The money you have to invest in marketing is one of your law firm’s best resources but figuring out how to invest that money wisely takes some thought. What are the best ways to spend your law firm marketing budget?
Unless your firm is a rare exception, you don’t want to invest a chunk of your marketing budget into something that offers minimal ROI. Experimenting and throwing money at things that might work is a waste.
If you’re wondering what to do with your law firm marketing budget, here are five ways you can spend wisely and make the most of what you have, even if it’s not that much.
Content Marketing
Content is the number one tool you should be using to market your firm. Keep in mind, the term “content marketing” encompasses a number of different specific techniques, so there are still decisions to be made about where to spend your money. The important thing to understand here is that your firm shouldn’t be dismissing the value of content.
According to Website Magazine, content marketing is expected to be a $4 billion industry by 2021 and it’s one of the primary methods you have for growing brand awareness and increasing conversions. It’s also one of the most affordable options you have for advertising your firm.
You can tailor a content marketing strategy to fit into any law firm marketing budget. Content marketing helps your firm in direct and indirect ways, so our immediate return on your investment might be just the tip of the iceberg.
Done properly, content marketing can offer the highest ROI of anything on this list.
Protecting Against Cybersecurity and Data Breaches
If you don’t have a separate budgetary allowance for creating airtight cybersecurity, you’ll want to include improvements as part of your law firm marketing budget. This is especially true if your firm accepts payments or collects sensitive data from clients on your site.
Exposing this sensitive information because of a security or data breach would be a nightmare in every possible way and damage your firm’s reputation. If you haven’t already, discuss the security protections in place for your site with everyone involved in running your site.
Mobile Matters
The use of mobile devices to access information online continues to grow. This means if potential clients aren’t able to access your site quickly and easily with their phone, tablet, or other device, you’re losing them.
Improving mobile accessibility for your firm’s site is a great way to invest your law firm marketing budget.
Site Redesign
You should be doing a site analysis at least once a year. This enables you to verify that everything is still working as you intend. Sometimes only minor tweaks are needed, while other times you need an entire site redesign.
There’s a lot to take into account before redesigning your site to meet your firm’s current needs.
As you prepare to speak to someone about a redesign, consider your goals for your website. Think about what you’d like it to do for your firm specifically. Ask yourself:
- Do you want it to be your first point of contact with clients?
- Are you hoping to build your firm’s brand or reputation in the industry?
- Do you want to provide functionality to existing clients by providing a way to communicate with you or make payments?
- Does your site need to do all of this and more?
Most things are possible, but you need to have goals in mind before you can create the perfect site. This ensures your law firm marketing dollars are spent wisely.
Advertising
Advertising – paying for your firm to be mentioned in specific locations – is still a great way to invest your marketing dollars. Digital advertising opportunities continue to grow. They are allowing law firms to be more specific than ever before with how they target potential clients.
Of course, advertising shouldn’t be the only thing in your marketing arsenal. Digital advertising tends to work best when it’s part of a comprehensive strategy that combines many of these options. Most firms also find that traditional forms of advertising – TV, radio, and print ads – are still valuable approaches, as well.
If you’ve gone as far as you can with the items on this list, there are still plenty of opportunities available. Say you just updated your site design. Maybe your traditional ads are in place and you have a regular content schedule. Perhaps your security is already airtight.
What else can you do?
- Consider creating video content for your site
- Focus on local SEO
- Give social media marketing a try
- Launch an email marketing campaign
And if your firm is employing all of these techniques, maybe it’s time to take a look at the analytics and see what’s working best. That way you’ll know what to expand and whether or not something needs to be eliminated.
If you’d like to discuss your law firm marketing options or you’re ready to get started on one of the items listed above, contact Legal Web Design for a FREE consultation today.
