Running a lawyer firm is never an easy task, with so much competition and such a dog-eat-dog mentality that ensures that only the strongest ones survive and grow. One of the ways in which a legal firm can advance, besides being the best at its job, is through marketing.
The days of traditional marketing are all but over and there is a new sheriff in town – online marketing. Everyone is going online for all their needs, including their legal needs and with online marketing, you are getting a piece of that market. But how does one do it the right way, the effective way?
Getting a great website
Your first step in online marketing will always be a great website. Everything else that you do in terms of online marketing will bring people to your website and you cannot disappoint them. This means that you cannot still employ web design from the mid-1990s and expect people to take you seriously. You need to approach a web design firm or a freelance professional who will know how to design a law firm website. It is important that the website is sleek and professional-looking, without too much fluff and clutter.
It also needs to be functional and people need to be able to find everything they need without spending too much time. You should also include an About Us page where people will be able to learn more about the people who work in your firm and the services that you provide. It is probably best to leave the prices out of it because it will look too cheap and “salesy”. You can always check out what other firms have done.
Starting a blog
You may think that everyone starts a blog and that there is no reason why your legal firm should have a blog of its own. Well, you would be very mistaken. When you start a blog and start writing about legal matters speaking from your own expertise, you will start getting exposure, slowly but steadily. You can talk to people who run popular legal blogs and offer them your expertise. You will get links back to your website and people will start hearing about you.
Before you know it, you will be contacted by people from the media, asking for your expert opinion on this and that. You may soon even become something of a celebrity in the legal blogging circles and all of this will bring people to your website and your firm.
Get on the social media
People are spending more and more time on various types of social media and they are learning about everything through them. This means that your law firm should also have its own social media profiles where you will be active. You can share stuff from your blog, you can talk about the important issues and you can promote your business pretty much for free this way.
Of course, you can take your social media presence a step further and interact with your clients and potential clients more directly. Let them ask you for legal advice on Facebook, find out what people want to know about on other social networks. You can even do videos that you will later post on YouTube which will tackle certain legal issues.
Closing word
The best thing about online marketing is that you will not differ that much from the biggest players in the game. Online marketing is affordable and it levels the playing field a lot. With the right combination of online marketing and great practice, your lawyer firm will soon become what you always wanted it to be.
