An effective content marketing strategy is essential to drive traffic and get more clients. Find out why law firms need a content marketing strategy.
There was a time when marketing was all about billboards, print media, television, and radio. Today, marketing strategies are targeted at an online audience, especially those on social media. According to Statista, in 2020, over 3.6 billion people were using social media worldwide, a number projected to increase to almost 4.41 billion in 2025. So digital marketing is the way to reach your target audience locally or internationally.
However, consumers have become more aware that they are the target of online ad campaigns. As a result, they pass over marketing ads without paying much attention to them. To get their recognition and keep them interested in the ads, brands have turned to content marketing, and so should law firms.
A content strategy uses blog posts, articles, videos, and social media posts. It involves producing high-quality content to attract people to your firm and convert them into paying clients. This article takes an in-depth look into law firm content marketing and whether you need one or not.
If you need help with your content marketing efforts, contact us at Triple Digital.
Content marketing is about creating useful, engaging, and accessible content for a target audience. For law firms, it involves creating different types of content to make the lives of your current and future clients easier. It is a delicate balance of strategy and creativity.
First, you need to know your audience and the type of content that would help them. So, as a criminal defense lawyer, you cannot produce legal content best suited for personal injury practice. Once you understand this, you'll cover the relevant topics to provide solutions to your audience and keep them engaged.
Your law firm content marketing strategies should be client-centered. It's never about you but the people with legal issues seeking a solution. As a result, you must cover different content types. For example, you can make videos on calculating personal injury compensation. Alternatively, you can create a blog post on laws governing divorce.
The essential thing is that each piece of content is valuable and relevant. It should go beyond what you think your ideal client wants and address their pain points. Finally, your content goal should be to fulfill a desire and position your firm as a trustworthy source for information.
The first thing to do is to look at the types of cases you handle. Then, ask yourself the questions you get from prospective clients. For instance, if you run a criminal defense law firm, one inquiry you'll get is, "What are my rights as a defendant?"
The more questions you have, the more legal topic ideas you'll have. This way, you ensure you create informative and educational content. In addition, you'll generate traffic for your website as people go online to get the answers they want.
For example, if you type the question: how much do car accident lawyers charge? into Google search engine, you'll see several answers from different firms. Then, when you click on a link, it takes you straight to the relevant blog article. Doing this takes less than three minutes.
Another option for finding content topics is creating an audience persona. Again examine your practice area and search for clients with similar traits. For example, check what gender is interested in a topic, age group, financial strength, and career type. The more data you have on prospective clients, the more you'll be able to choose topics and produce informative content.
An effective law firm content marketing process must involve keyword research. Undoubtedly, your visual or written materials will go on a social media platform or your firm's website. The problem is you're not the only one producing online content, so you need to stand out.
Setting yourself apart means capitalizing on search engine optimization. This is where keyword research comes in. Your content stands a better chance of ranking high when you use the right keywords. But first, you need to find them.
Doing the preceding is crucial because there are specific keyword phrases for every topic idea you have. The latter refers to words used by your people when looking for information on search engines. Using the relevant keywords will make your social media posts, blog or guest posts, and web pages easier to find.
You'll also reach a wider audience. So, assuming people in your target market search "Boston boating accident lawyers," you need to include it in your articles. You can conduct the research yourself if you know what to look for. There are several online keyword research tools to help you do this. However, to get the best result, engage content marketers.
To reach your content marketing goal, you must create materials worth sharing, valuable content. Here are a few tips on how to achieve this.
Keep It Simple
You must always have your client in mind during content creation. Your potential clients are not lawyers, so they want articles they can easily understand. Therefore, write at a level they can comprehend. Experts recommend writing documents for public consumption at a 9th-grade level.
Some law firms write at an 8th-grade level. Pick the one that fits your target and pre-existing clients, and ensure your content creation team sticks with it. Also, if you are using legal content writers, ensure they keep the sentences short, use an active voice and simple language.
Be Specific and Comprehensive
Effective content creators know that excess fluff reduces the quality of your article. So, use only necessary and helpful information. For example, if you are writing on what to do after a car accident, ensure it includes steps and not general knowledge.
Make It Skimmable
Most of your target clients will only read about 20% of your article. This is because they are skimming, not reading. So use bullet points, bolded titles, and leave enough white space to enable easy assimilation of the information.
Avoid Relative References
Don't use relative references like "last year" or "on Monday." Instead, be more specific, and use words like "in 2017" or "On Monday, January 14th." Similarly, don't talk about future events as they will soon be in the past.
When people view your content in the future, the references will be outdated unless you update them. Therefore, it is better to write evergreen content. That way, you increase the chance of websites linking back to your content, thereby improving your conversion rate.
Unlike traditional advertising, content marketing answers questions, builds trust, develops relationships, improves conversations, and generates leads. So, does a law firm need a content marketing campaign? If yes, why?
