients ask.

Think of the most popular questions prospective and current clients ask you and create a video for each one.


A Word on Quality

Video quality ranges from expensive, high-production, scripted videos to simple lawyer-in-front-of-iPhone videos.

Both are OK in the right place, but as a law firm, promotional videos are usually intended to portray a professional and polished image.

Educational videos are for informational purposes and do not require such a polished approach. In fact, an under-produced video may resonate better with clients who connect more with an approachable lawyer.

Generally speaking, go for substance instead of production and polish.

To get started, check out our article on video marketing for lawyers, which includes 13 techniques for attracting clients.

About This Marketing Tactic


Pros & Cons

  • Creates highly shareable content that can be used for lead generation
  • Positions you as a topical authority
  • Increases engagement rates when embedded on a website
  • It can be expensive to produce videos when working with a production company
  • If creating videos yourself, production skills will be required

Time to Complete

Talking head video:

  • Equipment setup: 1 hour
  • Filming: 1–2 hour/60 second video
  • Editing: 1–2 hours/60 second video
Corporate video
  • Equipment setup: 1–2 hours
  • Filming: 2–8 hour/60 second video
  • Editing: 8–16 hours/60 second video

Budget

Talking head video:

  • $500/60 second video (Low)
  • $1,000–$2,000/60 second video (Medium)
  • +$10,000/60 second video (High)

Practice Areas

  • All practice areas

Top Metrics

  • Video views
  • Video watch rate
  • Video thumbs up/down
  • Video comments

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7. Develop a Resource Center

A recurrent theme in your law firm marketing plan for 2024 will be content. We’ve already discussed it quite a bit, but you might want to go a step further and create a resource center.

Apart from that, you may have a goal of building a complete resource center on your website, like Oykhman Criminal Defence.

law-firm-resource-center-examples

You can call it a resource library, media section, knowledge base, or something else entirely. What’s important is that you reach out to your target clients with the type of content that they find engaging and useful.

Here are a few items to include in your resource center.


Long-Form Blogs and Articles

All things equal, long-format content generally outranks shorter content.

word-count-ranking-google
(Image Source)

Articles are likely to be the cornerstone of your resource center. Blogging for lawyers is a great way to share your legal knowledge with your target audience, establishing you as a topical authority in your field and answering the main questions in your prospects’ minds.

Developing well-written articles helps provide depth and insight into a topic and will help you build authority and generate leads.


Current News

Some law firms like to use their blog to keep readers updated with the latest news in their practice area.

lisa-feldstein-law-office-blog
(Image Source)

For example, Lisa Feldstein Law Office has a comprehensive blog on its website, sharing news and relevant information.


FAQ

FAQs can also be featured in your resource center. Cory Wilson includes a list of FAQs below the blog headers in the right-hand panel.

Clicking on any of these FAQ topics reveals a separate page with related questions, from where you can find in-depth answers.

Cory-Wilson-FAQ
(Image Source)

Answering questions is a great way to demonstrate your capabilities and connect with your target audience. It’s also an effective way to rank for questions your clients are asking.

About This Marketing Tactic


Pros & Cons

  • Your firm becomes the go-to source for information associated with your practice area
  • Resource content generates top rankings in Google and attracts relevant traffic
  • Answering legal questions is a great way to attract sales leads
  • Creating content, be it video, articles, PDF guides, etc. is expensive and time-consuming
  • It will take several months to benefit financially from your investment

Time to Complete

  • Developing a resource center is an ongoing activity with no fixed timeline
  • View blog and video budget

Practice Areas

  • All practice areas

Top Metrics

  • Time on site
  • Visits to resource articles
  • Views of resource videos

Budget

8. Host Engaging Webinars

It’s fair to say that webinars haven’t been high on the radar of most law firms in the past decade despite their increasing usage by other types of businesses.

Perhaps the COVID-19 pandemic changed that to some degree.

More law firms are finding that webinars are an effective law firm marketing strategy for:

  • Reaching out to potential new clients
  • Educating the target audience
  • Answering questions
  • Starting conversations
  • Generating engagement and leads
  • Positioning the firm as a leading authority
  • Improving existing client relationships

Webinars can be presented to a live audience or presented live and recorded so that people can watch them later. That means after they have been delivered, they can live on as video content and continue to attract clients.

So, where should you focus if you want to start hosting webinars in the year ahead?


Decide on Your Webinar Type

There are several types of law firm webinars.

Most lawyers reading this will be interested in educating potential clients, like Littman Krooks LLP. in New York.

Littman-Krooks-Webinars
(Image Source)

Prepare Quality Content that Provides Real Value

With webinars, you need to give to get. Include high-quality content in your webinars.

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(Image Source)

Don’t fret about giving all your secrets away — if you demonstrate your expertise, new clients will gravitate towards you naturally.


Get the Right Webinar Software and Promote, Promote, Promote

You have the choice of many good options here, including:

After choosing software and figuring out what you want to talk about, you’ve got to start promoting.

You should have a dedicated page on your website to promote and organize your webinars. Promoting them to your email list and on your social media is also an option.

norton-webinar-homepage
(Image Source)

Here are a few other tips to run a successful webinar:

  • Send reminders in a countdown format to improve attendance
  • At the end of each webinar, provide the next step for participants and follow up
  • Make your webinars available to watch later
  • Repurpose webinar content, turning it into blog posts or other content

There’s a lot more that goes into law firm webinars.

