Law firm marketing can be a complicated field to navigate. If you are in the law field, I don’t have to tell you that competition for clients is fierce.
Over 62% of larger law firms outsource their marketing, especially as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) principles evolve.
For smaller firms, though, outsourcing may not be in the budget. If you fall into this category, here are six low-cost or no-cost ways to bump up your law firm marketing.
1. Go to More Face-to-Face Industry Events
As you know, one of the strongest ways to attract new clients is through referrals. People would rather connect with an attorney through a referral from a trusted than through an advertisement. On the upshot, referrals are one of the best free marketing strategies you can use to grow your law firm.
On the other hand, it does require some networking effort on your part. It pays to build connections and professional relationships within the law field.
The best way is attending professional events as well as social parties or other meetups with people in the field of law.
Social Gatherings
In this vein, any social gathering of professionals, regardless of field, connects you with potential clients.
You can search social media outlets for meetups and other events that may be related to law. Facebook and LinkedIn are good resources for this.
Conferences and Social Mixers
You can also check with your local bar association for any conferences or social mixers in your area. Hob-knobbing may not be your thing, but the more people you can connect with, the more opportunities you have to gain referrals.
Track Connections
You may want to track your professional relationships using a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software program. A CRM helps you keep in touch with your contacts over time. It’s easy enough for people to forget about you if there is no communication to refresh their memory.
It’s also a good idea to track these relationships using a CRM to ensure that you are keeping in touch with all your professional relationships as time goes on. If you’re not keeping in touch, it’s easy for people to forget about you.
2. Create a Social Media Presence
Over two billion people use Facebook each month. In a recent article for CNBC, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg states that the current focus of Facebook is, “Meeting new people, getting exposed to new perspectives, making it so that the communities that you join online can translate to the physical world, too.”
Social media is here to stay. Even if you are old school, you should have a social media presence. It is another effective platform for free law firm marketing.
You can invest money in paid advertising, though basic sharing and status updates from your business page or web blog are worth the effort.
Social media marketing doesn’t create an immediate return. Stay with it, though. Make a daily effort to post to all of your social networks. Sooner or later a post will find its way to a prospective client. If your administrative staff is savvy, you can delegate publishing to them.
3. Create a YouTube Channel
YouTube is a search engine. In fact, it’s second only to Google in size. Video content is on the rise, and law firm marketing is no exception. Consider creating videos as part of your law firm marketing strategy.
Basic Equipment
You don’t need fancy camera equipment to make a decent video. Your smartphone camera produces suitable quality. All you need is a tripod to keep the camera stabilized. That will keep the video from looking shaky.
Your phone or computer most likely has free editing software already loaded on it. That is all you’ll need for basic editing.
Produce Video Guides
You can make video guide videos covering common legal issues. Popular topics are how to start a business, or how to protect your estate, for example. Another is what to do if you are charged with a DUI.
Video guides should be short and basic. End them by inviting viewers to visit your website or contacting you with questions.
The best approach for these guides is to put yourself on camera. You can use alternates like a narrated PowerPoint converted to video. Though, the most effective is to let potential clients “meet” you online.
Share Your Videos
After you upload your videos, be sure to share them everywhere that is applicable. Your website is the obvious place. Though you can post these on multiple social media sites, including Twitter and Instagram.
4. Start Answering Legal Questions on Quora
In 2017, Quora averaged over 200 million users a month. It is one of the most popular question-and-answer websites. And, it promises to continue to grow.
Quora questions and answers remain searchable indefinably. So, users may find your answer long after you posted it.
Quora questions also rank high in search engines. This means that someone may Google a legal question that was also posed by someone else in Quora. The Quora question will appear in the Google search results.
If you provided a popular answer to that question, the person searching would see it first. You can also include relevant links back to your website or blog. Best of all, it’s free to use. Quora is a great way for people to discover you online as well as establish credibility.
5. Send Email Newsletters
Email is a great way to keep up with your extended network without being intrusive. It’s a direct message but doesn’t interrupt as a phone call or text would. Unlike social media, it’s also a private communication.
Keep Your Readers Up-To-Date
A monthly email newsletter keeps everyone up to date on the latest happenings with your law firm. You could introduce any new initiatives. Or, you could highlight any special cases that you have won recently.
Of course, the perfect closer for the newsletter is a reminder that you are a phone call away should someone need legal representation.
Email Marketing Software
If you don’t already use email marketing software, consider investing. Some companies, such as Mailchimp, offers a free account with limited contacts.
Some CRMs integrate with Mailchimp and other software providers. This allows you to automate some of the mailing processes.
6. Become a Guest Post Blogger
Effective law firm marketing applies the principles of good online marketing. The goal is to get the right content published and available to your target audience. There is a bit of a science to it, though it’s not beyond your reach.
Guest blogging is a low to no-cost way of getting your content in front of your targeted audience. Making your way through to the publishers can be tricky. Think of some of the publications related to your law practice. Contact the editors and pitch ideas for guest blog posts.
For example, if you specialize in bankruptcies, you could suggest an article about the “reasons to file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy.” It may take a little persistence. If you have your own blog to serve as writing samples, all the better.
Guest blog posts highlight the legal issues of interest to your target audience. They also identify you as an expert that can help with through their situation. Finally, you will include at least one link back to your website or blog, such as Stone Law Firm.
Your New Law Firm Marketing Plan
Most likely, Law Firm Marketing 101 was not one of your requisite classes in law school. No matter, it is a necessary principle to apply to grow your practice.
Marketing may not be one of your hidden talents. Though, you can apply the ideas in this article to increase your law firm’s online presence.
Not every marketing campaign costs money. The smallest of firms may not even have an identified marketing strategy. Regardless, the above tips are all proven ideas for attracting clients with little to no cost.
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