Danny Star, CEO and Founder of Website Depot Digital Marketing Agency, has helped hundreds of small businesses grow and expand.
Getty
With the pandemic, the law may not have changed, but being a lawyer has.
My agency has many law firm clients. In the past, they would meet with potential clients in person. Then, they would negotiate with the other side, going to court if they had to. Now, that’s all online. This has changed not only how lawyers operate, but how they find new clients, too.
There are steps that every law firm should take to succeed during the pandemic as well as after it. That way, they can be in a position to help as many people as possible during (and after) this difficult time.
CRM Marketing: Best Kept Secret
Of all the “little known” ways for someone to improve the online reach of their law firm, CRM marketing stands out from the rest. This is a valuable tool that far too few law firms take advantage of.
Short for “customer relationship management,” this approach uses a mix of technology and hands-on work to maintain a strong relationship with customers at every point of the customer lifecycle. Of course, for attorneys, they aren’t customers so much as they are clients. (The acronym, however, still fits.)
MORE FOR YOU
CRM marketing for a law firm isn’t the same as for some other kind of commercial business. It’s not like getting someone who bought a shirt from you to buy another shirt in the future. When utilized properly, CRM makes it possible for a law firm to know when someone has visited your site, your contact page or even the page of a specific practice. Then, in turn, you can use this to reach out to them.
After all, it can often be difficult for even the most highly motivated client to contact an attorney. CRM marketing, done right, can make it easier on the client as well as the law firm.
Podcasts, Videos And More
Great video marketing, podcasts and blogs can be invaluable. They can each serve as an unimpeachable truth that the attorney is an expert. In the past, pre-pandemic, maybe prospective clients would feel more comfortable stopping by an attorney’s office. However, a podcast or video, done properly, can make an incredible first impression. Plus, as so much of the legal profession (even cases in the courtroom) are done digitally, it’s important that prospective clients know how attorneys look, act and “feel” online.
With the right equipment and people around you, an attorney can use these to connect with prospective patients not just today, but tomorrow, too. Great podcasts, videos and blogs stay online forever. They can drive traffic for a long time to come. With so many attorneys online today — somedays, it seems like the number of SEO agencies and injury attorneys is equal — it takes quite a bit to stand out.
When someone’s looking for an attorney online, they’re looking for someone to help them when they’re vulnerable. They have to be able to trust you. So, as the attorney, you have to give people a reason to trust you. You need a way to show that you’re an expert.
Proven SEO Results For Attorneys
When prospective clients are looking for attorneys, often, what they want is experience. They’re looking for an attorney who has successfully won cases similar to theirs. When attorneys are looking for someone to handle their digital marketing, SEO, web design and the like, it behooves them to do the same thing.
There’s a school of thought among some law firms that they should go with a full service and digital marketing SEO agency that doesn’t have any other law firm clients. The reasoning behind this would be that the web design agency would devote all of its focus to this one law firm, as opposed to several. However, the opposite is true.
Marketing a law firm isn’t like marketing some other kind of company in some other industry. A digital marketing company that only has one law firm client almost invariably has one law firm client for a reason: They don’t know how to help law firms.
Yes, the law is a competitive business. You want your firm to do better than all the rest. Hampering your firm by going with someone inexperienced in law firm SEO will only work against you. An SEO agency with plenty of law firm clients hasn’t shown that they’re likely to ignore you, rather, they’ve shown that they can do the work. They can put you in a position where you’ll be seen by more clients. Then, from there, it’s on your firm to do what you do best: your work.
The pandemic has changed so many industries, law more so than most. By looking for the above in an online marketing agency, law firms can put themselves in a great position to help clients going into the future.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Go to Source
Author: Danny Star, Forbes Councils Member