About This Marketing Tactic


Pros & Cons

  • Positions your firm as an authority
  • Provides an opportunity for potential clients to ask questions
  • Encourages referrals
  • Requires a considerable investment of time
  • Requires experience with webinar systems and software

Time to Complete

  • Creating webinar presentation: 4–8 hours
  • Webinar planning/hosting: 2 hours
  • Webinar presentation: 2 hours
  • Webinar follow up: 4 hours

Budget

Software:
  • $50 – $200/mon
Expenses (Design assets, assistant, follow up):
  • $250/webinar (Low)
  • $500 – $1,000/webinar (Medium)
  • $1,000 – $2,500/webinar (High)

Practice Areas

  • Estate planning
  • Employment law
  • Entity formation

Top Metrics

  • Number of attendees
  • Sales leads
  • New clients

9. Develop Engaging Attorney Biographies

A law firm is only as good as its lawyers. You need to highlight just how good your team is with an engaging attorney bio for each lawyer in the firm.

Most lawyer bios are extremely dull and read like a CV.

Your visitors are looking not only for someone who has the educational background and right law degree but also an experienced, approachable human being who can provide support and achieve the results they want.

With this in mind, a good attorney bio generally has:


A High-Quality Photo

An attorney bio photo needs to be of professional quality, like this one from attorney Robert K. Weinberg of Chudnovsky Law in Los Angeles.

attorney-bio-image
(Image Source)

A Value Proposition

What can you provide for your clients, and why should they choose you?

It’s a good idea to start with a value proposition like the lawyers at Michelle Brandt of Vogel Law.

vogel-llp-bio
(Image Source)

Professional Qualifications/Experience of the Lawyer

Many lawyers treat their bio as a place to list their educational background, qualifications, and experience. While these details should not be the entire focus, they do need to feature somewhere.

Vogel Law, referred to above, has a great solution. It creates tabs that feature the relevant credentials of each lawyer.

Here’s an example:

vogel-bio-experience
(Image Source)

Prominent Contact Info

There’s no point in focusing on lawyer marketing if you don’t showcase your contact information front and center like Sarah Fink of Kaiser Dillon PLLC.

kaiser-dillon-contact
(Image Source)

There are many more tips to create a professional attorney bio in our article on attorney bio pages.

About This Marketing Tactic


Pros & Cons

  • Details your biography, education, experience, and awards
  • Enhances your authority
  • Provides a professional headshot a person can view
  • Some people find it uncomfortable to talk about their strengths
  • It can be time-consuming to draft a bio and collect your credentials

Time to Complete

  • 8 hours

Budget

  • Written bio: $250 – $1,000
  • Headshots: $250 – $1,000

Practice Areas

  • All practice areas

Top Metrics

  • Time on page
  • Pageviews
  • Sales leads

10. Create Practice Area Power Pages

Your practice area pages are essential pages on your law firm’s website.

That’s why building informative, long-form content should be a priority for these pages. We call them practice area power pages, which’re the antithesis of a typically dull law firm service page.

trey-porter-power-page
(Image Source)

Content is king for any law firm’s marketing strategy. These pages provide in-depth information and create an experience that causes your users to stop and engage.

And what’s more, Google loves these pages. Long-form, in-depth content will always outperform a thin piece of content. 

Practice area power pages help you achieve four critical goals:

  1. Dramatically increase your website’s rankings for your target keywords in Google
  2. Increase click-through rates for your website many times over
  3. Demonstrate authority in your field, building credibility and trust with your audience
  4. Grow your business by generating more leads at a reduced cost

What do these pages look like?

The following from an injury law firm in Florida covers the same topic in over 1,000 words, including a video and webinar on the FMLA.

FMLA-Lawyers-Morgan-Morgan
(Image Source)

This page ranks high on the first page of Google for Family and Medical Leave Act Lawyers.

Long-format content is powerful. It can boost your search rankings and help you convert interested parties into paying clients.

A lot goes into creating practice area power pages, but here are a few pointers to get started.


Create One Separate Page for Each Practice Area

This personal injury law firm breaks down its practice areas into great detail and creates a separate page for each sub-division. Learn more about Personal Injury Marketing.

dennis-king-menu
(Image Source)

Well-Designed, Clutter-Free, and Easy to Read

Check how this page from the same law firm is easy to read and clutter-free (great for mobile viewing).

dennis-king-power-page
(Image Source)

They do an excellent job breaking up their content, making it easier to read with shorter paragraphs and videos.

It’s important to go deep into topics in a way that a layperson can understand. Avoid confusing jargon, especially if you’re in a technical practice area, and break things down in simple language.

To help explain more complex issues, consider using images and video wherever possible.

Video, in particular, is proven to be highly engaging. It builds authority and credibility and gives a face to the name.

Dennis + King employs video on most of its practice area pages.

dennis-king-video
(Image Source)

But the real ‘power’ of your page lies in the detail and answers you provide to questions. It’s challenging to do that in a few hundred words — much easier in 800-1500 words or more.

You can find more great tips on creating these pages in our article on how to build practice area power pages.

