Why your law firm needs a tailored marketing strategy that’s unique to you

There is no shortage of advice and ideas about what your best digital marketing strategy should be. But if it isn’t based firmly on your needs and circumstances, it is unlikely to be useful.

If you run an SME law firm and are keen to improve your marketing to help expand your firm, you will certainly be best off using digital marketing. This has been shown to be far more effective for the sector than traditional methods such as newspaper ads and billboards.

However, choosing to use digital marketing and getting the best digital marketing strategy are not the same thing at all.

One size does not fit all

This is an important point to remember. It is possible that you may have learned something about digital marketing from online blogs on the topic. If they are telling you that digital marketing can be hugely effective, relevant and reach lots of people, they are right. But if they start telling you exactly what kind of campaign you should be running or which tools you should use, they are assuming too much.

Some may thing SME law firms have so much in common with each other that the nature of a digital marketing campaign might not differ too much, but in fact there are a range of variables that could make a significant difference:

• The age of your firm
• The area (or areas) of law it operates in
• The size of your budget
• The USP of your firm
• Whether you have a website yet

How different situations shape priorities

All of these are particularly important. If your firm is a young one, it may have no customers yet, which would make something like pay-per-click ads to get leads quickly a high priority. If you are literally just starting out, however, it may be that you are not in a huge hurry and your priority should be building up awareness, something content blogs can help with.

Of course, if you are just starting out, it is unlikely you will have a well-developed website, so that should be a top priority, as without providing a good user experience other good work can be squandered. For instance, if you perform badly in areas classed as ‘technical SEO’ such as page load-up time, coding security or mobile-friendliness, this will hit your overall SEO ranking and undermine good SEO work done through tools like keywords, relevance and backlinks.

Another issue is your budget. It may be that if you have a lot of money to spend you can extend to using several different digital marketing tools, which can work together very effectively to help you grow. However, this is no use if you have a small budget. In that situation, it is important to engage with marketers who will assess your firm’s needs, identify the biggest priorities and provide the services that focus most on them.

The area or areas of law you practice will be important for planning in many respects. Most notably, it will impact on who your target market is. For instance, those using business legal services may be very different to those seeking help with family law matters. You will need a specific ‘buyer persona’ for the target market that will shape how your whole digital marketing plan works.

An example of this is how you might use social media. There may be many proponents of using particular platforms, but if your target audience is younger and female, you should be using Instagram. For business, you should focus on LinkedIn.

The importance of analysis

Another reason failing to tailor a digital marketing strategy is a bad idea is that it leaves no scope for analysis and amendment.

While the initial analysis will help identify likely ways in which particular digital marketing tools can help, it is by using analytical tools that the results can be quantified. This can prove that something is having the desired effect; but can also show where a particular tool is proving ineffective. This knowledge can then be used to fine tune the strategy.

How BeUniqueness can help

BeUniqueness approaches every client as an individual entity and thoroughly analyses each firm before drawing up an appropriate plan. In addition, we regularly analyse data to ensure we can update your strategy. That way, you can be sure you are getting the best possible plan in place to get a great return on your marketing investment.