How to Do Content Marketing for Law Firms Successfully
By Morgan Martinez
Every lawyer wants a steady stream of incoming clients. Content marketing can make this goal a reality by establishing your firm as a thought leader, reaching prospects, and providing valuable information.
Below, we’ll define content marketing for law firms and explain why it’s essential for building a profitable practice. We’ll also outline how to create a legal content marketing strategy that can perform well.
What is Content Marketing for Law Firms?
Law firm content marketing is the process of developing and distributing engaging content for prospects and clients.
Content marketing material can include:
- Blog articles
- Guides
- Videos
- Infographics
- Social media posts
- Email campaigns
- White papers
- Case studies
- Webinars
- Podcasts
Unlike other forms of marketing and advertising, such as billboards or television ads, content marketing doesn’t focus on the immediate sale. It’s a long-term strategy that requires consistent effort, but the results are worth it.
Why is Legal Content Marketing Important?
Content marketing for lawyers serves several purposes:
- Establishing your firm as an authority in your space
- Increasing brand recognition and search engine optimization (SEO)
- Providing helpful information that addresses prospects’ and clients’ needs
- Building trust with prospects and clients
- Pushing prospects and clients down the sales funnel
It’s easy to see why 70% of marketers invest in content marketing, according to HubSpot, a software company focused on marketing and sales.
In fact, a survey conducted by DemandGen (a marketing and consulting firm) found that 40% of consumers ingest three to five pieces of content before contacting a sales representative. Additionally, more than 70% of business-to-business customers read blog content as a part of the purchase process. Furthermore, nearly half of consumers value webinars when buying.
Your audience wants content that answers their questions and provides solutions to their problems. Good legal content marketing strategies can address those needs and build long-term, profitable relationships.
How to Develop a Law Firm Content Marketing Campaign
Are you ready to dive into the world of law firm content marketing? Getting started is simple—just follow the steps below.
1. Audience Research
You can’t build a relationship with your audience if you don’t know who you’re targeting. The first step of any great content marketing campaign is developing audience personas or profiles of the ideal clients you’d like to serve. Comprehensive personas include the following elements.
- Demographics, such as age, income, job title, gender identity
- Goals and motivations
- Challenges that your firm can address
- Common objections during the sales process
Most of this information can be captured by analyzing your current and past clients. Remember that you may produce multiple personas depending on your law firm’s practice areas and goals.
For example, if your firm focuses on personal injury law, you may need to create profiles for various types of clients and injuries. These can include people injured on the job, by cars, and by animal bites. Developing different personas can ensure that you speak appropriately to each discrete audience—addressing their unique pain points and presenting the right solutions.
2. Keyword Research
Once you’ve nailed down your audience personas, decide what topics to pursue in your law firm marketing. This is essential for engaging prospects, clients, and SEO efforts.
Search engines like Google want to direct visitors to high-quality, relevant content. For instance, when someone searches “steps to getting divorced in Nashville”, Google will show them results related to the searched keyword phrases. If you produce blog articles on these topics, Google’s algorithm may assess your content as relevant and share it on the user’s search engine results pages (SERPs).
In other words, choosing the correct keyword phrases can determine the success of your legal content marketing efforts. Use the following tips to determine which keywords to focus on.
- Jot down frequently asked questions from prospects and clients. These topics often align with the most in-demand content.
- Focus on areas of expertise. Brainstorm topics that demonstrate your firm’s unique knowledge. Where do you excel? For instance, if you’re an immigration law firm, perhaps your attorneys are experts at explaining how to obtain an H-1B visa.
- Review competitors’ content. Research the types of content that receive the greatest engagement. Software like Hootsuite and Sprout Social can help your firm discover where competitors are succeeding. You know what they say: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
- Estimate search volumes. Your firm can leverage a keyword research tool, such as Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or Semrush. This software provides search volumes, your current and competitor SERP rankings, and keyword suggestions to pursue.
- Assess the amount of competition for each keyword phrase. Tools, such as Ahrefs and Semrush, can provide a ranking difficulty score. This number estimates how difficult it would be for your firm to rank for that keyword on SERPs. Typically, the most popular keywords are also the most difficult to rank for. Choose a mix of keywords—some high difficulty and high traffic volume, some lower difficulty and lower traffic. This mix will allow your firm to achieve a few faster, easier wins while pursuing a long-term strategy for competitive keywords.
3. Content Creation and Publishing
Content marketing for lawyers comes in many forms. Experiment to determine which content styles work best for your personas and marketing mediums.
For example, let’s say that you’re an intellectual property firm. You may find that long blog articles and technical white papers hosted on your firm’s website generate a lot of traffic. For social media marketing, though, you may see that images and short videos get more engagement than written posts. Write and publish content based on what performs best for each medium.
Paid advertisements are also a great content creation option that can increase traffic, leads, and conversions. Check out our recent articles about Facebook advertising for lawyers and personal injury Google ads to learn more.
How to Begin Content Marketing for Your Firm
There’s no doubt that content marketing for law firms is a powerful tool for building brand awareness, generating thought leadership, and developing business. But a great legal content marketing strategy is only as powerful as your firm’s website.
When people interact with your content and then visit your website to learn more, what they see determines their actions. Will they see a professional product that urges them to contact your firm? Or will they land on an outdated, not mobile-optimized website that turns them away?
With MyCase law firm website design services, you’ll receive a professional site that represents your unique brand. We can also link MyCase legal practice management software to your site for greater efficiency and profitability. For example, we’ll help you embed MyCase client intake forms, set up credit, debit, and eCheck payment options, and take advantage of powerful integrations that minimize administrative work.
Don’t let your content marketing efforts suffer because of poor website design and functionality. Learn more about our design services today, and try MyCase legal practice management software free for 10 days.