About This Marketing Tactic


Pros & Cons

  • Increases rankings in Google’s search results for practice area keywords
  • Provides a detailed overview of your services and answers to common questions
  • Increases the number of sales leads your firm generates
  • Requires a considerable time investment to write the content or financial resources to outsource the content to an agency
  • Due to the amount of content required, it will take several weeks or months to complete

Time to Complete

  • 1 week/page (write, edit, publish)

Budget

  • DIY – Free (Low)
  • $450 – $1,500/3,000-word article (Medium)
  • +$2,500/mon/3,000-word article (High)

Practice Areas

  • All practice areas

Top Metrics

  • Search engine rankings
  • Organic SEO traffic
  • Total sales leads

11. Add Live Chat to Your Website

I know a few lawyers who shrink at the thought of including live chat on their website. They imagine hours of lost time giving away free advice.

But it’s not about wasting time. The benefits outweigh the drawbacks, and people appreciate being able to talk to your business online.

In fact, at least 46% of customers prefer live chat over other communication methods like email.

live-chat-leading-contact-method
(Image Source)

Live chat can benefit your firm in many ways:

  • Immediacy – You can answer some client questions there and then.
  • Conversion – You can turn interest into genuine leads.
  • Availability – Live chat keeps your website open for business 24/7.
  • Convenience – Agents look after queries, so it doesn’t need to take up any of your time.
  • Industry leadership – It makes you seem more progressive and modern (in a profession that is often accused of the opposite).

The live chat options are extensive.

You can include it as an automatic pop-up when a visitor lands on your site, like this:

Sonn-Law-Group-Live-Chat
(Image Source)

It can be an unobtrusive button that visitors click on if needed, like this example from Affordable Defence in Ottawa (the button in the bottom-right-hand corner of the page “floats” as visitors scroll down).

Affordable-Defence-Live-Chat
(Image Source)

If you’re trying to create a progressive law firm that likes to engage with your clients on their terms, your potential clients will appreciate the live chat option. It’s worth considering again in 2024 and beyond.

ApexChat is our recommended live chat provider.

“Our legal clients have found with live chat, they’re converting more of their visitors into leads, reducing response times, and ultimately, signing more new clients. Law firms using ApexChat typically see anywhere from a 10-40% increase in qualified leads coming from their websites after our solution is in place.”

ApexChat, Jon Scott, Manager of Strategic Partnerships

About this marketing tactic


Pros & Cons

  • Your firm is always open and accepting communication from clients
  • Clients have their questions addressed immediately as opposed to filling in a form submission and waiting for a response
  • It’s an effective way to generate sales leads
  • You or an agency can manage the chat line, with the latter being expensive
  • When done wrong, live chat can be annoying and detract from a user’s experience

Time to Complete

  • Account setup: 2 hours
  • Web development: 2 hours
  • Chat management: Each chat requires 2–15 minutes on average

Budget

Software fee
  • $50 – $200/mon
Live chat management
  • $25 – $50/chat

Practice Areas

  • Personal injury
  • Criminal defense
  • Family law
  • Estate planning
  • Employment law

Top Metrics

  • Number of active chats
  • Duration of chats
  • Sales leads from live chats

Want to do more than just "get by"?

Attract (and convert) qualified sales leads with Legal Marketing 360, our all-in-one law firm marketing package that includes an expertly crafted Google Ad campaign, SEO program, and website design.

Learn More

12. Leverage Social Media

Social media marketing can feel foreign to many lawyers. But if you do it right, it can be a powerful marketing tool.

It’s safe to say that a vast majority of your potential clients are on social media.

Just take a look at these stats compiled by Hootsuite:

social-media-hootsuite-stats
(Image Source)

But what platforms should you be on?

Your law firm might not benefit from being on TikTok, but we strongly recommend setting up a Facebook profile and a LinkedIn page, at the very least.

Your law firm needs to have a Facebook account to stay relevant and connect with your target audience effectively. It’s another avenue for leads to contact you, builds credibility, and contributes to your SEO.

Take a look at Pace Law’s Facebook page.

pace-law-firm-facebook
(Image Source)

And then there’s LinkedIn.

LinkedIn features over 670 million professionals on its platform, including the types of decision-makers and influencers needed to grow your practice.

Related – Social Media for Lawyers: A guide to start making the most of your law firm’s social media profiles.

Every lawyer can grab a piece of valuable “real estate” on the platform with a personal page. This will help you build a “personal brand” as a lawyer and provide an opportunity for online networking.

Here’s how an optimized lawyer’s LinkedIn page looks.

andrew-bart-linkedin
(Image Source)

You should also make a separate company profile, especially if you’re trying to attract other businesses and professionals.

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(Image Source)

Our dedicated article on LinkedIn marketing for lawyers covers the top LinkedIn strategies that law firms should consider in 2024.

Aside from building community, authority, and brand recognition, you can also use Facebook and LinkedIn ads to get your business in front of new eyes.

We’ll discuss PPC in more detail later, but it’s enough to say that you can get clients for minimal investment.

About This Marketing Tactic


Pros & Cons

  • Establishes your firm as an authority
  • Allows you to build business connections
  • Acts as a referral source from colleagues in non-competitive practice areas
  • Requires considerable time to create content, comment on posts, and participate in groups

Time to Complete

  • Profile setup: 2-4 hours
  • Ongoing: 2-4 hours/week

Budget

  • No financial investment is required

Practice Areas

  • All practice areas

Top Metrics

  • Number of connections
  • Post engagement
  • Profile views

13. Step Up Your Email Marketing Campaign

Email marketing might not be the only outbound marketing you do — but it’s among the most important.

Despite the emergence of social media and other communication forms, email remains one of the most effective ways to reach both existing and potential customers.

In fact, almost 60 percent of marketers say that email delivers the highest ROI.

