Getting new clients is essential for any personal injury law firm to grow and thrive. With increasing competition, simply relying on referrals or walk-ins is no longer enough. Personal injury lawyers need to actively market their services and build their brand to attract new clients. Here are some of the main strategies and best practices personal injury attorneys use for client acquisition:
Optimizing Their Website Through Local SEO
Having a professional website with useful, relevant content is a must for any law firm today. But simply having a website is not enough – lawyers need to optimize it for local SEO to show up in search results when potential clients are searching online.
Local SEO helps personal injury law firms rank higher in local searches related to their practice area and location. Key elements of local SEO include:
- Optimizing website content with relevant keywords, like “personal injury lawyer [city]”
- Ensuring their business is listed correctly on directories like Google My Business
- Building local citations and backlinks from directory listings, associations, and other legal websites
- Monitoring reviews on their Google My Business listing, Facebook, and other sites
- Optimizing their website for mobile
Lawyers who focus on local SEO are able to reach more potential clients researching legal help in their city or county. Ranking on the first page for local searches can bring in a steady stream of clients over time.
Creating Useful Website Content
Law firm websites need regular fresh content to engage visitors, establish expertise, and rank well in search engines. Useful website content that answers common client questions can attract and convert website visitors into leads.
Some ideas for law firm website content include:
- Detailed practice area and attorney biography pages
- Local area guides with information on laws and processes
- Articles addressing common legal questions and issues
- Client testimonials and case studies
- Blog posts providing informational content to potential clients
This content helps build trust and positions the attorneys as knowledgeable experts potential clients can turn to. Interactive content like quizzes, assessments, and calculators also help engage visitors.
Maintaining an Active Law Firm Blog
Blogs have become a must-have for law firms. Regular blogging helps provide content for the website, while enabling firms to connect with potential clients. Blogs should publish 1-3 posts per week on topics related to their practice areas.
Blog content ideas for personal injury firms include:
- Personal stories of how they have helped clients
- Explanations of laws related to common accident claims
- Guides on what to do after an accident
- Overviews of processes like filing insurance claims
- Safety tips to help prevent common accidents
- Updates on verdicts and settlements in recent cases
Quality blog content demonstrates the firm’s expertise and compassion for clients. An active blog also helps a law firm’s content marketing and SEO strategies by bringing in website visitors from search engines and social media. Legal content writers can help with this.
Leveraging Paid Search Ads
Paid search ads on Google and other platforms are an effective way for law firms to get their website in front of people actively searching for legal help. Lawyers can target local search ads to reach potential clients looking for an attorney in their specific city or county.
Ads can also target specific practice areas like “car accident lawyer” or “medical malpractice attorney”. Driving paid traffic to the law firm website and then using call-to-actions to convert them into contacts is a proven client acquisition strategy.
Networking and Community Involvement
While online marketing is crucial, real-world networking and relationships remain important for personal injury lawyers to find new clients. Attending local events, joining legal associations, sponsoring community programs, and getting involved with local businesses can help build relationships and referral sources.
Lawyers can also give free talks and seminars in the community on common legal issues to establish expertise while meeting potential clients. Volunteering, mentoring youth, and pro bono legal work are other ways for attorneys to enhance their reputation and give back.
Referrals from Former Clients
When lawyers provide an excellent client experience, clients are likely to recommend them to friends, family, and colleagues in need of legal help. Satisfied clients can become a law firm’s strongest referral source.
Lawyers should stay in touch with former clients by sending newsletters, holiday cards, or emails to keep them updated and reminded of their services. Social media can also help lawyers stay top-of-mind with past clients. Offering referral bonuses or rewards provides further incentive for referrals.
Reputation Management
Positive reviews and testimonials on websites like Google My Business, Yelp and Facebook help attract potential clients who are researching law firms online. Lawyers need to proactively request reviews from satisfied clients and monitor what clients are saying about their firm.
Quickly responding to any negative reviews, addressing issues, and showing that the lawyer cares about making things right goes a long way in building an excellent reputation. Reputation management helps establish trust and confidence among potential new clients.
Creative Advertising Approaches
While referrals and online marketing are important, legal advertising also helps personal injury lawyers get new clients. Creative ads on billboards, radio, TV, buses, benches, directories, and more increase brand visibility. Advertising on Facebook helps reach a wider local audience.
Ads should focus on getting potential clients to the law firm’s website for more information. Retargeting ads also help bring back website visitors who leave without contacting the firm by following them around online and reminding them about the firm.
Following Up on Leads Promptly
When any marketing and advertising efforts generate a new lead, lawyers need to respond as soon as possible. Quickly calling or emailing a potential client shows that their case is important. Setting appointments to discuss potential cases in person also helps convert leads into clients.
Having skilled staff to follow up on inquiries, requests for information, and free case evaluations helps lawyers promptly engage with potential clients so they don’t slip away. Following up promptly helps law firms stand out from competitors.
Grow Your Firm with Our Legal Content Writers
Reaching potential clients takes strategy, consistent effort, creativity, and most importantly – great content. Generating fresh website content, blog posts, and social media updates is essential but time-consuming. Consider hiring experienced legal content writers to handle your content marketing and blogging.
Legal content writers help law firms get found locally, establish their expertise online, and constantly attract new website visitors. If you need assistance with your content and digital marketing, get in touch! We’re happy to discuss producing engaging content that gets results for your personal injury or other law practice.
