How lawyers can market themselves and find new clients

As law firms realise the potential of digital marketing strategies like pay-per-click ads and SEO, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for smaller, independent practices to grow their marketshare. Though ultimately, the best way to find and retain clients is to deliver an unbeatable service, we’ve rounded up some affordable practices to help you get started…

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1. Build your personal brand

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a junior partner or a paralegal - modern consumers want to see the professionals behind the business, and that means working on your personal brand. Make sure every member of your law firm is signed up to LinkedIn, take professional-looking headshots, update your profiles, and start engaging with your connections. Setting aside time in your busy schedule to create content, respond to comments, join LinkedIn Groups and invite people to like your company profile might seem like a lot of work, but it’s time well spent and can quickly change the fortunes of your business. The more active and consistent you are with your social media strategy, the sooner you’ll find new clients through LinkedIn.

Showcase your expertise, share news articles on your cases, and feel free to celebrate your achievements individually or as a practice. Indeed, if you don’t have a background in digital marketing, you might find the idea of shouting about your successes alien, but it’s a strategy that works and can position you and your business as the authority in your industry locally.

2. Identify a gap in the market

Whether you specialise in family or corporate law, reviewing your current market position is a great way to identify gaps and opportunities for growth. For example, if you’re operating out of a location such as Dubai, you could capitalise on the growing number of foreign nationals moving to the country and setting up their own businesses. Targeting audiences and groups like these allow you to differentiate your business, create content that speaks to such clients, and out manoeuvre your competitors who are on a different trajectory. Becoming the “number one UAE expat law firm” will take time, but once you have a few success stories under your belt, you’ll find it easier to convert site visitors into warm leads and then into paying clients. 

Don’t be afraid to test the waters and see if a new target demographic works for your firm. A sensible strategy would be to take on the odd case here and there until you’re confident that you can deliver results to your clients; you may even decide to conduct some pro bono work.

3. Sign up to an advisor platform

What if there was a platform where you could find warm leads without having to lift a finger? Well, there is! Enter Profezo, a professional network designed to connect consumers and businesses to lawyers, financial advisors, accountants, and more. Licensed and unbiased professionals can sign up to the site, complete their profile, and connect with potential clients. It’s low cost to join, and your brand-boosting profile will help demonstrate your credibility and professionalism. Your profile will be discoverable by search engines as well as users of the platform, and it’s possible to upgrade to features such as profile analytics, online appointment booking, and the ability to publish thought leadership blog posts. We think that the Profezo platform is the ultimate way to build trust and unlock an additional revenue stream for your business - click here to find out more and sign up for the platform today.

4. Collect client testimonials

The chances are that you have hundreds of satisfied clients on your books, so reach out to some of them and ask if they’ll leave you a review or testimonial. Whether you collect them on your website or you use a third-party platform like Google My Business, five-star reviews can help build your reputation. Only 13% of consumers would consider buying from a firm with one or two-star ratings, so it’s vital that you make your clients happy every time.

As a lawyer, the best time to ask for a review is immediately after wrapping up on their case; if you’ve delivered the result they were looking for, they’re more likely to leave a favourable recommendation of your services, and perhaps even pass on your details to their contacts.

5. Give away free resources

Building a bank of high-quality content and resources is another way to promote your law firm and find new clients. A how-to guide on divorcing in the UAE, for example, can drive traffic to your website and serve as a lead generation tool. Remember to add a call to action at the bottom of any free resources on your website or collect emails for future marketing campaigns. The more value you offer to your social media followers and website visitors, the more likely they are to engage with your brand when they require legal advice. It could be something as simple as a house-buying guide through to something more complex like an unfair dismissal case against a small business. Cover as many bases as you can - to really get value out of content marketing, you’ll need to commit long-term, creating fresh material in-house or outsourcing to a professional copywriting team with experience in local laws. 

6. Join legal directories

There’s a world outside of Google! Legal directories are amongst the most well-respected search tools, allowing businesses and individuals to identify the right lawyers to assist with their requirements. Adding your law firm to these directories can increase your authority, serve as another avenue for lead generation, and even assist in your link building and SEO efforts. Make sure that you’re using a consistent address, phone number, and email across every directory you join - if you’re not, you could miss out on work, and it can even reflect badly from an SEO perspective. Update your directory submissions regularly and subscribe to newsletters so you can be in the know as to new features and submission guidelines.

7. Create well-optimised landing pages

Finally, consider the benefits of landing pages that hone in on a particular service specialism. Where your visitors “arrive” is just as important as how they got there - if a couple search for “divorce in the UAE, ”for example, they could click on a divorce-specific landing page on your website and read relevant, conversion-optimised content that encourages them to get in touch and start proceedings with your firm. Create landing pages that are unique to each service offering and consider further optimising and diversifying based on new trends. For example, you could create a landing page that focuses on “expat legal rights post-Brexit”.

Make sure you’re following Profezo on LinkedIn for more advice for professionals, and check back to the blog soon for marketing tidbits designed to take your business to the next level.

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