The growing competition in the legal space has left many attorneys locked in a fierce online battle for the attention of prospective clients.
Research shows that at least 76% of consumers use the internet to find an attorney for their case. This has turned search engine result pages (SERPS) into the primary battleground on which the war for attention is fought.
Unfortunately, there is only a thin line separating winners from losers. To be on the winning side, you need to work with digital marketers who understand the core concepts of lead generation for lawyers and what it takes to execute a focused digital marketing strategy.
The lead generation strategy must cater to search engine’s preferences to capture the attention of online searchers and compel case leads to become your clients.
So, how does a lead generation for lawyers strategy look like? What do you need to do to attract prospects and turn them into high-paying clients?
We answer these questions in this guide. Unlike other how-to guides that focus on general digital marketing strategies for every business, our guide is geared towards helping attorneys land more clients.
So, let us get started.
Understanding Lead Generation for Lawyers
Before we dive deep into our discussion, let us figure out what lead generation for lawyers is all about and how the process works.
Generally, the term “lead generation” refers to the process of finding new case leads. This usually involves bringing in new prospects through your sales funnel.
In this case, the term “sales funnel” refers to a detailed multi-step process that guides prospective clients closer to becoming actual legal clients. This is accomplished in four steps, namely:
1. Awareness
The first step to converting a lead into a client is making them aware of your law firm and the legal services you offer.
The process may be a little bit more difficult than it sounds, but generally, you need to improve your search engine rankings for relevant keywords.
2. Interest
Once the prospect is aware of your law firm and the legal services you offer, find a way of capturing their interest. It means that you must have something unique on your landing page or website that hooks them up and keeps them interested in your offer.
3. Decision
After capturing your prospects ‘ interest, the next thing in the sales funnel is to get them to decide to contact your law firm.
To do this, you must convince them that you are the right attorney and show them how they will benefit from your legal representation.
4. Action
The “action” part of a sales funnel is unique for every business. However, for a law firm, it may be a case lead submitting their contact information, calling your office number, or scheduling a consultation session.
Understanding the Lead Generation Process
The truth is that the legal lead generation space is highly competitive. Therefore, you must implement a foolproof digital marketing strategy that will help your law firm cut through the noise.
Your primary goal should be to develop a process that helps your target audience to:
- Discover your law firm through a wide range of marketing channels.
- Click on your primary call to action.
- Navigate to your landing page.
- Enter their contact information/call your office.
- Receive useful information that can help them make an informed decision.
Proven Ways of Generating Leads for a Law Firm
Now that you understand what lead generation for lawyers entails and the process involved, let us highlight some of the proven strategies you can implement to generate more case leads for your legal practice.
1. Start with a robust website
Your law firm website should be at the center of your lead generation efforts. In fact, it is the most critical tool for getting case leads to convert into high-paying clients.
Your site establishes your law firm’s brand and tells prospective clients who you are and what you offer. It also highlights your strengths and why prospective clients should pay for your services instead of hiring your competitors.
Some of the things you can do to position your website better include:
- Make sure the overall site design is professional.
- Write and publish high-quality content.
- Make it personal, i.e., have a section with the bio of every attorney in your firm.
- Include the CTA button at strategic points on the site.
2. Invest in search engine optimization
Creating a professional and appealing website for your law firm is only the first step to generating leads. Once you have the site in place, you need to invest in search engine optimization to achieve better rankings.
A successful SEO campaign will ensure your website ranks on the first page of SERPs when people search for key terms related to your area of practice.
For instance, if you are a car accident attorney operating in Massachusetts, online users searching for “car accident attorney Massachusetts” should see your website among the top search engine results.
There are lots of things you need to do to achieve a better ranking. Hiring an experienced search engine optimizer will be a good starting point. Ensure you set targets and specific timelines to avoid draining your money without achieving tangible results.
3. Use landing pages to capture leads
Landing pages are an essential digital marketing tool. You can combine it with your email marketing and social media marketing efforts to achieve better results.
Keep in mind that landing pages are distinct from regular pages on your law firm website. Landing pages are specifically designed for advertising campaigns and get people to take a particular action, such as filling a form or calling your law firm.
Your landing pages need to have compelling visuals and convincing copy. Sometimes, you may be forced to tweak your landers throughout your marketing campaign to optimize them for maximum conversion and ROI.
4. Implement a solid content marketing strategy
Information is power, and content marketing is one of the best tools that will attract a significant number of qualified case leads. Other than attracting the interest of prospective clients, content marketing will also enhance your search engine rankings.
Your content marketing campaigns should include ebooks, email newsletters, blog posts, infographics, videos, web content, downloadable guides, and white papers.
Some of your content should serve as a lead magnet- prospects should only download the content after submitting their contact information. This will help you capture more leads.
The most important thing is to ensure all your content is professionally created, practical, and useful. Publishing content for the sake of it won’t help you in any way.
5. Consider running pay-per-call campaigns
As an attorney, one of your greatest assets is your excellent communication skills. Utilizing your top skill directly with case leads can help you convert high-value leads at a much higher rate.
With attorney pay-per-call marketing, prospective clients are placed right into your hands when they are ready to talk to you and listen to you guide them on the next steps to take.
With pay-per-call, there is instant contact between you and the prospect. When case leads call with questions on legal aid or to book an appointment, you have an opportunity to handle their requests instantly.
While it is tempting to rely on pay-per-click campaigns to generate leads for your law firm, keep in mind that there is great value in generating inbound calls with a trusted publisher.
Phone calls come with a significantly higher conversion rate generating more revenue. Pay-per-call leads will not only fill your appointment calendar with highly qualified leads but will do so cost-efficiently.
6. Capture case leads through client reviews and referrals
Individuals are more inclined to work with lawyers with a solid reputation and are well-reviewed by their past clients online.
With this information, it is essential to leverage the power of online reviews as part of your overall lead generation process.
Ensure you claim all free profiles on online review sites such as FindLaw, Google My Business, Nolo, Yelp, Nexdoor, and Avvo.
You should also monitor these review sites and respond to client reviews appropriately.
Start using client testimonials as part of your digital marketing strategies, and you will notice a significant increase in the number of leads your law firm attracts.
Effective Lead Management Is Critical
Unfortunately, many attorneys believe that lead generation is the last step in the digital marketing process. As a result, their efforts stop immediately after implementing their marketing campaign.
However, this is far from the truth, and in reality, it is the beginning of the lead generation for lawyers.
Once you have fully implemented your campaigns and started to generate leads, you need to find a way of managing those leads and qualifying them.
Nurture those that are still at the top of the sales funnel until the right time for you to convert them into high-paying clients.
Mismanaging your case leads is much worse than not generating the leads at all. You can use something as simple as a Google Sheet to manage your leads or purchase a customer relationship management system.
The lead management system that best suits your law firm depends on the size of your legal practice, the volume of leads you generate, the budget, and the availability of human resources to manage the system.
PALO Is Your Attorney Pay-Per-Call Marketing Partner
Pay-per-call is an excellent way to generate highly qualified case leads. It is especially great because it connects your law firm with people who are ready to hire an attorney.
At PALO, we thrive at generating high-quality inbound calls that will fill your calendar with appointments. We have been in the lead generation for lawyers space for many years, and our team is ready to help you take your law firm to the next level.
Talk to us today for a free consultation to determine if we are a perfect match.
