In today’s digital landscape, law firms have recognized the need to adapt their marketing strategies to the evolving times. With face-to-face interactions limited during the pandemic, the importance of digital presence and engagement became paramount. Enter content marketing — a game-changer for lawyers seeking to connect with their clients in a meaningful way.
As law firms delve into the realm of content marketing, questions arise: What content truly resonates? How can we measure its impact? How do we ensure our clients find value in our creations? To shed light on these pressing matters, our experts at Comrade have written a blog post to answer all of your burning content marketing questions and give guidance on creating an effective content plan that search engines will rank highly.
Discover how content marketing can pave the way for law firms to captivate audiences, attract prospective clients, and establish a unique online presence. Explore the best practices and examples tailored specifically for legal professionals, enabling you to navigate the strategic execution of content marketing with confidence.
What Is Content Marketing for Lawyers?
Content marketing for law firms is the creation and distribution of different types of helpful content for the purposes of marketing your law firm. Creating content can take different forms, like making a blog post, video, etc.
Unlike traditional advertising, attorney content marketing is supposed to relay your message without selling a product. It is a pretty fine line. You need to show your target audience that you’re an expert, and that you can solve an issue. Become their guide.
Unlock the power of content marketing for personal injury lawyers with our comprehensive guide. Discover key strategies today.
Why Is Law Firm Content Marketing Important?
Content marketing is the only way for law firms to cut through a highly competitive and saturated online market, especially when it comes to collecting leads and converting them into cases. In fact, 84% of law firms generate leads through organic social media traffic, and considering 38% of people use the internet to find an attorney; it’s well within a law firm’s interest to invest in content marketing.
When executed properly, an effective content marketing strategy for lawyers has numerous benefits, such as increased business exposure, more leads, and a high ROI. Email marketing, for instance, can generate an ROI of over 4000%!
However, to achieve a consistent stream of high-quality legal leads, you need to map out their legal services buying journey from the first touchpoint to booking a consultation. Then, build a content lead generation process and consistently optimize the pipeline to streamline a potential client’s journey.
Delivering Business Results: Our Digital Marketing Case Studies
How Content Marketing for Lawyers Works
When a prospect Googles a question that relates to your niche and sees a post that matches their search query, they will click on it, and read it. Now, you have one more website visitor!
If your content for your law firm website is top quality, this visitor will spend more time on your page, which boosts your search engine optimization performance (bringing more potential clients to your website). It also helps you achieve an important content marketing goal.
Get the contact information of potential clients.
Answering one of your prospect’s questions will lead to more questions. Now is the time to offer a so-called “lead magnet” — a downloadable document with additional information or with other helpful functions (check-list, report, or other) — in exchange for your visitor’s contact details.
Having their contact info lets you communicate with them in the future, offering useful attorney content marketing assets that periodically engage with them until they’re ready to engage with you. This can be automated.
Start crafting compelling legal content today! Check out our blog post for valuable insights on law firm copywriting.
Content Distribution Channels
Regardless of what type of content you invest in, each piece should aim to build your brand, improve relationships with customers, create a trustworthy entity and prove credibility, which drives sales.
Anything you produce that people read, listen to or watch is part of your content marketing. Popular formats and content ideas include:
- Blogs
- eBooks
- Videos
- Podcasts
- Infographics
Blog posts are great for answering questions in-depth, whereas short videos work best on social media and should be under two minutes. Here, you’re looking to provide brief answers to questions or simple explanations.
10 Effective Law Firm Content Marketing Strategies
In today’s digital age, content marketing has become a powerful tool for law firms to establish their expertise, build trust with potential clients, and generate leads. Whether you’re a solo practitioner or part of a larger firm, these strategies will provide you with actionable insights to enhance your content marketing efforts and achieve tangible results. Get ready to take your law firm’s online presence to the next level and connect with clients in a more meaningful way through compelling and strategic content.
1. Find Relevant Topics for Your Content Marketing Strategy
When it comes to your law firm’s content marketing strategy, finding the right topics is the key to connecting with potential clients. So, start by digging deep into the legal topics that matter most to your practice areas. Ask yourself, what questions or concerns might your audience have?
