Content marketing is one of the most effective marketing strategies for law firms.
If you do it well, you can generate a lot of leads and secure more loyal, engaged clients. But if you do it poorly, you could be wasting valuable time and resources.
This is why it is vital for you to know the best tactics when it comes to content marketing for law firms.
Keep reading to find out more.
What is Content Marketing for Law Firms?
Content marketing for law firms is a marketing strategy in which law firms create content that is useful and relevant to potential clients.
The content you create could be blog posts, videos, guides, eBooks, and more.
It is an effective strategy because it doesn’t explicitly try to sell your audience your services.
Many potential clients have learned to tune out more direct and traditional advertising. However, by providing the information your audience is looking for, you can avoid the resistance many people have built towards other methods of marketing.
While it may seem counterintuitive to give away legal information for free, the content you create is no substitute for legal consultation.
Instead, you establish your law firm as an expert in the industry and build trust with your audience.
Once your audience realizes your firm is an expert in your niche, they’ll be more likely to convert into clients.
Remember, however, that content marketing is a long-term strategy and likely won’t convert your visitors into customers right away.
Why Do Law Firms Need Content Marketing?
Law firms need content marketing because it’s become one of the most effective marketing strategies across all industries.
Content marketing helps your law firm increase awareness, drive traffic to your site, and ultimately convert visitors into clients.
One of the greatest advantages is that it can help drive organic traffic to your site.
This means you are less likely to have to rely on paid advertising as you build out your content, saving you money in the long run.
7 Best Strategies of Content Marketing for Law Firms
A great content marketing plan requires a lot of strategizing.
Creating content without a plan isn’t likely to help your marketing efforts. However, by following these strategies you can start creating great content that will help you secure new clients.
1. Determine Your Audience
One of the first things you should do when creating your content marketing plan should be to determine who your audience is.
Remember, it’s not just about the services you are selling. It’s also about who you are selling those services to.
This is why it is vital to know as much about your target audience as possible.
This includes who they are, what their challenges are, and the types of services they need.
To get a better picture of your target client, you should consider creating buyer personas.
A buyer persona is a fictional representation of your ideal client. When you know who your ideal client is, you can create content that is truly relevant to them.
There are a number of ways to learn more about your audience.
For example, you may consider using Google Analytics data from your website to learn more about their demographics and online behavior.
This data can also help you see what content is working well so you can create similar types of content.
You could also consider utilizing more traditional methods, like sending surveys to your existing clients.
2. Create a Great User Experience
Creating great content won’t be an effective strategy if your site isn’t easy to use and navigate.
This is why you’ll want to make sure your site is user-friendly.
Make sure it’s easy for your visitors to find the content they are looking for.
You’ll also want to make your visitors feel comfortable when they are on the site. This means you shouldn’t overwhelm them with pop-ups and calls to action.
Instead, make your pages easy to navigate to, and consider using more subtle calls to action, like a chatbot at the bottom of the screen asking if they need any assistance.
Just remember that your visitors are primarily on your site to engage with great content, so your main goal should be to make it as accessible and easy to read as possible.
3. Include a CTA
While CTAs in content marketing do need to be more subtle than other digital marketing strategies, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t include them in your content.
Instead, consider adding a relevant CTA at the end of your content.
This way the user gets the value from your content without feeling like they are being pressured into buying your services.
However, if they are interested in your services, they’ll have an easy way to learn more about them.
Take the time to build up trust with your audience, but make sure it’s easy for them to take that step when they are ready.
The path from engagement to conversion isn’t always a quick one.
4. Develop Your Keyword Strategy
One of the best advantages of creating blog content is that it helps with your SEO.
However, if you want to create an effective SEO strategy, you’ll need to make sure you are trying to rank for the right keywords.
There are three things to consider when developing your keyword strategy.
Volume
Volume is the number of times people are searching for a particular keyword. If people aren’t searching for a particular keyword, there’s no point in trying to rank for it.
Competition
Competition is how difficult it will be to rank for a certain keyword.
If a search query is dominated by high-authority sites, you’ll likely want to try to rank for a term with less competition. Long-tail keywords that are more specific are likely to be less competitive.
Relevance
Relevance is the thematic and semantic connection of your content. Your content should establish your law firm as the expert in one particular niche or location.
5. Utilize Keyword Modifiers
Keyword modifiers help you target keywords with a lot of competition.
One of the most effective ways to do this for a law firm is to utilize location-based modifiers.
For example, the term “tax law” or a query for “what is tax law” would be virtually impossible to rank for.
However, a search query for “tax lawyer near me” gives you a realistic shot at ranking.
It’s also important to note that these search queries tell us a lot about the searchers’ intent.
Someone searching for “tax law New York” is likely looking to learn about the topic, whereas someone searching “tax lawyer near me” is likely interested in a particular service.
In this example, making it clear that you’re a tax lawyer in a particular area and creating content related to that accomplishes three things.
- You provide value to users who may be interested in learning more about tax law and how the laws differ in your area from more generic tax law.
- You establish yourself as an expert in that niche and build trust with your audience.
- You have a collection of useful and relevant content that is likely to help your landing pages rank in search engines.
6. Promote Your Content
Once you’ve created your content, you can’t just rely on Google’s search algorithm to promote your content for you.
Instead, you should utilize your other digital marketing channels. This includes social media, email, and even paid ads.
Which channels work best will depend on your audience.
For example, if your law firm mainly works with business clients, you may consider promoting your content on a platform like LinkedIn.
Remember, content marketing works best when integrated with your broader digital marketing strategy.
