How law firms can get more clients
It’s no secret that Florida is a great place to live and work. Which is why there are so many more lawyers practicing in this state than ever before. Officially, Florida state is over saturated with lawyers which has negatively impacted law firms in that it is now much harder than ever to acquire ideal clients. You need Law Firm Marketing to succeed.
LAW FIRM MARKETING
What is “law firm marketing”? When you market your law firm online successfully, you’re accomplishing two things: You’re putting yourself front and center of both potential new clients and potential new talent, and you’re leading them through the buyer’s funnel to contact and hire you.
The only caveat is that competing law firms are also catching on to the need for law firm marketing, so you need to not only attract clients and recruits, but also outperform and outrank your competitors.
Law firm marketing used to be simpler. Aside from referrals, most lawyers’ marketing strategy consisted of a Yellow Pages ad, a few display ads in a newspaper or magazine, perhaps some billboards, and TV or radio commercials. That was it!
It used to be that a law firm could rely on referrals for most of their new business from former clients, other lawyers, and professionals like accountants and bankers too.
No more.
Times have changed.
- Referrals are not what they used to be.
- The Yellow Pages are dead
- Newspapers have gone out of business
- Available billboards are fewer
- And media like TV and radio are now too expensive
REFERRALS
Studies show that 70% of new clients who get a referral now want to “check you out” on the internet to learn more before they contact you.
If you are not on the Internet, they will find someone else
Yellow pages
Remember them? They no longer come to your house or business. Instead lawyers depend on listings like the Florida Bar Association directory. Unfortunately, all they list is your name, phone number, email address, and website. There is no opportunity to even search for your practice area or explain why anyone should contact your firm.
Newspaper ads
Since newspapers have lost readership due to the Internet and cable TV they have also lost display advertisers and classified ads are now on Craig’s List. Many cities no longer even have a daily newspaper.
Billboards
Many cities have also greatly restricted the use of billboards too.
TV and Radio
And now with so many TV and radio outlets, it is difficult to determine where to advertise with even them.
The new law firm marketing
The new marketing tools for lawyers consist of
- Online searches
- Social Media
- Newsletters
- Articles
- Websites
Online searches
The number one way that clients use to find a lawyer is no longer referrals. They first go to the internet and do a search.
If you are not on the internet, they will find someone else.
To get found on the internet the search engines have to have put your information into their database e either from reading your website, social media posts, article, directory, on their local map listings.
SOCIAL MEDIA
It is not enough just to have a presence on social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (now X) or even YouTube. You need a link on these sites back to your own website.
NEWSLETTERS
Once you have a list of clients and potential clients, a newsletter written by yourself or outsourced is an excellent way to keep you in their minds. Not just for future business but to get them to refer you.
ARTICLES
Articles (don’t call them blogs unless you want to really engage in a dialog about what you have written) are excellent ways to get notices by search engines and drive traffic to your law firm If you don’t have the time to write them yourself, outsource to someone else.
WEBSITES
Your target audience now spends many hours online a day, and when they need an attorney, 97% of them head to Google as their first choice. As I mentioned most of them prefer to get their questions answered and learn about your law firm via online articles, and they frequently do their research on a mobile device. Over 100% of large law firms have websites but 20% of small or solo law firms do not. That is just one of the reasons they are a big law firm. website is absolutely necessary in today’s competitive legal market.
- Turn your law firm’s website into a 24/7 sales representative
- Invest in content marketing and SEO for lawyers
- Expand your online footprint beyond your website with video marketing, PPC, social media, and local SEO
- Manage your reputation and use your online presence as a recruitment tool
- Track, measure, and analyze everything
MARKETING IS A NECESSITY
Marketing is marketing, whether you’re a lawyer or not. You have an item (your skill set and your time) that you’d like to sell to someone. All marketing has to have the goal of convincing people that your skills are worth purchasing.
If someone asks you what you do for a living, and you say, “I’m a lawyer.” you’ve failed to sell your skills.
“I’m a lawyer.” What does that even mean? Do you sue people? Do you write wills? Get people out of jail? What do you do?
Change the answer a little bit. Focus on what you can do FOR YOUR CLIENTS.
“I keep innocent people out of jail.”, “I help people get a divorce.”, “I get just compensation for accidents.”
You get the idea. It’s not “what you do” but “what can you do for me?”
Too many lawyers just say “We are professional lawyers who work in real estate” and leave it at that.
With that in mind, apply that mindset to any advertising that you do. Did you create a website? Great! Now, is it all about you? Your skills, your practice area, your biography, you awards?
Does any of that matter?
Ask yourself what does your website say about what you can do for your client?
Google a few lawyers. Look at the sites.
You’ll see a ton where the lawyer blathers on about how he’s a family man, went to such-and-such law school, lived here and there.
That might be very interesting – to you and your staff.
But of little use if your love one is in jail or arrested or being sued.
No one really cares if you went to a prestigious school or got some awards. They really don’t.
They want to know if you understand their problems. If you have the skill and experience to solve it. They want to know if they can trust you and finally how can they contact you.
Instead of a long drawn out bio, what if the page had a ‘to do’ list or article which explain that if their loved one has been arrested what should they do? What is going to happen? What are their options?
things… Not only did it help the potential client, but it showed that Larry knows his stuff and he can apply his knowledge to help your situation.
Offer case studies. Have testimonials. Give directions to your office with a map? Explain that you offer free consultations. Let them know how much per hour your charge or if they don’t pay if you don’t win.