10 Practical & Affordable Ways to Market Your Law Firm

Key Takeaways:

• Digital marketing for law firms requires a clear strategy with goals, a target audience, and consistency.
• Law firms need marketing without exception as more and more firms are taking advantage of digital spaces to reach clients.
• Using both short-term and long-term marketing strategies is ideal for growth.
• The best way to receive organic traffic to your law firm’s website is to offer useful content to your target audience.

Marketing in the legal industry requires a well-thought-out plan that allows potential clients to find your firm easily and approach you with confidence. With how clients interact and find law firms in the modern era, some firms may need to change how they operate. Marketing strategies are constantly changing, just as people are, so it’s important that any marketing for your firm is consistently updated.

While marketing can be complicated, especially for law firms, there are a few tips available that can help your firm stand out and attract a clientele that can make use of your services. At Array Digital, we offer results-based marketing strategies for law firms to elevate their online presence. Take a closer look at some of the most practical and affordable ways to market your law firm, and discover how Array Digital can help.

Your Law Firm Needs Marketing

Every law firm needs marketing. If you think yours will be fine without it, your competition will take advantage of that and attract clients who could seriously use your services. Online marketing is essential for growing your law firm and cultivating new business with new clients. If you are not present online, you are losing money. Your marketing efforts online are the best way to build your law firm’s brand and grow your client base.

The majority of law firms are already planning on investing more into digital marketing, with 84% of them including it in their future plans. With 70% of digital traffic to law firm sites being driven by local and organic searches, having an effective digital marketing strategy is essential for remaining competitive. This is especially important when it comes to organic conversions or clients who find your site by searching for relevant keywords.

When planning your digital marketing strategy, you will need to keep your overall marketing budget in mind. There are strategies for maximizing your budget, including outsourcing your marketing to an agency.

Practical and Affordable Methods for Marketing Your Law Firm

It will cost some money to manage your digital marketing efforts. However, you don’t have to be overwhelmed with the need for a huge marketing budget. There is no specific dollar amount that aligns with all law firms. Rather, it’s best to utilize any budget you have properly and then look for specific strategies that can reduce your overall costs. Take a closer look at some of the most practical and affordable marketing tips for your legal practice.

1. Make Use of Online Forums

Online forums help spread your firm’s name and services throughout the community. They build credibility.  These forums typically consist of legal questions that people ask, and you can answer them by citing your credentials as a lawyer with a convenient link to your site for evidence. Taking time to answer quite a few of these questions could allow you to stand out among the rest of the answers on any given forum.

2. Build Your Social Media Presence

Social media is becoming an increasingly constant part of people’s lives. On average, people spend about 2.5 hours a day on social media. Your firm can take advantage of this by establishing a large social media presence across multiple platforms to advertise your services. You don’t need to have a profile on every social media site, but you should utilize Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter (now X). Consider what kind of clients you’re looking for. If your services are more useful for younger clients, you should take advantage of social media marketing on platforms like TikTok.

3. Networking and Referrals

Networking is not something that can be accomplished overnight, but it does pay off over time. Attend legal conferences and build professional relationships. As your network grows, so does your reputation.

Additionally, you can network with other attorneys who do not practice the same field of law as you. By networking with them, you can direct clients to each other and not have to worry about competing for the same clients since you and the other firm would offer different services.

4. Receive and Interact With Client Testimonials

Testimonials from clients are an important way for people to learn to trust your firm’s capabilities. Much like how you act when deciding to try a new restaurant, potential clients are likely to look up reviews of your firm. Asking clients for online reviews can be helpful, but it is important to know how to deal with negative reviews as well. While some people may immediately turn away when they see a low review on Google or a similar platform, others will look further to see if you responded to that review in a constructive way.

5. Have a Well-designed Website

Having a well-designed website is essential to any business with an internet presence, and the legal industry is no exception. Your web design needs to be easy to navigate and offer solutions for potential clients trying to make use of your services. One of the most important factors in any website in the modern era is being mobile-friendly. Some potential clients will exclusively access the internet on their phones, so your website will need to be as easy for them to navigate as it is for people on a desktop.

6. Search Engine Optimization (seo)

Search engine optimization uses strategies to make your website appear higher in Google search results when people search for terms related to your firm’s services. While it may take longer to see results from SEO, the long-lasting effects of effective SEO can make a significant difference in your firm’s lead generation. Remember, people rarely ever scroll past the initial search engine results page, so it’s best to boost your site as far up the page as possible.

Local Seo

Search engines like Google heavily consider a user’s location when deciding which search results to show them, so you need to take advantage of local SEO as much as possible. That means using SEO strategies that specifically highlight your local service in a given area. Link building also takes time, but the outcome could establish your firm as a reliable service for your local community.

7. Use Live Chat on Your Website

Live chat allows users to communicate with your firm right on your website to avoid emails or having to call. People are more accustomed to immediate answers, so having a live chat as a resource will allow them to quickly access the answers they need. Your website design should have an accessible chat function for users on every page. Live chat is distinct from having a chat box. Live chat allows users to speak with an actual person to get answers to their questions, while a chat box only allows for answers to preset questions. Given the complexity of legal issues and the variance of people’s needs, a bot will be tough to program with all the answers clients could potentially need. While you can handle the live chat system yourself, it’s also possible to outsource it entirely for 24/7 service to visitors of your site.

