Being in the field of law is about being in a long line of tradition and being steeped in the rich history of the practice of law. All the way back to its roots in the Latin language, the Greek origins, and the continued traditions that are present in law are what makes it so appealing to many, but for others, there is a stark contrast between the traditions of the legal field and the younger generations of today.
Young people often don’t have a lawyer of their own, they don’t think about a lawyer for many things like buying a home, and don’t see the need for one. This is a huge problem for many law firms considering that their client base is predominantly middle-aged and older, and they’re not getting any younger. As their client base begins to become younger, they need to be able to appeal to them, and in general, attract a larger swath of clients.
Finding new clients in the younger demographics is tough, but so is finding clients in middle-aged and older demographics as well. People may have a negative impression of lawyers and feel they don’t make enough money to hire one for contract needs or what have you. Here is how a law practice and its lawyers can work harder to attract new clients.
Hire Marketing Services
The first step that any law firm should be looking to utilize to improve their image and attract new clients is by hiring a marketing agency. Getting the help of professional and dedicated marketing professionals will allow for a strategic approach to improving the image and reach of their audience. There is a bevy of legal marketing firms that cater to the law profession, but beyond that, they can help implement some of the most modern approaches to marketing out there. Digital marketing is effective because it’s able to attract a lot of traffic online on search engines, like through SEO, which helps spread more awareness. This is one of the most important ways of attracting a bigger and more diverse clientele base. Not only that, but it’s also a huge relief to outsource this work to a company that can take a weight of work off of your shoulders. Being a law practice is difficult and the work doesn’t stop, so having someone come in to handle these tasks is definitely a game-changer.
Create More Brand Awareness
On the mention of awareness, the most important thing to couple with marketing efforts is the ability to build a sustainable and trusted brand. Branding is more important now than ever. From the individual social media user’s personal account to a multinational conglomerate company, the need to present a good image is hugely valuable. A law firm is no different and shirking off the notion that law firms are archaic or unnecessary, especially for young clients. Improving brand awareness means using marketing, but also presenting a firm as necessary to their community. Helping with fundraisers and volunteering are some key ways to build good branding. In 2021, brand awareness is everything, with a law practice being no exception.
Use Mixed-Media and Marketing Formats
Returning to the idea of marketing, there needs to be a focus on an approach to different kinds of marketing content. Mixed media simply refers to the use of traditional approaches (TV ads, radio spots, billboards, bus bench graphics, wraps) and digital approaches (SEO, videos, social media posts, targeted ads, keywords, images). The ability to roll out a range of media formats helps increase the potential value of marketing efforts. There is a lot more of a focus on a broader range of advertising as people are much more used to a bigger influx of content in their daily lives. Incorporating this into developing a marketing strategy is of major importance for attracting clients through as many means as possible. This will help when creating more social media and digital content which is necessary for the modern marketing landscape.
Provide Promotional Offers
It can also be very advantageous to bring in more clients by providing some form of incentive. Promotional offers are good ways to bring in clients or customers and businesses use this tactic all the time. For a law firm, it can be hard because it’s not as easy to say that you will give someone a discount on a rate. Law work is expensive because it’s so time-consuming and requires so much research. Being able to offer a promotion for clients would look something like not charging a fee until the client has won their case, which many firms do. This is a very useful way to entice people into choosing a practice by making it appear to have more value than others.
Partner With Other Brands
Brand awareness is incredibly important as you could see earlier, but it goes beyond just the awareness. Any good law practice knows that it needs to make partners with the community. This means that it can grow the client base by providing more outreach to people in their local community. Fundraisers and charity-related events are good, but also donating to help be a named sponsor of events, like music or art festivals, is another way in which partnering is good. It’s also a great idea for law practices to become an official partner of other businesses to show solidarity, which adds more credibility to its marketing attempts.
Produce Consistent Content
The content that is created to help promote a law practice not only has to be diverse enough in the form of multiple mixed media formats, it also needs to be consistent. Great content is always a plus, but only if there’s enough of it and a steady stream that people feel inclined to pay attention to. Just like an influencer on Instagram, a consistent stream of content keeps followers or potential clients hooked as they want to see another informative video or another funny piece of content. The more often a firm can produce content, the more likely it will be that they can attract new audiences and retain existing audiences. It’s not enough to make good content, it has to be consistent.
Take a More Contemporary Approach
A law practice can’t assume that the bulk of its clientele will always be middle-aged, middle-class adults forever. At some point, that demographic shift will happen which means there has to be a focus on the future of their brand as a firm. It’s hard to imagine how much it’ll change and things like this are hard to predict, but there’s nothing that should stop a practice from expecting to be more contemporary. This means doing plenty of research into trends and what’s hot right now. It could be TikTok, it could be memes, but whatever it is, it needs to feel both contemporary and organic. Young adults are acutely aware of when big brands, like corporations, are pandering through their marketing. Even if any PR is good PR, it needs to feel legitimate, not a paint-by-numbers approach to appealing to a younger core of clients.
Build a Better Social Media Presence
While the general notion of digital marketing is important, there also needs to be plenty of consideration for social media in its own right. You don’t need to hire marketing services to set up a social media presence, but they can help improve the social media efforts. Regardless, building a better social media presence means capitalizing on all of the platforms out there. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, even Snapchat, all of which are great avenues for cheap/free marketing, with huge upside because of the large user base. Creating a social media account is simple, but it does take a lot of upkeep to make it grow. The benefit is the ability to track analytics to see user engagement and other hard data on your marketing growth.
Build a Better Website
Too many businesses are lacking in their web content, and it needs to be a priority. Many law practices are still stuck in the stone ages without any website or a very limited online presence. Creating a reliable, secured, fast, easy to use, and slick-looking website is a simple step in building a much more approachable brand to bring in clients. Most young people use the internet now and find plenty of the businesses and brands they interact with online, so there’s no good reason a website shouldn’t be a priority.
As a law practice, it can be easy to get stuck in outdated marketing goals. There’s nothing inherently wrong with advertising in good old traditional ways, but the problem becomes a major issue when there is no focus on the future. Whether it’s younger clients or expanding the client base to include a more diverse range of demographics, it’s important to come up with new and exciting plans. This list includes some of the most important factors that can help any law firm improve its marketing needs to help attract more clients.