As the marketing landscape evolves and the success of prime time TV ads fades, law firms need a fresh approach to growing their business. These four legal content marketing strategies will help you beat the clutter and stand out to your clients.
1. Make a Personal Connection
Blogs, websites, and social media accounts are the standard for engaging clients, building relationships, and displaying your unique strengths and values. Unlike TV advertising, pop-up ads, and direct mail, online content marketing lets your customers visit you of their own accord—and they deserve something valuable in return.
Engaging articles, blog posts, personal stories, and freebies such as e-books and podcasts can help you secure that vital position at the top of clients’ minds. When readers post a question or comment, it’s your opportunity to take the reins and foster new relationships.
If you don’t already have one, build a rich LinkedIn profile with links to your portfolio, a detailed summary of your experiences and awards, and a professional photo. Join group discussions, start your own topics, and share information within the community. The more venues you have to connect with potential clients and demonstrate your expertise, the better.
2. Write To Serve Your Audience
All marketing endeavors carry some degree of risk. One major risk facing law firms is alienating potential clients with “lawyer speak.” Legal jargon and complex arguments can win in the courtroom, but legal content marketing requires an entirely different linguistic framework.
More law firms are emulating professional journalists and media outlets to better reach their audiences. Keep the language simple, direct, and objective. Make sure that readers gain something from reading your content. Timely, interesting, and valuable content with a fresh viewpoint can position you as a thought leader and give you a leg up on the competition.
3. Lead, Don’t Advertise
In legal content marketing, value is key. Think about all the law firm ads you’ve seen during the Super Bowl or any other major televised event. Most, if not all, of them provide very little substance and seem to blend into one long, self-promotional blur—not exactly a formula to win prospective clients.
Legal services are a major expense, and clients want to make sure they choose the best in the industry. What does your law firm do better than the rest? What unique backgrounds or experiences can you share to spark interest in the minds of decision makers?
Provide meaningful content with informational blogs, detailed FAQ sections, and segmented landing pages. Becoming a thought leader involves teaching, inspiring, and provoking people to learn more. If potential clients see you as a leader, the advertising takes care of itself.
4. Stay Genuine
Content marketing used to be a game of keyword stuffing. Today, search engines (and their users) are much smarter. Articles filled with spam and keyword clutter will plummet to the bottom of search results, and any pages they link to may face a similar fate.
Keywords should still be an important part of your strategy, but make sure they are used naturally and in context so they have a greater impact. Aside from producing engaging, valuable text content, your legal content marketing plan can include videos, infographics, interviews, and links to valuable resources and guest articles.
The more trust and authority you build with your readers, the more likely they are to become your clients—and the more search engines will like your website. Every law firm is unique in its service offering and stage of growth, so customize these suggestions to your specific needs—and don’t be afraid to ask for professional help with your long-term law firm marketing strategy.
If you want to learn more about content marketing for law firms, contact Kirkpatrick Creative at 866-864-9425. We specialize in legal content marketing and helping you connect with potential clients.