And, according to DMA, for every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect to earn $42 in return:

email-marketing-roi
(Image Source)

Sending out targeted emails to your network can help you establish your brand, build credibility, get repeat customers, and convert new leads. And all with minimal effort.

Once you’re regularly adding new contacts to your list, make sure you segment your list based on criteria such as:

  • Practice area of interest
  • Stage of the buying cycle
  • Location (if applicable)
  • Any other key criteria

Then you can set up email “drip” campaigns.

These personalized series of emails educate your target audience and encourage them to take the next step (pick up the phone and call you, email you back, arrange a meeting, etc.)


Use Newsletter Marketing for Specific Practice Areas

Newsletter marketing is a form of email marketing that will remain a key strategy for 2024.

Here’s an example of attorney Scott R. Marshall using newsletter marketing:

law-firm-newsletter

A regular newsletter sent to people who’ve signed up to your list:

  • Is a law firm marketing strategy that keeps you top of mind with clients and potential clients
  • Helps you show that you’re up-to-date with the legal news in your practice area
  • Is a great chance to demonstrate your authority with informative content

Newsletters don’t need to be lengthy.

  • They can include various content types:
  • Article snippets with links that point to your latest blog posts
  • Recent case studies
  • Details about awards you’ve received
  • Introductions to your lawyers and attorneys
  • Community activity details
  • Practice area news or legal updates

Just look at this example from Landerholm Law:

sample-law-newsletter

The important thing is to show people that you’re active and producing content of value in your specific practice area.

About This Marketing Tactic


Pros & Cons

  • Inexpensive to distribute.
  • You can reach a relatively large audience
  • Your firm stays top of mind with its audience
  • Writing and distributing a newsletter requires a considerable investment of time
  • You must be comfortable with newsletter software, or be comfortable hiring an agency to support you with the service

Time to Complete

  • Account creation: 1 hour
  • Newsletter template design: 1–4 hours
  • Newsletter writing: 1–2 hours
  • Newsletter distribution: 1 hour

Budget

Software fee
  • Freemium (Low)
  • $50/mon (Medium)
  • $300/mon (High)

Practice Areas

  • Estate planning
  • Business and corporate
  • Litigation
  • Intellectual property

Top Metrics

  • Newsletter list size growth
  • Open rate
  • Link clicks
  • Sales leads

14. Create Inbound Marketing Campaigns with Gated Content

Inbound marketing attracts prospects to your law firm passively (unlike direct advertising, which we term “outbound” marketing).

The focus is usually on the following channels:

  • Content marketing
  • Social media marketing
  • Branding efforts

You already understand the power of original and informative content. It can help build brand awareness and demonstrate expertise, drawing people to your firm and the services you provide.

Gated content is an under-utilized content marketing strategy. This is content that you provide (usually for free) as a download on your website in return for visitors’ contact details (email address and/or phone number).

The Maine Divorce Group has developed a free guide on how to file for divorce, which is available for download from its homepage as gated content.

maine-divorce-group-popup
(Image Source)

If you’ve been following each of the suggestions in this article, you will already be considering creating the following types of content:

  • Long-form, educational blog articles that provide legal assistance
  • FAQs that answer the main questions of your target audience
  • Educational videos that answer legal questions

Some of the above may be appropriate for gated content. Most times, it’s a guide, eBook, report, “cheat sheet,” or some other informative content of value to the target audience.

You have a lot of legal IP in your head that people will willingly leave their email address and/or phone number to get it.

Braverman Law Group in Colorado has created a free eBook on asset protection for families available for download.

Family-Asset-Protection-Guide-Free-eBook-Gated-Content
(Image Source)

This type of content is sometimes called a “lead magnet” because it has the power to attract significant numbers of leads.

We recommend working with Lawmatics to level up your inbound marketing.

“At Lawmatics, we view inbound marketing as three pillars: (1) demand generation; (2) client intake experience; and (3) data-driven decision making,” said Matt Spiegel, Lawmatics CEO.

“To create a delightful client intake experience, the modern firm needs powerful technology to streamline the tedious administrative tasks that take up staff time and frustrate potential clients. Lawmatics gives firms the tools to modernize all their workflows, from client intake to case management to client re-engagement — all in one comprehensive, automation-driven platform. This allows law firms to save time, improve the client experience, and increase revenue.”

Lawmatics, Matt Spiegel, CEO


About This Marketing Tactic

Pros & Cons

  • Allows your firm to build its sales funnel
  • Engages users who didn’t convert the first time they visited your website
  • Once configured, your marketing system is automated
  • Complicated and time consuming to configure
  • Requires an investment in content, design, and marketing automation configuration

Time to Complete

  • Writing: 8–40 hours
  • Design: 8–24 hours
  • Automation configuration: 4–16 hours

Budget

Writing, design, configuration
  • $1,500/one-time (Low)
  • $2,500 – $5,000/one-time (Medium)
  • +$5,000/one-time (High)

Practice Areas

  • Personal injury
  • Employment law
  • Family law
  • Estate planning

Top Metrics

  • Number of signups
  • Number of gated content downloads
  • Sales leads from gated content

15. Enhance Your Local SEO

The most important aspect of local SEO is your Google Business Profile listing. This is the free business listing that provides your firm’s direct connection to Google Maps and Google’s local search results.

It displays in the search results on the right-hand side of the SERP in a prominent panel, like this example from Cory Wilson in Calgary.

cory-wilson-google-business-page

The prominence of your Google Business Profile local knowledge panel means that it’s important to optimize it fully.

