6 Things Law Firms Need to Generate Leads With Content Marketing

When it comes to online lead generation for law firms, content is king. Compelling content helps law firms attract and convert leads online more than any other digital marketing tactic. So how can your law firm leverage its content marketing strategy to drum up more leads? In this guide, we’ll show how. All you need are these six essential components.

1. High quality, high value gated content

To collect leads with your content, you need more than blog posts. A true lead generation strategy is inclusive of gated content, such as webinars, guides, whitepapers, or eBooks. (Gated content is any type of content that viewers can only access after exchanging their contact details.) Often referred to as lead magnets, this type of gated content should include exclusive insights and original research in order to be effective at creating interest.

Upon download, when you have a prospect’s contact information, you can keep your law firm top of mind and help nurture them down the buyer’s journey with lead nurturing campaigns. (More on lead nurturing below.)

2. Clear, compelling and focused landing pages

Your lead magnet – whether it’s a guide or an eBook – should only be accessible via a form fill on a campaign landing page. Landing pages are standalone web pages, created specifically for a marketing or advertising campaign.

Unlike web pages, which typically have many goals and encourage exploration, landing pages are designed with a single focus or goal, known as a call to action (or CTA, for short). It’s this focus that makes landing pages the best option for increasing the conversion rates of your lead generation campaigns.

Lay out the benefits of the content asset and use verbiage to encourage visitors to take action. Think through your landing page and keep your audiences’ needs in mind, and ensure you’re demonstrating value immediately.

3. A functional CRM system that collects lead information

A CRM system collects all sorts of information about prospects across the entire sales cycle. Your business development team should use this information to grow your client list. If you don’t have a process for storing and using the data associated with leads, it will be hard to properly follow up on them. Firms without a CRM system miss opportunities for brand building and relationship nurturing. Without a working CRM tool, your ability to create leads out of people who view your content is diminished. Make sure you have a process documented for turning leads over to your business development team and enabling them to make updates about their activities. 

Related: Five Useful CRM Tools for Law Firms

4. A marketing automation system so that you can nurture leads

Gated content requires an email address. Not only is that email important for delivering the content prospects signed up for, but it’s also a valuable tool for communicating with those individuals later on. There are certainly manual processes for collecting information and sending emails, but a marketing automation system can streamline such tedious tasks. They are designed specifically for marketing teams to communicate with their audiences at scale and automate certain tasks.

For instance, if a prospect downloads a piece of content, they can be automatically dropped into an email workflow that will send them relevant and helpful material. Additionally, lots of those systems have lead scoring technology that allows firms to better customize content. Many tools combine a CRM and marketing automation system.

Related: The Best 7 Marketing Automation Tools for Law Firms

5. A thoughtful strategy for promoting content

Distribution is crucial when it comes to your law firm’s content strategy. Just like any content assets, gated content needs to be actively distributed and promoted. Drive traffic to your landing pages and include CTAs to download content in blog posts, digital advertising, and on social (using either paid or organic posts). 

Also, create an email strategy to send teasers and encourage downloads. 

You can even use gated content in your guest blogging strategy by including a link to the landing page of highly relevant, useful gated content or to a high-converting blog post. Focus on providing value to readers and advancing their understanding of the subject matter rather than being promotional.

6. A well-researched client persona

A client persona is a research-based profile that represents the type of individual that you would like to become your client. A client persona would give insight on who a prospective client is – the criteria, specific attitudes, and touchpoints that cause a client to choose your law firm over your competition. 

When you have a well-built client persona that gives you information on who your client is, you can then shape your content marketing strategy around this persona. This ensures your content is valuable to the audience you want to reach.

Takeaway

If you plan to grow your firm, then lead generation will always be important. In today’s digital landscape, content presents your biggest opportunity for turning visitors into qualified leads – and then turning those leads into clients. The five elements listed here will ensure that your content strategy has a strong foundation.

Are you lacking the time and resources to write long-form content? We’ve got the largest cadre of legal writers and journalists in the industry, helping to take your idea and write the content as if you had the time to write it yourself. Let our experienced content professionals help you tell your story. Contact us today for a consultation.

This post has been edited and republished from Dec. 8, 2020.