Working as a lawyer and opening up your firm means you’re practicing your profession. While your job is typically service-oriented, this doesn’t mean you won’t have to market or promote it, as you would with any other business. After all, there are bills and expenses to pay. And above all else, you’ve also got to make your name be known, so you can start to have a steady flow of clients.
It’s not all the time there’s someone who’d need the services of a lawyer, so it’s all the more important for you to market your practice.
Lawyer Marketing 101
When you put a great deal of effort into lawyer marketing, you become a trusted name in the specific legal aspect you practice. When the need for a lawyer comes, a prospective client won’t hesitate to take in your services as a favored choice. With that said, here are six strategies on how you can propel your law practice to forward success:
Ask For Online Reviews
After you’ve provided good service or a favorable result to your clients, before parting ways, don’t shy away from soliciting a review for your website. Especially if you’ve developed a good, professional working relationship, they’re going to be more than willing to leave a good remark for the experience they’ve had with your law firm.
In today’s day and age where people are looking for information and are researching more online, pleasing reviews are a big asset for your business. This can create buzz and boost your image, especially when you’re trying to build your name and image as a lawyer. After all, testimonials are always influential.
Choose To Practice A Specific Area Of Law
If you don’t have an area of specialization yet, then maybe you’d like to push yourself toward a specific area instead of being a general practitioner. Many prospective clients looking for lawyers would rather hire one with a field of expertise for the reason they trust that you’ve taken all the effort you can to master a specific field.
Expertise and skills are a big boost when you’re in the practice of a profession. Plus, it’s easier for you to master a field when you specialize only in that. For instance, if you’re a personal injury lawyer, then you can focus your marketing efforts fine-tuned for personal injury lawyer marketing.
Register On Google My Business
Google My Business today is what would’ve been the yellow pages in a phone directory or phone book in the past. When you put your law firm on this platform, you’re giving it a spot on that online directory. This is a plus, especially if prospective clients are merely looking online rather than asking around and visiting physical law firms while they’re in the process of gathering prospects to hire.
On Google My Business, you can put in more than just your name, address, operating hours, and contact details. You can even go as far as putting in images and a virtual tour of your office. This is an advantage as it also shows your clients your law office is clean and professional. This speaks a lot for the kind of lawyer you are.
Create A Website
This tip applies to those who may still be a small business and don’t have a website yet. In today’s digital age, it’s always a good idea to have a site. This would be your virtual office for the online community. Before prospective clients even walk into a law office, they’ve most likely done their research online. So, if you don’t have a website, there’s no way for you to get your word and existence out there.
Your website should contain information like your contact details, operating hours, and even your credentials. If there are any new seminars, exams, and other certifications you’ve gone through, post about these as well. This will show your prospective clients that you’re serious about your practice as you’ve taken the time and effort to keep on learning.
Go For Online Advertising
Because your goal is to push your law firm forward, this means you’ve got to be willing to spend on advertising. Among all other forms you should spend for and work on, online advertising should be on the top of your list.
Think of those little ads on Facebook or the paid and sponsored ads on Instagram. These will cost your law firm some money, but given the wide reach social media has, it’s one you can’t simply turn a blind eye to.
Be Socially Active In Your Community
If there are local activities you can join in your community, be active there as well. For instance, if you’re a sports buff and a certain business is sponsoring a marathon next month, you may go as far as connecting with the business owners to sponsor their event.
You never know the network of people you can come across through socializing with your local community. This can build a solid foundation for potential referrals should they know anyone needing legal services you’re an expert on.
Plus, the more social activities you join, the more you’re also able to make yourself known. Apart from networking with businesspeople and other professionals, you can network with colleagues as it’s not all the time that they’re your competition. For example, if you come across as a lawyer with a heavy caseload, others may forward some of their cases to you. As always, networking is important in any profession.
Conclusion
Many of the successful law firms in your areas aren’t just those that have proven expertise in their field, but they’re also those that have done a great deal of marketing their firm. The goal should be that whenever the need for a lawyer arises, your name rings a bell on peoples’ minds.
If you don’t market your law firm well enough, you’ll lose against the competition. The tips above can help you push forward your law firm toward success. Consider the ideas mentioned here as you market your profession.
