Relieving the Legal Marketing Burden
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by Brandon Cornett
Many lawyers feel a constant marketing burden, especially when they work independently of a law firm as many lawyers do.
In the modern age of information, lawyers must constantly look to new marketing techniques in order to attract clients and generate business for themselves. The Internet, for instance, has changed a lot about lawyer marketing.
Let's look at what has happened in just ten years:
Lawyer Marketing Online, Circa 1997
A decade ago, it was enough for lawyers to simply have a website that people could find. This, in conjunction with some other form of marketing (such as referrals and basic PR), was often sufficient to generate a steady stream of new business for the average independent lawyer. But things have certainly changed in ten years.
Online Lawyer Marketing, Circa 2007
Today, lawyer marketing online requires a lot more effort. Several factors account for this:
1. There are more lawyers than ten years ago, which means more competition in general.
2. There are a lot more lawyer websites and blogs online today than there were ten years ago, which means more online competition.
3. Consumers are more "web smart" today than ten years ago, which means they will be more selective of the websites they visit.
4. The modern consumer also has to deal with "information overload" that wasn't present ten years ago. So you need a stronger web presence to stand out from all the noise.
Relieving the Legal Marketing Burden
Here's what the above points add up to -- lawyers today must be more active online in order to capitalize on what the Web has to offer (traffic). Modern lawyers must use websites, blogs and online PR strategies to make themselves ever-present within the Internet search realm of their target audience. Like it or not, this is the state of online lawyer marketing today.
Being active online is the first major step toward being visible online. And, of course, online visibility will help ensure your online success in general. When a lawyer has a highly visible web presence, a certain marketing burden gets lifted from his or her shoulders. The website or blog earns more traffic, and the lawyer gets more leads and -- ultimately -- more clients from the Web. In other words, the lawyer does not have to rely quite so heavily on traditional outbound marketing techniques.
This discussion naturally leads to the always-popular topic of search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), and pay-per-click marketing (PPC). These are popular topics among today's lawyers, and with good reason. If the vast majority of your prospective clients are using the Internet for legal research (and they are, by the way), you need to be visible online.
If you choose to be active online, and to grow your legal web presence, this guide will give you the direction you need. If you would rather have us manage your online visibility, you may wish to consider our SEO programs for lawyers instead.