To do that, pay attention to the following:

  • Enter your business location accurately on the map
  • List your official business website
  • Add relevant information, like your hours
  • Ensure that your business name, address, and phone number (“NAP”) are consistent across the web
  • Choose the most appropriate primary category for your firm
  • Add photographs
  • Gather reviews

GMB-for-lawyers-infographic


Google Business Profile posts

You can use Google Business Profile posts to share more information with your audience right from your listing.

Use GBP posts to share company news, upcoming events, highlight new offerings, or even just keep your audience up to date.

Trey Porter shares snippets of his practice area pages as a means to attract leads and get searchers on his website.

trey-porter-gmb-post
(Image Source)

There’s a lot more that goes into a Google Business Profile page, but these are the basics and should be enough to get you started. To learn more, check out our full Google Business Profile for Law Firm’s article.

Aside from your GMB page, make sure you’re targeting local keywords.

If you don’t, you’ll be missing out on the 97% of users searching online for local businesses.

google-search-stats
(Image Source)

Make sure you add local keyword data to your website. For example, if you’re a family law firm in Toronto, you’ll want to include phrases like “family lawyer Toronto” on your website.

Related – Local SEO for Lawyers: How to master local SEO and get more local leads.

About This Marketing Tactic


Pros & Cons

  • Google My Business is free to set up
  • Once configured, you can collect reviews that appear in Google’s local search results
  • Increased visibility results in more website clicks and client inquiries
  • Generating top rankings in the local search results requires onsite optimization, link building, and citation building
  • High competition exists for the premium positions in Google’s local search results

Time to Complete

  • Google My Business setup: 2 hours (plus three week waiting period for verification postcard)

Budget

  • Free to configure

Practice Areas

  • All practice areas

Top Metrics

  • Profile views
  • Website visits
  • Profile rating

16. Run Optimized Google Ads and Local Service Ad Campaigns

Too many law firms waste money on pay-per-click (PPC) advertising that doesn’t produce results.

Lawyer’s PPC Ads increasingly dominate the search results page, and paid traffic supplements the organic traffic you generate from SEO.

In fact, ads are covering as much as 85% of the space above the fold on the results page.

So, why are you struggling to get the types of results that other firms achieve? I’ll bet it’s because of one of the following:

  • You’ve been trying to compete for ultra-competitive keywords (terms like “lawyer” and “attorney” are among the most expensive keywords you’ll find)
  • You’ve never optimized your ad campaigns
  • You haven’t put enough time into research or hired the right professionals to manage your campaigns

To be successful with Google Ads, you need to:

  • Define the search terms you should be targeting
  • Create the right types of ads to target these keywords
  • Create a professional landing page for each ad
  • Constantly test and improve the ads/landing pages using A/B testing

Every click costs you money with Google Ads. In the wrong hands, it can cost you a lot of money.

The Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) or the cost per new client should compare very favorably with other marketing efforts if you set up your ad campaigns correctly.

You can start a campaign today and be talking to qualified new clients tomorrow (compared to SEO, which takes time).

Look how these ads stand out at the top of the search results page for best criminal defense lawyer Wisconsin — and imagine what it could do for your lead generation.

google-ads

It’s too involved to go into great detail here, but here are a few pointers.

  • Focus on long-tail keywords, not just head terms
  • Use Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) in your ad copy
  • Target zip codes and postal codes, not just cities
  • Adopt an effective keyword bidding strategy
  • Integrate keywords into your ads
  • Test compelling messaging in your ad copy

Invest in Local Service Ads

These are featured above traditional PPC ads and are more valuable. Unless you’re in the running for these spots, competing law firms will likely dominate your local area.

local-service-ads-law-firms-boston

What’s different about local service ads is that they’re:

  • Pay-per-lead rather than pay-per-click
  • Designed to generate telephone leads
  • Ranked according to number of positive reviews, proximity, bid, and a few other factors

We’ve only scratched the surface of Google Ads and Local Service Ads here. Find out more in our in-depth article on Google advertising for lawyers.

It covers keyword usage, the bidding process, landing pages, how to target local traffic, how to test to improve results, and more.

About This Marketing Tactic


Pros & Cons

  • Results are generated almost immediately
  • You may select specific keywords or categories for your business
  • You can select a daily budget, location, and customize your ad copy
  • If you stop paying for your media buy, your clicks will evaporate
  • A landing page will be needed to enhance your campaign’s performance

Time to Complete

  • Campaign configuration: 8–24 hours
  • Campaign management: 2–10 hours week

Budget

Google Ads Spend
  • $500/mon (Low)
  • $1,000 – $5,000/mon (Medium)
  • $25,000 – $50,000/mon (High)
Google Ads management
  • $300 – $600 minimum
  • 20% of Google Ad Spend

Practice Areas

  • Personal injury
  • Criminal defense
  • Family law
  • Employment law
  • Estate planning

Top Metrics

  • Clicks
  • Cost-per-click
  • Conversions
  • Conversion rate

Create a

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17. Launch Facebook PPC Campaigns

It’s not hard to see why Facebook advertising has taken off. With over three billion active users in little more than a decade, there’s a huge, ready-made audience to reach out to. It’s why seven million businesses now use Facebook advertising.

Getting started is a big challenge for most law firms, but those who do it properly are seeing impressive results.

