25 Client Acquisition Tips for Business Law Firms
You can be the best lawyer in the world and still go out of business if you can’t sign clients. Marketing your business law firm is about getting clients, not just clicks and impressions. Follow these tips to optimize your client acquisition system.
1) Offer Complimentary Consultations
Consultations build relationships and develop trust with potential clients. Meeting you lets them know you and like you. The better you answer all of their questions, the more likely they are to hire you over another lawyer.
2) Capture Email Addresses
Email capture is what converts your website traffic to leads. Put a newsletter signup form on your blog page and on each blog. See our Newsletter Signup Form Below.
3) Put Testimonials on Each Page of Your Website
Testimonials, case results, and five-star reviews are the most powerful proof that you’re great at your work. However, not many people read testimonials pages. Put testimonials on every page of your site in visible places. Show proof on every page that you are excellent at your job.
4) Update Your Testimonials
A good business law firm testimonial should have the person’s name, photo, company, job title, company logo, links to the person’s profile and website, and a headline. Our testimonial below is a good example.
5) Update Your Practice Area Pages
People who visit your practice area pages are 10x more likely to become clients than those visiting your blog pages. Have a different practice area page for every service you offer. Each practice area page should be 2,500-5,000 words and should answer every question a client could have about that topic. Use location keywords in each practice area page’s title, headings, and content to perform better in local search results.
6) Target the Exact Types of Projects You Want
Publish content specifically for the types of clients you want. If you want clients from a specific industry, then write blogs about legal issues within that industry. For example, if you want hotel clients, write blogs about hotels’ legal issues (food and alcohol, building code, employment, taxes, liability exposure, local law, and regulatory changes). Establish yourself as an expert in that industry.
You can also target new projects by case type. If you want more trademarks, then publish content about trademarks. If you want more real estate cases, publish content about real estate law. If you want more litigation, publish content about business torts.
7) Write Long-Form Content
Write detailed blogs about topics in each of your practice areas. Choose specific topics and delve deep into each one. If you want to dominate local search results for a topic, write a blog of 2,000 words or more that answers all potential questions about the topic. Include local keywords in the title, headings, and content.
8) Develop Referral Sources
Build relationships with lawyers from other practice areas. Join professional associations and attend networking events. Stay in close contact with your top referral sources. Send them gifts and handwritten thank you cards. Schedule meetings and meet with them in person.
9) Engage Multiple Marketing Channels
Engage SEO, PPC, LinkedIn, and email newsletters simultaneously. There are advantages to each of them, and they work best when combined. The better you engage all of these channels, the more successful you will be at acquiring clients online.
10) Make a Marketing Budget
First, prepare your total marketing budget. A marketing budget of 7-10% of your annual revenue is a good place to start. Then, divide your total marketing budget into segments for SEO, PPC, and whichever other marketing channels you use.
11) Always Follow Up with Leads
Have a system to ensure that you or someone from your firm follows up with every lead who contacts you. Many law firms need to improve at following up with leads. Do not lose clients due to poor follow-up procedures.
12) Repurpose Your Blog Content
Convert your blog content into social media posts and email newsletters. Your blog content is valuable information that you can re-share on other platforms. Doing so expands the reach of your best content and keeps your messaging consistent across platforms.
13) Optimize Your Intake Process
Organize your intake process into repeatable steps and develop uniform procedures for handling leads. Have your intake questionnaire, consultation questionnaire, and client agreement ready. Only run PPC when someone is answering the phone and available to field incoming leads – otherwise you risk losing leads that you purchased.
14) Optimize Your Website for Speed and Mobile
Speed and mobile functionality are essential for converting readers to clients. Check PageSpeed Insights to see your website’s speed and mobile functionality scores. If you haven’t updated your website in a while, chances are that it’s slow. Talk to your web developer or hire us to optimize your PageSpeed scores.
15) Specialize by Service Area
For business law firms, your marketing materials must focus on your specialties. You can specialize in business formations, intellectual property, civil litigation, employment law, tax, contracts, and other business processes. Focus on the type of work you want more of.
16) Specialize by Industry
Specialize in industries that are interesting to you, such as hospitality, medical, technology, real estate, retail, construction, transportation, and others. You can niche down even further by specializing in specific processes within a particular industry – such as intellectual property litigation in the tech sector.
17) Define Your Niche
Choose your niche and demonstrate mastery over the subject matter. Corporations and business owners are likely to be discerning when selecting a lawyer. They want someone highly specialized and experienced in tackling their business’ particular issues. Thus, clearly defining your niche and establishing yourself as an authority is essential.
18) Network Online
Join industry and trade groups online. Engage people in the comments and DMs on social media. Network with people who operate within your industry. Follow people whom your potential clients follow, and comment on their posts to gain exposure. Always focus on building relationships.
19) Invest in SEO
Use your blog to provide solutions to common problems. Your goal is to provide content that is so valuable that potential clients return to your website the next time they have a question. Know the specific pain points of the businesses you want as clients and offer solutions.
Businesses are dynamic and always changing. They will have more questions about business law. Establish yourself as their go-to source for legal information. The more effectively you solve their problems, the more likely they’ll return to your site and hire you as their lawyer.
20) Be a Sponsor
Sponsor industry events and trade shows – this establishes you as an industry leader and shows you are committed to serving that specific industry. Bring signage that shows who you are, what you do, and how you do it. Bring merchandise with your firm name and logo. Bring brochures and pamphlets with detailed information about how you can help businesses in that specific industry thrive.
Sponsor local teams and social causes. Do good in your community, document it, and post it on social media. Sponsoring worthy causes like youth sports, arts, and education builds trust and earns respect in your community.
Ensure all your marketing materials match your firm’s logo and colors – this will give you a slick presentation and make the most of your chance to impress potential clients in person.
21) Show Why Clients Need Your Service
Highlight the benefits of hiring a business lawyer versus do-it-yourself options. Explain the risks and pitfalls. Explain why hiring a lawyer for business law processes is worth it, even though it costs more than doing it yourself.
22) Track Data and Continuously Update
You have to continuously update your SEO and PPC to outperform the competition. Use Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Google Ads to track performance results. Allocate more resources to what’s working and make adjustments to what isn’t.
23) Be Easy to Contact
You will lose leads if they can’t reach a lawyer. The harder it is for a lead to get a hold of you, the less likely they will hire you. Correspond promptly.
24) Always Schedule the Next Appointment with Leads
When talking to leads, get the next appointment on calendar before you get off the phone with them. Offer to review the details of your contract and answer any questions they might have. Get the next meeting on calendar before you leave.
25) Hire a Top Business Law Firm Marketing Agency
Great law firm marketing is about getting leads. We combine SEO, PPC, and sleek website design to create a lead-generation machine. You will have a fast, mobile-friendly website that draws traffic, converts leads, and builds your reputation.
We offer a complimentary consultation where we’ll ask questions about your practice and create a detailed marketing plan based on your responses. There is no fee, and the marketing plan is yours to keep.
Let’s get started today.