There is tough competition among personal injury law firms. Whether your business is competing on a local, state, or national level, you need to constantly ensure your marketing strategies are complying with best practices to ensure you are reaching as many potential clients as possible.
Personal injury law firm marketing is complex, but we can break it down into manageable steps.
The Importance of a Solid Marketing Strategy
A reputable and visible online presence can benefit a law firm in numerous ways. Not only can you carve out a space for yourself in a niche market, but you can also boost lead generation and overall profits.
While there are different outlets under which attorneys can obtain clients, like referrals and walk-ins, the majority of people seek legal guidance or representation in 2022 simply plug their query into Google and look to the search engine to guide them to who can best help.
When you optimize your law firm’s search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, you can set yourself apart from the other personal injury law firms in your competitive areas.
The Economics of Personal Injury Law Firm Marketing
Getting off the ground with a law firm marketing strategy can be expensive and time-consuming — especially if you are starting from scratch. Whether you handle the tasks yourself or outsource to a digital marketing company, you must plan to build and maintain your website, use some form of paid advertising, and incorporate regular social media usage into your marketing strategy.
There is no one-size-fits-all budget when it comes to law firm marketing. However, to get an idea of what may be reasonable, calculate what it takes to obtain a single, successful case. Consider how many clients you need to have in a year in order to improve conversion rates and ensure your business is profitable. Once you have an idea of what you need to spend to make a profit, you can begin drafting the strategies to do so.
Getting Started With Personal Injury Law Firm Marketing
In terms of getting started with law firm marketing, you first need to evaluate your law firm’s status. For example, you may just be starting out and looking to generate an online presence quickly.
Your firm may also be well-established but losing clients, prompting a change in how you handle your online marketing.
No matter the situation, there are two concepts you need to consider before implementing new strategies, including your target audience and your consumer appeal.
Who Is Your Target Audience?
Have you ever considered what makes a potential client “ideal” for your law firm?
While you know there is a possibility you will not or cannot take every case that walks through your door, having a concrete concept of your target audience will help you narrow down your marketing strategies and produce content that answers common questions and encourages visitors to reach out for more information.
When building an ideal client profile, consider factors like age, geography, economic status, education level, career path, accident or injury types, etc.
What Makes Your Firm Stand Out?
With so many personal injury attorneys in the United States, setting yourself apart from the rest can be a challenge.
However, remember that you have unique experiences in the area of personal injury law that differentiate you from other lawyers.
If you do not know where to start with determining what makes your law firm stand out, simply start with a list of your education, experience, and credentials. From there, you can determine why you are the best option for your target clients.
Law Firm Marketing Strategy Versus Plan
In order to create a cohesive and comprehensive online law firm presence, you need to develop both a law firm marketing strategy and plan.
A strategy establishes elements like your marketing goals, target audience, offered services, and core message. In contrast to that, your marketing plan specifies the actions you may take to achieve your marketing goals and the types of marketing you plan to use–like SEO or social media marketing.
Law Firm Marketing Strategy
A succinct marketing strategy begins with an executive summary that outlines the following categories:
- Marketing goals. Your marketing goals need to align with your firm’s business goals. Working with your marketing department or specialists to ensure alignment occurs.
- Target audience. Based on our discussion above, you know just how crucial defining your target audience is. When it comes to using that information to inform your marketing tactics, you will include it in your strategy outline.
- Marketing analysis. Conducting a marketing analysis includes the people, businesses, or organizations that are your current and prospective clients. Remember to capture a clear picture of the size of your law firm based on your practice areas and geographic location.
- Competitive analysis. Another aspect of your marketing strategy is the competitor analysis. To beat out your competitors, you need to understand what strategies they are implementing. You can use tools like Google Analytics to get a better idea of what your competition is doing.
- Services offered. While you already know what areas of law you practice, it is still a good idea to outline the legal services you provide in your marketing strategy document. This can inform your future content strategy.
- Core message. What do you want your target audience to know about your law firm? If you have not already developed a core marketing message, take a look at your law firm’s mission. The two messages will likely be similar, if not the same.
Law Firm Marketing Plan
Once you understand how you want to improve your law firm’s online presence, it is time to start devising a detailed plan. Doing so can not only save you time and effort, but it can also make it clear to your employees who is responsible for what. Elements of a personal injury law firm marketing plan include the following:
- Goals. In order to see success from your marketing plan, you need to set quantifiable goals. Some of your marketing strategy goals may overlap or inform your plan goals. Make sure your goals are measurable, so you can track their progress as you reach milestones.
- Financial investment. Your plan should include an estimate of how much you plan to budget and spend on your law firm marketing. There is no right or wrong answer to determining what to invest, and that figure will likely change over time.
- Marketing activities. Marketing activities include content development, advertising, social media, email marketing, and more. You will want to implement a number of activities to boost your chance of meeting your goals and building your online presence.
Executing Your Law Firm Marketing Tactics
If you follow the guidance above and develop a marketing strategy and plan, you can start planning its launch. You may choose to roll out different tactics on a scheduled basis, or you could launch everything all at once. Either way, the execution of your tactics will include three main elements: SEO, content production, and advertising.
Your website must be user-friendly. You can consult with the latest SEO best practices to learn how to improve user experience. Page load speed and functionality are often at the top of the list. The longer it takes your website to load, the more opportunity there is for a potential client to go somewhere else.
In terms of content production, you will want to ensure you have comprehensive practice area pages for the areas you provide legal services. Remember to include keywords that potential clients are likely to search. You should also have a regularly updated blog that provides easily digestible information on frequently asked questions, relevant law changes, and other topics of interest.
In terms of advertising, you can implement a number of strategies. You may choose to start using pay-per-click (PPC) ads through Google Ads. You also have the option to advertise on social media platforms like Facebook. No matter where you choose to advertise, remember to evaluate the results regularly, so you know you are getting the most for the money you are spending.
Annette Choti graduated from law school 20 years ago, and is now the CEO & Owner of Law Quill, a legal digital marketing agency focused on small and solo law firms. Law Quill is the only legal digital marketing agency that provides unique, SEO-optimized content, pre-packaged content, and courses for lawyers to learn SEO themselves through Law Quill Academy. Annette used to do theatre and professional comedy, which is not so different from the legal field if we are all being honest. Annette can be found on LinkedIn or at annette@lawquill.com.
