Law firms, like all businesses, need to market themselves. Effective marketing helps businesses to achieve exposure and industry recognition. Marketing oneself as a lawyer can be particularly difficult, however. This is because a lawyer needs to market themselves directly to clients, many of whom might be engaged in criminal lifestyles. If a lawyer is unable to market themself effectively, their careers won’t last very long.
Identifying, locating, and messaging potential clients can be an impossible task. This article will simplify it however, and will present nine effective ways that lawyers can market themselves:
Hire a Marketing Firm
Hiring a specialist marketing firm is without a doubt the most effective way of marketing oneself as a lawyer. Unless you previously worked in marketing, trying to market yourself isn’t a good idea. Marketing is a specialist field that requires training, study, and practise. In addition, as a lawyer it’s likely that your caseload will be too heavy to even find the time to market yourself. There are plenty of agencies who specialise in marketing for law firms of all kinds. Hiring a professional marketing team will be one of the best things that you ever do for your career.
Client Referrals
Most lawyers agree that referrals are the best way to find new clients. If you are an independent lawyer or run a small law firm, asking your clients for referrals is a great way to drum up new business. If you practise criminal law, then the clients that you represent are likely to know other people involved in crime. If you are good at your job, then they will happily refer you to their associates. You could also incentivize referrals by offering discounts to clients who bring in lots of business.
Create a Website
Creating a website should be one of the first things that you do when you are considering ways of marketing yourself. There are very few businesses that don’t benefit from having a website these days, even if you don’t offer online services. A website will give you the opportunity to showcase your expertise, write articles, and draw in new business. When your website’s live, you should consider hiring an SEO marketing team to manage your website’s online presence. SEO is the process by which one increases the rankings of one’s website, appearing higher in the major search engines’ listings than one’s competition.
Free Learning Resources
Distributing free learning resources on the law in your local area is definitely something to consider. Building a reputation for yourself as an expert locally is a great way to attract new customers. While distributing learning resources won’t directly attract people, word will spread and people will bear you in mind when they are experiencing legal difficulty. You could print out leaflets explaining common legal mistakes that could be avoided, as well as what to do if one finds oneself stopped by the police. Distribute these leaflets in high-crime areas if you are a criminal lawyer, a reputed law firm Cohen & Marzban suggests.
Network Locally
Networking with other lawyers in your area can be a very effective way of marketing yourself. It’s especially important to make sure that you network with lawyers who don’t practice your specific type of law. This is so that they can refer people to you if people approach them asking for representation in your area of law. You can also do the same for them. Making friends with lawyers in your area is a great way to build your reputation in the legal community. You would be surprised at how much lawyers gossip, talk, and hear about each other. Networking now could bring you business for the rest of your life.
Social Media Accounts
Social media is somewhere you will want to set up shop, even if you have a social media manager run your page for you. On social media, you can make a page where you showcase your expertise, engage with people interested in law, and post information about the law. In addition, you can contact potential clients directly, and advertise yourself to your target demographic. Many social media platforms facilitate sidebar advertising and will target your key audience for you through hashtags, locations, and keywords.
Local Advertising
If you run a small law firm or are an independent lawyer in a small town, there’s not much benefit to marketing yourself on national radio or television, but there are a lot of advantages to marketing yourself on local access television and radio. You will be able to advertise yourself directly to the townsfolk to whom you hope to represent. It’s also worth printing flyers and posters and distributing them locally. You could ask your local public transport authority if they would allow you to put posters up inside and on the side of busses, trains, and trams.
Customer Service
Good customer service isn’t necessarily a method of directly marketing oneself, but it will benefit you when it comes to word of mouth and referrals. If your customer service is terrible, then word of it will spread very quickly. Conversely, if you deal with your clients professionally and employ an experienced customer service rep to handle emails, phone calls, and live chats, then your customers will talk highly of you and will rate you highly online. Poor customer service is often the main reason that law firms don’t achieve the success that they deserve.
Public Defender’s Office
If all else fails, join the public defender’s office. If you work for the public defender’s office, then you don’t need referrals, marketing, or advertising. Instead, the work will come to you directly. With that said, working for the public defender’s office isn’t the best, especially if you have your hopes set on becoming one of the world’s most famous lawyers! Public defenders don’t earn a lot of money and have to deal with the worst cases. Even so, if you want to build your reputation and don’t know how to market yourself, coming up through the public defender’s office deserves some consideration.
Marketing oneself as a lawyer can be difficult, which is why many experts recommend hiring a marketing firm to do it for you. If you are determined to manage your own marketing, however, then follow this article’s guidance and you should be able to succeed.
