4 minsNot only is it challenging to make it big in business, but it’s also tough to keep up with the emergence of the digital age. Before the digital age, larger firms had the opportunity to deploy more capital towards marketing which in return allowed for more success ... While smaller firms lacked the depth to compete. Today, firms have universal access to creating a digital presence on the internet… but that doesn’t mean that every firm has a quality digital presence. Here’s how to evaluate your firm’s digital presence.
Get Measurable Results to Curate Your Strategy
Back in the old days, law firms would simply put an advertisement out in a trade journal, local paper or for certain unabashed types, plaster their face on a billboard. These firms had no idea what impact the advertisement was making and had no metrics to support the success rate.
Overall law firms aren’t great at taking advantage of the new marketing era. With digital marketing comes web analytics which can instantaneously record the performance of any campaign. For example, a Portland-based law firm advertisement should ideally appear at the top of the google page search if a customer searches “best law firm in Portland”. Sophisticated algorithms and bidding wars allow for ads to appear, you can’t just simply pray your advertisement is seen by the right people.
Important metrics to follow are CPC (cost-per-click), CPL (cost-per-lead), etc in order to understand how ads are performing or not performing. For example, if a client is worth $5,000 to you, and the cost to make them a lead is $4,000 there is an obvious disconnect. Knowing fundamental metrics like CPL and how far along the lead is in the buyer journey, helps you evaluate the sooner they’ll be willing to consider a solution from you. Web analytics is not only great at identifying what people are looking for but they can also help refine those advertisements and gear them more towards the practice areas of law your firm offers.
Software like HubSpot can help consolidate all these metrics and provide valuable information like ROI or CAC. Although web analytics involves the very real work of diving into numbers, it presents facts about your digital presence that are indisputable.
Social Media Not Just for Millenials
Social media presence is becoming a vital factor in calculating how businesses rank on the internet no matter what type of business. A common misconception is that law firms think they are exempt from the “social media circus”.
On the contrary, the absence of firms on social media is exactly why your firm should be on social media and in front of your clients. Yes, there a varying number of social media platforms like SnapChat or Instagram that aren’t as viable for law firms, but it is surprising how effective these forms of social media are when reaching a broad audience.
Law firms would benefit from releasing content through platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter which gives a reason for the customers to click through to the website, therefore, increasing your web traffic. Content could include a blog written about a recent successful case ruling, a case study, or events the firm is involved in.
Yes, people like to get creative with such content to attract customers but ultimately the content is what truly matters. If your law firm has a hard time competing against other firms or just hasn’t built a long- standing reputation, social media can give you that extra leg up on the competition.
If you are using social media, but can’t understand the effect it has on your firm there a metrics like the number of engagements or community presence and more you can evaluate. It’s not only important to have a presence on social media, but it’s also important to constantly evaluate metrics and the efficiency behind it all in order to gather insights.
Capitalize on Digital Diversification
Like any wise portfolio manager would say, it is all about diversifying your portfolio. This same proverb applies to digital marketing however, instead of risky stocks and trustworthy bonds, good marketing deploys your firm’s digital presence in many channels. Maybe you just don’t feel comfortable with using social media platforms, there are also others ways to garner a robust digital presence that takes more of an academic approach.
We all know lawyers are better with words than most. These skills can manifest in blogs, social posts, and other channels to capture the digital word. Concise and poignant language in the form of an editorial or blog post targeted towards websites like the National Law Review help foster brand recognition. Evaluating your web presence requires analytics which measures real-time results and compares the data to give you endless insights. Analytic tools are seriously underused by most businesses, this advantage could seamlessly allow your firm to reach its’ full potential.
If you are still skeptical whether or not law firm marketing is valuable or if you want to learn more about the steps to market your law firm, take a look at our “Complete Guide to Law Firm Marketing”.
