The Future of Law Firm Marketing: Does it Include Billboards?

Law Firm Marketing Then…

– Previously, Law Firm Marketing could be summarized as the smiling face of a lawyer on a billboard. With the billboard communicating the lawyer and law firm was competent, friendly, and inviting, this form of marketing is known as?outbound marketing. The goal of outbound marketing was to initiate the conversation and send a message through whatever medium deemed to be most effective.

What is Outbound Marketing?

Outbound marketing is the traditional form of law firm marketing where you conduct activities to find potential clients. In order to find these clients, outbound marketing tactics such as TV commercials, print advertisements, billboards, flyers, radio commercials, and cold calls were used to strum up business.

Law Firm Marketing Now…

Today, Law Firm Marketing has shifted from an outbound strategy to?Inbound Marketing solutions. With the goal of building trust, Inbound Marketing strategies use different measures to demonstrate competency. Instead of images plastered on billboards, law firm marketing has shifted and is more focused on providing prospects with information that is helpful.

What is Inbound Marketing?

Since 2006, Inbound Marketing has been based on the most effective marketing method of conducting online business. Inbound Marketing is all about creating and sharing legal content with various audiences to create trust and credibility. The overall goal is to publish legal content at the optimum time so this information is relevant to potential prospects.

Difference Between Inbound and Outbound Marketing

Inbound marketing, where legal prospects find you, is the exact opposite of outbound marketing. While outbound law firm marketing has been around for a much longer period, outbound marketing has been noted to have a few shortcomings. A few of the most common problems associated with outbound marketing are listed below.

• More legislation and technology?designed to prevent outbound marketing, such as Do-Not-Call (DNC) lists, spam blockers, and TiVo
• Higher costs associated with outbound marketing as well as a lower yield or return on investment.
• Difficulty in tracking the results of outbound law firm marketing.

How Does Inbound Marketing Work for the Law Firm?

With the overall goal of attracting high quality legal prospects to the firm, inbound marketing generally adheres to the following strategy.

• Attract visitors to the firm’s website through search engine optimization and other tactics with lucrative and informative content.
• Convert the visitors to legal prospects by offering the visitor a valuable offer and encouraging them to complete a Call-To-Action.
• Close the newly transformed prospect and convert them into to paying legal clients.
• Delight the client by providing them with valuable information. As a result, the client should become?a valuable referral source. In addition, the client will continue to grow their relationship with the firm by becoming repeat clients.

What is the Key to Inbound Law Firm Marketing?

The key to inbound law firm marketing is providing your audience with valuable content. While the blog is one of the most used mediums to deliver this content, you can also provide this information through the following:

• Infographics
• Podcasts and Videos
• Social Media
• Newsletters
• Press Releases

Law Firm Marketing Tomorrow…

The future of Law Firm Marketing has clearly moved clear past billboards and other outbound marketing tactics. While there is still room for the appropriate?outbound marketing mix in the law firm,?the future of Law Firm Marketing is all about effective ways to generate high quality legal prospects.

For more valuable information on ways to effectively generate high quality legal prospects through inbound marketing tactics,?download the white paper “Lead-Gen for Lawyers.”

Marketing Matters Inbound?is an inbound marketing firm specializing in online conversions, content?strategy, call-to-action mapping and traditional media placement. Our experience in?B2B digital?marketing?and traditional media allows us to deliver results through a strategic media mix. We believe in?aligning and merging marketing and sales/operations for optimal return on your marketing investment.