How to do content marketing for your law firm the right way?
A new trend among the top law firms is the creation of online marketing content aimed at attracting new clients and raising awareness of their brand. The advent of blogging and social media has completely changed the way that people find and interact with the professional services they use, and those attorneys that take advantage of this new platform have an edge over their competition who remain stuck in the old way of doing things. Regardless of your degree of tech savvy, it can be daunting to know where to start in this new arena of content creation. Fortunately, if you keep these few simple rules regarding content marketing for attorneys in mind, you will find yourself at the cutting edge of your particular field and open your business up to a whole new network of potential clients.
Newsjacking
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One easy way to establish yourself as an authoritative and relevant voice in your area of expertise is a method of creating content called news jacking. This involves responding to the latest news stories in your field with your own insightful opinions and commentary. The benefit of this approach is that you don’t have to wrack your brain for ideas for your latest blog posts, just engage in the important conversations that are already taking place among your peers. Setting a Google news alert is a simple process that can keep you on the front lines of any new developments that are taking place, ensuring that you are seen as one of the primary voices in the discourse community.
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Keep it regular
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Another important thing to remember is that you don’t necessarily have to pump out daily content in order to remain relevant. As long as you are consistently producing thoughtful work once or twice a week, you can maintain a strong presence in your arena. It doesn’t need to be a constant flow of new material to keep your audience engaged as long as what you do produce is meaningful.
Make it exciting
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Many attorneys feel like everything they put out into the public needs to be dry and dignified. While it is important to remain professional, many clients will be responsive to a glimpse at the human side of your practice. Letting your personality shine through in your work will encourage a personal connection with your readers and create a feeling of community. A little humor and a light hearted approach will help establish a real relationship between you and your clients.
Stay focused
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It’s tempting to try and attract a broader range of readers than your particular field, but in reality, the most successful content producers are those that establish a specific audience and create material particularly for them. It’s easy to get lost in the sea of the World Wide Web.
Establishing your own personal domain will allow you to stand out. Content marketing for attorneys is most effective when it is targeted at your niche.
Use images, photos, and video
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Remember to take advantage of the multimedia possibilities an online presence can provide. The truth is that many potential clients will be turned off by a huge wall of text, no matter how well written and insightful it is. Consider incorporating videos, images, slide shows, lists, and podcasts to help broaden your audience.
Call to action
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Finally, give your audience something actionable with all of the online marketing content you produce. What do you want to get out of this? Give them the opportunity to subscribe to your blog, like your company on Facebook, pin your article on Pinterest, subscribe to your newsletter, or whatever other possibilities you can come up with. The more forms of media they are engaging in with your firm, the stronger the relationship you create with them will be.
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Here is a list of possible content for your law firm content marketing strategy:
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- Your “About” page. Tell the story about your law firm. Make it exciting and avoid dry legalese.
- Write extensive attorney bios.
- Frequently post on your blog.
- Write a book. Give it away as a promotional item. Post each chapter as a blog post.
- Design brochures and flyers.
- Create case studies.
- Make videos. Record partners of the firm.
- Publish cheat sheets. The sky is the limit. Depending on your practice, write cheat sheets such as “Divorce cheat sheet”, or “DUI cheat sheet”, or “Business formation cheat sheet”, etc.
- Design a checklist that provides step-by-step instructions.
- Submit your content to social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
- Publish ebooks. Kindle is a great place to publish. You can use your ebook as a lead generation tool.
- Write detailed answers to FAQs.
- Guest post on relevant blogs.
- Publish infographics and images.
- Interview experts and publish them on your Youtube channel.
- Create landing pages focusing on various specializations.
- Publish articles on LinkedIn.
- Make sure that your website is mobile-friendly, responsive. Many people consume content on the go, using smartphones or tablets.
- Publish a podcast and post it on iTunes for a huge audience.
- Regularly publish press releases.
- Answer questions on Quora with a link back to a more detailed answer on your own website.
- Seek out opportunities to speak on TV, radio, and events. Then, publish them on your website.
- Create a resources page.
- Write reviews. Focus on book, product, or service reviews.
- Create presentations and post them on Slideshare.
- Stay active on social media. Don’t try to be everywhere. Focus on two or three channels.
- Publish popular forms on your site.
- Create tutorials.
- Offer training.
- Organize webinars. Record and publish the webinar on your website.
- Write white papers.
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photo credits: Michigan Municipal League November 2010 Meeting and Looking For Clues (188 / 365)