The 8 Best Marketing Techniques for Law Firms

Introduction: What are marketing techniques?

The term "techniques" or "measures" refers to all the work that a law firm does to acquire new business. This article is essentially about online and offline measures to generate new leads and maintain existing contacts.  

The important thing to remember is that trust is always created among target groups through various interactions. Before a purchase is made, clients have several touchpoints with your brand. This always includes digital channels.

You should therefore make sure to combine online and offline measures to convince your targets.

These measures are particularly effective marketing techniques:

1. Specialization

Even if this may not seem like a marketing technique to many at first glance: Specialization and the focus on a specific niche is an important part of strategic marketing.

Clients are increasingly looking for specialized lawyers. They want advice from real experts who are familiar with the problem to be solved. A strong positioning with focused expertise therefore simplifies marketing like no other measure. Specialized law firms have a clear profile that sets them apart from other undifferentiated firms. Their target groups trust this expertise much more quickly.

If you can prove that you understand a certain part of the market better than anyone else, you show your clients that you can serve their needs better than other lawyers.

More on differentiation strategies in law firms

2. Website with Lead Generation

Your website has long since become the central anchor in your marketing - even if you didn't realize it.

All clients look at your website before contacting you - even if they have received a recommendation.

The impression you convey with your website influences your brand and is crucial for your reputation.

But the website can do more than just convey your "vibe". It is the place where your marketing measures come together.

Incorporate exciting content into the website. This content generates traffic for you on an ongoing basis. In addition, your website should contain features that generate leads from these anonymous users. A website that generates leads is carefully structured and designed so that your users can find the right information. They interact with your content and leave you their contact details. For example through

• newsletter registration
• download premium content (see below)
• booking initial consultations
• registration for webinars

More on the topic of lead generation

3. Expert Visibility

Legal marketing is people marketing. Clients have always opted for the expertise of people. Law firms that succeed in visibly positioning their experts can noticeably increase their business development.

Thought leaders in their field are very valuable. They play a decisive role in shaping the firm's brand, win new business more easily and charge higher prices. Everyone in the firm benefits from this.

The problem is often that although the lawyers' expertise is available, it is not recognized enough in the market. This means a lot of potential is lost. In order to gain this visibility, time and financial resources must be made available. Experts need an appropriate platform and a marketing strategy that takes this need into account.

Law firms should therefore do everything they can to support their experts in becoming visible.

4. (Digital) Publications and Lectures

Legal marketing is content marketing. Lawyers market themselves through content. This creates trust in their expertise. Lectures and specialist articles are part of the standard repertoire of classic lawyer marketing.

Meanwhile, journalistic activity no longer only takes place in specialist journals. Valuable content can also be found on the internal blogs of law firm websites. These can be tailored to the needs of the target groups and are easily accessible to everyone via a Google search. In contrast to specialist publications, blog posts have a lasting effect on increasing the visibility of your website.

Publications on other websites and classic specialist articles are other important elements for visibly positioning your own expertise and building trust.

Presentations also remain important. They create credibility and allow for a direct exchange with the target groups. Make sure that you convey important information and present it well. This significantly increases the impact of presentations.

5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Not every website is automatically found on Google. Users almost exclusively click on the first results of their search query. To effectively generate leads, your website should therefore be supported by SEO measures.

The starting point is your content: This should be well written and cover the interests of your target groups. SEO also includes technical and structural requirements that must be taken into account and implemented correctly.

Optimizing your website for search engines is an ongoing task - more of a marathon than a sprint.

It is therefore important to keep at it, keep analyzing and improving. That way, your content will continuously climb to the top!

6. LinkedIn

Social media has long since become a cornerstone in the marketing of legal services. For lawyers, LinkedIn plays the most important role in most (not all) industries.

LinkedIn is free and, as a platform, is ideally suited to building a clear profile through targeted, ongoing communication with target groups. This applies to company brands as well as individual lawyers. Visible experts (see above) actively use LinkedIn several times a week.

Social media are - as the name suggests - "social". To be successful on LinkedIn, you need to follow the same basics that you apply in "real life":

• Share interesting information - what information is helpful for your target groups?
• Communicate actively - you do this offline too; people who just sit quietly at a dinner, for example, come across as strange.
• Listen - your target groups share things that concern them. You can read along, learn and, in the best case, even provide helpful input.

7. Video

Videos are everywhere. They are ideal for sharing knowledge, interacting with target groups and bringing your person to life. All of this generates trust among target groups.

You can record videos and integrate them into your communication - for example on the law firm website, LinkedIn or even on your own YouTube channel. These can be short videos (in the sense of a social media post) or longer content (video blog).

You can also organize webinars and use them to stream lectures or talks live. This allows you to interact with the participants. You can make participation dependent on registration and thus generate leads. After all, you can assume that the participants are interested in the topic.

These are potential clients for you.

8. Premium Content

Premium content goes beyond normal publications (blog posts, articles). These are researched, in-depth formats that include essential parts of your expertise.

It could be a book project, for example. Or you could be researching a field and publishing the results. Premium content also includes whitepapers, guidelines and checklists that represent significant added value for your target groups.

These formats are suitable for lead generation. Offer selected content on your website for free download. However, only grant the download to users who leave their email address. In this way, you open up a communication channel to users who are interested in your topics.

Conclusion

Of course, there are other marketing measures that have an impact and drive your business development forward. Email marketing, for example, is still one of the most cost-effective channels for communicating with target groups.

The measures presented depend on each other. It is important that you coordinate the techniques and bring them together under a common marketing strategy. Take the resources and interests of your team into account. Not all employees are good blog writers or networkers.