Where should I spend my legal marketing budget?
There are so many marketing channels out there that it can get a little confusing, especially if your expertise isn’t in advertising. When you start to promote your law firm, you will be faced with many strategies that you can use to try to attract new clients, such as digital marketing, print marketing, SEO, blogging or even advertising. old. However, there are two crucial things to consider when developing your law firm’s marketing plan so that you don’t waste your time, energy, and most importantly, your budget. The first point to remember is that you should always market to your customers and prospects, and the second point is that you should create a clear and concise plan tailored to your business.
Should I just do what other law firms do?
Unequivocally, that would be a no. Like your clients, no two law firms are the same. Each law firm will be at a different stage in their legal marketing journey, so be sure to plan for your practice and not just copy other law firms that may have different goals than you.
When marketing a law firm, you need to make sure you take into account:
- Practice area
- Law firm size
- Company goals
- Customer acquisition goals
- Types of marketing activities the company is currently engaged in
- How much time should the company invest in its marketing
To give an example, if your organization is a brand new personal injury law firm, you will be at a different stage in your marketing journey compared to an established local family law firm. A well-known family law firm will likely already have a strong referral network, website, and current marketing strategy that includes a social media presence and possibly a blog, but a new firm operating in a different market may not have a website or social media channels and is unlikely to have solidified its reputation further. Planning where to spend the legal marketing budget for each of these businesses will require a different and tailored approach, potentially using different channels.
There will also be different costs that will need to be taken into account depending on the area of practice. Using the example above, personal injury law has traditionally been more expensive and requires a much higher CPL (cost per lead) whether you are marketing online or offline. Family law is known to be a much less expensive area of legal marketing, requiring less expense.
What marketing channels are there?
Right now there are, frankly, a huge amount of marketing channels available to law firms – some would say a daunting number for your consideration. Below are some of the main channels that you should at least consider when developing your legal marketing strategy.
In line
- Website Development
- Content Marketing / Blogging
- Pay-per-click advertising
- Online reviews and references
- Video marketing
- Podcasts
Offline
- TV advertising
- Radio advertising
- Branding
- Print advertising
- Advertising board
- References
Where do other law firms market?
A recent to study showed that for many law firms, email was the most used marketing channel, followed by organic social media (unlike paid social media advertising, which was much weaker). Below you can see the full breakdown of the law firms’ budget allocation.
While the above can help provide suggestions and provide insight into what others are doing, it remains essential that your law firm chart its own marketing path based on your goals. It should be added that the table above can also be a bit confusing in terms of the difference between organic and paid social media, for example. Legal marketing and its many channels can also seem overwhelming. Marketing, just like the law, has its own terms and abbreviations which can be confusing. But do not worry ; many of them might not even apply to you right now.
So where should I market my law firm?
Simply put, you need to market your law firm to where your clients are.
When it comes to finding a lawyer, consumers have reported that the following methods have led them to choose their law firm:
- Recommendations from friends / family – 62%
- Online Research – 37%
- References from other lawyers – 31%
- Directory listings – 28%
- TV Ads – 13%
- Online Ads – 13%
- Radio ads – 7%
- Billboards – 6%
Looking at the above, it may be tempting to think that you can just sit back and trust the references, but that would be reckless. Why? Because nowadays everything is linked. The majority of people who receive a referral from a friend or family will at the very least check out this business online. If you have a multi-faceted approach, you’ll be more likely to generate more traffic, more engagement, and more leads. That doesn’t mean you have to spend money on all forms of marketing – it does mean you have to prioritize your goals and match them with your client’s intention.
A recent study found that for many law firms, email was the most used marketing channel.
How can I reach my potential customers?
In order to match your goals with your customers, you will need to make sure that you are marketing in the right place. Below are some tips to help you decide what the best ways to spend your legal marketing budget are.
Website
First of all, if you are not online, we strongly recommend that you create a website. As mentioned, more and more clients are finding law firms through search engines – in fact, a combination 78% of consumers search for lawyers online. If you’re not there, it’s simple, you won’t be found. This is why you need to make sure you have a good website. It should be clear, punchy, and most importantly, include all the relevant information that your customers will want to see.
SEO
With the rise of search engines, SEO (or search engine optimization) has become more and more important. Simply put, SEO is about improving web content to make it appear as high as possible on search results pages (or SERPs). Once you have a good and functioning website, your next step is to focus on a certain level of SEO so that your website appears as a result of what your customers are looking for.
Content Marketing / Blogging
This is the next step in the website’s journey. If you add a blog to your website, you can begin to tap into the wealth of knowledge in your law firm to provide answers to clients’ questions and position yourself before them as a source of authority, which will help you. helps build trust and showcase your law firm. . A word of warning is to only use a blog if you have the time to blog. Nothing is quite as off-putting as heading to a website’s blog page to find that it was last updated in 2017.
In order to match your goals with your customers, you will need to make sure that you are marketing in the right place.
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
Internet traffic arriving on websites from PPC generates 50% more leads than organic traffic, so this is an area that should not be overlooked. Unfortunately for many areas of legal practice this also proves to be quite expensive! But don’t be discouraged. PPC can be a great form of exposure and customer acquisition.
Think local, regardless of the size of your law firm
Because the world is so connected these days, the temptation is to “go global” right away, but you can end up reaching consumers who are halfway around the world when your business is not international. So, think local; some of the best campaigns may be the most locally targeted, whether it’s a billboard or a local radio ad. If you are looking to target potential customers in your area, be sure to allocate a portion of your budget to local advertising. Remember, you can also target locally on global platforms, create a Google Business page, and get clients to rate your law firm positively. Facebook advertising can be targeted from within a mile of your desk, and you can even write blogs specifically using topics and keywords that you know will be popular with local audiences.
Use social media (the right way)
Social media can be a great tool for your law firm, but it can also be long and confusing. So a strong social media strategy tailored to your audience is highly recommended – but getting your law firm’s account on every social media channel and paying Instagram influencers and a full-time TikTok content creator when your potential clients aren’t. are not on Instagram or TikTok is not. You might also benefit from including paid social media ads to increase client awareness of your law firm, but be sure to target them and not just run ads without any consideration.
Some of the best campaigns may be the most locally targeted, whether it’s a billboard or a local radio ad.
Don’t be afraid to use old-fashioned marketing
In today’s digital age, the temptation to ditch traditional advertising options is all too real. But for many law firms, some of the more established marketing channels are established for a reason: because they work. If your business is new and looking for local customers, consider an ad in your local newspaper. If you work for an international law firm that is opening a new office in New York City, contact a public relations firm to help you get your news out there.
Get creative with your legal marketing
Almost all advice these days is to follow a certain checklist of steps, but with an increase in the number of channels (and enough time) you can afford to be a little more creative. Sponsoring a charity event or sports team, starting a YouTube channel for your business, or even starting your own legal podcast are all viable ways to achieve your marketing goals now.
In short, there is no right or wrong way to spend your legal marketing budget as long as you create a strategy designed with your goals and customers in mind. If you are still unsure of the best route to take, it is worth talking to a legal marketing company who will be able to help you plan and execute a targeted legal marketing strategy.
