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Content Marketing for Law Firms 101

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Content Marketing for Law Firms 101

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Forbes Magazine describes content marketing as a “technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content.” The core goals of content marketing are to establish authority, develop a brand, and attract/acquire a well-defined audience. At ONE400, we provide results-driven content marketing services for law firms. Our team is focused on helping lawyers and law firms achieve their goals with customized, effective marketing solutions. Content creation is one of the keys to successful branding in the legal industry. Below you will find a comprehensive guide to content marketing for law firms. 

The Legal Industry is Competitive: Content Sets a Law Firm Apart from the Competition

Law is a competitive industry. According to data from the ABA National Lawyer Population Survey, there were 1.32 million attorneys licensed to practice nationwide in 2022. Client acquisition is one of the fundamental challenges of building and maintaining a successful law firm. Content marketing is among the most effective, cost-efficient strategies for law firms to set themselves apart from the competition and make an impact on their target audience. As Bill Gates explained in his famous 1996 essay, “Content is King” in the digital realm. Why is content marketing so important for law firms? There are four key reasons: 

  • Relevant, authoritative, and reliable content establishes a law firm as an authority
  • Content is key to search engine optimization (SEO)—it makes a law firm more visible. 
  • Consistent content develops a brand image that distinguishes a law firm. 
  • A law firm can use useful content to inform and connect with an audience

Content Marketing for Law Firms: A Five-Step Process

A well-developed content marketing strategy is about a lot more than writing a blog and posting it on a website. Lawyers and law firms need a comprehensive content marketing strategy that is carefully crafted to achieve their objectives. Here is a five-step process for content marketing for law firms. 

Define Goals

Before you start creating content for your law firm, it is crucial that you have well-defined goals in place. What are you trying to achieve with your content? It is imperative that you consider this question. In general, this starts with identifying your target audience. You can’t create content without knowing who you want to read it to. Define your target audience and consider their needs, interests, and concerns.

Create Content

Content marketing is only going to be effective if the content your law firm creates is valuable to the target audience. Your content should be relevant to your target audience and their needs. A law firm that solely practices criminal defense probably does not need to be developing general law content. Authoritativeness matters. The audience should come away from the content viewing a lawyer or law firm as a trusted expert in the field. Content also needs to be reasonably engaging. A content that is too dense or unpleasing to the eye may simply be clicked away from by a potential client. Content that is relevant, informative, and engaging can make a difference. 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Content is key to modern search engine optimization (SEO), in fact with recent Google and Bing algorithm updates authoritative content is now more important than ever to achieve higher search ranking. The ABA Journal finds that people are increasingly turning to the internet first when looking for a lawyer. Will a potential client see your law firm at all? It depends, in large part, on SEO rankings. A well-designed and properly implemented content marketing strategy can be the difference between a law firm coming up at the top of Google’s search rankings and being buried on page three or worse. 

Call-to-Action

For law firms, content is most effective when it is action-oriented. Imagine that you are a partner at a family law firm in Los Angeles. A person is looking for information about divorce in California. They come across your content which provides a useful answer to their question. What happens next? Ideally, your law firm’s content presentation will both encourage them and make it easy for them to reach out to your law firm. A call-to-action can generate leads and result in potential clients scheduling consultations. 

Evaluation

Content marketing for law firms is a long game. Even the most useful and engaging article is unlikely to lead to immediate results for a law firm. Content marketing is about consistency and evaluation. Lawyers and law firms should always be prepared to refine their content marketing strategy to better achieve their goals.  

An Overview of Best Practices for Law Firm Content Marketing

While there are exceptions, relatively few people will navigate directly to a law firm’s website to engage with the content. Instead, potential clients find content from law firms in two main ways: 1) Search (Google, Bing), and 2) Social Media. Google is far and away the dominant search engine in the United States. Though, an increasing number of people are engaging with lawyers and law firms through social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. It is crucial that attorneys and law firms understand the best practices for content marketing, including: 

  • Unique: Content must be unique. Google’s algorithm will severely penalize a website that contains content that is outright copied from other websites. Uniqueness matters.  
  • Consistent: Consistency is key for both SEO rankings and social media engagement. When content is posted rarely, it is actually less likely to be visible—even if the quality is very high. 
  • SEO Optimized—Within Reason: SEO optimization is essential. Keywords still matter for SEO rankings and social media visibility. That being said, there is a limit. Content deemed low quality due to overuse (spamming) of keywords will be penalized.  

ONE400 is a Leader in Content Marketing for Law Firms

At ONE400, we provide a full range of digital marketing services for law firms, including content marketing. Our award-winning team of experts is ready to help you build an effective content marketing strategy. If you have any questions about content marketing for the legal industry, we are here as a resource. Give us a call now or contact us online to learn more about our services. Based in Los Angeles, we work with law firm clients throughout the United States and worldwide.

 

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About the author

Allen Rodriguez Allen Rodriguez is a legal product development strategist who has been serving the legal industry for over 21 years. Over the course of his career, Allen has built a reputation for creating innovative legal services products as well as developing highly effective law firm business and marketing strategies. Allen is a valued speaker on the topics of law marketing, legal services product development, and future of law issues.

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