Lead generation for law clients is a very difficult and time consuming business activity that if not done well, will most likely contribute to the failure of a law practice as a business.
As a lawyer, running a law practice will be one of the most difficult, time and resource-demanding business endeavors you will take on. There are a myriad of things to consider and do well to keep your law practice from failing.
One of the greatest problems you will face for your law practice will be attracting clients. You will need to generate client leads and turn them into paying clients for your law practice. After all, no clients means no work. And no work means you don’t eat.
Lead generation for lawyers can be a costly, challenging concept and process. Lead generation may even seem like a foreign concept that’s just for “people in sales.”
But it’s absolutely critical for your law firm to create a reliable lead generation pipeline, as lead generation for law clients is essential to your law firm’s business development strategy. Client lead generation contributes to its cash flow, financial health, and business growth.
Thankfully, with the right strategy and tactics, lead generation for your law practice can be a fruitful process, producing a steady flow of quality, reliable leads.
Generating Client Leads For Yourself
First, a warning. Generating leads for your law practice is a very time consuming activity and something that isn’t just done once. It’s something that you do on a consistent basis, week after week, month after month.
There are some tried and tested classic methods for getting exposure for your law practice and generating leads.
However, without a solid marketing strategy and a very responsive, frictionless intake process in place, none of the following methods will matter and your law practice business will most likely suffer.
Generating Client Leads By Networking:
When most people think of traditional, in-person networking, there seems to be a negative visceral reaction to it. Meeting new people can be an unpleasant and daunting experience, especially under formal environmental conditions.
However, developing a networking strategy allows you to reach people that you may have never met and gain leads while developing solid relationships for referrals down the road.
But where can you do that during a pandemic? Surprisingly, there are still some places where you can do some good networking. Some of the most common places to look are volunteering, your local chamber of commerce, industry conventions, and social media.
Social media offers networking opportunities that can promote lead generation for you. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, can help you to get in touch with potential resources.
And while often time-consuming, volunteering is a wonderful way to meet people while doing some good for your community. Word of mouth of your services and skills through this method can be a very effective way to gain clients for your law practice.
Word of Mouth Law Client Lead Generation
According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family over any other type of advertising. Even academic research into word of mouth has proven its effectiveness in conversions.
Beyond friends and family, 88% of people trust online reviews written by other consumers as much as they trust recommendations from personal contacts.
And 74% of consumers identify word of mouth as a key influencer in their purchasing decisions.
In the International Journal of Market Research, M. Nick Hajili wrote:
“Trust, encouraged by social media, significantly affects intention to buy. Therefore, trust has a significant role in ecommerce by directly influencing intention to buy and indirectly influencing perceived usefulness.”
Traditionally, word of mouth marketing was spread from one person to another based on recommendation.
Modern word of mouth marketing describes both targeted efforts and naturally occurring instances where users share their satisfaction with a brand.
Traditional Lawyer Print, Billboards & TV Marketing & Advertising
When we talk about traditional lawyer marketing, we refer to the activities that existed before the dot-com era and the expansion and near universal adoption of the Internet after that.
Those marketing activities obviously still exist, including print advertising in magazines and newspapers and any other form of print that has a sizable audience and advertising offering.
Traditional lawyer marketing and advertising also includes billboards and television, both of which can be quite costly and may not provide trackable metrics to see if you are getting a return on your law marketing and advertising investment.
A significant consideration is that if your prospects are mature, your best bet to reach them is through newspaper and magazine ads, radio and TV commercials, and billboards.
This generation is 6 million-strong in Canada, and more than 50 million-strong in the United States, with considerable purchasing power, which means that you don’t want to ignore them.
A strictly digital marketing campaign might not be as effective on a mature audience, but a well-thought-out traditional marketing campaign can produce positive results in this demographic.
Generating Client Leads With Law Firm Digital Marketing
With the near universal adoption of the Internet through must-have mobile devices such as the iPhone or the latest Android mobile device, people are connected as never before to the information they want.
We are hyper connected. Some of us don’t leave our phones beyond a few feet away from our bodies. Some of us can’t even put our mobile phone down! The addiction of the device owing no small thanks to the intelligent, intentional attention grabbing algorithms at play.
With that many people’s eyeballs glued to their mobile phones, it is the perfect device to deliver the message of so many advertisers and marketers.
But in order to get the attention of your potential law client, you need to have a solid web presence. That means at the very least, you need to own the first page of search results for your name, the name of your law firm and the name of any employees that work for you.
In other words, when somebody searches for your name, the first search results page should show results that are all related to you and your law practice.
But how do you do that?
A big part of that includes having a website that is search engine optimized and user friendly, with a good user experience.
Your law practice website must also be helpful to people who visit, because those could be potential clients, and providing value upfront is a proven way to gain trust and acceptance of your advice as authoritative and valued.
People are using online sources more and more to search for local services and products, which means having a strong digital marketing strategy is no longer optional.
As a Lawyer, using a digital-first mindset to scale your law firm marketing will help you reach thousands of potential clients at once through the use of technology.
Want to learn more about how you can do it yourself and generate more clients through digital marketing? Check out these 3 free, often overlooked strategies lawyers like you can use to get clients online.
