How to Create High Converting Lead Magnets for Marketing a Law Firm

Generating new leads and growing your law firm is probably one of your biggest goals – and most common challenges. Sure getting traffic to your site is nice, but there’s not much of a point if those visitors don’t convert into leads. There’s one tactic we recommend using above all others when it comes to marketing a law firm: a lead magnet.

What is a Lead Magnet?

A lead magnet is anything of value that you can exchange for a prospect’s contact information – usually an email address. It’s not a brochure about your law firm or other obviously promotional material – a lead magnet offers value and is something that people are interested in.

The most common lead magnet that you’ve likely seen is a complementary guide or report that’s delivered in PDF format. However, there are plenty of other lead magnets your law firm can offer. More on that later.

A lead magnet has one goal: to maximize the number of targeted leads you are getting for an offer.

Lead magnets work well when marketing a law firm, knowing the “sales” cycle can be quite long. Lead magnets help you capture visitors across your website who are in the research phase (or other phases of the client journey). From there, you can nurture them with emails and other educational and helpful content. In this way, you can build trust over time, demonstrate credibility, and essentially create a relationship. 

One note: a free consultation isn’t really a lead magnet since most firms offer that these days. Your lead magnet should be unique to differentiate you from other firms. 

Types of Law Firm Lead Magnets

A lead magnet can be any enticing piece of content that provides valuable information. They can come in many forms, but short PDF files are the most common. Look into: 

• eBooks that explore more complex legal topics
• How-to-guides that walk someone through a particular task or problem
• Checklists that clearly explain steps to take in a process
• Case studies that highlight a particular challenge and the results you’ve achieved
• Webinars that educate your audience on a particular topic
• Infographics that highlight information from a study or survey

For example, some materials we’ve seen include an eBook entitled “5 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Personal Injury Attorney” or a Checklist for “Dealing with Insurance Companies After a Serious Auto Accident”. 

Anatomy of a Strong Law Firm Lead Magnet

The average future client is looking for easy-to-digest information that helps them answer a question or solve a problem. A simple, well-designed PDF is enough in most cases. However, it’s important to keep these elements in mind:

1. Focus on a Pain Point

Addressing a problem that keeps people up at night will ensure they are interested enough to click on the content. 

2. Solving a Problem or Answering a Question

Remember, the goal of the lead magnet is not to sell your services, but to help people understand what to do as simply as possible. 

3. Leads to Small Wins

It’s important that whatever suggestions you put forth in your lead magnet can be applied easily. The purpose of the lead magnet is to simply make informed decisions and take better next steps. Helping people to achieve small wins is more likely to build trust in your firm. 

4. Use Bold Headlines and Compelling Calls-to-action (CTAs)

The headline is the most important component of your lead magnet. You need a title that grabs attention and draws people in, along with a strong CTA that entices people to click. Lead magnets should be actionable and it should be clear what the next step is. 

Once your lead magnet is created, you need to promote it! You can do so by posting about it on social media, sending information to your database via email, or by executing paid advertising campaigns. You can also share with strategic partners or create unique content around the item on LinkedIn. 

Don’t forget: that even the best lead magnet won’t be effective if you don’t create programs to nurture the leads. Along with your actual lead magnet, make sure you develop copy and content to send via email as follow-ups. If your lead magnet is successful, you’ll have a new list of contacts – make the most of them, and don’t let them simply sit idle with no contact from your law firm. 

For a deeper dive into how to craft a marketing campaign that reaches the right audience, check out this free, on-demand webinar: Crafting a Campaign-Driven Marketing Strategy for Your Law Firm.

Takeaway:

It can feel daunting to create lead magnets, but it doesn’t need to be. Many people have success repurposing content they’ve used in other ways. Once you’ve gotten a good strategy down and outlined your persona and their pain points, you can focus on creating unique lead magnets for different audiences. Couple a well-designed lead magnet with a thoughtful email nurturing program and you’re likely to generate significantly more leads and qualify them more quickly.

Using a lead magnet when marketing a law firm will help you connect with qualified leads, build your law firm’s reputation, and enable you to grow your client base. If you need help creating or executing lead generation campaigns, we can help! Contact us today for a complimentary consultation.

This post has been edited and republished from June 11, 2021.