Law firm advertising can be complex. The first thing that might pop up in your mind when it comes to advertising for lawyers is advertising online. However, the best results emerge from combined approaches, including both online and offline marketing.
Obviously, the basics include analyzing your competitors, assessing your previous performance, and choosing the right marketing channels and budget. However, I’m going to skip that generic advice and present these 10 practical and useful advice:
Offline law firm advertising ideas
- Human being relationships or networking
- Be a local hero or guest speaking.
- Business cards vs. books
- Good old handwritten paper mail
Online advertising for lawyers
- Manage your law firm’s reputation
- Use Local SEO for lawyers.
- Consider using a lawyer marketing company.
- Try PPC for attorneys.
- Utilize lawyer marketing
- Facebook for lawyers. Market your law firm.
- LinkedIn for lawyers. Do it the right way.
- TikTok for lawyers. Go viral.
- Advertising for law firms. Track every action.
Making use of any of these attorney advertising ideas can massively increase your presence online. My team has used all of these techniques for our client – NYC labor lawyer. The mix of offline and attorney internet marketing strategies is designed to help you capture more traffic from a wider range of angles. This makes your flow of prospective clients more robust and helps you weather upheavals in one advertising arena that might otherwise dampen your marketing efforts.
Offline lawyer marketing ideas
Offline law firm advertising gives you an opportunity to reach out to prospective clients at a more personal level. With most firms relying solely on the internet to attract new business, a healthy offline advertising strategy can help you gain an edge over your competitors. Employing unusual offline marketing techniques makes it easier to capture and retain the attention of prospective clients so that you can convert them into clients in the future.
Human being relationships or networking
Networking must be a vital part of your attorney marketing plan because human relationships are always effective. The very idea of networking – the artless exchange of business cards and pitching of services – might feel awkward. However, many modern networking events (which you can find on social media) offer effective and comfortable opportunities to do just that. Treat your networking as a series of attempts to build relationships, instead of the best attorney advertising exercise, and allow opportunities to arise naturally.
We know of a contract lawyer who employed this law firm’s advertising strategy excellently. He rented a small office inside the global network co-working office chain “WeWork” and dedicated his time to making connections inside the co-working space. Every day he invited someone to lunch, exchanged business cards, and built a relationship. Before long, he developed a long list of clients who were more inclined to use him for contracts thanks to that personal connection.
Pro tip: Look to form a personal connection instead of directly advertising your legal services. By doing so, what you do for a living should arise naturally in conversation and prevent any feeling of awkwardness.
When Consider To Start Networking
First, you need to develop your brand in detail. In this case, when meeting with people, you will be able to correctly tell about yourself and your firm. Also, you should carefully study your target audience to understand where it is easiest to meet potential customers.
If both issues are resolved, then start networking right now and never stop again. Take an example from American screenwriter Brian Thomas Grazer. When he was 20, he made the habit of meeting successful people from various business areas every few weeks. He is now about 70 years old. Just imagine how many useful connections he made in half a century!
Be a Local Hero or Guest Speaking
Professional events offer an excellent opportunity to meet people, share business tips and creative marketing ideas for law firms, demonstrate your knowledge, and advance the status of yourself and your business among law firm reputations. These offer an excellent channel through which you can find opportunities as far as advertising for lawyers is concerned.
Look for local industry events: a seminar, radio or TV show, or even a podcast. Send an email to book your attendance, and offer your opinion about an interesting or controversial piece of legislation or scandal.
One of my company’s clients specializes in workplace discrimination and harassment. He consistently appears on TV and radio, always remembering to mention his company name several times.
Pro tip: Check with event organizers to keep your promotion efforts within limits and remember to apply basic marketing principles by offering value first and foremost.
When Consider To Start Guest Speaking
Think of any public speaking as a way to practice your oratory skills. Media interviews work well for your brand too, especially when the relevance of the topic and the lawyer’s specialization coincide. Imagine the police caught scammers who defraud people in various ways. A financial lawyer can provide balanced, well-reasoned and helpful comments on this topic.