Any law firm that wants to grow, compete and stay relevant must have a content marketing strategy. Your strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim. In this case, it involves having a content marketing plan and following through.
There are several benefits for law firms with a content plan. These advantages are why you should come up with a comprehensive strategy. Below are the top reasons why you should have a content marketing strategy.
You'll Retain Your Audience/Client
Any marketing campaign aims to convert visitors into leads (a prospective paying client). One of the benefits of content marketing is that it creates positive experiences that keep your audience or client with you longer. With it, you can continually capture your audience's attention and reinforce a positive impression in their minds.
You'll Have More Social Media Traction
Your law firm can have many followers on social media but little traction. Why?
It's because you are not giving your audience content worth their time or informative enough to engage them. So, if this is your case, use content marketing to your advantage. Quality content will increase your traction on social media platforms and improve audience engagement.
You'll Build Trust
As any business owner would tell you, trust is crucial to the success of any business venture. It's what keeps people coming back for more and what gets them to refer a product or service to another person. Likewise, the legal practice thrives on trust.
Your clients need to know they can trust you with the information they give you. They want guarantees that you know what you're talking about and will get them the justice they seek. Thankfully, you can start building trust way before a potential lead becomes a client.
Content marketing makes this possible. With every content you put out, your audience connects with you. They feel you're already solving their problems even before they meet you. It also helps that the information is free and valuable. As a result, your audience trusts your opinion, and when they have legal issues that an article won't solve, they'll turn to you.
You'll Generate More Leads
A lead is a contact with a potential client, also known as a prospect. Content marketing increases lead generation, especially when you have a call-to-action (CTA) in the article. The CTA can direct people to your practice page or the home page, and you can place it at the beginning and end of your content. Finally, a call-to-action makes it easier for people who love your article to visit your website and learn more about your services.
You'll Have More Visibility
The legal industry is already saturated with people offering the types of services you render. Statista reports that in 2020, there were 1.33 million lawyers in the United States. The only way to keep yourself visible amidst these millions is to have an effective content marketing strategy.
As mentioned earlier, great content ranks well on search engines. Therefore, your aim should be to appear in first-page search results. If you are not paying for an ad, aspire to be in the first three results. According to a report, the top three Google search results get 75.1% of all clicks.
You'll Save Money
Law firm marketing costs money, especially if you go the traditional route. You'll feel the effect more if you are a small firm or just starting. However, you don't have to spend much on a content marketing strategy. It is the most cost-effective advertising process available.
For instance, if you hire freelance legal content writers, you may spend $150 to $3,000 per blog post. Alternatively, you can hire a full-time staff and build your content creation team. Either option gives you people to create articles for your blogs regularly. Finally, content marketing is cheaper than paid advertisements and video marketing.
There are two main strategies used by content marketing experts: content pillars and content clusters.
A content pillar is informative and substantive content on a specific topic or theme. Also, it is divided into several sections, pieces, and materials. For example, if you focus on creating a single content pillar, you can break the finished product into blog posts, emails, infographics, social media updates, and videos. That way, you attract different kinds of clients through separate channels.
Depending on your needs, your content marketing team can create different pillars. But for this discourse, we'll look at the five content pillars.
Audience
First, identify your audience—the type of clients you want to reach. It could be injury victims, criminal suspects, divorcing couples, etc. Additionally, know your present clients and what they expect from you. Always keep in mind that targeted content brings in more traffic.
Creation
Content creation is the most significant part of the content marketing strategy. It demands time, creativity, and productivity. As such, you need to come up with brilliant content ideas, turn them into words, and edit to eradicate mistakes. When you do these three, you'll be able to optimize and create performing articles.
Experience
Content marketing pillars are progressive. They build on each other to enable the best outcomes. Hence, the success of one is reliant on the previous pillar. Content experience is about how your audience engages with the materials you produce.
If they have a great experience, they will come back to engage with you. For your content to succeed and offer an excellent encounter, do the following:
Promotion
Once your content is ready, you need to promote it. Promotion and distribution are as important as creating a top-notch article. The success of the two depends largely on how well you applied the first three pillars. Also, it is a combination of:
Insight
The last pillar is insight. It covers knowing why you do things and what works. This knowledge will make your marketing effort easier and more successful. As such, always use your content to gather insights and collect data on:
Content clusters are a group of related content that collectively cover a broad subject area. They provide contextual support for other pages within a group. Also, content clusters create a strong internal linking framework to help users and search engines find your content.
To build content clusters, do the following:
Triple Digital is a one-stop agency for your firm's needs. Our services include advanced SEO strategies and social media advertising that generates leads while branding you in your market. We are backed by a team of experts that drive consistent traffic and results. Contact us today to get started.
