Content Marketing for Law Firms: 12 Tips for Creating Engaging Content

Content marketing for law firms is hard. Unfortunately, fun, exciting, and engaging aren’t usually the first words people use to describe content in the legal industry. The content that most law firms publish often gets a bad reputation for being boring and uninteresting. A lot of digital marketers will also shy away from working in the legal industry and avoid legal marketing projects because they find the work to be uninteresting and tedious. Nonetheless, any law firm looking to demonstrate knowledge and experience to prospects and clients needs to create and publish engaging content.

Content marketing for law firms provides plenty of opportunities for lawyers and law firms to develop unconventional and innovative ideas and strategies. Below are some tips to create engaging and remarkable content for your law firm.

Tips on Content Marketing for Law Firms

1. Create Content that Covers Each Step of The Client Journey

When creating engaging marketing content for your law firm, it is important to know your audience. Rather than trying to appeal to a large demographic of online users, try creating content that directly relates to your target audience and where they are in the client journey. 

The client journey consists of four phases: Awareness, Consideration, Conversion, and Retention. To create content for each of these stages, you must first understand them. Check out this podcast on mapping your client’s journey to learn how to optimize the content in each step best.

2. Make Your Main Point Clear

Items like your headline, meta description, URL, and intro should clearly state the purpose of your content. Headlines and introductions are a user’s first impression and your one chance to get them to click on and keep reading.

Don’t beat around the bush with stylistic choices when it comes to your intro and meta description. Grab their attention while simultaneously showcasing what you’ll be discussing in this piece of content.

And lastly, make sure your headings and subheadings give readers a good idea of what each section is about. Remember: readers are there because they want answers. Don’t lead them down a rabbit hole, unable to find the answer to their questions.

3. Shape Content Around Your Target Audience’s Pain Points

Everything you create should be geared toward your target audience. Start by creating an ideal client profile based on the demographics, interests, lifestyle, and attributes of your target audience. Then, identify your client’s greatest pain points/questions.

From there, you can create content that offers solutions to these problems and remedies the stress they’re feeling.

Check out this free guide for help creating an ideal client profile: A Law Firm’s Guide to Creating an Ideal Client Profile.

4. Use Different Formats to Your Advantage

You can offer many different types of content, such as blogs, eBooks, and whitepapers. Even blogs alone have many subtypes, like how-to guides, listicles, think pieces, etc.

Think about how much information it’ll take to sufficiently answer your target audience’s question or remedy their pain point. If it’s something that will take a large amount of reading, consider creating an eBook. Or if it’s something that you feel can be communicated quickly, make an easy-to-follow listicle.

Don’t waste your time uploading blogs that are the length of an eBook when you could put that information into a chaptered format and get a better response.

Lastly, consider trying other content types, like webinars or videos, to educate your audience while remaining engaging. In our experience, many users prefer to learn about intricate topics via audio and video content rather than muddle through a long and involved blog post.

5. Create Content That Appeals to The Human Experience

Online users often respond to engaging, emotional, and/or controversial content. With this in mind, there are ways to create content that will truly resonate with your target audience. Educating your audience on current trends and developments within the law is one way to do this. 

Marketers must ensure that their content is timely and relates to their target audience. Think about ways to incorporate current events, popular culture, and trending topics into your content to grab your audience’s attention and pique their interest. Try to create content that is relevant and interesting to your audience. You want to ensure your content resonates with your audience and encourages engagement. Make sure that your content is genuine and doesn’t feel overly technical. 

6. Use Visuals/ Videos as Needed

Readers today are much keener to work through blog posts or longer pieces of content if it’s filled with images, infographics, or videos. If you’re breaking something down with a lot of vocabulary, consider creating a colorful infographic. If you want to expand on a topic, make a short explanatory video on the subject with more info.

Above all else, make the visuals appealing and entertaining. Stock images are acceptable when necessary, but creating your content where you can help make your writing extra engaging.

7. Ditch Passive Knowledge

Often, law firms, in particular, can be guilty of producing passive content that only serves to inform and provides overly technical knowledge. This method could work for SEO but is not as effective in conversion. While creating content that works to inform might only reach audiences searching for that particular information, content that utilizes applied knowledge can draw on a broader demographic of potential clients. Content based on applied knowledge informs and helps the viewer understand the information. It should inspire, instruct, and allow the reader to take action on the issue or topic.

Using applied knowledge in your content marketing shows your audience that you understand them and their experience. The most crucial aspect here is to not bog down your client with overly technical or uninteresting information. Instead, apply the information to appeal to your client’s needs and desires. This is also an excellent opportunity to incorporate charts and infographics into your content to share numerical and technical data more easily. Offering applicable knowledge allows the client the power to make well-informed decisions and builds trust that your firm provides valuable expert information. 

8. Use Storytelling to Your Advantage

Explaining legal terms can get boring. Amplify your content by including stories, examples, and metaphors to make it easy to understand. Not only does this help you further explain your points, but it also makes your writing entertaining to read.

9. Write in a Casual Tone- Avoid Legal Jargon

Imagine if you read a blog by a chemist after googling how baking powder works, and they simply explained the process in chemistry vocabulary without breaking it down. Although terms may seem easy to understand, that’s not always the case for the general public. Although readers are on a quest for information, they’ll click off all too quickly if they find the blog challenging to understand.

Above all else, try writing the way you speak. Consider having someone who isn’t in the legal industry read through your writing. Or try telling your writing out loud. If the words don’t roll off the tongue naturally and sound like an everyday dialogue, then it may be too formal for online readers.

10. Make it Actionable

Sure, it’s nice to hear an explanation of legal terms or news, but what should readers do about it? Write in the second person so it’s clear what you want the reader to think or do. And don’t forget to put an easy-to-follow call to action at the end so your reader knows exactly what to do next.

11. Utilize Social Media to Amplify Your Content

Social media platforms offer an unparalleled opportunity to amplify your law firm’s content and engage with a broader audience. By sharing your articles, case studies, and legal insights on platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter/X, TikTok, and Facebook, you can reach potential clients who may have yet to find your website through traditional search methods. Use social media to start conversations around your content, encouraging shares, comments, and discussions. Remember to tailor your message to fit the tone and style of each platform. For instance, LinkedIn is ideal for more professional, in-depth content, while Twitter is perfect for shorter, more engaging posts that link back to your full articles. Additionally, engaging directly with users by responding to comments and participating in relevant discussions can further establish your firm’s thought leadership and approachability in the legal field.

12. Optimize for Search Engines

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is crucial for making sure your content is discovered by your target audience. Use keyword research tools to identify what terms your potential clients are searching for and incorporate these into your content strategically. However, balancing keyword usage with natural language is essential to ensure your content remains engaging and reads well. Optimizing your content’s structure with proper header tags and ensuring your website is mobile-friendly will improve readability and boost your search engine rankings. Keeping SEO in mind when creating your content helps attract organic traffic and positions you as an authoritative voice in your field.

Takeaway:

Dull, uninteresting content can prevent you from appealing to, securing, and retaining new clients. Legal marketers can get creative by producing insightful and engaging content that captures prospects and clients at each step along the buyer’s journey, appeals to the human experience, and utilizes applied knowledge. This type of content has the potential to generate leads and raise awareness of the services provided by your law firm.

Do you need help with content marketing for law firms? Do you need help to develop a cohesive content strategy that resonates with your target audience? We can help. Please contact us today.