On the other hand, you shouldn’t wait for an informational occasion in the news. Perhaps you now have a socially important case that affects many people. Tell about it in the media. Take a look at Gloria Allred. The lawyer received the nickname “a longtime master of the press conference” for her incredible ability to organize and conduct press conferences about her legal cases. Another example is attorney Mark Geragos. He has not left the TV screens for many years. He acts as a guest, commentator and even a co-author of programs. He is always full of lawyer advertising ideas.
Business Cards vs. Books
Business cards are great when combined with a strong personal impact. However, it’s easy to lose them among the multitude of cards received in a single day at networking events. Consider, then, the impact of receiving a book. That is something that would surely stand out from the crowd, making it a very effective attorney advertising idea.
When Consider To Start Business Cards or Books
Writing a book might seem difficult, but it doesn’t need to be. Consult with a professional publishing company, and get the book produced. Then, take the names of potential clients, and send them a copy after an event. You can literally be the person who “wrote the book” on their problem. You’ll stick in their mind, and when they require your services, they’ll consider you as an option at the very least.
Pro tip: There’s no need to re-invent the wheel. A great source of advice for writing a book on one of your niche areas of expertise is Ben Glass’ book, Renegade Lawyer Marketing.
Good Old Handwritten Paper Mail
Direct mail is another potentially effective offline method for advertising legal services. The issue is that many people throw their mail away or immediately cast propositions aside as junk.
The solution: write a handwritten letter. How many letters do you receive per day? How many of those are handwritten? The answer must be close to zero. Writing a handwritten letter might seem laborious, but it’s a surefire way to help your chances of getting noticed.
One of our law clients in the personal injury space preaches this approach. Weeks before Christmas, he has everyone at the office start writing handmade Christmas letters. Despite how laborious the process is, he attests that it is worth the trouble.
Pro tip: Congratulate clients and business partners using handwritten letters for holidays and other non-vital correspondence. Make sure to prepare early if you have a long mailing list, or consider using a specialist service, which can prepare handwritten greetings at a moderate cost.
When Consider Start Handwritten Paper Mail
In fact, to write a letter to a client by hand, you don’t even need to wait for the holidays. Look at Joe Girard, the famous American car dealer. He has sent letters to all of his clients every month. There were only a few words in his letters, but even these short phrases made an indelible impression on clients. Because they showed the attention and care from Girard. Not surprisingly, Joe ended up in the Guinness Book of Records as “the greatest car salesman”. You might argue that handwritten letters were common in the 1960s. That’s it! If even then these letters had such an effect, then imagine how people will react now!
However, send letters only if you are sure that they are written correctly. Remember, there are no computer programs that would automatically correct the mistakes. It all depends on you. Grammar mistakes are not something that will benefit your brand.
Radio And Television Ads For Law Firms
I insist that it is too early to write off radio and television. And I will explain my point of view.
Yes, the Internet is treading on the heels of traditional media, and the print press has finally lost ground. In 2020, newspaper and magazine revenues fell by a quarter (25.4%), and it will be even worse in the future. Messaging services and social media feel best during this period. According to Statista, their profits increased by 8-9% even during the crisis. But where are radio and television in this story? It’s the most interesting part!
It would seem that in this difficult time, national TV and radio also suffered greatly. Their income fell 12-14%. Including because many shows and major sporting events have been cancelled, which are accompanied by a lot of advertising. But local media managed to maintain a positive financial balance and make a profit! Moreover, the top advertisers (after retail, of course) at the local level are business – real estate ads, insurance, etc. Businessmen who are very good at counting their money still trust local advertising and are ready to invest in it further, because it gives results. That’s why I recommend you to consider law practice advertising on your local TV and radio.
When Consider to Advertise on Radio or Television
Given the statistics above, I advise you to do some local media analysis first. You need to determine which media are covering your location. The second factor to look out for is the media audience. It should intersect with your target audience. The third factor is, of course, the cost of advertising. Although radio advertising, for example, is inexpensive today. Also, be sure to check the requirements set forth by the American Bar Association. Only after studying the local advertising market can you start an advertising campaign on TV and radio.
Billboard Advertising For Attorneys
Let’s face it, advertising has one big drawback. It quickly becomes boring and even begins to annoy people. If the advertisement is not very successful initially, then the campaign will be a complete failure. The money has been spent, but there is no effect.
