Originally published in the National Law Review.
You can have the best law firm in the world, but if no one knows you exist, you will not attract business. Marketing your law firm is incredibly important because you need to constantly broadcast your firm’s messaging, offering, and identity. You want to establish yourself as the go-to law firm of the community. Even by attempting new marketing strategies for lawyers, you are outpacing most of your peers.
However, most solo attorneys and small law firms are not taking an intentional marketing approach and instead engage in “random acts of marketing.” The American Bar Association states the majority of small law firms do not have a strategic marketing plan in place.
This behavior is self-sabotaging as it is critical for law firms to stay relevant in the legal community and firmly establish their brand voice and marketing plan.
Overall, lawyers have an incredible opportunity to network and expand their brand in a world that has seemingly gone virtual. To grow your practice, you need to experiment with new marketing strategies and mediums. After all, if you do not market your services, how would anyone know your services are available?
This article will cover some ideas on how to determine what your brand identity is and how to elevate it through marketing tactics.
Be Crystal Clear on Your Law Firm’s Brand Identity
A law firm should establish the message they want their clients to remember them for. Start by asking yourself the following:
- What is the identity of our law firm?
- What are the values of our law firm?
- What makes our law firm unique from competitors?
- What makes our legal services different from other firms?
It is often said in marketing, “People do not buy from businesses; they buy from people.” Answer these questions to establish your unique perspective and differentiator, and then move onto executing traditional marketing tactics for lawyers.
6 Ways to Elevate Your Legal Brand with Marketing Tactics
Potential clients are looking for lawyers who are good at what they do, helpful to the people they serve, and that show strong leadership skills and community commitment. Marketing is a holistic tool that helps the best attorneys become more visible to their clients and in the legal community, which grows their reputation, increases their referrals, and grows their practice.
1. Utilize Snail Mail
Striking the right balance between traditional and digital advertising is tough; however, traditional media still has tremendous value for law firms, and its utilization continually carries an air of authority and prestige. Direct mail is not dead, and in fact, postcards outperform other mediums, leading to a response rate of 42%. Creating personalized postcards that have a unique touch also increases the likelihood your potential clients will respond. You can include an incentive such as first-time client deals, a free consultation, or a local resource list.
2. Radio Still Wins
The majority of the Americans are still tuning into the radio; 90% of adults ages 18 to 30, 94% of adults ages 35 to 49, and 91% of adults over 50 years old are listening to their local radio station, making it the leading platform for reach in the US.
Additionally, radio audiences are also becoming more diverse. 45 million Latinos and 35 million Black Americans are tuning in monthly.
Radio advertising also offers the unique advantage of a high frequency, meaning how many times the average person hears your ad over the course of a week. It can take your customer seven times to hear about your legal service before they take action. Radio provides many opportunities to get in front of your community again and again. It is scientifically proven that a person needs to hear an ad about three to four times per week to achieve maximum effectiveness.
3. Embrace Virtual Networking Sessions
As the legal community is a relationship-based industry, in-person activities historically laid the foundation for the most powerful marketing strategies. However, COVID-19 brought those activities to a grinding halt, pausing almost all face-to-face marketing opportunities for law firms.
Read the full article at the National Law Review.
