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Estate planning law firms are in a highly competitive market. In order to stay ahead of the curve and continue to attract clients on a steady, if not increasing, basis, it is essential to understand the ins and outs of estate planning law firm marketing. Understanding marketing for your law firm’s niche involves recognizing what makes your law firm unique, having access to different marketing strategies, and knowing how to start and follow through with a plan that fits best with your law firm. If you are struggling to implement a digital marketing plan for your estate planning law firm, the digital marketing specialists from Law Quill are ready to help.
What Makes Estate Planning Unique?
Estate planning is a complex and often emotionally-charged area of law. With an estate plan, a person can determine what they wish to happen to their assets in the event they die or become incapacitated. With different options for individuals and families at all income levels, estate planning can seem complex to most clients. When you are well-informed on your state’s estate planning laws, you can better inform clients and what may be best for them in the future. In order to have that opportunity, it is crucial to understand how to make the most of your estate planning law firm marketing strategy.
Why Are Marketing Strategies Important?
As a practiced attorney, you likely want to not only build a significant online presence but a brand as well. Niching out your practice areas can be challenging without the right marketing strategies.
Unlike attorneys of the past, lawyers are unlikely to receive significant refers or walk-in business. Instead, many clients seek legal representatives online. The marketing strategies you employ for your law firm will have an impact on your clientele and whether you are viewed as a valuable resource in the estate planning industry.
Ultimately, you want your marketing strategies to improve your website’s search engine optimization (SEO). Not only can this boost rankings and improve website visibility, but it can garner a sense of expertise and readiness that some clients may need to make the jump to contact you.
How to Start With Estate Planning Law Firm Marketing
Whether you are developing marketing strategies for a brand new law firm or you are looking to revamp your current strategy, creating a marketing plan can be overwhelming. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to get started in the right direction, including:
Identify Your Target Client
STOP YOUR SCROLL. This is where the rubber starts to hit the proverbial road.
Sure, you provide estate planning to clients, but who are they really? Do you work in probate? Do you work with high-net worth individuals? Do you want to purposefully outreach to minority communities that have not had historic opportunities to learn about asset management, wealth protection, and intergenerational wealth?
Before developing any marketing strategies for your law firm, you need to ensure you know who your target market is. Consider the types of clients you are looking to attract as well as the typical clients you have retained in the past. Do those client profiles align? Are there specific estate planning matters that bring clients to you more often than others?
You may come to discover that your target audience has changed over time, which can indicate a marketing strategy makeover for some law firms.
Determine What Makes Your Law Firm Stand Out
NEXT HUGE STEP. What makes your estate planning law firm stand out from its competition?
Unfortunately, attorneys are not the only professionals offering estate planning services. Accountants and financial planners also have the ability to assist with planning for the future. You need to differentiate yourself from all other estate planning professionals to encourage clients to reach out to you for help. Consider how your education, experience, and credentialing make you the right fit for potential clients.
Do you offer flat fees? Do you offer educational seminars or webinars to help explain the differences between special needs trusts, gun trusts, pet trusts and more? Do you offer periodic evaluations? Do you have a unique subset of clientele such as single people, professional business owners, or blended families?
Think of who you want to serve, and how you serve them BEST. What makes you stand out beyond your competitions. This is where you will find that you can really drill down and gain the most benefit from your marketing
Top Estate Planning Marketing Strategies for Law Firms
If you are looking to improve your estate planning law firm marketing, we have the information you need. There are numerous strategies to consider when looking to increase your website traffic and lead generation, including the following:
Create Quality Content
Content is one of the most important aspects of any estate planning law firm marketing strategy. In addition to your home page, about us section, and contact page, it is important to focus on practice area page content and blogs. Your practice area pages should focus on your services and how you can help clients plan for their future. In terms of blogs, consider covering topical subjects alongside commonly asked questions.
There are a number of elements that go into a quality piece of content. If you do not know where to start, conduct keyword research. Once you have keywords to work with, you can start writing. Content length varies depending on the type of content and what needs to be said to cover the matter. Remember to use headers (i.e., H2, H3, etc.) and add meta descriptions and images or videos to your content to improve rankings.
Boost Organic Traffic
You can use SEO to boost your website’s organic traffic. Organic website traffic makes up a significant portion of the client base for many estate planning law firms. Increasing organic traffic starts with analyzing your website to determine how it is holding up against your competition. You can use tools like Ahrefs or Google Analytics to learn about your website’s performance.
Take a look at how long visitors stay on specific web pages and what your bounce rates look like. Information like that can inform essential content changes. You can also use those online tools to optimize your keyword strategy and answer more search queries.
Improve Conversion Rates
Conversion rates refer to how many website visitors become paying clients of your law firm. There are a number of strategies to consider implementing if you want to improve your conversion rates. Three elements you want to consider first include usability, professionalism, and authoritativeness.
The more user-friendly your website is, the easier it will be for potential clients to contact you. Ensure your website has a clear site map that leads visitors to the content they need and a way to get in touch with you. In terms of professionalism, your website should convey the sense that you are well-versed in estate planning law and are available to help individuals and families that reach out to you. Finally, you can improve your authoritativeness with quality content and positive reviews.
Highlight Success With Positive Reviews
Positive reviews can have a significant impact on your law firm’s marketing success. It can be challenging to collect reviews, let alone positive ones, so making the review process as accessible as possible is essential. As such, you might consider dedicating a page on your website to reviews or installing a plugin that automatically imports reviews from Google, Facebook, and other online sources.
Once you have a collection of positive reviews, it is important to position them in a way that ensures visitors see them. You may consider adding them to your home page or practice area pages. Remember, that you can not ethically just copy and paste a review to your website from a Google review without the express permission of your client.
Utilize Email Marketing
Even if your website is your primary lead generator, it is vital to gather leaders in other places as well. One of the most common ways to do this is through email marketing. The process, known as lead nurturing, involves sending out regular newsletters to keep in touch with potential, current, or past clients. Staying top of mind is crucial, particularly when it comes to past clients who may be likely to refer new clients to your law firm.
Post on Social Media
The most popular social media platforms for lawyers include Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
While LinkedIn is best used for networking with other legal professionals, the truth is that your clients are there as well. Professionals need an estate plan, too!
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter can also put you in touch with potential clients. Also, do not forget that Google Business Profile now allows you to post your estate planning content as small, short posts. This can help a potential client decide that you have expertise and authority, and pick up that phone, or fill in that contact form! These are all areas of free real estate on the internet – use them to your advantage!
Incorporating social media marketing into your client acquisition strategy can seem challenging at first; however, the key is consistency. You can use your social media accounts to post and share information regarding estate planning. You may also choose to share testimonials and reviews. Remember to clarify that information on your social media pages does not constitute legal advice.
How Law Quill Can Help Estate Planning Law Firms
Remember that estate planning law firm marketing can take some trial and error. You may need to employ a number of strategies before you find what works best for your law firm. If you are struggling to improve your law firm’s online presence and visibility, you have the option of outsourcing your digital marketing needs to Law Quill.
We are here to help and would welcome the opportunity to visit with you for free regarding your law firm website’s content, and how we can take these tasks off your plate! Schedule a free visit with us by scheduling a quick phone or zoom call at your convenience on our calendar today. You can also email us at support@lawquill.com.
