Content Marketing Strategy for Law Firms: Identifying Buyer Personas

The first step in developing a content strategy for your law firm is to identify your buyer personas. According to HubSpot, “a buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers.” For law firms, this means a representation of who your clients are, including their demographics, behavior patterns, needs, concerns, goals and objectives.

A law firm may have multiple buyer personas. For example, if your firm is focused on corporate law, you buyer personas may include business owners, entrepreneurs and in-house counsel. Each type of buyer is a different persona with different needs, concerns and goals.

On the other hand, if you run a matrimonial practice, you probably only have one persona, an individual who is considering or is in the process of a divorce.

Nonetheless, identifying your buyer personas is critical to help you determine what kind of content you should be creating for your target audience and to help you develop an editorial calendar.

So how do you go about identifying and creating your buyer personas? Here are some tips:

• Look through your email database or your CRM system to determine what your clients read on your email newsletters and on your websites.
• When you create forms on your website, make sure you capture as much information as possible so you can easily segment your clients and prospects and deliver the right content to them at the right time.
• Talk to your existing clients. Ask them what their top concerns, needs, goals and objectives are. Find out what keeps them up at night and what kind of opportunities they are interested in. Make sure you speak to both good and problem clients. Don’t just speak to clients who love the service you are providing for them. Speak to clients who are unsatisfied with your service or who have complained.
• If you don’t have any existing clients that fit a persona you are going after, do some research. There are many tools out available including social media networks like LinkedIn and Twitter that can help you figure out what your target audience is interested in and what they are reading.
• Look at what your competitors are doing. What kind of content are they publishing? How much engagement are they getting? This will provide you with ideas and help you to identify gaps and opportunities with your content.
• Talk to prospects. If there is a certain type of client you would like to have, set up informational interviews with some prospects and ask them what they care about: What is important to them and what they are interested in learning more about.

Sometimes it may be difficult to get people to agree to be interviewed. If that is the case, you may want to consider an incentive. Make sure you let potential interviewees know that you are not trying to sell them anything. All you want is information. Be clear in what you want from them and make sure you make it as easy as possible for them to say yes. Go to their office or arrange for a quick phone call. Have them suggest a time that works for them.

Identifying your buyer personas is a critical step in developing a content marketing strategy for law firms. Buyer personas will help you to determine what kind of content you should be creating for your target audience and help you to develop an editorial calendar.