Unfortunately, this can happen with absolutely all types of advertising. During commercial breaks on TV, people can go to the kitchen for tea. Hearing an advertisement on the radio, they can change the station. While reading magazines, they can flip through advertising pages, and they can install ad-blocking software on their computer.
Large companies get out of this situation with the help of huge advertising budgets. Corporations spend cosmic sums on eye-popping and eye-catching ads that are impossible to tear themselves away from. But what should small and medium-sized businesses do? This may sound unexpected, but billboard and poster advertising can really help.
Statista experts conducted a social study on this topic, interviewing more than a thousand people of different ages. Of the people surveyed, only 9% said they were very annoyed by such advertising. At the same time, 31% of the respondents said that this type of advertising does not irritate them at all. These are very good numbers compared to other types of advertising. Consider this audience sentiment when thinking about your marketing strategy.
When Consider Start Billboard Advertising
If you have the opportunity to place your law office advertising on a billboard or poster near your agency, do so. Of course, the market prices should be monitored first. But in most cases, even an inflated price is justified if the advertisement is located in a highly trafficked area.
Please note that only one type of legal service needs to be placed on one billboard. Broadcast advertising will work much worse. Try to distribute different billboards in different locations. For example, a banner about the services of a personal injury attorney is better placed near the hospital, while a banner about the services of a family lawyer can be placed closer to hotels, etc. Location in this type of advertising is crucial.
Online Advertising For Lawyers
Any strategy to market a law firm, whether or not it uses unusual marketing techniques, must involve law firm advertising online. From classical SEO to social media marketing for lawyers, there are a lot of interesting ways to attract clients. Few things get done without the internet nowadays, so it’s crucial that you also meet prospective clients there. Thankfully, as there are unusual ways to attract clients offline, so too are there unique ways to attract more business online, which we discuss below.
Manage Your Law Firm’s Reputation
You need to consider the impact of client testimonials and reviews when looking at how to market your law firm. Reviews and referrals offer higher trustability than self-appraisal, which people recognize when making decisions about what law firm to choose.
- 90% of consumers say they read reviews online before visiting a business
- 72% of consumers say positive reviews influence them to trust a local business more
- 10% of attorney website marketing traffic value is attributable to online reviews
First and foremost, you need to offer excellent service to ensure comments about your business online are positive.
When working with one firm focused primarily on real estate law, we noted that their Google and Yelp pages had been left unchanged for a long time. All we suggested was that they contact their recent clients and ask them to post reviews on those platforms. It worked so well that their Google My Business (GMB) profile saw 37 new reviews added in a single week.
Beyond this, customers left several comments mentioning that the firm’s top lawyer was very pleasant to work with. Reviews included mentions, not only of his excellent legal service but also his fine personal manner and funny anecdotes – these personal touches can help move potential customers and cultivate their interest in your firm above others.
Pro tip: Don’t miss out on opportunities to ask your clients to rate you on Google, Yelp, and Facebook. Don’t be pushy, and you’ll be surprised how many are willing to help. Make sure you include review links to make it more convenient.
How it Helps Your Advertising Strategy
Your reputation is what can make your business more successful or lower you to the bottom. Birdeye claims that 90% of Internet users choose a law firm based on reviews. This data is confirmed by BrightLocal. It means if you are constantly engaged in SEO and running a very strong advertising campaign, but do not track or respond to reviews, then you risk missing out on the lion’s share of your potential customers! Conversely, constant review updates and a high percentage of positive reviews dramatically increase the chances of a customer choosing you. I’m talking about reviews not only on your website but on other platforms as well. Including paying attention to specialized websites and forums for lawyers.
Use Local SEO For Lawyers
Varying from normal SEO, local SEO is focused on putting your business at the top of search results for your regional area. It is a must-include practice in advertising for lawyers.
Why is local SEO for lawyers so important?
- 20% of all searches are for nearby businesses
- 40% of all mobile search queries are for nearby businesses
This information is available from your Google My Business (GMB) account, which is why you need to claim it and optimize it for local SEO.
Here’s what to do:
- Verify your practice
- Make sure that the Name, Address, and Phone Number fields are correct.