8. Create Content for Your Website

Content is king. That has been the overarching truth of the internet since its inception, and that hasn’t changed despite how much everything else has changed around it. Having a blog on your website that’s full of high-quality content for potential clients is a great way to draw in more organic traffic. Not only will it build your brand and establish your credibility, but useful content can help build up your law practice as a thought leader for your practice area.

The rise of AI-written content has gotten impactful enough to change how the Google algorithm works as of March 2024. Put simply, do not use AI for content marketing. Google is actively working to reduce the rankings of sites they consider to be heavily spammy, which includes sites with AI-written content.

Content Sprints

A content sprint is a useful way to get started with creating or improving content that you already have. A content sprint involves publishing a mass amount of content in just a few months rather than the longer traditional period. It’s considered an aggressive strategy, but the more content you have to offer, the more likely Google is going to recognize your site as a useful resource for people searching for relevant keywords. Just keep in mind that the content has to be of high quality for this strategy to work.

Case Studies

Case studies are among the most useful types of content that law firms can publish. People often feel alone when they have legal issues due to their unique circumstances, but case studies can help alleviate some of that anxiety. Incorporate case studies in your content to show potential clients how your firm has handled specific cases in the past. They will generally feel better about coming to you for legal aid.

Make Videos

Written content has much to offer, but law firms have seen a lot of engagement come with videos as well. Simply having a second marketing tool allows you to cast a wider net that still focuses on the kinds of people that you can help, as it only expands the way people may access your content rather than expanding on why people may access your content. Plus, having videos means you can take advantage of YouTube, another popular platform that is considered a social media site in its own right.

9. Online Advertising

Online advertising is a good way to bolster results faster than traditional SEO tactics. While SEO is still important, online advertising strategies like pay-per-click (PPC) and Google Ads can help generate leads quickly, and it compounds with SEO over time. The downside is that you will have to pay for those leads. This kind of advertising will put you right at the top of search results pages, but Google will put a big “sponsored” label next to the result. Many younger people instinctively scroll right past sponsored results out of habit.

Considering your audience is an important part of getting the most out of your online advertising efforts. Unlike what you would do for traditional marketing tactics like buying a billboard or a slot for a TV commercial, you can specifically target online ads to a particular audience. For example, you can create ads that will only appear to people local to your service area.

Retargeting Ads

Retargeting ads are specifically designed to appeal to people who have previously visited your landing pages but have yet to actually become clients. The goal is to give people the final push to make use of your services. Their presence on your site in the past generally indicates that they were considering your firm, so reminding them that you are an option is helpful in driving people back to you.

10. Email Marketing

Email marketing campaigns can help maintain brand awareness for people and follow up with clients who have already expressed interest in your services. Additionally, it works to establish further expertise and an ongoing commitment to providing legal services in accordance with the latest laws. The biggest obstacle is getting people to offer their emails in the first place. A good way to get email addresses is to offer people downloadable resources like slideshows or whitepapers in exchange for their contact information. A simple email newsletter can be helpful as well.

Why Law Firms Partner With Array Digital

Array Digital has worked with a wide range of law firms across numerous practice areas, augmenting their digital marketing efforts to draw in prospective clients and remain competitive. Much like legal cases, we know that every law firm is different. This is why we offer custom strategies for each firm to demonstrate what it does best to people who could benefit from its services. Take a closer look at what some of our previous clients had to say about our services.

Testimonials

“The entire team at Array Digital is amazing! They are incredibly knowledgeable and very quick to respond to their client’s needs or concerns. If you are looking for a professional team to handle your website, I definitely recommend them!!!” — Donna T.

“Array Digital has built an awesome website for our law firm and has used SEO to move us to the top of the page on Google. Two of our most recent settlements were for clients who found us on Google, which is a direct result of the great work Array Digital has done for us. They are true professionals who know their stuff!” — James K.

“Have worked with Array for several years, and after having website management / SEO services provided by many companies over the years, Array has been the most productive and effective for my business. They have always remained professional and stay on top of such an ever-changing industry. Their customer service is superb!” — Sergio V.

Additional Resources

• Updated Law Firm SEO Statistics for 2023: Keep up with the latest statistics for SEO in the legal industry to remain competitive.
• The Best Budget-Friendly Way to Promote Your Small Law Firm: Marketing for a small law firm doesn’t have to be a costly process when you take advantage of some of the most useful budget-friendly strategies.
• 10 Best CRM Software Tools for Lawyers: Managing client relationships is an essential aspect of any law firm, and advanced CRM software tools can make managing directories easier than ever before.

Get a Proposal That Meets Your Marketing Budget

At Array Digital, our marketing experts focus specifically on digital marketing for law firms. Our marketing services work to make firms stand out from the competition and attract new clients while staying within a marketing budget using comprehensive and customized strategies. Get in touch with our team today through our online contact form or by calling our phone number, 757-333-3021, to schedule a free assessment.