If you intend to start advertising on Facebook in 2024, do the following:


Create an Optimized and Engaging Facebook Page

An optimized and engaging Facebook page will naturally attract followers, like this one from Quarles & Brady.

facebook-law-firm-page
(Image Source)

Target a Very Specific Audience to Keep Ad Relevance High

Facebook makes it easy to target clients based on:

  • Profession/job title
  • Where they live: Cities, suburbs, regions
  • Age group: Baby boomers? Millennials? Retirees?
  • Interests: How do your target customers spend their time?
  • Educational level: University graduates? College students?
  • Relationship status: Married, single, divorced?
  • Gender: Male/female?

Here’s how that looks in Facebook Ads Manager.

facebook-ads-manager-beginning-interface
(Image Source)

This allows you to get really granular with your ad targeting. That saves you from attracting clicks from people who will never hire you, which is important for your ad campaign ROI.


Make Ads Engaging, Relevant, and Incorporate Video

Create ads that speak the language of your target audience and include content that appeals to them.

Often, that means video, like in this ad from Dennis and King.

dennis-king-video-ad


Test Your Ads

The most effective Facebook ad campaigns use ads with multiple versions of copy and imagery that are tested to see which works best.

There are multiple elements of your ad to test, including:

  • The headline
  • The body text (should it be more emotional?)
  • Format (bullet points, shorter sentences, etc.)
  • Call to action
  • Images

Always Include a Call to Action

Like with all good ads, your Facebook ads need a call to action that encourages users to take the next step.

For law firms, this is usually one of the following:

  • Schedule a free consultation
  • Click to learn more (from a blog article or other piece of content)
  • Find out more (similar to the above)
  • Register now (for a webinar)

Here’s a Sprout Social graphic that breaks down common calls to action and how effective they are.

social-media-advertising
(Image Source)

About This Marketing Tactic


Pros & Cons

  • Clicks and sales leads are generated almost immediately
  • You may select specific interests and demographics of your clients
  • You can select a daily budget, location, and customize your ads
  • If you stop paying for your media buy, your clicks will evaporate
  • Facebook’s ad manager is clunky and prone to manipulation by hackers

Time to Complete

  • Campaign configuration: 8 – 24 hours
  • Campaign management: 2 – 10 hours a week

Budget

Facebook Ads Spend
  • $1,000/mon (Low)
  • $1,000 – $5,000/mon (Medium)
  • $25,000 – $50,000/mon (High)
Facebook Ads Management
  • $750 minimum
  • 20% of Facebook Ads spend

Practice Areas

  • Personal injury
  • Family law
  • Unemployment law
  • Estate planning
  • Mass torts

Top Metrics

  • Clicks
  • Cost-per-clicks
  • Conversion
  • Conversion ratio

18. Attract 5-Star Reviews

Attracting high-quality client reviews is an irreplaceable part of law firm marketing. If you don’t actively manage your online reputation, someone else will shape your reputation for you — and it may not be to your liking.

Social proof and credibility in the form of five-star reviews can both improve your performance in local search and your conversion rate when clients find you. 

Here’s an example of how reviews have been proven to boost local SEO.

review-seo
(Image Source)

The year ahead is the time to start gathering more of them.

How do you do that?


Make It Easy to Write a Review

As part of your process, send an automated message to clients after the case is closed.

It can look something like this:

Hi Jennifer,

How are you doing? I hope you and your family are well! It was such a pleasure working with you during the last few months.

I wanted to see if you had a couple of minutes to share a review about working with L&P Law. Your opinion means so much to all of us here and we’d love to hear more about your experience.

You can click this link to leave a review now: www.review.com

Thanks so much, Jennifer. I hope you have a great rest of the day!

Lisa Smith L&P Law

Make it easy to leave a review by providing a link to your review page.

Melvin-Shaw’s-Reviews-Avvo
(Image Source)

Bear in mind that some platforms like Yelp do not allow review solicitations.


Include a Star Rating for an Immediate Visual Representation of Quality

A five-star rating is something everyone recognizes as a symbol of quality, which is why Oykhman Criminal Defence features them prominently.

oykhman-reviews
(Image Source)

Use Video Wherever Possible

This New York personal injury firm uses all-video reviews to great effect.

Video-Reviews-J-Y-Law-Firm
(Image Source)

Reply to Reviews and Do Not Ignore Negative Ones

Businesses always receive a bad review or two. You can’t please all of the people all the time.

If you do receive a negative review online, address it, as Sharma Law Office did here.

sharma-law-office-review-response

About This Marketing Tactic


Pros & Cons

  • Establish trust and credibility
  • Can be used on social media and directories
  • Increase conversion rates when present on web and landing pages
  • It’s time-consuming to solicit reviews

Time to Complete

  • Expect to spend 2–3 hours per week soliciting reviews from satisfied clients

Budget

  • Free (Low)

Practice Areas

  • All practice areas

Top Metrics

  • Number of reviews
  • Aggregate rating of the reviews

19. “Win” Awards and Credentials

Picture this.

Someone’s looking to hire a law firm. There are two similarly priced firms in the area with the same level of experience and expertise.

One of the firms won the XYZ Law Firm of the Year award from a local industry publication last year.

Who do you think the prospect will call?

dennis-king-awards
(Image Source)

Credibility is a very persuasive currency for any business. Industry awards allow you to build trust instantly with potential customers.

So, in your marketing plan for 2023, you may want to start targeting awards. They rarely just arrive on your doorstep. It takes action.

