What to Look for in the Right Law Firm Marketing Partner

Make Sure You Choose The Right Marketing Partner

As a law firm, keeping your digital marketing strategy on track can be challenging. Understandably, most of your efforts are devoted to serving the needs of your clients. But you won’t have a law firm for very long if you aren’t generating new business and engaging new clients.

Legal marketers are also faced with the stark reality that Google changes its algorithm with alarming regularity. So what can rocket you to the top of the search results one day may not work the next or at least be less effective.

All of this means that you need help. But where is a busy law firm supposed to start? Here are some of the things to consider and look for so you get the right law firm marketing partner that will meet your needs.

1. Define Your Goals and Priorities First

Before deciding whether one or another legal marketing firm is the best match for you, it’s a good idea to spend some time assessing your goals and priorities. After all, how can you expect someone to meet your expectations when you’re not sure what those are?

This is a valuable exercise for any law firm. Start at the beginning and ask yourself some key questions:

• Who is your target market?
• How many leads would you like to target in the next month, quarter, or year?
• How many new clients would you like to sign up during these periods?
• Do you have the support on hand to handle additional leads?
• How would you like your brand to be perceived?
• What areas do you see as needing the most attention? Website? Content?
• What are your firm’s revenue goals?

Once you have this information in hand, you’ll be better prepared to have a conversation with a legal marketing agency about your expectations.

2. Look for an Agency With Legal Marketing Experience

It’s a common misconception that all marketing is basically the same. It’s not. When marketing legal services, it’s particularly important to build credibility and trust with your audience while emphasizing things like experience, results, compassion, and accessibility.

The digital marketing agency you partner with should be able to understand your firm’s differentiators and ensure that those characteristics come through in every aspect of your campaigns. Likewise, law firm websites need to be simple to navigate, fast-loading, mobile-friendly, and include plenty of calls to action so that visitors know how to reach your firm.

When you interview potential agencies, ask questions pertinent to their experience:

• What are some best practices you follow for law firm websites?
• What keywords do you typically target for your law firm clients?
• How can you help our firm rank better in local search results?
• Do you represent any other firms in my area?
• Can you show me proof of results with other clients?

3. Thoroughly Examine the Services Offered

When one of your potential clients is looking for a law firm or lawyer, they want to know about service areas. Specifically, can your law firm help them get a divorce, fight a DUI, or apply for disability benefits? The same scrutiny should hold true when you are looking for a legal marketing agency.

Does the agency provide the services you want and need the most? If you require a new or refreshed website, is this something they do? Do they specialize in SEO (they should)? What about video marketing, paid ads, or social media marketing?

Find out about the scope of their services so that you don’t run into any surprises. For example, if a marketing firm only puts together a strategy and then expects you to execute the action items, this may not be something you’re prepared to take on.

4. Ask About Work Processes and Reporting

Before you team up with a digital marketing agency, you need to make sure that they will be the right partner to execute your legal marketing strategy. No one wants to be just another number. First, make sure they have the capacity to handle your firm’s work and will be able to give you the personalized service you deserve.

Provided the agency can deliver what you need, will they do so in a way that works with your day-to-day operations? In other words, will you work well together, or will your approach create conflict? Here are a few questions to ask:

• How will your agency track the performance of our campaigns?
• How will we be kept in the loop on legal marketing campaigns and results?
• Will we have a dedicated account manager or deal with a team?

5. Ensure They Understand Legal Advertising Rules

Many of the things that your legal marketing partner will do, such as legal content writing, fall under the category of “advertising” for your law firm. This makes these actions subject to the Rules of Professional Conduct.

When you place your trust in a legal marketing agency, it’s critical that they have your best interests in mind and act to protect those interests. For example, many state bar associations prohibit language that refers to an attorney as an “expert” or that guarantees a particular case result.

6. Check the Fee Structure and Legal Contract

As an attorney, you know how to read and interpret contracts, so make sure you are paying attention to anything that has to do with marketing your brand. Before you commit to working with a legal marketing agency, ask some pertinent questions:

• Is there a minimum contract length for services?
• How can we end the partnership if we aren’t satisfied with the results?
• How are fees assessed, and are they consistent or variable?
• What Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) do you use to gauge success?
• Can we adjust services as needed?

No one enjoys being caught off guard by unclear terms or language, so avoid leaving any questions left unasked.

Want to learn more about what Too Darn Loud Legal Marketing can do as your law firm marketing partner? Check out our case studies that illustrate how we create custom, functional websites for clients designed to produce results.

Contact us today online, or by calling (800) 649-1764, to schedule a free consultation, and we’ll begin with a no-risk professional evaluation of your current website and marketing strategy.