As an attorney, what keeps your practice up and running is getting clients and winning cases. But actually getting leads and turning them into clients isn’t something that happens on its own (in most cases). You have to get involved in marketing, specifically attorney internet marketing.
Attorney internet marketing is any type of legal marketing that runs online. That includes registering on legal directories, running pay-per-click and social media ads, and posting content on your website’s blog. Facebook takes the lead, with 37% of firms using the platform to market in 2018.
If you’re a brand new lawyer or a well-versed lawyer finally converting over to the “digital age,” then internet marketing may seem foreign to you right now. So, stick with us as we go over everything there is to know about attorney internet marketing in 2020.
There’s no doubt that you’ve done some form of marketing over the last few years (or decades). Maybe you ordered a 30-second ad slot on a local TV network or sent out fliers on your Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) route.
You spend thousands of dollars, only to get a few leads that end up going nowhere.
Here are the problems with regular marketing tactics:
It’s 2020. More than 81% of Americans own a smartphone, 52% own a tablet, and 74% own a computer. If you want to continue growing your firm and reaching new clients, you need to go where your clients are: The internet.
So, why look into internet marketing?
There’s no other way to reach such a targeted audience repeatedly at an affordable price without you having to do any extra work along the way.
Attorney internet marketing can technically be any type of marketing that happens online. What you may not realize is that marketing doesn’t always have to come in the form of ads (though, that’s still “in” these days).
Let’s talk about what the different types of online marketing are.
Marketing doesn’t always have to be in the form of an advertisement. Publishing informal and casual blog posts can help you improve your web presence, drive traffic to your website, and build your reputation.
Here’s what you need to know about the content on your attorney website:
The recommendation is to post new content on your attorney website at least once a week.
To make your content worthwhile and truly see your web traffic spike, you need to look into SEO services. Here’s a video explaining what SEO is and why you need it.
SEO can take a long time to see results, sometimes over a year, if you have a lot of big-name law firm competitors. Paid ads on Google are a quick and easy way to get your law firm on the front page of Google (as an ad).
With pay-per-click ads, you’ll be charged every time a web visitor clicks on your ad. In many cases, you’ll be charged over $300 for every click your advertisement receives.
While this might seem like a ridiculous price to pay to get somebody to your website, there are a few things that you should consider, like:
Just keep in mind that your pay-per-click ads will only keep you on the first page of a Google search result if your ad is still running. Canceling or pausing the ad will remove your presence on the search results.
If you’re not on social media in the professional sense, then you’re missing out. That’s where you’ll find about 72% of the American population as of 2019, who could potentially be your future clients.
It’s a great idea to create business profiles for your practice on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and literally any other social media platform where your clients may be hiding.
Here’s what you need to know about using social media to market your practice:
Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn have a variety of marketing techniques that can help you to target the individual interests of your law firm. That means you can use ads to collect contact information, direct users to your website, or just share blog posts from your website.
Most people will start searching for an attorney on the internet, but what sets your law firm apart from the rest? In about 65% of cases, people will depend on user reviews to sway their decisions one way or another.
So aside from giving your past clients something to rave about online, you need to give them somewhere to give these reviews in the first place. For lawyers, that means making profiles on Avvo, Lawyers.com, and FindLaw. Yelp and Google My Business are also great.
The question isn’t “How much does attorney internet marketing cost?” The real question is, “How much is your firm willing to spend on attorney internet marketing?”
Well, there’s no set number or recommendation across the board. But the average cost for marketing for law firms seems to be about 1.9% of total revenue. Larger firms may spend 5% or more on marketing.
One report states that 65% or more of law firms will spend at least half of their attorney marketing budget on internet marketing. That means you don’t have to give up traditional marketing tactics entirely if they seem to be working. Internet marketing can help you to reach a wider and more targeted audience.
Marketing online is easier than it’s ever been thanks to user-friendly websites like Facebook, Google Ads, and Avvo. Yet, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re running ads and campaigns that’ll actually work to drive traffic or contacts.
That might be the mistake that 73% of law firms are making.
If you want the best results, be sure to hire a team that excels in marketing, SEO, and web design. This can help you guarantee that your marketing tactics are always working and to adjust them as the pros see fit.
Attorney internet marketing is one of the best ways to capture leads and convert them into clients in this day and age. Legal marketing online is typically seen as more affordable and can reach a much larger and more targeted audience than typical print advertising. To see the best results, be sure to develop a marketing plan and set aside about 1.9% of your revenue on marketing tactics. Also, note that it may take months to see the leads trickle in, so hold tight.
