Digital Marketing for Lawyers & Law Firms – Why is it important?

Table of Contents

Introduction

In the digital age, marketing has become a crucial aspect of any business, including the legal industry. For lawyers and law firms, digital marketing is not just about promoting their services, but also about establishing a strong online presence, building credibility and attracting potential clients. This article explores the importance of digital marketing for lawyers and law firms and why it should be an integral part of their business strategy.

1. What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is a form of marketing that leverages the internet and digital technologies to connect with customers [1,2,3,4,5]. It can take on many forms, including videos, long-form content, social media posts, display ads, paid media, or email newsletters [1].

2. How does Digital Marketing fit into a marketing strategy?

Digital marketing is a key component of a comprehensive marketing strategy. It helps businesses reach their target audience, convert them into paying customers, and achieve their marketing goals [6,7,8,9].

Digital marketing is only one avenue of marketing. Unless it ties into a broader and integrated marketing strategy, its effectiveness will be diminished and the return on spending will be much less than potentially available.

3. Why should Lawyers & Law Firms do Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing helps lawyers and law firms attract more clients, get more business, and generate more revenue [10,11,12]. It allows law firms to connect with prospective clients in a way that traditional marketing methods cannot match [11].

The importance of digital marketing as part of an overall marketing strategy to lawyers and law firms has greatly increased in recent years. The use of platforms like Google to advertise legal services has led to a ramping up of competition which brings with it an increase in advertising costs across the board for that industry.

4. How competitive is Digital Marketing for Lawyers & Law Firms?

With more law firms entering the digital marketing arena, escalating digital advertising costs, and increases in spending up to 26%, the online landscape for law firms is more competitive than ever [13,14].

As can be seen in the image above, the cost per click (CPC) for the legal industry is the highest of any industry [36]. This means that lawyers and law firms who focus solely on Google Ads must be willing to match their competitors’ budgets to gain exposure.

Lawyers and law firms that find themselves uncompetitive or who wish to enter the digital marketing arena to increase their revenue will find it particularly expensive to compete with established players if they focus solely on digital advertising.

5. What does the competition mean for Lawyers & Law Firms?

In the legal industry, competition and client expectations rise together in a steady cycle of inflation. Clients expect more for less and have an increasing number of options for where to take their business [15].

Unless lawyers and law firms match their competitors marketing spending or approach their marketing strategy in a more holistic fashion, they will struggle to break through to potential clients. The strong firms will attract more of the market share, increase their revenue, increase their marketing spending and become stronger again.

Weaker players will continue to underinvest in their marketing, struggle to attract new business, struggle to grow, struggle to compete with their marketing spend and continue to have poor marketing spending abilities.

6. Why should Lawyers & Law Firms have a holistic approach to their marketing?

A law firm marketing strategy means a holistic approach to promoting the firm’s services [16]. Doing so requires the firm to define its overall marketing objectives, target audience, services it intends to promote, and brand messaging [16,17,18].

It should encompass multiple channels including social media, google ads, blogs, newsletters, articles, referral opportunities, strategic partnerships, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and so on.

This holistic approach reduces the reliance on any single avenue to obtaining clients. The approach should be well defined and long-term in nature. Consistency is often more important than quality.

7. What other areas should form part of a Lawyers or Law Firms marketing?

A law firm marketing plan may cover a mix of digital marketing, SEO, blogging, print, and digital ads [17,19,20,21,22].

The plan should cover time intervals with specific goals for each period. The time intervals could include 3-month, 6-month, 12-month, 3-year and 5-year time horizons.

Marketing plans should be living documents, regularly reviewed at the senior level and adjusted based on the financial capabilities of the lawyer or law firm.

When was the last time you created, reviewed or adjusted your law firms marketing plan?

8. How much do Lawyers & Law Firms spend on marketing?

Law firms typically allocate anywhere from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars annually on marketing efforts [23,24,25,26].

As a percentage of their revenue, it is common for law firms to spend 5% of their total revenue annually on their marketing. More aggressive firms can spend up to 10%.

9. Is it worth spending money on marketing?

Investing in marketing can help you to secure more clients, increase your sales, and help with brand awareness, which all tend to be worth that initial investment [27,28,29,30,31].

Typically speaking, the return on marketing is anywhere from 2:1 to 5:1. This means that if a marketing strategy is developed and carried out well, it will more than pay for the investment.

10. Can Lawyers & Law Firms outsource their marketing?

Yes, lawyers and law firms can outsource their marketing [32,33,34,35]. Outsourcing allows law firms to work with teams of experts that can lend their skills to projects when needed [32].

Outsourcing a marketing function can work out up to 40% cheaper than hiring an on-site employee. The lawyer or law firm will avoid additional costs on top of an employee’s salary such as superannuation, leave entitlements, payroll tax, benefits, general overhead costs and equipment.

Outsourced marketing providers offer flexible solutions that can be tailored to your overall marketing strategy. They can even assist in the development of an overall marketing strategy if you require.

Outsourcing marketing for a lawyer or law firm will allow the lawyers to focus on what they are good at without being distracted by the marketing function. This allows increased profitability for the firm and a clear definition of roles in the organisation.

11. Conclusion

In conclusion, digital marketing is a crucial aspect of the legal industry. It not only helps lawyers and law firms promote their services and establish a strong online presence but also plays a significant role in attracting potential clients. With the increasing competition in the digital marketing arena, it is essential for lawyers and law firms to have a holistic approach to their marketing and consider outsourcing their marketing to experts.

12. About Us

International Outsourcing Group provides Bookkeeping Services, Marketing Services and Administration Services to businesses across Australia.

We offer a diverse range of Marketing Services including digital marketing, SEO, social media marketing, content creation, blogs, posts and advertising.

You can change the amount of hours you need month to month with no fees to change. We have no establishment or additional hidden fees – just a simple fortnightly payment.

You can visit our website at internationaloutsourcinggroup.com.