Pro Tip: Keep your finger on the pulse! Stay updated on industry trends, legal developments, and changes in legislation. This way, you can offer valuable insights based on your expertise. Oh, and don’t forget to use those web marketing tools to identify what people are searching for online related to your practice areas. That way, your content will rank higher in search results!
Remember, consistently delivering content that hits the mark will establish you as a trusted authority, attracting more leads and saving you some bucks on traditional ads.
By the way, here at Comrade Digital Marketing, we’re experts at nailing down the perfect content marketing strategy for law firms like yours. So, if you’re looking for some extra help, we’ve got you covered!
2. Know Your Potential Clients
Getting to know your potential clients is a game-changer in the world of effective content marketing for law firms. It’s like being a detective, but instead of solving crimes, you get to uncover the secrets of what makes your audience tick! So, let’s start by creating some detailed buyer personas that represent your target audience. Dive deep into demographics, legal needs, concerns, and goals, leaving no stone unturned!
But wait, there’s more! Don’t stop there. Roll up your sleeves and get hands-on. Surveys, interviews, you name it – chat with your website visitors to get the inside scoop on their motivations, pain points, and even their favorite ways to communicate. That’s the kind of intel that’ll set the stage for some brilliant content magic!
Hold on, we’re not done yet. Crunch the numbers and analyze data from your website, social media, and email campaigns. It’s like peeking into the minds of your audience (don’t worry, it’s all legal!). With this data treasure, you’ll know what gets them excited and what keeps them up at night. Armed with all this knowledge, craft content that speaks directly to their hearts (and legal needs).
Let Comrade Digital Marketing help you conquer the digital world and reach more clients as a lawyer than ever before!
3. Conduct Legal Keyword Research
When it comes to boosting your law firm’s content marketing game, nailing keyword research is a total game-changer, and we’ve got your back!
First things first, identify those primary keywords and phrases that perfectly match your practice areas. You can use tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Moz Keyword Explorer to find those gold nuggets – high-ranking and hotly searched legal terms.
Don’t forget the long-tail keywords! They’re like the secret sauce for targeting specific legal issues and answering potential clients’ burning questions. Plus, they face less competition, making it a win-win!
Wanna make your content pop in search results? Prioritize those SEO keywords! Look into the search volume and competitiveness of each gem and focus your content creation efforts accordingly.
By sprinkling these magic keywords into your website, social media posts, and digital assets, you’ll be rocking the organic search game, attracting top-notch traffic, and cutting down on the paid ads. You got this!
Grow your practice and unlock the power of SEO for lawyers with a legal marketing agency.
4. Look Up Your Competitors
If you wanna save some cash and stay ahead of the competition in the content marketing game, here’s a top-notch strategy: snoop on your rivals!
Firstly, spot your main competitors in the legal world, especially those playing in your practice areas and location, and then head over to their websites. Check out what kind of articles, blog posts, and resources they’re serving up.
Now comes the fun part! Analyze the quality and relevance of their content. Find those sweet spots where you can stand out and bring some unique value to your potential clients. Don’t forget to swing by their social media platforms too. Take notes on what topics and formats get the most engagement.
With these insights, you’ll unlock the secrets of your rivals’ content marketing prowess. That way, you can craft your very own content plan that sets you apart from the pack.
Discover the secrets to effective SEO for personal injury lawyers and attract more clients.
5. Keep Your Content SEO-Friendly
Want to boost your law firm’s online presence? Keeping your content SEO-friendly is the way to go!
First things first – do some keyword research to know exactly what your potential clients are searching for. Place them everywhere- in the title, headings, body, and meta tags. Oh, and don’t forget about those URLs and alt tags for images – keyword optimize those too!
Now, here comes the magic – focus on crafting top-notch content that’s both informative and valuable. Share the legal know-how, answer common questions, and address concerns that your audience may have. You need to be authoritative and trustworthy.
By nailing SEO best practices and providing value-packed content, you’ll do well in search engine results, pull in that organic traffic, and have potential clients knocking on your digital door.