We wrote an entire article on law firm awards. But here we’ll go over some important points.


There Are Paid-for Awards and Non-paid-for Awards

Some of the top free awards include:

Some of the top paid awards include:


There Are Pros and Cons to Awards

Awards can help you build trust and be seen as an industry leader. They can bolster your PR and even boost with SEO (backlinks are provided). Awards may also help your firm attract and retain talent because of the perceived prestige of working with you.

However, there can be drawbacks too. They can be expensive, time-consuming, and they become outdated quickly (there’s little point in posting an award from 10 years ago). There is also a perceived stigma associated with paying for an award in some cases.

Our take on it is that if your service is not up to scratch, paying for an award won’t save you. It’s better to earn an award than pay for it.

About This Marketing Tactic


Pros & Cons

  • Establish trust and credibility
  • Can be used on social media and directories
  • Increase conversion rates when present on web and landing pages
  • Awards cost money, expect to pay $100 – $300/mon

Time to Complete

  • Except to spend 20–40 hours per year applying for and managing award profiles
  • Additionally, 4–8 hours per year will be needed to interface with your web design and social media agency

Budget

  • Free (Low)
  • $100 – $300 (Medium)
  • $500 – $2,000 (High)

Practice Areas

  • All practice areas

Top Metrics

  • Visits from referring award websites
  • Comments and social engagement from social media posts

20. Maintain a Presence in the Legal Directories

Whatever your thoughts about the legal directories, they are generally funded by large corporations that invest considerable amounts into SEO.

If you create a profile in legal directories, your rankings will improve.

Being featured in the main ones can help boost your traffic and provide a citation and hyperlink for your website.

findlaw
(Image Source)

In 2024, be sure to maintain your profiles in these directories and keep them optimized. This is a relatively simple and affordable way to promote your practice.

Some platforms are free to add your details. Some have paid listings too, and others charge monthly or annual fees for extra exposure.

Here’s an example of listings on Avvo:

avvo-portland-personal-injury
(Image Source)

Feel free to check out our Avvo marketing guide for more tips.

About This Marketing Tactic


Pros & Cons

  • Increases visibility online
  • Can house reviews and ratings
  • You may receive a badge/award
  • Less effective in generating leads

Time to Complete

  • Less than 1 hour per profile

Budget

  • $50/mon (Low)
  • $200/mon (Medium)
  • $500/mon (High)

Practice Areas

  • All practice areas

Top Metrics

  • Clicks to your website
  • Views of your profile
  • Sales leads from the directory

21. Engage the Media (HARO) PR

The media frequently requires the opinion of professional lawyers for news stories. It’s not a new thing to see a lawyer appearing on TV to provide an opinion or being quoted in a newspaper article.

This free PR is incredibly valuable for your law firm’s brand and your “personal brand” as a lawyer. You can potentially earn credibility and backlinks to help you rank higher in search.

Your firm can get media mentions by volunteering to Help a Reporter Out (HARO).

haro-homepage
(Image Source)

This is a free service that helps reporters in North America acquire the expertise they need for their stories. Once you sign up, you can provide your opinions and quotes as required. The content is used by major news outlets, including Reuters, Fox News, Time, etc.

You may not find instant success. Focus on providing quotations that offer a unique and engaging perspective on the legal topic at hand, and your content may get used.

About This Marketing Tactic


Pros & Cons

  • Increase your brand’s exposure online
  • Get featured in leading publications
  • Receive high-value hyperlinks to your website
  • Less effective in generating leads

Time to Complete

  • 1–2 hours per week

Budget

  • Free

Practice Areas

  • All practice areas

Top Metrics

  • Media mentions
  • Likes, comments, shares

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22. Develop an Effective Sales and Intake Process

Don’t forget: marketing creates leads, sales create profit.

But only 12% of sales professionals are confident in their ability to convert leads into sales.

Don’t blame your marketing team if you’re getting qualified leads, but they aren’t converting into clients. Generally, that points to an internal sales process problem within your firm.

Every law firm needs a sales and intake process so that leads become paying clients.

Otherwise, all your marketing efforts (and spend) are in vain.

Keep in mind that there are:

  • Marketing qualified leads
  • Sales qualified leads

law-firm-sales-leads


Marketing Qualified Leads

A lead that comes from organic search generally means a user has typed in a keyword that you target on your webpage.

They found you on Google’s first page and contacted you. Your SEO has done its job.

That is a marketing-qualified lead, and the prospect may only require information at that stage.

For example, if someone looks up “when to hire a personal injury lawyer” and ends up on your blog post, they’re a marketing-qualified lead.

personal-injury-lawyer-hire


Sales Qualified Leads

Sales-qualified leads are generally identified when a prospect speaks to someone in your firm and confirms that they are interested in hiring your legal services.

They may have requested a consultation or signed up for gated content.

contact-form
(Image Source)

It’s important to define a process to move leads from marketing-qualified to sales-qualified so that you don’t waste time with the “wrong” people who are never going to hire you.


Key points:

  • Your time is valuable: You need to introduce a system to prevent having to answer a prospect’s questions that a junior person in your firm could handle.
  • Our most successful clients are those that actively measure – and attempt to improve – the time between a lead being submitted and responded to.
  • Once you capture the lead through a free case evaluation form, make sure you respond promptly to it.

Ask yourself:

  • When a prospective client calls in, what do you or your associates say?
  • Do you have a set process that you take the client through, to qualify them and let them know how you can help?
  • Do you clearly communicate the benefits of hiring you?
  • Or is the conversation arbitrary and ad-lib?