- Choose the correct categories for your law practice.
Some examples of law-related categories on Google My Business include:
- Bankruptcy Attorney
- Divorce Lawyer
- Employment Attorney
- Estate Planning Attorney
- Family Law Attorney
- General Practice Attorney
- Immigration Attorney
- Labor Relations Attorney
- Lawyer
- Trial Attorney
Pick three to five categories that are most relevant to your business. Add your hours of operation and images. Pay special attention to the description, including keywords that reflect customer intent to hire, such as “hire a real estate attorney.” Try to limit your description to around 100 to 200 words.
Add top legal citation sources, such as:
On one occasion, we faced an issue with an immigration lawyer-client who didn’t have an attorney website marketing and who was relying solely on GMB, Avvo, Lawyers.com, and Justia. When we offered to help him with local SEO for lawyers, we achieved a good increase in leads through the optimization of his GMB account alone.
Pro tip: Invest time in crafting your “elevator pitch” for GMB, Yelp, Avvo, and other significant platforms. Take it seriously, like you would a page of your own website. Local SEO for lawyers should be a first port-of-call for solo lawyers without a web site marketing for attorney.
Why You Should Consider Local SEO
I have to repeat regularly that the competition among lawyers is incredibly strong. There are over 1.3 million licensed lawyers throughout the United States. There are almost 180 thousand in the state of New York and about 2.2 thousand in the neighboring state of Vermont.
If you don’t have SEO localization set up at all, your law firm is competing online with a million other firms. If the localization is not configured correctly (for example, only within the state), then you are competing with thousands of other companies. But there is another solution. You can hire an SEO specialist who knows how to fine-tune advertising online for law firms. For example, in one area of the city. Then you will be competing with a hundred or even a dozen other lawyers. Now think for yourself, do you need local SEO or not?
Consider Using An Attorney Advertising Agency
Assessing your marketing performance can be an overwhelming task, especially when it isn’t your usual area of expertise. In this case, you might want to hire a legal marketing consultant. Although most firms forego this step (only 27% of lawyers report having used one), its use isn’t necessarily correlated to firm size. Many smaller firms have been able to justify it, so there’s no reason larger firms can’t include a marketing consultant in their budget.
If you like to remain in control, you’re not alone, as the statistic in the previous paragraph attests. However, you can, if you want to, choose to outsource only parts of your marketing – even a specific area such as law firm PPC. Whatever you choose to do, make sure you find an agency with prior experience in offering lawyer marketing services and non-banal lawyer marketing ideas.
One maritime attorney who contacted us to ask for help with SEO had applied principles and made efforts without achieving any apparent results. After a website evaluation, which we offer for free, we recognized several random and outdated strategies in place. Her lack of digital marketing knowledge led to a poor balance of time invested in the results achieved. In this case, she should have sought professional help from a company that understands digital marketing.
If you are looking for a trustworthy marketing agency, you may contact us here at LastingTrend. Take a look at the list of our SEO services for lawyers and don’t hesitate to make a call!
Pro tip: Check if an attorney marketing agency has suitable experience. Ask to see their previous achievements, and consider trialing a company to see what they find during their evaluation of your lawyer marketing websites.
Try PPC For Law Firms
Paid search ads, also known as pay-per-click (or PPC), are ads you pay for when someone clicks on them. They can be a useful attorney advertising idea because they achieve prominent placement in search results. In fact, they can take up half the screen in Google search results and secure 41% of clicks. Just beware of the following:
- Law-related keywords might be very expensive. A click for one of the top keywords for lawyers can average around $55!
- Expensive keywords also present high levels of competition, which leads to many companies bidding on the same terms, which, in turn, allows Google to jack up prices.
Paying so much and failing to see returns can cause many to abandon PPC for law firms altogether. However, an effective paid-advertising strategy can also grow your business substantially.
Pro tip: Avoid running ads on weekends or after-hours when nobody can answer the phone. Other useful PPC tips are available in our Google Ads case study.
Utilize Attorney Email Marketing
Everyone we know has required legal services at least once in their lives. This presents opportunities, not only for repeat business from a client, but also from their friends, their family, their friends, and so on.