6. Create Engaging Content
Do you know what’s key to capturing your potential clients’ attention? Yep, writing engaging law firm website content!
First off, get inside the minds of your target audience. Understand their likes, dislikes, and preferences. Then, tailor your writing style and language to appeal to them directly. Keep it conversational, and toss out the legal jargon no one understands.
Make your content a breeze to read by adding headings, subheadings, and bullet points. That way, even the busiest folks can quickly catch the best bits.
Pro tip: Sprinkle in some storytelling magic! Share real-life case studies and success stories to hook them in. Show off how your firm has worked wonders for clients in the past. And don’t forget to throw in some eye-catching visuals like images, infographics, or videos!
Trust me, with engaging content, you’ll have those potential clients turning to you for help. They’ll stick around, explore more, and before you know it, become loyal clients.
Looking to enhance your website’s impact? Dive into our blog post for the 10 essential rules of website content writing.
7. Create a Blogging Schedule
If you’re all about maximizing content marketing benefits while saving precious time and money, you have to nail down a blogging schedule!
Start by setting some realistic goals for your lawyer’s blog. Figure out how often you want to post and what you want to achieve with each masterpiece—whether it’s lead generation, showing off thought leadership, or educating your clients.
But don’t overdo it! Consider your capacity and resources before committing to a posting frequency. Create an editorial calendar to help you. Jot down specific topics, keywords, and those vital publishing dates.
Don’t be afraid to delegate some responsibilities within your firm. That way, you can manage the workload and get different perspectives on board.
Streamline your content creation process, stay consistent online, and watch those potential clients roll in—loving your insightful and valuable blog posts!
Learn how to identify the top law firm SEO agencies that can deliver results and maximize your ROI.
8. Consider Guest Blogging for Lawyers
Expand your horizons and establish your authority by hitting up top-notch blogs and publications in the legal or related fields and guest blogging, by implementing SEO best practices to rank content higher. Find ones that match your target audience, and craft some pitches proposing topics you can contribute.
Now, when you sit down to write those guest blog posts, remember this: be informative, be engaging, and tailor your content to fit that publication’s tone. Don’t forget to drop some links back to your law firm’s website and relevant resources to drive traffic and generate leads.
With guest blogging, you get to tap into established audiences, show off your expertise, and save money on advertising efforts.
When it comes to content marketing, Comrade Digital Marketing has your back! We’re all about helping lawyers and law firms skyrocket their online presence. Let’s team up and take your firm to the top with a sound content marketing strategy!
Discover how SEO services for lawyers can transform your client acquisition.
9. Brainstorm New Law Firm Content with AI
Embrace the future and explore the benefits of AI marketing for attorneys!
Pro Tip: Embrace the power of artificial intelligence (AI) for brainstorming fresh content ideas. Trust me; it’s a game-changer!
AI-powered content generation tools are the way to go. They analyze tons of data, sniff out trending legal topics, and unveil those hot search queries and FAQs. Say goodbye to struggling with brainstorming sessions!
With AI in your corner, you can spot content gaps in your industry and discover unique angles to tackle them. It’s not just about ideas—AI can help with crafting relevant headlines, structuring content, and suggesting the best keywords for SEO.
When you let AI do the content brainstorming, you stay ahead of the pack, produce top-notch content efficiently, and attract more clients while saving on your law firm marketing budget.
10. Analyze the Success of Your Law Firm Content Strategy
Want to supercharge your content marketing game and save some cash along the way? Well, digital marketing analytics is the key to your law firm’s content strategy!
Start by setting clear goals and those nifty key performance indicators (KPIs) for your content campaigns. Keep track of website traffic, engagement levels, conversion rates, and lead generation—those metrics are like gold!
Analytics tools are your secret weapon! Unleash their power to uncover which content types really work, which channels drive the most traffic and conversions, and which topics keep your audience interested. Adjust your strategy based on those insights.
Consistently analyzing your content strategy will boost your marketing efforts, use resources smarter, and save your hard-earned cash. Oh, and don’t forget—Comrade Digital Marketing can help! Our agency’s here to help lawyers and law firms create strong content strategies that increase ROI.
