If you get into the marketing niche, then you will probably learn all about content marketing. It’s a very specific way to get your messaging out there. It’s not a strategy that any company can afford to ignore, and that includes law firms.
In this article, we’ll discuss content marketing for law firms. We’ll cover why social media marketing matters for lawyers, and we’ll run down other content marketing concepts that you should know about if you’re struggling to find new clients.
What Does Content Marketing Mean?
If you don’t work directly in marketing, then the whole content marketing concept might confuse you. It’s a little tricky, but you can usually understand it, even if you didn’t make marketing your career.
Think of it in this way. You probably know that if you want to market your products and services, you want to get the word out that your company exists.
In bygone times, you could do so with billboards or ads on bus stop benches. Maybe you’d create radio spots that could air during popular shows.
Once TV arrived, you could conceive of and shoot a TV commercial. You would naturally want that commercial to air during a show that you thought your target audience might watch.
You can call that kind of thing direct marketing if you like. It’s a fairly straightforward way to let people know about your company and products.
Content marketing, though, amounts to indirect marketing. Basically, you’re trying to create content that interests people. However, you’re not directly saying to them “this is my company, now buy my products.”
If you start to get into content marketing, you’re trying to get people to know about your company and brand, but you’re not using hard sales tactics to try to win their business. It’s a more subtle art form than a TV commercial, a billboard with your company’s name on it, or the equivalent.
Now, let’s talk about forms of content marketing in which you might engage if you’re trying to get more clients for your law firm.
Social MediaThere’s a universality with consumers that was true a hundred years ago, and it’s just as valid today. They don’t like it if you’re pushing hard to try to get them to do something.
Of course, as someone selling a product or service, that’s exactly what you have in mind. How can you promote your company and its offerings, though, while making it seem like you’re not doing that very thing?
You might try to generate interest by setting up profiles for yourself on social media. Billions of people around the globe use the many platforms that exist, so you can’t ignore them. You will find your potential customers there, whether you’re running a law firm or any other kind of company.
Since you probably won’t find success on social media with hard-sell tactics, you must instead go in a different direction. You can post via your official law firm’s social media profiles about topics in which you feel your possible clients might have an interest.
That probably sounds challenging, and many law firms have a hard time getting it right. That’s when it helps to hire a social media marketing team. You may also hire a marketing agency that does social media outreach and also employs many other promotional methods.
Your law firm’s social media posts might focus on topical issues. If there’s a legal case working its way through the courts, it makes sense that you’d talk about it, especially if it’s in the legal niche on which your firm focuses.
You might make an assertion about the case or mention an interesting aspect of it. You might post a poll to see if you can get some direct engagement from your followers.
You’re trying to stimulate discussion while establishing yourself as an expert. You’re marketing your firm and brand without pushing hard for new clients to hire you.
Website Blogs
You can do something similar by creating a blog on your law firm’s website. You might post a long-form blog every week or so.
You can come out with a new one each week by automating the process. You can write it yourself or hire someone who can do it for you.
You might suggest blog topics to your marketing team. They can also ask your social media followers what kinds of topics that want to see discussed on the blog.
Again, you’re trying to choose topics that feel very of-the-moment. If there’s a legal issue in the public eye, then talking about it can spark some discussion while also establishing your law firm’s expertise.
Guest Blogs
You can write guest blogs that appear on other websites as well. That’s a way to potentially reach a new audience that perhaps doesn’t know about your law firm or brand yet.
If the website on which you post the guest blog has a large following, then you might get a lot more engagement and eyes on your own site this way. Something like an outgoing link at the end of your guest blog that brings readers to your website might get you some new clients.
Podcast Appearances
If you know that some of your potential clients enjoy a particular podcast, you might ask if you can make an appearance on it. There, you can talk about a legal subject or a case.
You’re once again showing that you have knowledge about a particular legal area. You’re marketing yourself and your law firm without being very obvious about it.
It’s not likely that you will get as many clients as you’d like through content marketing alone. That’s why, as someone heading up a law firm, you need to consider this just one weapon in your arsenal.
The best law firms will have direct marketing efforts and indirect ones working in tandem. Do it right and you should start seeing many more clients coming your way.