A Beginner’s Guide to Marketing Law Firms With Online Events

Chances are, as a law firm marketer, events are part of your marketing mix. Whether entertaining clients at a golf event, displaying your attorney’s knowledge at a conference, networking, or getting your brand out there is important as a legal marketer. Do you remember the last event you attended? More importantly, do the people you met remember you? Events are a key way to strengthen client relationships, build credibility and knowledge, and meet prospects when marketing law firms. In today’s digital world, there are things you can do before, during, and after an event to ensure your presence is memorable and you get the strongest ROI possible.

Marketing Law Firms with Online Events

The Importance of Hosting Online Events When Marketing Law Firms

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, online events have become increasingly important for marketing law firms. And the creation of online solutions has shown us that you can expand your reach to an even wider audience with online offerings. Even if your firm is still hosting in-person events, you can easily leverage these online sharing options to connect with an even wider audience than those who attended in person.

Online events are a great resource for lead generation and help position your firm as an expert in your industry. 

Now more than ever, people are looking online to receive educational information in a more easily digestible format. Online events are the perfect way to share a wealth of information with your audience without going through the often expensive and time-consuming process of hosting in person.

Types of Online Events for Marketing Law Firms

The most common way to host online events is through video platforms like Zoom, but now there are a number of types of online events you can choose from for marketing law firms due to new social media offerings:

• Host a webinar on Zoom about pertinent legal topics
• Live Event via LinkedIn
• Q & A session via YouTube Live Streaming
• Share insights from an in-person conference via Instagram Live
• Share insights on legal topics via Twitter Live
• Give a tutorial on Facebook Live

Before the Event

Consider the goals you have for the event – what interactions are you hoping for and what does success look like? Work backward from there. Create measurable benchmarks that you can track. Define the necessary budget. Then, establish your audience and the ways you will reach them in order to find success using online events for marketing law firms.

• Make sure your event is posted on all relevant channels. Your website should have a separate page dedicated to the event, and make sure to add a pop-up for your event on your site/ link to the event on relevant pages like certain blogs and your home page. Also, make sure to add the event to your LinkedIn page as an online event. (You can link to the signup page from there if necessary if it will be hosted on a separate site.)
• Create an email campaign to reach potential attendees or people you want to connect with at the event. You might even set up an automated process with touchpoints before, during, and following up from the event. Emails are an easy way to generate and manage registrations.
• Post relevant information on social media and ensure you have the right hashtags. If the company, organization, or association hosting has specific hashtags for the event, be sure to create posts using them. If you’re hosting the event, create applicable hashtags and start using them so attendees can share their experiences as well.  
• Ensure you’ve updated your website, LinkedIn, and other channels about your presence and why visitors should care.
• Build out a content timeline – to really get the most traction leading up to the event, you should create valuable content that is released on a schedule. Determine what you can reasonably create, and then schedule out appropriately (making sure to post at the right times). The bigger the event, the farther in advance you want to start planning.

During the Event

73% of businesses use social media to promote their events while they are happening. This can include posting updates, photos, or product announcements. Many companies host contests or use social media to drive traffic to certain sessions or booth numbers. Consider live Tweeting during the event or sharing updates to your LinkedIn Event Page (this will be created automatically if you create an online event on LinkedIn). Remember to use all your hashtags, and tag any individuals or speakers who you found particularly engaging.

After the Event

Look at the follow-up strategy you created. Ideally, you have a multi-touch approach to reaching out to people of interest (attendees, potential new clients – whatever you decided to measure prior to the event). This is a great time to implement an automated follow-up email sequence. For example, sending one broad follow-up email, and then a second email to those who’ve opened it, and so on. Depending on your business development bandwidth, you might also incorporate phone calls. It might also be appropriate to upload lists to your CRM or make connections on LinkedIn.

Once you’ve had time to follow up and digest some data, take a look at those measurable goals you created and see how you did. Try reviewing KPIs like registration vs. attendance, social media engagement, new names added to your database, or leads generated.

And remember, if there is an option to record your live event- always do it. You can take this recording and then offer the event on-demand. This can become a great tool for lead generation.

Takeaway:

Organizing, implementing, or even attending big events is a daunting task. With proper plans in place, you can be sure that event marketing is a useful solution for you – and your attendees! If you need help utilizing digital channels to maximize your event efforts when marketing law firms, we have more tips and strategies – just ask! We’re happy to set up a free consultation.

This post has been edited and republished from Mar. 14, 2019.