Canada has over 136,000 lawyers [Source]. How can you compete with the other 135,999 lawyers in the country? Without strategic marketing, potential clients will probably choose one of your competitors. In this post, we’ll look at marketing tactics you need to grow your law firm and attract more clients.
Your Law Firm Marketing Strategy & Plan
The legal profession in Canada is highly competitive. To stand out from the rest and grow your law firm faster, you need a marketing strategy. This will significantly increase the effectiveness of your marketing investment.
To create a marketing strategy for your LAW firm, you need to know your brand and identify your target audience.
Your brand is more than your law firm’s name and logo. It’s how you present your law firm to people—your voice, tone, message, company values, how you’re different from your competitors. What’s the client experience like when they choose your law firm? How does your law firm make your clients feel? Your brand is your law firm’s personality.
Your target audience is your ideal client. What kind of clients do you want to attract? What are their problems? For example, if your law firm specializes in employment law, you may want to attract employers who want to avoid wrongful dismissal claims.
When you understand your brand and your audience, you can define marketing goals. For example, 100 new email subscribers this quarter, or 20 new leads from your website this month.
Then it’s time to make a plan—how will you achieve those goals? What’s your marketing budget? What specific marketing activities will you spend your marketing budget on? And how will you measure marketing success in your law firm?
7 Online Marketing Tactics for Lawyers
These online marketing tactics for lawyers are the most crucial to include in a marketing strategy designed to grow your law firm.
1. Website Design
A well-designed website is the bedrock of effective law firm marketing in 2022. The rest of your marketing activities will drive traffic to your website, where potential clients will hopefully fill out a contact form or call your law firm. If your website is not user-friendly, you’ve lost the marketing battle.
Your website needs to be both user-friendly and optimized for search engines. We’ll look at search engine optimization in the next section. A user-friendly law firm website is:
- visually appealing,
- informative and filled with truly valuable content,
- fast-loading, and
- built for mobile devices.
A mobile responsive website is vital since nearly 33 million Canadians now use smartphones to access the internet.
2. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
If a potential family law client is separated from their spouse and concerned about child support and parenting arrangements, they’ll pick up their phone and search for “family law attorney”. And if your website doesn’t show up on the first page of those search results, you’ve lost to your competitors.
This is why search engine optimization (SEO) is so important. It will get your website to rank higher through various techniques, including:
- Keyword research
- On-page optimization
- Content creation
- Link building
- Analytics
SEO is an ongoing marketing tactic with an excellent ROI for lawyers.
3. Social Media
Social media is one marketing tactic you can use without having to pay—unless you want to boost your efforts. A social media presence is a valuable way to connect with potential clients, build trust, and establish your law firm as an authority in your industry. It’s also a helpful tool to learn more about your audience and your competitors.
4. Google My Business
Your law firm should have a Google My Business profile—another free way to attract more clients. It’s vital for ranking higher on Google, and it’s necessary to effectively inform clients of the details they most often search for, such as your hours, contact information, and reviews.
5. Email Marketing
Emails are still an effective way to market to your law firm clients. Newsletters are a common way to implement email marketing, but strategic email marketing can include notifications, ads, and other targeted emails to provide your clients with truly valuable content. Email marketing for lawyers is also a low-cost way to build your brand.
6. Content Marketing
Without content, you don’t have much to work with to market your law firm. Strategic content is essential for effective SEO, but it’s also necessary to provide your clients with information they’re looking for. For example, if a potential client is looking for an estate lawyer to help them with a will dispute, they’re more likely to choose a law firm with estate law content on the website than a law firm with only general content.
Your website, social media, Google My Business, and other marketing platforms should include quality, consistent content, such as:
- Videos of attorneys answering frequently asked questions
- Updates on legal cases and rulings that may affect your target audience
- Blog posts about topics related to the areas of law your firm specializes in
- Profiles of your staff
- Client testimonials
7. PPC Advertising
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is online ads you only pay for when people click on them. It’s the process of paying to rank highly in online search engine listings like Google, Instagram, and Facebook. Effective PPC advertising implements SEO, including keyword research, to drive more qualified traffic to your website.
Grow Your Law Firm in 2022
This is a basic overview of the best marketing tactics to grow your law firm in 2022. Each one is important and requires its own set of skills and techniques to produce the best return on your marketing investment.
To maximize your law firm marketing strategy, work with a law firm marketing agency like Law Shop Marketing. Our marketing expertise, combined with our specialized experience in marketing law firms, means we understand the legal industry and how to help your law firm grow. Our services include:
- Website design & development for law practices
- SEO for law firms
- Content creation for law firms
- Law firm PPC advertising campaigns
Get your free local SEO report for your LAW practice to find out how your website ranks in search results, local listings, reviews, and more. Book a free consultation today to grow your law firm in 2022.
