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In 2020, your law firm likely had to make a lot of changes that you didn’t expect in order to move on and provide legal assistance to your clients.

We all had to find new ways to do things last year, and we’ll likely need to make more adjustments in 2021.

Despite all of this, digital marketing continues to be useful for businesses and is more important than ever today.

Here are some digital marketing tactics and channels your law firm will need to use in 2021.

1. Solidify your brand

If you want to improve your digital marketing efforts in the New Year, the first thing to do is start with your brand.

Without strong branding, nothing else is as good as it can be.

This is more than just updating your logo, although it can be important.

With your brand, you want your law firm to be featured to the public. This is part of how you get your message across to potential customers.

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Many law firms practicing the same type of law may look exactly like this, especially those who have no experience of finding lawyers.

You know the unique value your law firm has, but outwardly it seems like any other law firm in your area.

This is where you need to use digital marketing and good branding to stand out from the crowd.

What sets your law firm apart from, and is better than, your competitors?

You also want to build the right brand for your law firm because you want prospects to feel they can trust you. This, as you know, is extremely important when looking for any type of legal help.

2. Optimize the pages for all exercise areas

You need to make sure that your website has all of the information that potential customers might need.

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At your law firm, you may have the ability to assist clients in a variety of areas of law. Any service that you can offer to other people should be featured on your website and easy for users to find.

Maybe you already have a comprehensive website that covers everything you offer, but are they fully optimized for SEO?

If not, it could be wasted and all the work you’ve already done won’t pay off.

Making sure that every page of your website has valuable information about your service and is SEO friendly can help you generate the traffic you need.

Remember that your law firm serves more areas than just your exact location.

By using keywords that are specific to your location and the locations you serve, you have a better chance of ranking high for those terms.

These long-tail keywords have fewer people competing for them, but there are also people who are more likely to become your customers looking for them.

3. Post content regularly

No matter what type of law you practice, you understand that your clients are facing a serious challenge and are in great need of the help they need.

Most people will do a lot of research before deciding on the law firm that they think is best.

According to a 2020 study, 86% of respondents said they use Google as a lawyer’s online research resource.

The second largest majority, 9% of respondents, said they use Yelp reviews.

Because of the number of people actually dealing with law firms online, you need to be prepared to show potential clients that you can help them.

The best way to do this is to create content for your law firm that will answer all of their questions.

You probably already know the questions your customers are likely to have, but you need to be the place they go for the right help.

Content can help you show that you are the best place for them to get help.

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Prospects want to see that the law firm they are looking for has the knowledge and resources to help them.

It’s up to you to show that your law firm is the best answer with the informative, valuable content they are looking for.

4. Start using email marketing

It’s important to keep in touch with your prospects as much as possible.

When you start out in email marketing, you can make sure that you are remembered as they decide what help they need.

A newsletter is a great way to spread the word about all of the great content your law firm is creating.

Newsletters are also a great way to send potential customers content and information related to their specific situation and keep them personal without having to do it individually.

You know that not all of your customers need the same level of support.

They are not all in the same place whether they are ready to work with you or not.

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Segment your email list into groups instead of sending the same email to all prospects.

That way, you can send your content straight to the leads who need it most, so you have a better chance of seeing them.

Sending newsletters and e-mails regularly does not have to be a lot of work either.

In most cases, you can use new content that you created, older but still relevant content that was not recently approved, and important updates from your law firm.

5. Get on social media

Every company needs a good social media presence.

You don’t have to create accounts for every social media platform.

Think about the platforms your audience uses the most, wasting time and effort on platforms that are getting stuck.

The study I referred to above also showed that Google, Yelp, and Facebook are the most popular platforms for researching and engaging with law firms online.

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If a law firm is not present on these platforms, it is missing a lot of time.

A Facebook page for your law firm is a given, but you’ll also need a LinkedIn account and maybe even Twitter and Instagram.

Being active on the right platforms can help raise awareness of your law firm so that the people looking for the services you offer will know you are out there.

It is not enough to just create these accounts and only check in occasionally.

This is something that you need to constantly monitor and allow time for.

Social media is a valuable and easy way to connect with potential customers.

Check the accounts regularly so you can stay in touch with prospects and share your content and updates from your law firm.

6. Use PPC ads

Many digital marketing strategies will help you generate more organic traffic, but you can do more than that.

With paid ads, you can expand your audience and reach even more people than you would otherwise.

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This allows you to reach a wider audience and define who your audience is so that the right people in your law firm are exposed.

While PPC ads are great for generating new traffic, they are also a great choice for any type of digital marketing budget.

You have a lot of control over how much to spend and it’s easy to keep track of how effective your ads are and gives you vital data to make informed decisions.

Don’t forget that you can also use paid ads on social media platforms.

7. Go to legal directories

Legal directories are a huge digital marketing tool for law firms.

Getting entries in online legal directories can bring some benefits to your law firm, and it is relatively easy for you to do so.

Listing in directories is important as it is a reputable source of information for potential customers.

However, directories also offer some SEO perks that further fuel the rest of your digital marketing endeavors.

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You want your law firm to be among the top results for those looking for lawyers in your area.

This requires search engines to know where you are, and local directory entries are another way of doing this.

Listing in one of these directories also helps with link building, which is an important part of SEO.

These listings ensure that you are getting backlinks from websites that you know are in good authority.

8. Become mobile friendly

You can’t talk about digital marketing anymore without also highlighting the importance of a mobile-friendly website.

Ultimately, improvements you make to your website won’t have that big an impact if they don’t help mobile users.

Anyone who doesn’t have a mobile-friendly website is already falling behind, and that won’t increase until 2021 when Google moves to the mobile-first index.

You have likely viewed a website on your phone that was not suitable for cell phones. So you know what a negative user experience this is.

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This can immediately lead to suspicion, especially when someone is looking for something as important as legal assistance.

9. Show social evidence

There are many things your law firm can do on its own to show people that you can help them.

However, it is not always enough to tell yourself.

We all know that companies market themselves to us and want us to use their services. Therefore we are rather skeptical if we take their word for it.

People want to hear from others like them that your law firm has helped them through a difficult time.

This just underscores what companies should know by now: Reviews are important.

Recent research shows that a whopping 98% of respondents say they care about reviews when researching law firms.

90% of respondents said they would contact Google first.

Then 69% would use Yelp, 35% would use Facebook, and 13% would use Avvo.

Hence, strong reviews can carry a lot more weight than many of the other marketing tactics you use.

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On your website, you need to provide social proof that your law firm is reliable. A common and easy way to do this is to get testimonials and reviews from your past customers.

This shows your potential customers people you have actually been able to help.

You can also use case studies to demonstrate exactly how you’ve helped clients in specific situations.

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