5 Key Insights: The Special Challenge of Digital Marketing for Small Law Firms

There are times when lawyers are part of one big industry, and there are times when lawyers stratify themselves into many, many subgroups.  Whether it is distinguishing by law school, a specialty of practice, or types of clients, there are many ways to slice up the different legal practitioners out there.  And when it comes to expending marketing resources, some strategies work across the board for all attorneys, some strategies work only for small firms.

Today’s article will focus on Digital Marketing for your Small Law Firm and startups.  In many ways, small law firms face very different marketing obstacles than larger firms.  Of course, the biggest obstacle is budget. Smaller firms will necessarily have smaller marketing budgets.  Yet, there are a number of other considerations that small firms need to account for that larger marketers may not need to worry about.

The bottom line, of course, is that you want to draw clients to your small firm – to help your bottom line.  Assuming that you already provide high-quality legal services, the next step is to make sure the world is aware of your legal experience, talent, and skill.

Oamii is the marketing specialist for law firms that could take you to the next level.  We care passionately about our law firm clients, and we always take a deep dive to ensure that the marketing strategy we develop fits with your small firm’s culture and goals.  Contact us to learn about what Oamii, South Florida’s law firm marketing specialists, can do for your practice.  Call today at 561-228-4111 .

Now, one to some helpful insights to get your small firm marketing strategy going:

Without trying to sound too much like a fortune cookie in the subtitle, it is true that a person who tries to be an expert in everything ends up being an expert in nothing. What is worse, regardless of legal acumen and actual skill, people will perceive that someone who tries to be all things to all people – i.e., someone who says they practice in all areas – will not be credible in the small law firm marketing game.

Accordingly, the key insight here is to focus, laser-like, on one area of practice. That specialization will allow you to show that you are truly the expert in one particular field of practice.  Moreover, search engines – Google in particular – will reward a small firm that has that type of hyper-specialization. This focus on one specialty has the added benefit of focusing your limited marketing dollars where they count the most.

Therefore, a focus on one small area of practice in one geographic market will yield better online results more quickly. It will also define you as the authority in that particular area of practice.

A recent study showed that 49% of people do internet research on their legal issues before hiring a lawyer. That information has a number of implications, the most important of which is that about one half of your potential client pool will know a little about the legal issues in their case when choosing a lawyer.

In fact, those potential clients might have read something you wrote if you had content on your website (or other FAQ-type sites) about the relevant legal issue. And that leads to the larger point, you need to be the authority in a specific area of practice and have current content online showing your expertise.

You need to pay very close attention to your online presence.  The law firms that are most successful are those ranking high on keyword searches that are most common for your potential clients.

In sum, be sure that you have a strong website, you pay attention to SEO (search engine optimization) when you put content online, that you explore pay-per-click advertising , and you have positive reviews on any review website, like Avvo.

Building a website quickly, without keeping in mind the keywords that will optimize your website for Google searches, means that you are likely starting with an unsteady foundation. You need to make sure your marketing strategy starts with a strong foundation upon which to build your online presence.

A strong foundation starts with a website that keeps SEO in mind and has new content regularly. In that same vein, you need to make sure that your website has keywords that match popular search queries.

The way you do that is to do solid keyword research. There are a number of tools to do keyword research, but essentially you want to brainstorm the search queries that are most appropriate for your practice, determine – with a keyword tool – how popular the search is, and then make sure that your website contains those keywords frequently.

Digital marketing depends on a large part on activity, which means ever-changing content on your website. Accordingly, you need to carve out some time to have great content on your site.  That typically means writing strong articles in your area of expertise.

To make that goal manageable, create a schedule to consistently add new content.  Whether it is a new article once per week, or once per month, make that schedule and to your best to stick to it.

Also, do not be afraid to have some more general content that will remain the same on your site – so-called “evergreen” content, which means that it does not contain references that will show the content is out of date.

Finally, when you generate new content, be sure to also share it on your social media platforms.

This final insight taps into the age-old question of whether to keep something in-house or outsource it. You are a small firm, and you want to make a living in this highly competitive market. It may actually be more cost-effective to outsource your marketing function. Of course, you are smart and can figure out how to use the many online tools and keyword research applications to get your marketing going, but is that the best use of your time?

When you have a moment, consider contacting Oamii – the law firm marketing specialists in South Florida.  We at Oamii have the experience and resources to jumpstart your marketing right away.  We already understand the many marketing strategies and tools out there. Your small firm will likely get more bang for its marketing buck by hiring Oamii, the digital marketing experts, to do your marketing right.  Call us for a consultation at 561-228-4111 .  You will be happy you did.