The ins and outs of building a sales process are beyond the scope of this article, but it’s certainly something you need to look at if you have a poor track record of converting inquiries into sales.

And if you’re looking for help with the client intake process, we recommend Ruby.

“Whether your business comes from online searches or word of mouth, every new client expects the same thing: a quick, compassionate, and knowledgeable response. You can meet these expectations easily by investing in a client communication solution like Ruby. Our professional and friendly virtual receptionists act as an extension of your practice, delighting callers and website visitors, engaging leads, and onboarding new clients. We’re available 24/7 to connect with the people you serve full-time, part-time, or as backup.

During our intake process, we’ll collect the key information you need to know—such as email address, best time for a callback, and case details—so you can start delivering knowledgeable, personalized service immediately.”

Ruby, Matt Lurie, Content Strategist

About This Marketing Tactic


Pros & Cons

  • Increases your firm’s intake conversion rate and revenue
  • Creates a better experience for customers
  • Weeds out low-quality clients
  • Time-consuming to develop and maintain

Time to Complete

  • Sales process setup: 20 hours
  • Sales process administration: 8 hours per quarter

Budget

  • NA

Practice Areas

  • All practice areas

Top Metrics

  • Sales lead to retained client rate

23. Create Custom Remarketing and Retargeting Campaigns

Remarketing might be a term that you associate more with eCommerce than law firm marketing.

But the technology is available for law firms to retarget prospects that previously expressed interest in their services.

This can be a valuable source of “new” leads.

Your law firm website, LinkedIn page, or Facebook ad is likely to attract many visitors and clicks, the majority of which won’t pick up the phone and contact you after the first visit.

Either they:

  • Are not ready to hire a lawyer
  • Don’t like what they read
  • Have something else to do at that time
  • Are distracted and click away

Say you’re a family law firm offering a service for unpaid employees in the local area.

You might run a Facebook ad like this one:

facebook-lawyer-ad
(Image Source)

A person may click on your ad but not contact you. Maybe they thought they didn’t qualify for the help you were offering, or they had already contacted another law firm to follow up on their behalf.

What if this person later finds out that they qualify for compensation, or the law firm they hired is not performing how they’d hoped? What will they do?

A well-timed remarketing campaign can get your ad back in front of that person and convince them to pick up the phone and book a free consultation with you.

Sequential Retargeting

The real beauty of remarketing campaigns is that they are highly targeted towards people who have already shown an interest in your firm, so the conversion rates are usually very attractive.

And sequential retargeting is a surefire law firm marketing strategy to attain clients that you’d otherwise lose.

Users will go through a set of pre-defined ad experiences after leaving your website, rather than seeing the same ad over and over again.

This works for several reasons:

  • Shows unique, fresh ads to the user each time
  • Nurtures prospects, giving you the ability to address different pain points or blockers in each ad
  • Gets your brand in front of users in different ways multiple times

Here’s how that could go:

sequential-retargeting

People rarely make immediate decisions when hiring a lawyer. Remarketing allows you to stay with the prospect on their “journey” and be there when they are ready.

About This Marketing Tactic


Pros & Cons

  • It keeps your business front and center
  • Potential clients can be reactivated after leaving your website
  • Once configured, it can work on autopilot
  • It’s not a silver bullet for generating sales leads
  • Remarketing can be relatively expensive depending on the size of your audience

Time to Complete

  • Setup: 8–16 hours

Budget

  • $500/mon (Low)
  • $1,000/mon (Medium)
  • $5,000/mon (High)

Practice Areas

  • Personal injury
  • Family law
  • Estate planning
  • Employment law
  • Business & corporate

Top Metrics

  • Clicks
  • Cost-per-click
  • Conversions
  • Conversion rate

24. Provide a World-Class Customer Experience

Marketing is no longer only about convincing people to buy your product (or hire your law firm).

The priority has shifted toward providing a quality client experience that encourages retention. The best (and most secure) client is the one who comes back for more and refers you to others.

If you focus on building a healthy, positive culture internally that extends into your client relationships, the marketing almost takes care of itself.

customer-first-marketingNot only do clients expect a lot out of you, but they also want dessert delivered on a silver platter.

Okay, not literally. But they do expect a seamless client-centered experience from first contact to after the service is done.

73% of people say that customer experience is an important factor in their buying decisions. However, only 49% of US consumers say that today’s companies provide a good experience.

You don’t have to be a part of that statistic.

Provide personalized messaging that helps your client persona solve problems and make a decision based on the experience you’ve provided. A client-centered approach through all channels will definitely earn you more clients.

About This Marketing Tactic


Pros & Cons

  • Improves your conversion rate
  • Keeps clients coming back for more
  • Brings in more referrals
  • Assumes you already offer a quality product/service

Time to Complete

  • Ongoing

Budget

  • N/A

Practice Areas

  • All

Top Metrics

  • Conversions
  • Client retention rate
  • Client satisfaction and engagement

Which Other Law Firm Marketing Strategies Are Set to Take the Legal World by Storm in 2024?

It’s difficult to predict law firm marketing tactics and trends, but the above areas cover the main ones we’re advising our clients to focus on in 2024.

Perhaps you have other ideas for legal marketing strategies that are set to take off? Or maybe you’re looking to hire a law firm marketing service?

I’d love to hear about them. Email me and let me know!


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