Find the top law firm marketing expert transforming the legal landscape. Learn more now!
YMYL and Google EEAT for Law Firms
YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) and EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust) are relatively new search guidelines used by Google to determine the reliability of a law firm’s website’s content.
YMYL content is how Google refers to content that could potentially have a negative impact on the quality of people’s lives and/or finances. Because this content has such a profound influence on people’s lives, Google holds it to a much higher standard and actually has a team of people to assess its credibility.
Of course, legal content marketing falls under this banner. As a search engine, Google wants to deliver the best content for every query, and know it can trust those search results, which is where EEAT for lawyers comes in.
One of the ways to make sure your YMYL content is shown by Google is to ensure it embodies expertise, authority, and trust. Search Engine Land says EEAT is about value, reliability, and integrity.
While it’s not an exact science, content that finds a balance between being comprehensive and keeping it simple and following SEO best practices will achieve a higher EEAT score. And that translates to better law firm SEO.
How Can a Law Firm Content Marketing Agency Boost Your Revenue?
Comrade is a digital marketing company specializing in content marketing strategies for attorneys. Our inbound and content marketing team has developed a specific methodology to help your company stand out from the crowd.
We can create or re-work your content to ensure: It is simple (your prospective clients do not understand your terminology), well targeted (this could only be guaranteed upon our extensive buyer persona modeling), and written to inspire further interest in your services without going directly for a sales pitch. Contact us for a free consultation, or to hire the best content marketing services for lawyers.
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[showhide more_text=”–Show Video Transcript –” less_text=”–Hide–“]
Natalie: So the subject that we would like to talk about today has to do with content. We know, especially in the last couple of years, everyone’s talking about content marketing, content, publishing more content, videos, content is the king. You hear it everywhere. So today we wanted to share our thoughts and ideas about, so what content marketing is and what can you do to help your digital marketing with content marketing.
Sasha: Yeah. So as you’re watching this video, you’re actually consuming a form of content right? Content can come in various forms, as long as it’s words that deliver certain meaning and that meaning has to be helpful to whoever is consuming this content, right? So us creating this video should be helpful to you, an attorney to understand how content marketing can or may not work for you because content marketing definitely does not work for every type of attorney practicing in every specialty or not specialty, practice area.
Sasha: So let me tell you who content marketing is not going to work very well for, although it works to a very limited extent. If you practice personal injury, chances are this may work to a very limited extent. If you practice criminal defense, chances are content marketing can work very, very well. If you practice estate law, chances are content marketing is going to work very, very well.
Sasha: If you do, oh let’s say DUIs and traffic, chances are content marketing is not going to work terribly well although it will work to a certain extent.
Natalie: Why not?
Sasha: Well because there’s this immediate need by it. You need someone now because you are in jail or you don’t care because you got a traffic ticket, you’re not going to read or watch videos where an attorney explains how they will get you out of this.
Sasha: However, when you think about estate right, for estate planning attorneys and those that deal with all facets of estate law, like this where people like actually do consume content because they’re looking for information for answers to their questions before they may engage with an attorney because people want to understand before they start spending money right.
Sasha: A lot of people think like can I go to like one of those online platforms and just do it myself for $30, what’s the popular one for law? I forget the name of it. There’s a big website where you can do a lot of legal documents. Legal Zoom. Legal Zoom, right? Like $30, $50, $100 whatever you know. You can do a lot of documents and some consumers may say, okay so the difference between $5000, spending with an attorney and spending $99 with Legal Zoom … I have no idea what it actually costs, like, “Why should I spend that extra $4900?” Right? So you can create content that explains the difference, right?
Sasha: So let’s talk about content marketing, what it actually is supposed to do and what it looks like. So, video is a format of content marketing. Blogging is a format of content marketing, and the goal or the goals for content marketing is number one, it attracts prospective clients. So when people use Google to search for information, they’re not ready to buy, to consume legal services, they’re just looking for information, right? So your goal is to attract. So the more and the better content that you have on your website, and other platforms pointing back to your website, the better, right?
