With so much on their plate, attorneys do not usually put content marketing at the top of their priority list. In the midst of managing their caseload, firms are spending less time on improving their marketing strategy and just sticking to what has worked throughout the years. For these reasons, many practices continue to rely on traditional marketing strategies like mailers, billboards, correspondence, referrals, and other networking techniques.
Like every other industry, however, the market is changing. With a more competitive industry than ever before, it is essential for firms to jump on the bandwagon and become experts in the field of content marketing for lawyers. Adopting a content strategy could make all the difference when it comes to lead generation. Although traditional methods still have value, content marketing is the future, while more traditional strategies will likely becomes less effective in the digital age.
What is content marketing?
So, what does content marketing mean anyway? Fundamentally, it is a tactical marketing method with a focus on producing fresh, relevant, and frequent content in order to draw in a target audience. The ultimate goal is to convert the traffic that is drawn from the content into quality leads and potential clients. Content can consist of blog articles, category content, social media engagement, email marketing campaigns, videos, and more.
Starting to consider a new marketing strategy can be stressful. Begin with small, gradual changes. If you’re thinking it’s time to get your feet wet in this great big sea of content marketing, here are a few tips to keep in mind:
Be intentional in your strategy
Having a plan is crucial to seeing the benefits of content marketing. This means, it is important to map out what you want to produce and why you are producing it. We recommend creating a content calendar with at least a few months of content planned out in advanced, so that you can budget your time appropriately and have some wiggle room when unexpected events occur. Creating effective content comes from knowing your audience. This is where analyzing the behavior of site visitors proves to be valuable. Study your posts to see which piece or type of content attracts the most visitors for the longest duration. This will feed your marketing strategy. Base the topic of the content you create on the behavior of your visitors and potential clients.
Content marketing is not an overnight fix
Have patience. You will certainly not generate leads and increase your case load with one well-written blog post. The benefits and results will come after a consistent, long-term commitment. Expect to wait, on average, more than 3 months to see written content start ranking well in search engines (unless you are lucky enough for it to go viral).
Most lawyers are excellent technical writers, however, it is important to keep in mind that the audience you are trying to attract (and convert) is not made up of attorneys who have received the same law school education as you. Visitors will not be engaged with or relate to blog posts or other content produced in a technical style that offers a chain of legal jargon. Be catchy in the language you use and conversational in your discourse. If you’re writing an expository piece, aim to be simple and straightforward. When you can explain the term instead of simply using a “big legal word”, go for the explanation. Another thing to keep in mind is that many laypeople don’t exactly know what it is that they’re looking for when they are researching legal topics.
For example, someone who received a DUI in California may not know what they should do next. If you just create an article on how your firm has the best DUI Lawyers in the state, you could miss out on clients by not also having a well-written blog post outlining what someone should do after receiving a DUI. What you should do is have both pages on your website, and use internal links to send people between the posts.
