Digital marketing is important for businesses in any field, but for lawyers, it can be vital. Over 33% of people find their lawyers online, and nearly 100% of people start looking for legal advice online. Over a third of the addressable market is online looking for a lawyer, meaning an online presence is integral in growing your firm and remaining competitive in 2022.

Developing a digital marketing strategy takes time and energy, but once properly installed has the ability to drastically improve your firm’s reach and market potential. In this article we will cover five basic guidelines that will help you frame an understanding of how to apply digital marketing to your family law firm.

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1) Define Your Audience

The first step in any marketing plan is understanding your audience.

Demographic research can help point you in the right direction when it comes to defining your target market.

For example, data shows that the divorce rate for individuals ages 25-65 represents the largest group experiencing divorce. Meaning that targeting marketing toward this group will improve ROI and lead to stronger marketing performance. Other factors such as ethnicity, occupation, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status all play a role in the demographic breakdown of divorce.

Performing thorough research will paint a detailed picture of who an audience is and will guide the voice and personality of the marketing campaigns.

It is common practice to form “client personas”, an archetype of who potential clients are. This allows firms to properly segment their marketing and deliver the right messages to the right people.

2) Optimize Your Website

As mentioned above, over a third of the addressable legal market is online. If your website is not optimized from a search engine standpoint, you are missing out on hundreds of potential clients looking for your business.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of helping search engines understand who you are, what services you offer, where you are located, and dozens of other factors about your business and its website. In a nutshell, SEO helps your site rank in organic searches, meaning that people looking for your business are more likely to be directed toward your site.

For example, if you are a Family Law firm in Tampa, Florida, targeting local keyword terms like “Family Law Tampa” , “Divorce Attorney Near Tampa Florida”, or “Divorce Laws Florida” would help searchers find your business online.

The implementation of SEO is not a simple process and requires rigorous amounts of research, preparation, and upkeep in order to remain competitive in search engine rankings. However, when executed properly, will create a massive increase in the number of inbound leads your firm receives.

This is incredibly valuable as the results that SEO provides are "evergreen” meaning that they will continue to drive traffic to your site as long as the pages remain visible. This is in contrast to services like Google Ads, which only provide results so long that you continue to spend money.

For more information on SEO for Family Law check out our blog post on the topic.

3) Offer In-Depth Content

Before your clients contact you about your services, they’ll likely spend time doing their own research about the topic at hand. By creating content (like blog posts) about frequently asked questions regarding family law, you’re creating value for viewers, establishing trust and authority, and building your brand.

This is what is known as a “Top of the Funnel” content strategy. In which you introduce visitors to your business by providing informational content. The next step in the funnel or the “Consideration Stage” involves capturing user information like an email, name, or phone number.

A common strategy is to use a “Digital Lead Magnet”. Digital Lead Magnets exist as any piece of content/specialized offer that the visitor must enter their information to receive. Memberships, eBooks, whitepapers, free demos, etc.

For example, an individual who is soon to be divorced may gladly provide their email for a checklist on how to prepare for divorce or an eBook on understanding the process involved in separation.

Not only does this build more trust between you and the visitor, but it also allows you to add them to an email list so you can directly market to that individual, increasing your odds of converting them to a client.

Although it may seem outdated, email remains the most effective form of marketing with studies showing that email is responsible for 66% of conversions while providing a 40:1 return on investment. Small initiatives such as building out your email list may feel insignificant but greatly improve your market impact.

Providing value to a lead, no matter how small, creates a feeling of reciprocity. Because you have already given them something, they are far more likely to give you something back.

Whether it’s simply an email or a meeting or you securing their business, getting your foot in the door is 90% of the battle. Look for any way you can provide immediate value to a lead, the rewards will be tremendous.

4) Look at the Trends

Understanding what people are searching for is integral to the development of your digital marketing strategy.

Tools like Semrush, UberSuggest, Moz, and Ahrefs exist to provide you with insight into what terms people are searching, how many people are searching those terms, how hard it is to rank for them, and many more factors that help you guide a content strategy.

Additionally, some of these platforms, like Semrush, provide the ability to spy on your competition. You are able to analyze competitors’ SEO and paid ad strategies in direct comparison with your own.

Not only does this help you understand what does and doesn’t work in your niche, but it helps you find weak points in other sites’ strategies, enabling you to provide value where they are not.

Without the utilization of these tools, attempting to build an organic presence online is, if not impossible, extremely difficult. Akin to learning to drive with a blindfold over your eyes.

Investing in search analysis tools is necessary in order to be competitive in the digital landscape. However, these products can be a costly expense, and unless used properly will ultimately go to waste. For this reason, many firms turn to Digital Marketing agencies to handle their marketing initiatives. These are groups of experienced marketers who understand the proper approach to developing strategies that produce long-term, meaningful results.

This helps firms save time and money on marketing and allows them to get back to what matters, protecting their clients.

5) Don’t Forget Follow-Up

As leads move down the sales journey they will continue to regard other options and reach out to multiple firms. By providing timely, appropriate touches, your practice stays at the forefront of the lead’s mind. Maintaining contact shows that you care about the client’s issues and that you want to work with them.

Studies show that it takes up to eight touches with a client in order to close a sale. This means that enabling CRM (customer relationship management system), is integral in maintaining your sales pipeline. It is extremely hard to properly manage every lead along the sales journey. Without a systemized or automated approach to CRM, a percentage of your leads will be lost.

Fortunately, tools like HubSpot and SalesForce exist to help easily integrate existing systems with an automated CRM, allowing users the flexibility to manage hundreds of leads at once.

Additionally CRM helps streamline data from sales, customer service, marketing, and any other facet of your business into one place. This provides firms with clear data on the effectiveness of their marketing, who their clients are, and any weak points that may be causing friction in their sales pipeline.

Conclusion

Family law is every bit as unique as families themselves, so your marketing campaigns should follow suit. While it may take some time and adjustment to find the strategy that works, it’s an investment that will pay you back in dividends. 

Whether you’re working on your marketing campaign alone or are teaming up with a digital marketing agency, keeping your goals and the needs of your clients front of mind will pay off in the long run. You’ll find that you can reach even more clients in your area and help those in need during some of life’s most difficult circumstances.