Sasha: Google loves it when you post useful information, and usefulness of information is determined by Google when someone searches for the information. And they see 10 results in Google or 20 results in Google, right? And when they click on your link, that’s the first indicator to Google that the search query matches the listing that they see. And number two indication is when Google … When, not Google, when the user, when they look at the information they stay on that page for a considerable amount of time. And when I say a considerable amount of time, a minute or two can be considered the considerable amount of time, sometimes three minutes, sometimes four minutes, five minutes. The more dwell time … That’s what Google calls it, dwell time, they have on that page, the more relevance and authority Google gives to that page.
Sasha: So, those are very important factors, and the third very important factor is once again, how many other sources, other websites, and directors are pointing to that one page? Google loves that kind of thing, so your first and foremost objective is to attract, right? Get that attention. And as they consume it, your second foremost objective, if it is a suitable piece of content is to get them to raise their hand and say, “I am interested in whatever solution that you may be offering.” And how do you do that?
Sasha: Well, let’s say that you do practice estate law. You can write or film content, and then for more in-depth information or a checklist or some sort of other documents/tool, you can offer it as a downloadable on your website. So a person consumes the information, and you say, “By the way, when you do this, you need a checklist, and you can download it here.” And when they download it, they download it in exchange for their content information. This creates an early stage lead for you, and this time when they download it, you know that John Doe is looking for information on this subject. You can guess what it is they’re going to do next. They will most likely hire an attorney to help them address whatever issue that they’re trying to solve.
Sasha: So, by getting their contact information, you give yourself an opportunity to communicate with them again. And how do you do that? Well you set up an email sequence, and here’s how you do it, let me simplify this process for you really.
Sasha: So think about it this way: whenever you talk to a new prospective client, invariably, when you take a sample of 100 prospective clients that you talk to, invariably they ask you very similar same questions in almost every conversation. Let’s say it’s between half a dozen and a dozen questions that tend to repeat almost every single time.
Sasha: So you can create content in video format, or written format, or best, both formats, and post it in your blog, and distribute it elsewhere, and we’ll address that in another post. And for every suitable post, you can have a downloadable, right? And once they download one thing, you know that invariably, they will be asking similar or same questions as you have already answered in other posts. And what you can do is you can present them this information in a very logical sequence, where they get an email once every two, three days. And they’ll be very, very pleasantly surprised that you actually present them with useful information that they might have not thought about, or that they were going to ask, and there you are. Like a magic genie, you show up with the right content.
Sasha: At this point, you do not appear as a salesperson, but as a very, very helpful provider that can help them solve their problem. Because you continue sending them this useful information, they naturally develop a bias to working with you rather than working with their competitors. And in a nutshell, this is how content marketing works. One, you attract, two, you convert, and when I say convert, once again, you convert them in the early stage when they’re discovering information. You convert them on the website by just getting their content information. And three, you engage with them continuously, engage with them until they’re ready to talk. Until they’re ready to engage with you and say, “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Attorney, I am ready to ask a few more questions to make sure that we have a good fit so that I can hire you to do this thing for me that you do.”
Natalie: I also think we need to talk about the different stages of buyer’s journey, and where the prospective clients are, in which stage those prospective clients are so that your content can match whatever they’re looking for. So if it’s just a question, so, “How do I get my DUI ticket fixed?” for example. So, this would be one stage, versus another stage where someone has had already an accident and they’re trying to find a different kind of information.
Sasha: Sure.
Sasha: Okay, so this is expansive, with a subject, right? So, buyer’s journey. We all participate in it whenever we go to buy, consume something that’s not just a daily utility, this is not the grocery shopping, but this is looking for a provider, professional service provider, or buying a vehicle, or anything that’s considerable value and then there are substantial concerns when you hire or when you look at different options, right? So, buyer’s journey has three stages in it, and I’m going to go through this really quickly because this video’s really not about that, but let’s just say this very quickly.
