The Do’s and Don’ts of Law Firm Marketing

Bringing in new clients on a regular basis is the cornerstone of success for any law firm. This begins with a marketing strategy that stands out from your competitors. 

When executed correctly, the best law firm marketing plans will target your ideal clientele, keep your existing clients engaged, and even drum up new business from former clients. 

But compared to other businesses out there, lawyers are a bit more restricted in what they can do to promote the firm. Law firms must follow specific rules and guidelines to avoid potential disciplinary action or ethical dilemmas. 

In short, non-compliance with certain marketing rules could lead to significant consequences for your law firm.

That’s why we created this guide. We’ll explain how to market your law firm the right way, without breaking any advertising rules.

The Do’s of Law Law Firm Marketing — How to Market Firm the Right Way

Let’s start with the musts. Every law firm must follow the best practices below to have a successful marketing strategy.

Create a Website

If you don’t have a website right now, you’re already behind. But a website alone won’t get the job done. The site needs to look modern and professional. If the website looks like it was built in 1995 and hasn’t gone through any updates since then, it’s going to do more harm than good.

Why is this so important? Beyond referrals, the most common way that people look for law firms on their own is by visiting the lawyer’s website.

Your website is the first opportunity to establish trust and credibility with prospects. You can ultimately use this to showcase your services and collect contact information from leads. 

Website builders like Wix and Squarespace make it easy to create a professionally-designed website without any technical skills. While you’ll be up and running quickly, it’s worth noting that these are both low-end options compared to creating a custom website with WordPress.

WordPress provides much more flexibility, but you’ll likely need someone to manage the backend for you. 99% of our clients use WordPress, so this is the route that I’d recommend.

Additional Reading: Is Your Law Firm Website ADA Compliant? 

Set Up a Google Business Profile

Refer back to the graph in the previous section. Aside from your website, online search engines and online reviews are the other most common ways that people find lawyers on their own. 

Setting up a Google Business Profile is the first step to ensure you’re easily found in search engines. 

It’s a free way four to customize your law firm information. You can add photos, enter your address, share contact information, hours, services, and everything else that people look for when searching for a lawyer. 

You can even respond to reviews and receive messages from leads as well. 

Track and Measure KPIs

Your marketing efforts can’t be a guessing game. You need to look at the data to see what’s working and what needs improvement. 

Your Google Business profile comes with access to crucial insights related to how people are discovering your law firm.

But that’s just the starting point. You should also set up a Google Analytics account. It’s free, and measures all of the most important website and user data that you’ll need to make decisions for your law firm marketing campaigns. 

You’ll also want to track and measure things like:

• Total website traffic
• Bounce rate
• Traffic source
• Click-through rate (CTR)
• Conversions
• Email open rates

The list goes on and on. For more information, check out my guide on the top ten website analytics every lawyer needs to track.

Establish a Social Media Presence

Consumers want to connect with brands on social media, and law firms are no exception.

By establishing an active social media presence, you can build brand awareness and connect with customers where they’re spending time every day. Even if they don’t need your services right now, your brand will be top of mind when they see your profile.

You can also use social media to run advertisements and generate more leads.

Don’t feel obligated to have a profile on every social media platform. But Facebook and LinkedIn are both must-haves.

Publish Blogs

Blogging is arguably the best way to generate organic traffic from prospects. It’s a cost-effective SEO strategy that can help balance the outrageous costs associated with paid search ads for law firm keywords. 

An effective blogging strategy can help your law firm rank high in the SERPs for the long term. Unlike ads that are expensive and stop generating leads the second you take them down, blogs can always be a significant traffic source for your firm.

I recommend publishing a new blog at least once per week. Fresh content gives you the best opportunity for high organic traffic.

If you don’t have time to write blogs on your own, you can outsource the task to a writer or consult with a law firm marketing agency to handle this for you. 

Engage With Your Leads

Driving organic traffic to your website and connecting with prospects on digital channels is only half of the battle. You need to take your marketing strategy to the next level with lead nurturing. 

Email marketing software is your best option here. You can automate drip campaigns and send personalized content to your leads. By living in their inbox, it’s another great opportunity for you to be top-of-mind when they need to retain certain legal services. 

The Don’ts of Law Firm Marketing — Pitfalls Lawyers Need to Avoid

There are certain things that a lawyer cannot do when they’re marketing or running ads for their law firm. Make sure your marketing strategy abides by these guidelines:

Avoid False Claims

This might sound obvious, but it happens more often than you’d expect. Lying is a big no-no for any business, but it’s especially important for lawyers. You want to maintain a brand image that’s honest and trustworthy. Any claims that could be perceived as false or misleading can quickly damage your reputation beyond repair. 

Avoid Promises and Unrealistic Expectations

Don’t make any promises to your current or future prospects that you can’t keep. Running ads about guaranteed settlements or anything along those lines is misleading and something you likely can’t back up. So if you’re running an ad or posting something on your website about previous success stories, make sure you include a footnote or something that says “results vary by client,” “results not guaranteed,” or something along those lines. 

Avoid Marketing Terms Like “Expert” or “Specialist”

As I’m sure you know, the American Bar Association has specific rules about law firm marketing. Here’s the exact phrasing of rule 7.2c from the ABA:

In short, you can’t say you’re an expert or specialist unless you meet specific criteria. So it’s in your best interest to avoid this terminology altogether. 

Avoid Direct Solicitations

The ABA also prohibits direct solicitations to individuals. Anything that would be perceived as one-to-one marketing is not allowed. All of your marketing efforts must be geared towards the public. For example, if you see a social media post that someone was in a car accident, sending them a private message soliciting your services could violate this rule.

Final Thoughts

Lawyers must navigate the marketing waters with caution. While law firm marketing is crucial to the success of your firm, there are certain things you just can’t do when you’re trying to promote your legal services.

If you’re looking for some help or guidance applying approved marketing strategies for lawyers, reach out to our team here at the McDougall Interactive for assistance. Book a free strategy session, and we’ll go beyond the basics to ensure your law firm stands out from the crowd and gets more leads from your target clientele.