Top 25 Client Acquisition Tips for Immigration Lawyers
You can be the best immigration lawyer in the world and still go out of business if nobody hires you. Effective marketing isn’t about clicks and impressions. It’s about getting clients. Follow these tips to turn your law firm ecosystem into a lead-generation machine.
1) Offer A Free Initial Consultation
Clients are much more likely to hire you after they’ve had the chance to discuss their case with you. The consultation is your opportunity to build a relationship with the client, demonstrate value, and show that you can achieve the result they want.
2) Update Your Testimonials
Your testimonials should include the person’s name, photo, 5-star review, and a headline. If appropriate, include links to the person’s social media and business. Our testimonial below is a good example.
3) Include Testimonials on Every Page of Your Website
Testimonials, 5-star reviews, and case studies are the most powerful evidence that you are great at your work. However, most people don’t visit testimonials pages. Put testimonials on every page of your website in visible places. Your most powerful evidence is useless if nobody sees it.
4) Build an Email List
Always be building your email list. Put newsletter signup forms on your blog page and individual blogs. Host live events and collect emails on the sign-in sheet. The strength of your email list determines your newsletter’s reach and lead generation ability. See our Newsletter Sign Up Form below.
5) Start A Newsletter
If you do not already have a firm newsletter, start one. Publish newsletters as often as you can produce high-value content. However, never sacrifice quality for quantity. Your newsletter must always be high-value content. Average content is not good enough.
Schedule your newsletter at regular intervals. Include firm news, events, recent hires, recent successes, recent case studies, and valuable tips related to your practice. We suggest repurposing your blog content into a newsletter and sending a newsletter each time you publish a blog. Doing so ensures that your newsletter is always fresh and relevant and that your messaging is consistent across platforms.
6) Stay in Touch with Your Top Referral Sources
Send handwritten thank you cards and gifts to your top referral sources. Maintain contact with them and meet with them in person.
7) Network with Other Attorneys
Other attorneys are valuable referral sources, and the relationship is mutual because you can refer cases to them, too. Building relationships with other attorneys inside and outside your practice areas is key for a healthy law firm ecosystem.
8) Join Attorney Associations
Attend the events and meet with other lawyers in person. If your firm is established, you can sponsor such events to show that you are a leader in the industry and committed to serving its members.
9) Leverage Word-of-Mouth
Personal recommendations from friends and satisfied former clients are the most powerful form of advertising. Tell your friends and former clients that you are available if they know anyone who needs help.
10) Attend Networking Events
Attend workshops, seminars, and conferences related to your practice and interests. These are valuable opportunities to meet new people and build powerful relationships. Join non-lawyer professional associations related to your interests and attend their live events.
11) Network with Businesses and Agencies that Serve Immigrant Communities
Build relationships with translators, ESL teachers, cultural community groups, schools, government service providers, non-profits, and other agencies that serve immigrant communities by providing healthcare, education, consulting, or support.
12) Do Community Service
Do good in your community, document it, and share it on your platforms. Immigrant communities are often underserved and need your help. Get involved with local service organizations and share what you’re doing on social media to raise awareness and encourage others to help. Doing so builds trust and goodwill in your community.
13) Optimize Your Website for Speed and Mobile Functionality
Slow loading times and poor mobile friendliness are vampires for your SEO and digital marketing ecosystem. Check PageSpeed Insights to see your website’s scores for speed and mobile functionality. If they aren’t in the ”green,” then your site needs to be updated. Talk to your developer or hire us to ensure your website passes its core speed and functionality tests.
14) Follow Up with Leads
Many lawyers lose leads simply because they don’t follow up. Establish a system so that you or someone from your office follows up with every potential lead. Respond promptly to inquiries.
15) Streamline Your Intake Process
Standardize your intake questionnaire, consultation questionnaire, and client agreement. Organizing your intake process into repeatable steps ensures quality, saves time, and allows you to continuously improve the process.
16) Use Plain Language
Make your marketing materials as accessible as possible. As an immigration lawyer, you have diverse clientele with varying ranges of technological literacy and language skills. Make your website and marketing materials easy to read and understand. Avoid legalese and technical jargon.
17) Create Guides and Checklists
Create checklists for the documents and information clients need for different immigration processes like visas, green cards, and citizenship. Simplify the processes by creating visual guides with details about each step. Timelines, charts, graphs, and other visual tools work well in this space.
Provide step-by-step guides and checklists about what information to collect and which forms to fill out for each immigration path.
18) Advise About the Pitfalls of Self-Representation
Discuss the pitfalls of the immigration process and how to avoid them. Describe the risks of navigating the immigration process without a lawyer. Describe in detail when and why clients should hire an immigration lawyer. Immigrating to the United States can be tedious and confusing, even for native English speakers. Tell people why it’s better to have a lawyer guide them through the process.
19) Emphasize Attention to Detail
Emphasize the necessity for attention to detail when filing immigration paperwork. Submitting incorrect forms and documentation can cause delays and rejections. As an immigration attorney, you ensure all the proper forms are complete and accurate, helping avoid unwanted outcomes.
20) Have A Multilingual Website
If you are a multilingual law firm, you should have a multilingual website, blog, and marketing materials. Meeting clients in their native language is crucial to developing a connection and a relationship with them. Talking to clients in their native language allows them to better understand you and the value you are bringing.
If you are a Spanish-speaking law firm, we can help you. We are available to write Spanish legal content.
21) Ask Satisfied Clients for Testimonials
Testimonials and case results are key to establishing credibility. Develop a system of asking successful clients for testimonials. Video testimonials are especially powerful. Provide case results on your website, but always respect client confidentiality. Some clients may not want to give testimonials, and that is okay.
22) Invest in SEO
Your SEO should cover a wide range of immigration law issues. There is no shortage of topics for immigration law content. Immigration law is always evolving, so share the latest changes to the law on your blog.
Write blogs about each type of visa and immigration form (there are many). Describe specific immigration scenarios and the best practices for managing them. Create content on particular processes and link to the relevant laws and forms (.gov websites). Create checklists for the necessary documentation.
Emphasize what makes you different. Do you offer appellate services? If so, discuss the steps and the details of the litigation process.
23) Update Your Practice Area Pages
People who visit your practice area pages are ten times more likely to become clients than people who visit your blog. Your practice area pages are the backbone of your SEO. Poor practice area pages mean poor SEO.
You should have a separate page for each practice area and sub-practice area. Each page should be 2,500-5,000 words and should answer every possible question a client might have about the topic. Your practice area pages should mimic a sales conversation, answering each question and potential objection individually.
24) Use Graphics and Illustrations
Use graphics and visuals that illustrate the immigration process in a way that is easy to understand. Provide visual checklists with actionable items. Visual tools are excellent aids for simplifying immigration processes. They also make great content to share on your blog, social media, and newsletter.
25) Hire A Top Immigration Law Firm Marketing Agency
Good law firm marketing isn’t about clicks and impressions. It’s about getting clients. We will rank your law firm for your industry’s most lucrative local keywords. We will convert the traffic to leads with a lightning-fast and mobile-friendly WordPress website.
We seamlessly combine SEO, PPC, and sleek web design to turn your website into an evergreen client generator.
We won’t handcuff you to our platform like some law firm marketing agencies do. You own everything we create for you, including your website, SEO, and all of your data.
We offer a free 30-minute consultation in which we’ll ask questions about your firm and create a detailed marketing plan for you based on your answers.