Law Firm Marketing Strategies That Produced 2,000% Growth
Outrageously successful law firm marketing strategies don’t need to be a complicated list of 47 vague, buzzword-laden catchphrases.
How do you market a law firm? Our clients don’t ask this in as many words, but attracting clients is make-or-break for a law firm & its marketing.
To drive 2,000% Page 1 non-branded keyword ranking growth in 2 years, we employed a few simple law firm marketing strategies. Let’s break down how to market a law firm on the internet.
Strategy #1: See your complete digital picture
Most law firm marketing strategies (should) include an audit and benchmarking of your website. But did you know that many law firm marketing plans don’t go any further?
Even seasoned law firm marketing companies will go straight to dictating the keywords you should target; without context! Or worse, they’ll pitch advertising ideas and ask how much you can afford to spend on ads. Let’s dig into why that matters to attracting clients to your law firm.
When you begin a law firm marketing engagement, it’s paramount to understand where your website stands in the search landscape.
Legal marketing companies typically make their money by charging a commission against your ad spend. (Anywhere from 5-15%) Does that put your last monthly meeting in a new light? (Agency: “We need to be spending more on PPC!”)
Our first priority for this (and every law firm) is understanding the “cash cows”, “quick wins”, challenges, and more. That old blog post on things not to do if you’ve been arrested? It could be an SEO goldmine! That practice page on father’s rights? Maybe it’s ranking for completely different keywords than you thought. You just never know until you see all the data.
Strategy #2: Close every competitive gap
Many law firm marketing plan examples will tell you that developing a personal brand is the first thing you should do. We agree, to a point:
A personal brand is important, but focusing on your client’s perspective is more important.
*To start! We’re not saying you shouldn’t build a personal brand. But if you need to generate leads, it shouldn’t be your starting point.
As attorneys know, many legal matters (especially DWI, personal injury, family law, and so on) are time-sensitive. Letters, discover, motions, depositions: you and the client are always on the clock.
This is crucial to your law firm marketing strategy because you need to be everywhere your clients are, and beyond where your competitors could be.
When we took on this law firm SEO client in 2017, we immediately closed ALL competitive gaps. We examined every competitor’s SEO keyword rankings: direct competitors, smalltime players, publishers, directories. No stone was unturned.
Within a year, we even targeted one prominent competitor’s brand slogan on local TV, and successfully outarnked their own slogan keyword in the organic search rankings.
(Result may not be typical – This may not always be possible, due to low search volume, or nature of keywords, competitors.)
Strategy #3: Publish Strategically & Relentlessly
Law firm marketing strategies need to be long-lasting: paying dividends for your practice for months and years to come. Think about pay-per-click (PPC) or other paid social ads.
The instant you run out of spend or pause ad campaigns, you’re highly unlikely to capture more leads or clients from your advertising.
Yes, you may get a referral from an advertising lead, but the math of qualification, conversion, and close aren’t in your favor for big results.
SEO is not penicillin for your law firm, it won’t cure all ills. But pound for pound, a top-flight SEO campaign will drive greater ROI for your legal practice than many targeted paid media campaigns, and certainly more than “spray and pray” traditional marketing strategies (billboards, radio, etc.)
Should paid media and traditional marketing be part of your law firm marketing strategies? Yes. Should they be the lifeblood or flywheel for your firm’s client acquisition? Probably not. Here’s why.
Remember in law firm marketing strategy #2 where we said that matters are often time-sensitive, and that understanding your client’s behaviors were paramount?
Client search behavior is different than you might think, in ways that present incredible opportunity for your legal practice. Let’s play that out in the real world.
Legal marketing companies will often target 5-10 high value keywords for your practice, and only 5-10 throughout the life of their engagement with you.
Yes, many clients eventually search for the money keyword: “DWI lawyer Houston”, “Dallas Family Lawyer”, “Fort Worth Criminal Defense Attorney”. But clients are searching for so much more than 5-10 keywords when facing time in prison, the loss of their livelihood, damage to their business, or the destruction of their family!
The ugly truth: many clients may select counsel before searching that one keyword that costs you $50 per click.
Beware of law firm marketing agencies that don’t display creative vision for the content and growth of your website. We look at all the questions clients may ask before searching the money keyword.
Clients will ask about handling police encounters, how to find forms, tips for dealing with insurance, sentencing outcomes and so much more. Your online presence needs to represent your expertise: you should offer all the best answers and counsel.
If your legal marketing company can do all these things, you’ll have a shot at growing your online presence, traffic, and business year over year over year.
Make no mistake, it took us over 2 years to reach a 2,000% gain, but small consistent wins over time makes a huge difference for your law firm. Contact us today to learn our marketing plan for your law firm.