One truth that the past decade has absolutely driven home for law firms is this: there’s no bigger platform to sell your services than on the internet. With more than people constantly browsing the internet day and night, everybody you need to reach is exactly where you want them.
But knowing where your targets are and reaching them are often very different propositions. If you’re like most savvy law firms, you have already taken steps to properly sell your firm to the teeming market on the internet. You have location-specific services, you have explained clearly what your practice areas are and include FAQs that preempt likely queries on your site.
However, as with developments in the legal field, the landscape of digital marketing is constantly changing. To be certain that your law firm is well-positioned to capture new leads and convert them in droves, you need to be sure you’re implementing the latest strategies. If you’re not on top of your digital marketing game, you could be losing valuable leads worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Knowing this, we prepared this article to help guide you on what trends rule the world of digital marketing and how to implement them.
Here are 9 digital marketing tips that will help your law firm grow in 2020.
#1: Get your marketing ducks in a row
Having a strategy for your law firm’s digital marketing in 2020 will be vital to success. After all, the stats don’t lie. CoSchedule reports that marketers who document their strategies are to achieve success. Carefully consider what milestones you want to reach this year before you set about putting together the perfect strategy to reach those goals.
Find out what the competition is doing and incorporate what you can or, better yet, improve it. You can use tools like to examine the keywords your competitors are ranking for and the strategies they are using to drive growth.
This information will help you understand how high-performing law firms in your category are getting good business and help you determine the best course for your digital marketing strategy.
#2: Write quality, helpful content
Content, they say, is king and it’s obvious why. The average potential lead searching for legal content on the internet is most likely doing so because they need legal assistance. By providing quality content that hits the mark, you make it more likely that when the time comes to choose, you’ll be getting the case.
Not just any old 500-word piece of content will do either. You need to write long-form content if you want to be visible. According to statistics, the average content length of the top ten results on Google is at least 2,000 words.
If you’re serious about driving exposure for your law firm, you need to set yourself up as a resource for quality, authoritative content. This is also what is known as thought leadership. Invest in well-researched, well-articulated content and spread it around on social media as well as your blog. The leads will come like bees to pollen.
#3: Personalize your content
An underrated tactic for most marketers is the simple use of related content. By default, when a prospect visits your law firm website, they are looking for specific information about a specific area of law.
If you happen to have information that they want, you can keep them on your website for longer either by providing more information on that subject or other important support information.
But very few prospects will go rooting around on your website until they find what they want. Related content makes it easier for them to find all they need right where they are. So, if your prospect is reading about “Construction Site Accident Lawyer”, you can provide a handy link to “How are Damages Calculated in Personal Injury Cases”.
#4: Optimize for voice search
One of the rising trends in recent years has been the increasing use of voice search. With the constantly rising prevalence of smart assistants and speakers, more people are finding resources, goods, and services using voice search.
And these numbers will only get higher. According to recent research, approximately will be via voice. Make sure your law firm is not losing out on this opportunity in 2020.
To optimize your web content for voice search, imbibe the practice of couching headers and subheaders in first-person questions. For instance, rather than “What You Should Know About the 3M Combat Arm Earplugs Case?”, use “Do I Have a 3M Combat Arms Case?”.
#5: Implement live chat
Live chat functions became mainstream in 2019 and it will only pick up pace this year. This survey from Software Advice indicates that have used live chat to engage a company or brand. Although you may cringe at the thought of giving away free advice through a live chat, it’s almost no different from giving a free initial case review.
The benefits of adding in live chat to your website are innumerable. It can help you turn interest into genuine leads, as providing hard and fast answers to prospects will help them make a faster decision on hiring you.
Here’s a warning though. You risk turning prospects off by prompts such as “a real live person is available to talk to you”. Don’t do that, it’s entirely unnatural. Instead, try for a sincere introduction of who you are and what your firm can do for the prospects. How about “Hi. Thanks for visiting AllanLaw. Have any questions? We are available to chat with you.”
#6: Post helpful videos
Videos are one of the most powerful mediums of communication. Rather than just telling prospects how authoritative your firm is and how you can help them, videos help you show prospects the value you bring.
more likely to show up on Google’s first page if you include videos on your web pages. That’s how powerful videos can be for you. It allows you to build credibility, trust and improves conversions.
The best part is that you don’t need professional video equipment to create videos for your website or YouTube page. An iPhone is more than enough to create a short “question and answer” video. Take a question that you get asked by clients and turn it into a short video. Try to keep the videos under 3 mins.
#7: Try out lead nurturing and relationship management
For most businesses, including law firms, the bulk of your revenue will come from leads you have already converted. This makes sense both financially and sustainability-wise. Research indicates that it costs 6-7 times more to attract a new client than it costs to simply retain one.
By nurturing the relationship you already have with certain clients, you are accessing a resource that can convert big time for your law firm. How do you go about cultivating this relationship? Start by sending emails that tie into a previous service you rendered to the client. You can also send newsletters, regulatory updates and the like.
Ensure that you segment your email list so you can offer personalized content to each client (or group of clients). Segment this along with the practice areas of interest, location or other key criteria.
#8: Make your website responsive
If you failed to optimize your website for mobile in 2019, don’t miss out in 2020. By failing to optimize for mobile, you’re doing your business serious harm. It harms your relationship with Google, harms your relationship with potential clients and loses you a huge chunk of traffic.
According to MarginMedia, say failing to optimize for mobile shows a lack of care on the part of the business. So, put mobile first today, because projections are that the vast majority of internet searches will come from mobile.
#9: Hire a quality marketing agency
While you can probably handle this by yourself, working with a great agency gives you an edge. Just like only a qualified lawyer should practice law, quality digital marketing is a task best left to skilled and highly-trained professionals.
In the same way that a litigant is not barred from handle their litigation pro se, nothing stops you from doing your own digital marketing. But everyone knows how a pro se lawsuit is likely to end.
To give your firm the best chance of achieving its goals in 2020, invest in a quality marketing agency.
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