Sasha: So there are three stages. There is awareness, consideration, and decision. In the awareness stage, we know that there is a problem. We can’t quite define the problem possibly yet, we’re not looking for a solution yet, but we know that there is a problem, right? So we’re looking for a definition to the problem, and understanding what it is that needs to be done. An example, for estate planning attorney, an aging parent, right? Who doesn’t have a will, hasn’t done any estate planning, and you know that one unfortunate day they will be gone, and then you and your siblings will need to deal with this. You understand that you need to prepare for this, but you do not know how, so there’s awareness of the problem, that it’s coming up sometime down the road.
Sasha: The next phase where from awareness, you go into consideration, you start actually researching different solutions, right? Different information to the problem. So you start looking, like, “What do I need to do in this case?” Right? And you start looking like, “Okay, so how do I create a will?” Or, “How do I do estate planning?” Or, “Will my parents’ estate be taxed?” Whatever. Right? So you’re looking for answers but you’re not ready to hire an attorney yet, right? So you’re just consuming information, just like in the examples that I used before, right? People are not ready to buy your service yet, they are simply looking for information because they’re considering different options, not different providers.
Sasha: So, and then the decision stage, they already know that they need to hire an estate attorney and now they’re going to be deciding between different providers. So, this is the stage where they will make a decision who they’re going to hire. Now, if you show up early enough in their awareness or consideration stage, you will develop, if your content is good, you will develop-
Natalie: With the right kind of content.
Sasha: … A natural … With the right kind of content, right? Which will deliver that, you need to deliver it repeatedly, it can’t be one-off content, right? If it’s one-off content, the chance of you being forgotten are astronomically high. So, you want to make sure that you deliver that content on an ongoing basis until they’re ready to make that decision until they step into the decision making phase.
Natalie: And if you came too early with your talking about how great your firm is when they’re just in the awareness stage, that’s not gonna work as well.
Sasha: Dealbreaker, yeah. This is not about pitching you, how great you are. This is not pitching your services. This is being a helpful friend, acquaintance, to the person who is looking to solve certain problems or fill certain informational gaps. You’re spot on with this, do not attempt to sell until they’re ready to talk about buying. If you do, it will be an absolute deal breaker, and your content marketing will fail, though it will not be the failure of content marketing, it will be the failure of that specific attempt to sell. So never do that.
Natalie: I think the final piece of information that we haven’t shared yet, okay, “I’m convinced I need to do content marketing, so where do I start? There are so many things I can talk about. I can have a list of those questions prepared that’s the frequently asked questions, but where do I start, and where do I distribute this content?”
Sasha: Okay. So, another great, expansive subject.
Sasha: So, how do you start? Do what we do. We don’t just preach this, we do this, right? So we actually do video production, which we turn into written content, which we distribute on our blog and social media. And then we look for platforms which would be interested in this type of content and write short articles for those platforms. And then we’ll link up from those platforms to our blog posts, so Google sees that we’re reputable because there are a lot of sources that they’re linking up to us.
Sasha: So start by getting a tripod, and a decent, like $50 lavalier mic, and plug it into your phone and make sure that lighting is decent in whatever room that you’re going to record, you don’t have crazy shadows, because a window is right here and your left side is absolutely dark, and your right side is absolutely bright, and then just start recording. Don’t worry about making this perfect. Do not let … Love this quote. Do not let perfection get in the way of publishing.
Sasha: No one’s content is perfect; you don’t need to worry about perfection. Just make it good, and the way you make it good is what you already do every day. People ask you questions, they call you, they ask you questions, or they send you emails, or they send you requests via a contact us form, and you just answer them. Give them the most useful information you can, and that will be a great start.
Sasha: Then, either after you record the video, rewrite it yourself, or hire a ghostwriter or get a marketing company that can do this for you. We do this, but we actually rewrite our video content in a blog format so it’s actually consumable, right? And then a few other tricks that you need to do with the content to make sure that it’s highly searchable, and that it’s highly ranked by Google.
Sasha: But get all of those things done, or don’t worry about it. Just hire a proficient digital marketing company that will do everything but these video recordings. And trust me, you can do these video recordings yourself all day long, it’s as easy as picking up the phone and answering questions to your prospective clients. Yeah?
Natalie: I agree, yup.
Sasha: Cool. I think that’s a wrap, thanks for watching.
Natalie: Thanks.
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Frequently Asked Questions
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