How Much Time Attorneys Spend For Online Marketing
Marketing is a niche inevitable to all other domains which require establishing a connection with the public and providing them with a particular service. And no doubt, the work of an attorney is no exception to it. Whether its a law firm or individual attorneys practising law on their own, both require a guided medium to reach their audience and promote their services. In earlier times, it was mainly done through newsletters, magazines, advertisements on radio, etc.
But with the advancement of technology and digitalisation, online marketing for attorneys has become a whole new medium to connect with their clients, provide knowledge to them about their services, consultation procedures, specialisations, etc. According to a survey, full-service lawyers spend 44% of their time in promoting and managing the firm. While those who are a part of business boutique firms, dedicate only 17% of this time to marketing.
Although the primary obligation of the law firm is striving hard to provide justice to their clients, it is a task impossible in today’s world where there are thousands of organisations running in the same race with you and giving you a cut-throat competition. With such fierce contesting, it becomes essential to introduce law firms marketing.
WHY IS ONLINE MARKETING IMPORTANT?
Marketing your law firm or individual service can be done through offline as well as online modes. Although both are beneficial in their ways, with digitalisation, the advantages of online or internet marketing are all in rage. Considering the communication channels your audience uses, you must decide the distribution between offline and online marketing.
Upon surveying, you will find out that most of the people are getting more inclined towards social media networks like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. and only people residing in the extreme rural areas rely on radios and newspapers.
Although traditional media is still influential in many sectors, it is time we begin to adapt the strategies for online marketing for lawyers as well. Following are its benefits:
1. Cost-Effective
The first and one of the most significant pros of switching to digital platforms for marketing is that unlike traditional media, it is highly inexpensive. While you may spend lakhs in getting a slot on the front page of a daily newspaper, a few thousands might be sufficient to run your campaign on the online front.
2. Flexibility and Monitoring
The second element you can take advantage of is flexibility. Let’s understand this with an example. Suppose you have your advertisements running in traditional media like newspapers, magazines, banners, etc. Now in case, you need to remove something from the current ad or add something to it, the entire process of modification is highly time-consuming as well as expensive.
But when it’s on online mediums, you can not only adapt the campaign according to your needs and personalise it whenever you want without much expenditure but also can keep track of all the activities, and monitor the real-time statistics.
3. Increased Reach
Another critical requirement that is fulfilled by online marketing for attorneys is building up your reach. The main motive of advertising is making sure more and more people know about your services. Since the coming generation is getting more distant with traditional media, the only way you can address them is through the online modes.
Moreover, while newspapers might be limited to a specific geographical boundary, putting your banner online can make promotions overseas as well!
How Can Attorneys Market Online?
Given below are some strategies extremely useful in marketing for attorneys and law firms:
1. Build Your Reputation
Always remember that your reputation is everything. Without it, no matter how potential you have or how hardworking you are, people won’t count on your services. Even the ones that do might start seeking the help of your competitors. Hence, the first thing to work upon is reputation. Establish your firm on review websites and ask your clients to leave their feedback, which will result in building up your reputation.
2. Acknowledge The Client’s Feedback
In the digital world, your reputation is decided by your customers. After consulting or hiring you, they often leave reviews in the forms of comments, ratings, etc. Everything’s okay if you are flooded with positive reviews, but what’s crucial is to satisfy your customers who have had bad experiences while working with you.
3. Expand Your Reach
Google Ads, video marketing, SEO, etc. are some of the popular technologies to consider while online marketing for attorneys for expanding your reach. Make sure your content is parallel to these technologies and available on platforms like Facebook, Google Maps, Youtube, etc.
Conclusion
Online marketing has become a necessity when we talk about promoting our services, even our law firms. Dedicating a significant amount of time towards it is vital to plan out your campaigns efficiently and monitor them timely. While reputation lays the foundation of your law firm, it is also required that you expand your reach, resell your content and promote regularly. You can even tie-up with social media influencers which can brand your law firm as well as produce referrals for the same.
Author Bio
Sophia Dicosta, a Google certified online marketer, and blogger at Conroy Creative Counsel –law firm marketing agency in the USA.