Immy Williamson
There were 66.11 million internet users in the United Kingdom in January 2023, currently standing at a huge 97.8% of the population. Law firms now have no option but to tap into the advertising potential of the nation, considering that in the last four years 64% of adults in the UK experienced a legal problem.
If legal firms think they are exempt from utilising the marketing strategies at their disposal, they are sadly mistaken. A study conducted by Clio found that the stark majority of law firms see their bottom line as the most important metric for success, with 84% of legal professionals stating that increasing revenue is important. However, in the same study the respondents overlooked growing their client base as a driver of revenue, suggesting that many firms aren’t focused on one of the most impactful catalysts for achieving their core business goals.
In order to maximise new business opportunities, law firms need to look at marketing strategies across as many channels as possible in order to be seen, and differentiate themselves in an over-saturated market.
It is falsely assumed that law firms do not require marketing means to increase clientele. It is now more important than ever that practices take advantage of the search and digital marketing strategies at their disposal in order to achieve visibility and capture their target market’s attention.
Search engine optimisation (SEO) for law firms isn’t vastly different for strategies across the board, however there are some key considerations to take into account for the legal industry – and SEO is a tactic (or range of) that is often overlooked by law firms, meaning the potential for a missed opportunity.
Referrals by friends and family is at the top of the list of new client acquisition, followed closely second by online searches, with 17% of legal consumers looking for a lawyer via this method.
Achieving relevant and profitable enquiries online stems from above parr content, and content hubs, think quality over quantity (but there will more than likely be hundreds of pages of content for the site too) to really stand out in the most competitive legal sectors.
Common conditions to look out for, and fix/improve, include:
• Fixing duplicate, missing, and truncated title tags
• Finding and fixing duplicate or missing meta descriptions
• Finding and fixing multiple H1 tags
• Improving title tags, meta descriptions, and page content
• Optimising images for SEO
• Optimising topic clusters
• Finding and fixing keyword cannibalisation
• Improving content readability
The content itself should aim to answer questions prospective clients are searching for, or may have before committing to a specific practice. It’s all about satisfying demand while providing value, in addition to increasing trust as an expert in the field.
Ensuring that the content is capable of being linked to it must be published on an online platform, with the capacity for people to create links to it from other sources (such as social media).
A great SEO technique is to generate backlinks and offpage citations. A law firm gains credibility in the eyes of a search engine if the content is referred from other websites and sources; however, what must be taken into account is the quality of the referring site – there are plenty of domain authority (DA) checkers, like MOZ that can rate a site’s influence and dominion.
For law firms, foundational content is content that increases the visibility and organic search rankings of either practice area pages or location pages. When creating and adding relevant keywords to content and content hubs ensure that each location that a law firm practices in should have its own hub, as well as each practice area. All informational content on the website should support at least one of these foundational hubs.
As technology continues to advance, the legal profession is also evolving, and artificial intelligence (AI) is playing an increasingly important role. Those practising law are seen as sagacious and operating in an industry that rewards preparedness and respect for precedent – but oftentimes lawyers can be time poor. In the digital age the time has come to work smarter not harder, which is where AI can offer a helping hand.
There have been considerable advances in AI, with the likes of ChatGPT dominating search news and trends. However, practices are reluctant to adopt AI into their professional arsenal due to concerns over confidentiality. The future looks to be AI and maintaining confidentiality is certainly key for sensitive industries, such as law – with it you can explore data to uncover valuable insights about current and prospective clients, and their preferences.
There is (as always) the elephant in the room in regards to the risks associated with generative AI*, most common are copyright infringement, inherent bias, overestimation of its capabilities, and the creation of deep fakes.
Law firms must take an additional consideration towards the ethical implications of using client information within AI, as a rule of thumb it is best not to input private and privileged information into a tool like ChatGPT. AI can determine the optimum time to share content across the web so that it reaches the right people, at precisely the right time. It is a feature built into many scheduling software tools, as well as social listening tools to fuel the content that is geared towards SEO. When data has meaning, it can prompt action.
One of the most powerful aspects of AI is its ability to take large swaths of data and give it meaning – Google Analytics 4 is an example of this aggregation of data with worth. By using GA4’s Intelligence tool, we are able to receive an answer to queries like “what actions do prospects take compared to cold prospects?” due to its machine learning capabilities. As AI technology continues to develop, it is likely that even more innovative and effective uses for AI in legal marketing will be developed. *a branch of artificial intelligence that focuses on creating or generating new content that is original and resembles human-created output.
With many law firms vying for the same clients, standing out from the competition is done by differentiating themselves through their marketing. One of the ways this can be achieved is through personalisation; this refers to the process of creating individualised and relevant interactions based on the firm learning about its consumers from analytical data.
The actions based on this information have a lot of potential, due to clients expecting a unique customer experience based on their own desires.
80% of consumers said they are more likely to make a purchase when businesses provide a personalised experience. To get started here are four ways to deliver a personalised strategy, as unique as the clients and prospects coming through the doors.
Understanding what clients want is crucial to personalisation success, what do they need at each step of their firm selection process? This information helps to craft empathetic and useful messaging that speaks directly to their needs.
Without data, there is no personalisation. Data such as:
• Communication preferences
• Location
• Name
• History with the firm
Will all help with the personalised journey of the individual. It is important to remember to adhere to GDPR.
Deliver the right message at the right time, with software that is simple to use for both marketer and end user – make it clear where they can opt-in… or out!
While personalisation is a great tool to have, there is such a thing as going too far. Using someone’s first name, for instance, can make the user feel more at ease with their experience, however bringing up a sensitive personal issue from a prior case (or the wrong case) is inappropriate. Building up this infrastructure can take time but the rewards are manifold. More leads, higher retention, brand affinity, increased revenue—these are just a few of the benefits that those in the legal profession will obtain.
Consumer expectations are increasingly shaped by their experiences across other industries, and law is no different – to stand out from the crowd you must deliver a second-to-none online experience. Legal problems can significantly alter the course of a person’s life—and lawyers are in a unique position to help their clients achieve the best possible outcome for those problems. Addressing the client needs with as little emotional friction as possible is key to delivering a great – and human – experience.
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