Opt-in mail marketing is a great way to capitalize on this and forms one of the most cost-effective law firm advertising strategies. If you lack legal newsletter ideas, consider using the following to boost your internet marketing attorney:
- Highlight recent or upcoming changes to laws that might affect your clients while providing in-depth analysis and advice.
- Report any pro bono or community service work your firm participates in to drive home the idea that you care for and about your local community.
- Keep clients in the loop about recent hires or news relating to the growth of your firm.
- Publish details of high-profile or large cases you’ve recently won.
- Publicize any awards or accolades your firm achieves.
- Spread press clippings of any press coverage your firm might have garnered.
- Publish testimonials from satisfied clients – whose permission you should obtain beforehand.
Pro tip: At the start of this year, I wrote a blog post about the new tax bill for one of Lasting Trend`s clients. My team turned it into a newsletter, which, in turn, attracted lots of attention and led a law firm to launch a seminar clarifying the concerns and questions of countless real estate brokers and agents. This law firm advertisement example involved just a simple newsletter, yet it dramatically helped increase awareness about the company and its services.
Advertising For Law Firms. Track Every Action
For lawyers, time means money, so wasting effort and time on ineffective strategies is unacceptable. Without proper tracking, you won’t know if you’re getting any reward for your efforts, and you won’t be able to correct your mistakes while trying to learn how to advertise a law firm. However, even business owners who check statistics could be shooting themselves in the foot by looking at metrics instead of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
These KPIs are vital to a law firm’s digital marketing strategy:
- Total new clients
- Leads
- Revenue
- Return on marketing investment (ROMI)
- Lead-to-sale conversion rate
- Booking rate (via telephone, email, and other channels)
Pro tip: Track everything you can. If you feel lost, hire a professional digital marketing team that can look at the right statistics and tell you which of your strategies are producing real results.
How do I eliminate a negative review to improve my law firm reputation?
In my experience,, it is far more effective to bury a negative review among positive comments. Despite that, there is no reason you can’t try to respond publicly to the review, assuring onlookers with a justified explanation. Additionally, you could try to pacify the reviewer, asking how you can help to resolve their issue before asking them to take the comment down (privately, of course).
How do I build my collection of positive reviews?
The most important and effective way is to ask. Ask in person at the end of a case, and ask post-representation again with a kind email follow-up. Monitor new reviews using Google Alerts.
What is the difference between optimizing for map listings or local SEO for lawyers and traditional organic results?
The strategies involved in each case vary immensely. Map listings are primarily related to your Google My Business (GMB) profile. For your organic listings, however, you need to focus on your website. Although there is some overlap, optimizing for map listings should focus on your GMB profile.
Do reviews impact my GMB listings?
Yes! These positive reviews send Google local validation signals, affecting Google’s algorithms and improving the appearance of your business in search engines.
Should negative keywords be included in the list of keywords for PPC ad campaigns?
A: Negative keywords are a way to avoid having your ad show up in certain searches and are a useful part of targeting your PPC for law firms.
Using negative terms can make your ad spending more efficient by avoiding money wasted on clicks that are unlikely to develop into leads.
Here are some potential lawyer advertising ideas for negative keywords that might be useful:
– Every other state in which you do not practice law
– “Free,” “Pro-Bono,” “Cheap” and other price-sensitive terms
– DIY terms such as “Tools,” “Books,” “Guides”, and “Resources”
You can find some of the best attorney marketing ideas from negative keywords by checking the “search terms” people have used when they click on your ads. This enables you to effectively filter out unsuitable prospective clients.
How can I grow my mailing list for an upcoming email marketing campaign?
There are two basic ways to achieve this:
– Getting site visitors to opt-in – This is the ideal and most effective way to have a list of interested subscribers. Give them more control over the content they want by allowing them to subscribe to specific updates such as “advertising law blog content.”
– Manually adding contacts – You can automatically add prospective clients to some or all your mailing lists. Bear in mind that this may aggravate some people, so be sure to at least always include an “unsubscribe” button.
Should I use more video on Facebook, when advertising my law firm?
