How to Make Your Law Firm’s Content Stand Out When Everyone is Writing About the Same COVID-19 Topics

If there’s one thing you want to avoid right now, it’s content fatigue. With so many law firms putting out the same type of educational content on Covid-19 topics, it can be easy to drown in the noise. How can you make your law firm’s content stand out, when everyone is writing and marketing about the same Covid-19 topics over and over? We’ve got some ideas. 

Know your audience.

A law firm’s content marketing needs to encourage engagement and build a dialogue with your specific targets. Don’t write for the general public, write for your unique client personas. Have a specific person, with a specific title or issue, in mind. Hopefully you have clearly defined positioning for your firm – you know what you’re great at, and who really needs you. Tailor your topics and content to the audience who your content will best resonate with right now. 

Double down on practice areas that are trending online.

If your main practice area is down, then what can your firm shift to? Is there anything that your firm specializes in that may be heightened during this particular time? For some legal specialties, this nationwide lockdown may actually result in more clients and cases in the long run. Particularly, the following specialties are more lucrative during this time: family law, criminal law, and personal injury law.

Construct click-worthy headlines. 

With so many of the same topics being discussed, it’s natural that some of the headlines will look the same. Statistics show that 80% of readers don’t make it past the headline. It’s important to create an effective headline, and to do that, you need to understand your audience and use words that speak to their specific industry or challenge. 

Look for unique angles. 

The Covid-19 situation is developing so quickly, and changing so rapidly, it can be difficult to keep track of information. Many items can be missed in the commotion. Consider writing about the public policy implications of rapid legislative and regulatory developments, or particular challenges that are occurring in your regional area. Look to the future and question implications around the stimulus package, the consequences of school closures, or the way that office closures are going to permanently change the way work gets done. You’ll need to take a legal position, so pay special attention to the rules and regulations and their meanings. 

Include other media formats.

Today’s environment is rich in choices for consuming content. Don’t restrict your writers to just blogging or white papers. Put together informative videos, launch a podcast, or host a webinar. You’ll likely be doing a lot more remotely – now is a great time to use some of those teleconferencing tools to record interviews, discussions, or how-to’s. 

Publish content outside your own website. 

In every crisis, there is opportunity. One silver lining for law firms is that, with media shortages and readers hungry for reliable information, this is a great time to publish your thought leadership externally. As you take time to develop content that’s not just repeating what everyone else is saying, leverage a proactive approach to contacting media outlets. Editors are scrambling to do more with less – this is an ideal time to make their jobs easier by proposing the unique and thought-provoking content you’ve created!

Make sure posts are easy to share. 

It’s always a great thing when readers share your content. It’s important to encourage this, and make it easy for them. At a minimum, include a share button at the top of each blog post. If you use WordPress, their social media plugins make it easy to add these. You can also look into tools like Social Warfare to streamline this process. 

Incorporate keywords in your post to boost SEO. 

Research unique keywords or phrases that are relevant to your specific audience. Using the most common and popular keywords won’t help you stand out and they won’t help you with SEO. Consider topics and then research online – hopefully you can find very specific posts that are quite relevant to your audience, but haven’t been overdone by other firms yet. Start by doing a simple Google search. Just enter the general words you plan to use and then review the list of suggestions. From there, drill down into the ones that are similar to what you plan to write about. For more tips and tricks on SEO, download our free eBook: SEO for Law Firm Websites.

Interview or encourage guest posts from other thought leaders. 

There are several ways to find influencers or other experts aligned with your particular law firm practice. You can start by considering any people you partner with or collaborate with on cases. Have any of them had any unique experiences with the virus and consequential shut-downs? Perhaps you know some medical experts, or financial advisors who can shed some light on what’s to come for our hospital systems or our economy. Don’t be shy about reaching out to others for their opinions, and then sharing their perspective on your law firm’s content marketing platforms.

Takeaway

There’s certainly a lot of content floating around about Covid-19 right now. If you can develop unique angles that align with your firm’s brand or expertise, there’s no better time to position yourself as a thought leader and trusted expert. There are several steps you can take to make your law firm content marketing more compelling and stand out from the competition. Leverage these tips when creating any Covid-19 content, and you’re sure to disrupt the noise and gain new followers in the process.

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