Important Attorney Lead Generation Tactics | Good2bSocial

We are living in a digital-first world. Like traditional lead generation, the new model is still founded on demonstrating expertise and building trusting relationships — but these goals are now accomplished online. There is no shortage of digital strategies that can help bring leads in for your firm, but the most effective tend to fall under these umbrellas. Here’s how to create a winning attorney lead generation strategy.

Why is it Important to Generate Leads Online?

In the past, lawyers have been able to generate a large number of leads through traditional tactics like word of mouth. However, nowadays, consumers go online before any other source when they’re considering hiring someone for a service.

In fact…

• Content marketing drives 54{7c1f727ad66a597ae78cabc4b59d9c205bdf504ab3f799bca935c953578dc3bd} more leads than traditional methods. 
• 60{7c1f727ad66a597ae78cabc4b59d9c205bdf504ab3f799bca935c953578dc3bd} of B2B marketers think social media is the second most effective lead generation tactic

Important Online Lead Generation Tactics for Law Firms

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 

Over 80{7c1f727ad66a597ae78cabc4b59d9c205bdf504ab3f799bca935c953578dc3bd} of people search for a product or service online. When people have any kind of legal issue – whether or not they have decided they need a lawyer – they tend to turn to the internet for answers. The internet is particularly important for people with legal troubles, as it’s anonymous. 

Your best bet is to make sure that your law firm’s website is visible to as many of those people as possible. Search engine optimization is a science all its own (that’s why we have an entire webinar presentation dedicated to it: SEO Basics in an Hour), but to rank on page 1 of Google, it’s imperative to understand the following the main components: 

• Researching and then implementing relevant keywords in your content– include high volume keywords specific to your firm in items like the title, meta description, URL, headings, and image alt text to help you rank.
• Making your website mobile-friendly (and responsive, if possible)– improve website speed by lessening large images, eliminating pop-ups on small screens, decluttering your web design, and always testing on mobile devices.
• Enhancing your site’s speed and improving navigation– optimize images, use a content delivery network, and use browser HTTP caching.
• Decreasing your bounce rate– pay attention to page load times, make your site easy to navigate, have a clearly located search bar, and write in shorter paragraphs.

Related: An SEO Checklist for Law Firms

Education Marketing

You’ll also hear this form of marketing referred to as content marketing. No matter what you call it, it’s about educating and informing people through the content that you create and share. Content marketing is really the backbone of an attorney lead generation strategy.

Just like we mentioned above, when people have legal questions they are looking for answers. If you can provide these answers and solutions, you are not only positioning yourself as a trusted resource, you are bringing in new traffic to your website or blog. Eventually, visitors may reach out to you with more questions or to gain clarity on something they read. In this way, you’ll be top of mind when they do need to secure legal representation. 

Keep in mind that what people are truly looking for and reading is articles or blog content – not necessarily web pages. Items that researchers will find valuable are how-to guides, question-and-answer sessions, checklists, etc. While it’s important to have a fully developed website with practice area descriptions, don’t neglect a “resources” section where you provide plenty of non-salesy, helpful information. 

Creating a blog is also a critical part of a smart content strategy. Alongside your blog, you can also offer educational content in the form of whitepapers, eBooks, and more. Always use a call-to-action at the end of each of these pieces of content so prospects will be moved down the sales funnel more easily.

Better yet, when you’ve developed a worthwhile piece of content like an eBook, you can also gate it by asking users to give their email addresses in exchange for viewing the content. This means you can add users to your database and move them down the buyer’s funnel via email as well.

Start out by creating an ideal client profile, and figure out what your target audience’s pain points are. Then, offer content that creates solutions to these problems. And don’t forget to promote your content via social media, email, and more.

Social Media Marketing

No marketing strategy is complete without social media. Social media is arguably the most important platform for sharing information (next to the internet). Social media is essential today, and it helps lawyers and law firms generate brand awareness, remain top of mind, form relationships with their audience, and more.

Most social media platforms offer both paid and free ways to promote your firm. Paid advertising on social media allows for very specific targeting and precise control of your budget. Even if you don’t want to start out with paid campaigns, you should be present and active on social media – it’s today’s word-of-mouth! 

It’s also great to be consistently active because you never know: something you’ve posted could be reaching someone on social media at just the right time. 

Start by creating accounts on all major platforms, and focus much of your attention on LinkedIn. Make sure each account has a profile picture, header (if applicable), and a bio that’s in line with your brand guidelines. Next, plan what content you’d like to post. Remember: content should be mostly educational. Try sharing links to your blog or content, responding to news in your industry, highlighting your firm culture, etc. 

Make sure every post is fully optimized with an image/ video and hashtags and you’ll be on your way to generating leads.

Online Advertising

As we mentioned above, you can create paid advertisements for social media, or you can invest in pay-per-click ads through search engines like Google.

Regardless, these types of advertisements are much more cost-efficient than traditional ads because you are only paying for those that convert.

PPC ads are a great way to remain competitive because it guarantees your content is being shown to people, whereas with SEO and organic social, there’s always a chance you won’t rank / show up in algorithms.

Start by researching relevant keywords / what audience you’d like to target and go from there. Make sure your campaigns are fully optimized with an informative landing page that includes a lead generation form, images/ videos (if it’s a social media ad), and enticing copy.

Multimedia Options

Now consumers desire to learn and absorb information in a number of ways. Things like videos, podcasts, and webinars are all great ways to educate your audience and position yourself as a thought leader in your industry.

By creating non-written content, you’re expanding your firm’s brand to a wider range of users and all-new audiences by harnessing things like podcast posting platforms, YouTube, Zoom events, and more.

Better yet, these options also help with humanizing firms/ lawyers. People tend to want to work with those that they view as authentic, and getting to hear the voice and maybe even see the face of a lawyer you’re considering working with can do wonders. 

You can learn about multimedia options for lead generation with these free resources:

Takeaway: 

Though these are all separate strategies, the truth is that they all center on one objective: gaining more visibility. Using these tactics will help to ensure that you’ll be all set with a successful attorney lead generation strategy.

This post has been edited and republished from Aug. 4, 2021.