As law firms face disruption from COVID-19, we take a look at what clients need right now and how to provide useful and timely information while establishing your business as a helpful and trusted brand.
Making the most of your legal website
Your website is more important than ever while your physical location is restricted or closed. It is where you can keep your clients updated as to what services you’re able to provide and what measures you’re taking to keep everyone protected.
Practice area pages
It is also the place you can offer helpful and useful information. Include fresh, relevant content in all of your practice areas. For example, tips on business continuity or a checklist for reviewing contracts or crisis management for commercial clients, information about employment law and statutory payments for those running a business or information from your family law department about contact arrangements for children during the crisis.
Blogs
Search engines favour websites that have good quality content regularly added. Review any blogs you have and add new posts in each of your practice areas. Try and think what would be useful to your clients right now such as helpful and reassuring advice as well as any information and explanations you can give about how they will be able to access the legal services they need.
Lawyer bios
Bios of key team members often get forgotten in the general busyness of running a law firm. However, they are the second most important pages, after the home page, and clients often make decisions about who to hire based on what they know of individual people.
If you have time on your hands, take the opportunity to review everyone’s bio. Make sure they are engaging and that they are all written in the same style. For guidance on creating a memorable bio, see our article 7 tips for writing a lawyer biography for your law firm website.
Social media
With everyone keeping in touch online, social media is a great way to reach potential clients. Be realistic about how often you will post. It is better to post less often but stick to a regular schedule than to post a lot to start with, then dwindle.
Include links to new content on your website as well as updates as to how clients can reach and instruct you.
If you have a fairly friendly, relaxed tone to your content, don’t be afraid to include more informal posts, such a picture of the team having a virtual meeting or a photo of any help you might be offering to the community. This type of more personal content is great for establishing your team members as approachable and helpful.
Legal Marketing Strategy
Take this opportunity to review your marketing strategy. Draw up a schedule so that your marketing becomes a regular process. Focus on what your clients need and your goals for your business.
Concentrate on strengthening your inbound marketing. Most clients cite a website as the main way in which they will make a hiring decision. Make sure yours shows your firm as professional, knowledgeable and trustworthy.
Creating a website that contains a bank of useful information takes time, but by putting a strategy in place that means it is added to regularly will allow you to build a strong inbound marketing base.
Your message
Clients will appreciate a positive tone as well as information as to how they can progress their case, such as virtual meetings, online form filling and sending documents electronically. Let them know how the firm is coping and what adjustments are being made.
Emphasise that you’re there to help and encourage them to reach out to you.
With disruption looking set to continue for weeks or even months, don’t forget to include marketing in your plans. When life returns to normal, those who have put time and effort into connecting with potential clients and creating good resources for them to access will have a big advantage.
If you would like to request bespoke content, tailored to your audience and written by experts in both law and marketing, ring us on 0118 380 5980, email us at enquiries@orionlegalmarketing.co.uk or fill in our CONTACT FORM. We’ll be happy to offer you an initial free consultation to discuss your needs and the strategy that would best suit your law firm, barristers chambers or mediation practice.