Video is a great tool when using Facebook for lawyers’ marketing strategies. Four times more consumers are more likely to watch a video than read an article. Facebook’s autoplay feature also makes videos even more eye-catching. Keep videos short and include captions so that viewers can watch the video without sound, as they may be on a train or bus – or they simply don’t want you to interrupt their music.
What is Best Way for New Attorney to Advertise?
Look before you leap. If you are just starting a firm and are entering the legal services market for the first time, be careful. Otherwise, the sharks of this world will eat you. Remember the sequence of these steps before starting advertising for attorneys:
1) Do market research in your niche first.
2) Research your competitors and your target audience.
3) Draw up a marketing strategy based on the data received. Spend a portion of your advertising budget each month on long-term projects like website development and SEO.
4) After launching your ad, check the ad performance regularly. If you see that an ad campaign is not progressing well, stop it immediately and edit your marketing plan.
If you feel that your knowledge, experience, and time are not enough to promote your firm, contact a professional marketing agency.
Where Should Lawyers Advertise?
In this article, I have listed many advertising ideas for lawyers. But I am convinced that these advertising channels will lose their effectiveness every year and will go into a very narrow niche. Digital technologies and the Internet are already actively taking their place. Therefore, I advise you to pay more attention to promoting your website, social networks and other types of lawyer online advertising.
While law firms can benefit from unusual marketing techniques to get ahead of the competition, more mundane forms of law firm advertising provide the backbone on which novel techniques can build on. Without a solid foundation of law firm SEO, blogs, and web design, any fame that you might build from a unique marketing approach might just fizzle out. Without a significant legal internet marketing presence, people who are impressed by your unusual marketing techniques won’t be able to find you, leaving you with an excited audience but without any new clients.
9 Lawyer Marketing Strategies You Have to Use in 2019
What is the right approach when it comes to how to get new clients for a law firm? The market for attorney services is one of the most oversaturated in existence.
With more attorneys than ever before (over 1.3 million in the United States alone according to the American Bar Association), competition for business is rife.
Nowadays, law firms must do more than ever to stand out and attract customers. If you want to be one of the best law firm websites, you need to follow marketing trends.
Law firm SEO
Are you looking for more clients to help grow your law firm? If so, it’s time to invest in SEO for legal firms and hire an expert in-house or online. A law firm SEO expert can ensure your website employs current strategies to get noticed online.
Law firm blogs
A law firm, like any other business, is dependent on a steady flow of clients if it wants to be successful. Blogging for lawyers is an excellent way for a firm to showcase its level of expertise and to become more noticeable in online searches.
Law firm website design
A well-designed law firm website can attract new clients and helps to establish the lawyers of the firm it belongs to as experts in their specialist areas of law. A good law firm website contains information useful to visitors while also mirroring the values and professional image of the company. This fact makes law firm website design an important part of any strategy to market a law firm online, allowing you to stand out from the crowd in a fiercely competitive and saturated market.
It’s Time You Took Action
We covered 10 unusual approaches to law firm advertising, so let’s have a quick recap:
Offline law firm advertising ideas
- Human being relationships or networking
- Be a local hero or guest speaking
- Business cards vs. books
- Good old handwritten paper mail
Online advertising for lawyers
- Manage your law firm’s reputation
- Local SEO for lawyers
- Law firm advertising agency
- PPC for law firms
- Lawyer marketing
- Advertising for law firms. Track every action.
Many of the law firm advertisements examples from our experience informed the 10 steps we included. These unique and practical steps might vary in their ease of application – in some cases, professional help can be of benefit. Lasting Trend knows what’s required to increase visibility and attract new clients through increased traffic.
Competition among practices trying to execute law firm advertising online is fierce. Underwhelming results, from email marketing for lawyers or other approaches, can be a source of tremendous disappointment when you don’t see a reward for your efforts. It’s incredibly difficult trying to be a one-man band, running both your law firm and its online advertising.
Achieving excellent monitoring, performance, and creativity in your advertising efforts and staying ahead of your competition at the same time isn’t easy. You would benefit from using a digital marketing agency services. That’s what Lasting Trend can give you, offering experience and excellent ability in providing advertisement for lawyers.
If you want to become a real professional in marketing for lawyers, be sure to look through the full list of articles on law firm marketing on our site.
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