The more people engage with and share your content, the more effective it will be.
7. Track Your Progress
Once you’ve started creating your content, you’ll want to regularly check how your content is performing.
Utilizing a tool like Google Analytics will be incredibly important so you can get an idea of what content is doing well.
Once you have an idea of what types of content are driving a lot of traffic and generating leads, you can create similar types of content.
If you’re promoting your content on social media or with email, you should also track metrics like click-through rate to see what promotion strategies are the most effective.
Not every piece of content or promotion strategy will work, and you’ll likely need to go through some trial and error.
However, as long as you’re continually tracking your progress and learning from the data, you can use content marketing to its fullest potential.
9 Content Ideas for Law Firms
The key to successful law firm marketing on social media, particularly on Instagram, is to create a steady stream of posts that strike a solid balance between informative and creative.
It’s also important to realize that effective Instagram marketing is all about visuals, so the ability to combine meaty information with eye-catching visuals and snappy wordsmithing is a must. Here’s a closer look at some terrific ideas to help set your firm apart in all the right ways.
1. Address common questions
People in the market for a lawyer often have a lot of questions and are likely already out there looking for the answers. A carousel post on Instagram is a terrific way to address common concerns prospective clients may have about your firm’s practice areas.
Create a sequence of graphics that pose a question, follow up with answers, and then close with a call to action inviting your audience to get in touch for a consultation.
Brainstorm new content by considering which questions your receptionists get asked the most. Alternatively, you can repurpose high-performing top-of-funnel content from your company blog or other social media streams.
2. Create a meme
Memes aren’t just for Gen-Z influencers and social media besties who want to make each other laugh. When created cleverly and used strategically, they make great marketing for law firms, as well, and everyone appreciates a good chuckle when they’re on social media.
The key is to find the humor in something to do with one of your firm’s specialties and make it relatable enough to grab the attention of your target audience. Look for ways to combine eye-catching imagery with clever captioning that scans well at a glance.
3. Debunk common myths
As anyone involved in law knows, myths about lawyers, law firms, and what’s involved in a case are extremely common. For that reason, knowing how to market a law firm is at least partially about knowing how to diffuse common misconceptions that could keep people from seeking essential legal aid.
Instagram posts can be a powerful tool for that, especially if your firm’s specialty field is subject to a lot of misunderstanding. Plus, dispelling myths can be a wonderful way to win a lead’s trust and convince them that your firm is the one that can help them.
4. Showcase what makes your firm different
There are a million law firms out there, and each is looking for a way to convince a target audience that their firm is the one capable of solving their problems. So, what sets your firm apart from all the rest?
Do you specialize in helping underserved demographics? Perhaps your staff is bilingual, exceptionally kind-hearted, or unusually experienced with something specific. Look for uniquely engaging ways to highlight these advantages in your social media posts.
5. Take your audience behind the scenes
Don’t simply assume that your audience wouldn’t be interested in knowing what goes on behind the scenes at a legal office. So many legal teams over-focus on the professional polish that makes a firm feel capable and knowledgeable on the outside.
But today’s consumers connect best with service providers who aren’t afraid to show their humanity. That said, some of the most effective content marketing for law firms treats audiences to entertaining or enlightening peeks behind closed doors.
6. Share key case outcomes
People in the market for legal services are often stressed, confused, scared, or all of the above. That said, the process of finding the right law firm to help can be stressful. Among other things, people want to know that the firm they’re considering is capable of getting results.
Instagram posts can be great ways to not only tell but also show when it comes to your firm’s biggest successes. Potential ideas to highlight may include dollar amounts of money recovered for clients, photos of your team celebrating a big win, or anything similar.
Think about brand-appropriate, convincing legal visuals that tell unforgettable stories an audience can’t ignore. Be creative!
7. Leverage client testimonials
Effective law firm marketing can and should include the powerful social proof that glowing reviews and testimonials from satisfied clients bring to the table. After all, nothing convinces a consumer that they’re making a good decision quite like words of assurance from other consumers.
Written-word graphics that visually incorporate client quotes in interesting ways are one way to do this. So are video testimonials, interviews, and similar options. Again, be creative and consider what approaches might suit your brand best.
8. Poll your audience
Whether you leverage the built-in poll feature in your Instagram story tools or build classic grid posts around poll ideas, posing key questions for your audience to consider is a terrific way to pique their curiosity and get them engaged.
Polls are most effective as law firm marketing tools when used to clue people into key concerns they might be missing (like making an estate plan or covering potential custody issues if they’re facing a divorce). Help your audience see ways a lawyer could help them that they might not have considered.
9. Announce key happenings
The right announcements can also be solid ways to show an audience why your law firm might be an especially good hire. To begin with, they’re great ways to make your audience feel included in what your firm does. They’re also low-key ways to show off the many ways your team is out there getting things done.
Did your firm just win a prestigious award or receive an accolade? Turn it into an Instagram post and share the excitement with your followers and potential leads. Have you just added an amazing new hotshot to your team? Tell the world all about it.
Posts like these help balance the usual flow of informative information, classic advertising, and more client-focused posts. In other words, sometimes talking about yourself is the smartest decision you can make with law firm marketing.
Wrap-Up: Content Marketing for Law Firms is Vital For Securing New Clients
Content marketing is the best way to display the expertise of your law firm and generate organic leads.
But for it to be an effective strategy, you need to create truly valuable content and stick to a plan.
Need help creating content for your law firm’s website and social media accounts? WriterAccess has legal writers who specialize in creating content for law firms like yours. Hire a freelance legal writer today to help with your content marketing.
