2021 Law Firm Marketing Trends: What Your Firm Can Do to Succeed Through the Year

Law Firm Marketing Trends

The New Year is here and it’s time to start thinking about law firm marketing trends that will affect your firm in 2021. In addition to planning your year’s marketing budget, you’ll also want to determine how you’ll allocate that budget. We’re living in a different world than we were a few years ago and your legal marketing plans should reflect that.

What’s on tap for the year and what trends can you expect for marketing your law firm in 2021?

1. SEO

SEO isn’t something new for 2021, but there are things on the horizon that law firms should know about. In the coming year, SEO strategies are expected to get more technical. It’s going to be tougher getting your site to rank and firms will have more competition than ever before. A big part of the reason why is because more potential clients are turning to the internet to find a lawyer.

With everyone spending more time at home and keeping their social circles smaller, they’ll have no choice but to turn to Google to find you. This means you’ll need to work harder to get noticed.

Local SEO is a big 2021 law firm marketing trend and something that small to moderate-sized firms should focus on. If your firm only serves a specific geographic location, that’s where you should be focusing your marketing efforts.

How does this work when you’re marketing on the internet and the entire world has access to your information? By using local SEO. Some of the most important tools that should be in your local SEO arsenal include:

• Listings on Google My Business, Facebook Business, and Yelp
• Managing your client reviews
• Building backlinks and getting content published with local, reputable publications
• Keeping your firms listings updated in legal directories

If you need help with any of this or you aren’t using any of these tools and you’d like to get started, give us a call.

2. Content

Content is still an important part of legal marketing strategy in 2021. Regular blog posts are necessary, but they’re only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to a solid content strategy. Other forms of content to consider for the upcoming year include:

• Ebooks
• Social media posts
• Podcasts
• Videos
• Webinars
• Landing pages
• Newsletters

All of your content, no matter which items from this list you use, must drive potential clients to your website. Your firm’s site should be a one-stop resource for those who visit. It should encourage visitors to take the next step and reach out to you to discuss their needs.

Content can also be educational and help people make decisions about legal issues that don’t require personal attention from an attorney.

For example, a personal injury attorney might share information about why uninsured motorist coverage is so important for drivers. The idea is to share your legal knowledge with someone who doesn’t need a lawyer, but create a connection so they’ll reach out to you in the future when they do need one. It’s accomplishing many of the same goals as “old school marketing” because you’re raising awareness of your firm, but you’re doing it in a manner that’s more helpful than advertising on a billboard or bus.

3. Approach

It should surprise nobody to find out that the approach to legal marketing and dealing with clients will continue to look different in the coming year. We experienced cataclysmic changes in 2020 and a good deal of that is going to pour into 2021.

It’s important to make sure you’re helping clients navigate through whatever the upcoming year has in store for them. Make a list of some of the issues your clients are likely to face in 2021. You can use that list to personalize your approach to marketing and to help you deal with clients once they’re working with you.

Creating a smart approach to reaching out to your audience is an important part of law firm marketing trends for the upcoming year.

4. Flexibility

Obviously, we’re not out of the woods yet as far as COVID-19 is concerned. Success still involves a great deal of flexibility and having an open mind to how you’ll do things. The more open your lines of communication with your audience the better.

Make sure you’re keeping in contact via your blog and social media posts, reaching out to people via email or text, and scheduling time to interact one-on-one with clients and people on your team via teleconferencing.

Keep in mind, not everyone is comfortable with all of these new uses for technology, so offer options and solutions for clients who are still adjusting.

5. Streamline

If you’re wondering how you’ll afford to find room in your existing marketing budget to make these tips happen or you are concerned about time or stretching yourself too thin, don’t be. When it comes to marketing, you shouldn’t be adding to the heap. You should be eliminating some things and adding others. Transitioning to new methods is the best way to make the most of your marketing investments.

For example, advertising on billboards or during drive-time radio shows isn’t as effective as it used to be. This started before 2020, but the shift to remote work sped up the move away from this method. No matter what you choose to ditch and what you choose to implement, you should always be putting your client’s needs first. Make sure your marketing efforts offer value and aren’t just a clever pitch to raise basic brand awareness. What you do should show that you understand your client’s needs and concerns.

If you’d like to discuss any of these law firm marketing trends for the upcoming year or you need help putting together a marketing strategy for 2021, give Legal Web Design a call.