Law Firm Digital Marketing Trend Predictions for 2022 and How to Implement Them

2021 was an unprecedented year for digital marketing amongst law firms. Many turned to new and creative ways to connect with their audience and amplify their voice. However, with such a fast-changing world, many law firms are wondering how to keep up with legal marketing trends. Here are our predictions for what will trend in 2022 based on our annual study of law firm digital marketing, the Good2bSocial 2021 Social Law Firm Index:

1. Continued Increase in Paid Online Advertising

Law firms dramatically increased spending on marketing and business development in the first half of 2021 because the more traditional ways of business development were not available. However, law firms are still spending only around half of what they allocated to marketing and business development in the months leading up to the pandemic. While many law firms were slow to adopt online marketing and advertising tactics before COVID-19, post-pandemic many are realizing that they need to find new ways to connect with their client base. Based on the growth of digital marketing and advertising for law firms in 2021, it’s believed that this growth will continue and soon law firms not turning to paid online advertising tactics will be behind the curve in 2022.

Learn how to use paid online advertising for each platform with these guides on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

2. Focus on Account-Based Marketing and Related Technologies

Account-based marketing is a growth strategy in which marketing and business development collaborate to create personalized buying experiences for a targeted set of prospective clients. This kind of collaboration requires CRM, marketing automation, and other software in order to keep the process efficient. Many law firms have found great success with account-based marketing. In fact, 84% of businesses report a higher ROI after implementing account-based marketing tactics. As more and more B2B businesses are adopting account-based marketing and its technologies to streamline their marketing efforts, law firms are expected to follow. Law firms will want to take advantage of this tactic in 2022 in order to target key accounts in ways that will soon become the norm.

Learn how to implement account-based marketing with this free webinar.

3. Evaluate Your Firm’s Marketing Technology Stack

It’s no surprise that the use of technology in marketing has increased over the years. MarTeck is short for marketing technology, and stack refers to the different marketing technology tools that are available for law firms. Marketing Technology continues to evolve and has completely changed the way legal marketers run online campaigns, collect data, and analyze their return on investment (ROI). By 2021, marketing technology has grown in importance, so in 2022 many law firms are expected to continue their use of marketing technology by stacking as now there are a number of tools available that work seamlessly together to collect and analyze data. In order to get the most out of their technology, law firms should set out to take advantage of special features and niche options in 2022.

Assess your marketing technology stack with this 5 step plan to ensure your firm is ready to head into 2022.

4. Exploration of Programmatic Advertising and Intent-Based Targeting

Intent-based targeting is directing marketing campaigns at people whose online behavior shows purchase intent. It helps with making campaign decisions and making marketing more effective. That way you can allocate more of your budget to those that are more likely to buy. This means better conversion rates and improved ROI. With programmatic advertising’s ability to automate these kinds of results, it’s no wonder many marketers turned to it in 2021. In fact, in 2021, marketers put more than 50% of their budget into programmatic advertising. In the past, programmatic advertising has been reserved for those with larger budgets, but with so many self-service tools coming out more and more industries are adopting this method. With the continued growth of programmatic advertising, new tools, and adoption in new industries, legal marketers will want to give their advertising its best chance at success in 2022 by using programmatic advertising now.

Start programmatic advertising at your firm with ease with this beginner’s guide.

Takeaway:

With legal marketing’s rapid growth and ever-changing scope, law firms may feel unsure how to be ready for another year. Luckily, Good2bSocial studies social media and digital marketing amongst America’s top law firms every year and releases a report on the findings. Download the Good2bSocial 2021 Social Law Firm Index to learn about what drove success at the top law firms in 2021 or contact us for a free consultation to ensure your digital marketing efforts are ready for 2022 and beyond.