Marketing and Advertising Copy for Law Practices
Although the website is essential for any law practice, many firms’ sites seem unloved and neglected. This is no surprise. People are busy with actual legal work, and the website is often viewed as little more than the online equivalent of the firm brochure of yore.
“Clients don’t come to us because of our website,” is something you often hear. And I don’t dispute that. Consider, though, the obverse of that. Could it be that some prospective clients are taking a pass on your firm because the website leaves them uninspired, opting instead for a competing practice whose site seems more welcoming and attuned to the client’s interests and perspective?
There’s also a tendency to think of the website in only the most generic terms. It lets “clients” or “prospective clients” know who we are, what we do, and how to get in touch with us. But as any lawyer knows, clients engage law firms for any one of, say, a thousand different reasons. For some, a look at the website may be the first (and possibly only) interaction they have with the firm. Others may find the firm by word of mouth, and only check the website in order to get background on the individual lawyers they’ll be dealing with, or even just to find such mundane details as how to get to the office.
The website, then, is not merely marketing the firm, but representing the firm.
Here are a few of the questions that I ask when crafting written material for a law firm website:
Where does the firm see itself in the relevant markets? Is it, for instance, a major, full-service player, a niche practice (or set of niche practices), or a small or solo practice that seeks only to concentrate on certain limited practice areas and types of clients?
To what extent do you think that the types of clients your firm serves are browsing law firm websites as a significant part of the process of selecting a law firm? Does this vary, perhaps, by practice area?
What is the mix of your firm’s business? What are the most profitable areas of practice and/or the areas in which you particularly aspire to grow the practice?
Do clients tend to approach your firm as an institution, or do they tend to be looking for individual lawyers? Again, to what extent does this vary by practice area?
To what extent does your website provide tools for existing clients, such as portals for uploading documents or calendars for booking appointments? If not at all, do you think it should?
Do clients ever tell you why they’ve chosen your firm or a particular lawyer in the firm? If so, are there discernable patterns? And if there are patterns, does the website make best use of them in representing what the firm - or particular lawyers - have to offer?
Do you want to provide some useful and up to date information on your site? Do any of your practice areas lend themselves to the “give away some valuable content for free” marketing strategy, whereby such material is used to establish credibility and client trust? Are there seminar materials and slide decks that could be re-purposed for the website? (And as a corollary to this, are there outdated materials that should be removed from the site? Is there someone in the firm who is willing to take responsibility for ongoing curation?)
What is your firm’s approach to its online bios for individual lawyers? Do you aim for consistency in the types of information you provide for each lawyer, or do you simply leave it up to each individual? There are pros and cons to each methodology, but I have found that the more shy and self-effacing lawyers frequently have some of the most compelling bios - they may just need some gentle encouragement to be forthcoming.
I should point out that I am not a web designer. I provide written content, but I do work alongside designers in fleshing out the various content-driven features of the site. The ideal site will (i) look nice, (ii) be easy to navigate and work properly (no dead-end internal links), and (iii) include concise but original and compelling content that puts the firm’s best foot forward.
If this sounds like the kind of conversation you’d like to have, and if you’re looking for someone who can either spruce up existing content or do a complete re-write from scratch, I invite you to get in touch.