The Value of Case Studies for Law Firms

Case studies are an invaluable asset to have on your website. They enable visitors to understand the type of work you do, who you do it for, and how you approach your work. Case studies are a tried-and-true way to illustrate your firm’s successes with clients, which makes them an important part of any content marketing strategy.  By showcasing exemplary work and proven value, they provide your firm with more opportunity to set itself apart from the competition. Prospects increasingly value case studies. Recently, HubSpot reported that case studies help convert and accelerate most online leads. In this blog, I will provide you with a quick breakdown of why your law firm’s content marketing strategy should include case studies.

Case Studies Build Trust

It’s a simple fact that audiences — especially millennials — trust user generated content more than any other form. While case studies are not 100% user generated content, they do contain loads of valuable information and results that come directly from the source. The overall purpose of content marketing is to build trust with your audience, and by showing how your law firm’s services have helped other clients, that’s exactly what a case study does.

You might think of a case study as indirectly user generated content. The data and presentation are coming from your law firm, but the reader can easily see that anything you say has to be backed up by real-world results. Include a few quotes from the client the case study is based upon, and you’ve got a winning formula.

Leveraging Case Studies for Thought Leadership

Beyond just building trust and answering common client questions, case studies also serve as a powerful tool for positioning your law firm as a thought leader within your practice areas. By showcasing your firm’s expertise in tackling complex legal matters, case studies highlight not only the successful outcomes you’ve achieved but also the unique strategies and innovative approaches your attorneys use to solve client challenges.

Thought leadership is critical in today’s competitive legal landscape. Prospective clients often look for firms that don’t just offer legal solutions but also demonstrate deep industry knowledge and a commitment to staying ahead of trends. Case studies provide an opportunity to illustrate your firm’s forward-thinking mindset, whether it’s through creative litigation strategies, precedent-setting cases, or proactive risk mitigation techniques.

To further establish your firm as an authority, consider supplementing your case studies with expert commentary, legal insights, or trend analysis. Doing so will ensure that your case studies don’t just highlight past successes, but also provide valuable knowledge that prospects and industry peers can benefit from. By consistently publishing insightful case studies, your firm reinforces its reputation as a go-to resource for legal expertise and innovative solutions.

Case Studies Answer Common Questions

A case study tells a complete story. Readers can see the whole picture from start to finish. A well written case study will detail the original problem, the strategy devised to solve the problem, and the journey to success. This demonstrates precisely how working with your law firm will be beneficial.

Seeing the entire process from start to finish will answer the most common questions potential clients have. It becomes easier for them to decide if your firm’s services and methods match what they are looking for. This should generate stronger leads, as the audience is much more aware of what to expect.

Make the Most of Good Results

You can use results achieved for past clients to help bring in future clients. When leveraged correctly, these results have a strong pull factor. Be sure you are in compliance with ethics rules governing attorney advertisement. 

People are more likely to contact a firm or company for their services when they feel they already know them. Case studies give potential clients this feeling of prior knowledge. They have seen what your firm does for their clients from start to finish, so they feel like they have some experience with you.

Results on Multiple Marketing Channels

Case studies have unique properties that make them particularly effective across multiple marketing channels.

Search & SEO

Case studies are very specific in the subject matter they deal with, and often exhaustive in their explanation. This naturally makes them contenders for high ranking spots in search results. They tend to perform very well in searches for their specific subjects and drive valuable traffic.

Social Media

Again, because of their specific subject matter, case studies tend to have a longer than average lifespan on social media. They can be brought up and passed along again and again. They are a favorite source of information for Internet users looking for hard facts to support a position or argument.

Email

Because case studies are often lengthy and contain in-depth information, they are excellent candidates to be used as “lead magnets” or gated content. A case study neatly formatted and packaged a case study into a PDF file can be used to reward a reader for subscribing to your firm’s email list.

On the other side of the coin, including a case study, a portion of one, or a link to one, in one of your outgoing emails can help increase email open rates and clicks through to your website. Curiosity to see how the story turns out can be irresistible.

Takeaway

If you haven’t tried publishing case studies to promote your law firm, it’s definitely something you should be thinking about. They are one of the best forms of “evergreen” content, providing extra value to your readers and higher than average ROI for your law firm. It’s true that a case study is going to take a bit longer to put together than your standard blog post, but the rewards you reap will be well worth the extra effort. If you’d like help achieving better results through your content marketing strategy, contact us today. We help law firms like yours develop content marketing strategies that generate real business results.

Updated and originally posted November 8, 2019