Most law firms or independently practicing lawyers do not put a lot of premium on marketing. This is a lot of wasted potential especially if you are not yet an established name in the industry.
Law firms need to attract clients as well as retain existing ones. With the advancement of technology and the way that marketing is being done nowadays, the legal industry must catch up to thrive.
Traditional word-of-mouth marketing or referrals will no longer cut it. Simply having a website with a good domain name like https://www.lawyer.com.au/ will also not work anymore, especially if others are taking advantage of more modern strategies to get their name out there.
This article aims to discuss why marketing is essential for any practicing lawyer or law firm, as well as the ways that they can use marketing to help their company grow further.
What Does the Legal Landscape in Australia Look Like?
In 2022, there are 90,000 registered solicitors and around 20,000 law firms operating. As such, you can see that there is a huge number of firms as well as independent lawyers practicing.
As for legal cases, there has been an average of over 500,000 defendants in Australia each year since 2020, with these figures steadily rising over the years.
This number does not include other cases and services that require legal assistance such as drafting and reviewing contracts, tax assistance, mediation, and others.
Why is Marketing Important for Law Firms?
Based on the figures mentioned above, you can see that there are a lot of people who require legal services. If you are an independent solicitor or part of a firm, how big a chunk of the pie are you getting?
Marketing serves organizations, companies, and businesses in many ways. Law firms are definitely no exception.
Good marketing strategies for law firms have the ultimate goal of helping the business thrive by attracting new clients and retaining existing ones.
Good marketing also has the benefit of improving brand recognition and reputability, all of which help the original mission of adding to the revenue stream.
Unfortunately, most law firms allocate a very small budget towards good and effective marketing efforts. Most simply rely on signages, billboards, cold calling, or referrals from clients or friends.
While many law firms do survive with this type of strategy, you are failing to maximize the potential of marketing to assist your company’s growth.
Most of the time, the reason for this aversion by most law firms to implement new modern strategies is tradition. This is because the legal industry often deals with taboo or sensitive cases, or cases where discretion is required, areas that many firms believe that they should exist in, as well.
However, this is an outdated way of thinking, and there are ways to market your company and services in a way that is discreet and sensible, without looking tacky or tasteless.
Marketing Methods for Law Firms
Law firms that want to utilize marketing to help boost the number of clients that they have can access a multitude of ways, whether by developing their own in-house marketing team or by hiring experts for consultancy or marketing services.
Here are some very effective and modern ways by which law firms can use the power of marketing to compete in the cutthroat legal service market, as well as to have a high potential return on investment for marketing costs.
Website
A website is a law firm’s primary marketing tool. It lists down the history of the firm, its values, cases handled, as well as specializations and services offered.
Good SEO is necessary for the site to be easily searchable. It is also necessary to have an easy-to-see page where potential clients can contact you, such as a Contact Us page as well as details on how they can reach you, like an office number or email address.
Blogs
Blogs posted on your site can help improve SEO rankings. In addition, it can help boost your credibility especially if you are providing useful information related to the services that you are offering.
Offer good content that will engage your audience and make them want to know more. Having a comments section and interacting with comments can also be a good way to market yourself and show the competence that you have to offer.
Newsletters
Email marketing strategies like newsletters are also effective in helping you spread the word about your company. When cold-calling was the marketing strategy of the past, email marketing is the current trend at least until the foreseeable future.
Build your email list and make sure to send relevant information about your company. You can also share your blog content to make yourself known. Make sure to provide relevant information and to avoid spam-style emails.
Social Media
Social media has been one of the most powerful marketing tools. Law firms with LinkedIn or Facebook accounts have been shown to be the most well-known and most trusted by clients.
As with your site, continuous updates and user engagement are necessary to boost credibility and recognition, as well as to attract more followers.
Also, don’t forget to allocate a budget for marketing your page for boosting purposes and to ensure that you are reaching your target market.
Online Ads
Online ads like Google or YouTube ads are a relatively cheap yet effective way to market your firm or service as it is capable of reaching a wide audience.
Most companies that offer these services employ a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) model where you will only need to pay an amount depending on how many times your ad has been clicked.
Conclusion
Marketing for law firms is extremely important in today’s world. There are many ways by which firms can utilize technology to advertise and acquire a larger share of the market.
Make sure to invest in good marketing strategies for your law firm or private practice. It will take some work and progress may be slow at first, but the benefits will far outweigh the cost.
