It’s a tale as old as time:
A man gets a tattoo of his girlfriend’s name in a bold, romantic gesture…
Only for their relationship to fall apart sometime after that. He’s left with a constant reminder of a failed romance, while a passerby on the street is left wondering, “who’s Jessica?”
This tattoo represents a valuable lesson everyone should know before going under the needle: think long-term before you commit to something permanent.
Your law firm content marketing strategy may not seem as big of a commitment as a tattoo. However, once you post content on the internet, it’s forever attached to you and your firm.
Your decisions have a lasting impact on your firm’s growth, which makes this crucial lesson one you don’t want to learn the hard way.
And with over 84,500 practicing lawyers in Florida, according to The American Bar Association’s 2023 Profile of the Legal Profession, this lesson applies especially to content marketing in Florida.
You need law firm content marketing that withstands the test of time and makes your firm stand out. Quality content shows people your firm is above your competitors and why you’re the person to call.
Effective content marketing operates around the clock to attract clients from across the internet, ensuring that your phone continues to ring with inquiries about the cases you’re interested in taking on. But much like a tattoo, you need to think ahead and be ready to commit in order to get the results you’re after.
What is content marketing?
Content marketing is creating and publishing material to get people’s attention and turn them into clients. It involves sharing blogs, videos, social media posts, podcasts, and other media to promote your firm. Not just your own, but ones that your potential clients would be interested in as well.
Content marketing provides you with a platform to connect with those seeking legal knowledge. And, more importantly, those who need your services.
However, it’s more than jotting down an impromptu thought and posting it to Facebook or sending happy holidays emails to your contact list. Content marketing for law firms requires research and planning.
A carefully crafted content marketing strategy helps you build relationships with prospective clients by providing them with relevant, consistent, and valuable information. People will read your content and trust that you can represent them better than any other firms they’ve seen advertised.
How to be successful at content marketing
To be successful at content marketing for law firms, you need to design your content marketing strategy before you start and stick to it.
Think about it this way:
You’ve probably seen hundreds of bad tattoos. Whether the drawings are amateurish, the vision unclear from the start, or the person never made it to the final session – they stick out like a sore thumb.
And while you may not be considering someone’s tattoos to hire them, you can’t help but take note.
The last thing you want from your content marketing is for someone to think you threw it together or didn’t care about how it turned out.
Once someone identifies your content as unhelpful or unnecessary, they’ll immediately click away from your “contact us” call to action (CTA). And the searcher won’t be inclined to click on your future content. This hurts you in more than one way. Google has stated time and time again that it favors helpful content. If users don’t engage with your content, or worse, find it unhelpful, it will sink in the search engine results.
The American Bar Association reports the number of practicing attorneys in Florida has increased by 16% in the past decade. This increase leads to more law firms employing content marketing in Florida to attract new clients.
Of course, you can’t let yourself get buried under competing firms. You need people to find your content and click to your website.
So you may think you need to crank out a high volume of buzz-worthy content to boost your search engine optimization (SEO).
But:
Don’t fall into this trap of cheap tricks.
Without long-term planning, any success you build will fizzle out after a short period of time – along with your budget.
If you don’t plan your content long-term…
You’ll find yourself:
- Draining your budget without seeing results.
- Wasting time covering up past mistakes.
- Stuck with content that looks like everyone else’s.
Quick decisions lead to half-baked content that doesn’t bring in the qualified leads you need to double your staff and your square footage. You save time, energy, and money while taking on life-changing cases by committing to a strategy before you begin.
How to create content marketing that lasts
To create content marketing that lasts, you must make it your own.
Like our previous example using tattoos, standard tattoos you’ve seen dozens of times no longer make an impact. It’s the ones with intricate designs or a creative flair that catch your eye.
Your firm is unique, and your content marketing has to showcase your individuality. Otherwise, your content will blend into that of other firms.
Create content no other firm could by drawing content marketing ideas from…
- Your clients.
- Your team.
- And yourself.
Your insight will lead to valuable content and make your firm stand out. This is even more important with the introduction of AI in search results. AI, much like Google, favors content that speaks directly to the inquiry, backed by experience, expertise, authority, and trust.
Readers sift through information in search of a new perspective, explanations that resonate with clarity, and a voice that speaks to them on a personal level.
And if your content lacks substance, it won’t yield long-lasting results.
Here’s an insider content marketing tip:
Speak directly to your future client.
Your reader is looking for someone who understands their situation, and people turn from “reader” to “client” when they feel understood.
So:
Write as you’d talk to them in person. The best content marketing tactic for law firms allows lawyers to develop trust with someone before they even pick up the phone to call.
You wouldn’t waste time or money getting a tattoo that didn’t represent your personality.
So don’t waste time posting content that isn’t genuine to you or your firm. Doing so won’t bring in the leads you’re looking for because people aren’t connecting with you.
Cultivate trust with future clients by remaining transparent and being yourself. That’s how you’ll have people saying, “This person gets me. This is the lawyer I’ve been looking for.”
Looking for content marketing services?
You can find all the content marketing services you need in one place: We Do Web Content. We take care of everything from strategy to content production and get it right the first time – no future cover-up required.
Call us at (954) 425-9081 or reach out to us here to make your life easier and your firm stand out.
Be sure to check out our glossary of content marketing terms to deepen your marketing strategy knowledge.
Alex Valencia is an influential entrepreneur, marketer, speaker, podcaster, and CEO of We Do Web Content, one of Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing businesses in America. His agency implements game-changing content marketing strategies and produces top-ranking web content for law firms, medical professionals, and small businesses nationwide.