For large legal firms, marketing is a relatively straightforward affair. But for SMEs, the need to be innovative and eschew tradition has never been clearer.
Many an SME legal firm will feel a tinge of envy at the comparative simplicity of marketing services for larger firms. With their well-known brand names, wide geographical reach and in-house marketing teams, the big players enjoy obvious advantages.
That does not mean smaller firms have not tried to market themselves, but the use of traditional methods has led to poor returns on investment.
Using analogue techniques for trying to reach clients in a digital age is always likely to be less successful. For instance, a newspaper advert is here today and gone tomorrow. Similarly, a billboard is constrained by physical location.
Moreover, there is little control over who gets to see these adverts; a host of uninterested people may pass a billboard while a more likely customer walks down a neighbouring street.
In contrast, digital content is by nature more accessible, without such limitations of time and place. But that is just one of its advantages.
Through content marketing, law firms and their digital partners can create great content and focus it more accurately on the people they want to engage with.
Based on the characteristics (known as personas) of the target market, content can be produced concerning the topics of greatest interest to them. The rule of seven suggests customers typically must be exposed seven times to a marketing message before buying; few will see the same newspaper ad seven times, but regular interesting online content can start a conversation to achieve this goal.
This effort can be further boosted by using search engine optimisation (SEO) for law firms, as the right keywords can direct readers to relevant content. Social media and email marketing can also focus more on particular target groups.
With this greater precision of digital marketing, the ROI is sure to be higher than that of traditional methods.
For some legal firms the use of modern techniques requires a shift from the ways of the past. Since old habits die hard and lawyers cannot be expected to do the jobs of marketers, it makes sense to work with partners who can apply the most contemporary and effective methods of communicating with target markets.
By Charlie Britten, BeUniqueness.co.uk.
Photo from Pixabay.
