Law firm marketing: The do's and don'ts
New customers keep businesses afloat.
Without them, it would be almost impossible to survive, no matter what field
you're in. That’s why at the core of every successful business is a solid
marketing strategy.
Law firms are no exception.
To be able to successfully grow your
law firm, you must identify your ideal client, continuously engage with them, reach
out to prospective clients, and maintain communication with previous clients, all
while building a unique professional identity and experience that
differentiates you from the competition. All of these consideration factor into
a complete marketing strategy. And yet, there's still more to consider when it
comes to promoting a law firm.
To avoid ethical issues and
disciplinary measures, codes of conduct guide law firm marketing. Failure to
comply with these rules can lead to serious consequences. That’s why many law
firms choose to outsource their marketing needs to agencies like dNOVO Group, which specializes in law
firm marketing. Since they have a solid understanding of how to properly
advertise legal services across the United States and Canada, there is no need
to worry about violating any marketing rule with dNOVO's methods.
Even if you outsource your marketing,
it is important to have a good idea of what rules apply to your business so you
can understand how to effectively promote your legal services and grow your law
firm.
Here are some of the things you can
do when marketing your law firm without violating legal advertising laws.
Do build an SEO website
One of the first steps towards
promoting your law firm is to build a search engine optimized (SEO) website to
help increase your online presence.
Having a website is important first
of all to demonstrate to online audiences that you are a legitimate business. If
a prospective client carries out an online search of your firm and discovers
that you don’t own a corporate website, this can be flagged as suspicious. A
fully functional and SEO compliant website generates more traffic, which can be
converted to leads.
Do create a social media page
Owning a
social media page for your law firm is a fantastic way to build and sustain
your connection with clients, increase your brand awareness, and generate more
leads for your business.
There are a
few different social
media marketing strategies that you can use.
But to quickly build a large following for your brand, it helps to begin by
sharing valuable and timely content on your page and constantly engaging your
audience online.
Do create a blog
Your website
must have a blog page where you can regularly share informative legal articles
that shed light on your services.
Blog posts
are great for organically improving your search engine visibility, but only so
long as your content is being optimized for keywords that are relevant to your
audience.
Do track your results
To ensure you
get maximum return on your investment, you have to constantly measure the
results of your marketing campaigns. Assessing your campaigns equips you with
the right information to determine areas that need improvement and require more
consistency.
Some of the
metrics you should be tracking include bounce rate, SEO keyword ranking,
backlinks, newsletter subscribers, click-through rate, and lead conversion
rate.
Furthermore,
there are certain things you must avoid doing when marketing your law firm to
avoid backlash and penalties from governing bodies like the American Board
Association. Here are a few of these advertising rules to strictly adhere to.
Don’t make false claims
In general,
lying is counterproductive and can easily cast a dark light over any business. This
is as true in advertising as it is on the stand. Under no circumstance should
promotional material be found misleading, dishonest, or condescending.
For example,
avoid saying things like clients are guaranteed to win every case or claiming
to be the best lawyer in the city. It is important to stick to facts that can
easily be backed up with evidence and statistics.
Don’t claim to be an
expert
Some states
in America prohibit legal practitioners from claiming to be specialists or
experts. According to the American
Bar Association (ABA), a lawyer is prohibited from
claiming to be a specialist in a particular legal field unless they have been
officially certified or approved by an organization recognized by the state or
the ABA.
Unless you
have proof of certification, you must not call yourself an expert or specialist
in a particular branch of law.
Don’t create unrealistic
expectations
Some
businesses are fond of promoting bold statements from previous clients about their
experience, but one person's experience may not be true for everyone. By
constantly promoting exceptional narratives, it is easy to create a false sense
of expectation in the mind of prospective clients.
For instance,
imagine you have a customer review that claimed your legal service made them
extremely rich after winning a difficult case. While this may be true, it is
important to let people know that outcomes are never going to all be the same.
Don’t solicit your
services directly
While the ABA
allows law firms to advertise their services through billboards, search engine
optimization, social media ads, and pay-per-click, it doesn’t permit law firms
to specifically target individuals.
By following
these rules while building an online marketing strategy for your law firm, you
can easily generate more leads for your business, improve your online presence,
and avoid any penalties that result from non-compliance.