Marketing Tips for Law Firms: How to Stand Out

According to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) there are around 10,000 UK-registered solicitor firms. The sheer amount of competition coupled with technology enabling prospective clients to compare their options with just a few clicks has led to an increasingly challenging legal market.

So, how can your firm stand out and connect meaningfully with your ideal audience? Here are some budget-friendly, effective marketing strategies that can help law firms get the best return from their marketing efforts.

Focus on omnichannel marketing

It pays to do your research and cast your net wide when it comes to getting in front of prospective clients and referrers. You need to be where they are searching, and that isn’t just Google anymore. A widely accepted marketing principle is that it takes around seven to eight touchpoints before a potential client is ready to engage a service provider. These touchpoints – whether online or offline – might include:

• Posts on social media
• Google Ads or other pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
• Blogs on your website
• Press coverage in newsfeeds, local publications, or trade titles
• Industry awards and recognition
• Listings in legal directories like The Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners
• Your search results page (SERP) landing pages
• Online reviews, whether on Google, Trustpilot, Feefo, or ReviewSolicitors
• Receiving a follow up email or phone call after submitting an enquiry
• Networking at conferences and industry events
• Seeing a team member delivering thought leadership content on a video, podcast, or webinar

Whilst by no means exhaustive, this list shows just how many avenues your firm – and members of your team individually – can use to engage with your prospects. The next step is to assess each of these channels and ask:

• Do they align with your firm’s target clients and service areas?
• Are your clients already using and sharing content on these platforms?

Being visible everywhere only works if that mirrors your clients’ habits – and usually, it doesn’t. If you find your audience isn’t into podcasts, don’t like receiving emails in their already busy inbox, or only uses certain social media channels, then this should help narrow down where you need be and what type of content you need to be putting out for a focused, integrated strategy.

Understand your clients’ challenges and shape content accordingly

Now that you’ve chosen the right omni-channel mix, what should you be saying? Your message should be speaking directly to your audience’s needs and highlighting your knowledge of the legal issues they are dealing with – understanding and being the solution to their specific ‘pain points’. In doing this, you will position your firm as the go-to solution and as thought leaders within your industry, in turn automatically blocking out your competition.

Creating valuable content shouldn’t be guesswork. You already have the tools to build content that’s timely, useful, and compelling. Here are a few good places to start:

• Use your CRM to spot trends in common case types, and make sure your content – like landing pages, blogs, and social media posts – speaks to those prospects and referrers.
• Gather and re-share standout reviews from third-party platforms that showcase your strengths in the areas where you want to attract more work.
• Collaborate with current clients and referrers on case studies or short video testimonials that highlight how you’ve helped them solve legal problems – or continue to do so. In fact, 53% of marketers say case studies and success stories generate their highest-quality leads. You can showcase these on your website and distribute through your social media channels.
• Take existing static content – like PowerPoint slide decks from talks or webinars – and repurpose it as infographics or animations to reach a wider audience.

You don’t always need to start from scratch. Often, it’s about making better use of the great material you already have and distributing it strategically across the right channels.

Short-form video = long-term engagement

The idea of appearing on camera may not thrill even the most confident of lawyers, but the value of short-form video in legal marketing cannot be ignored. HubSpot reports that videos under 60 seconds deliver the highest engagement and ROI. If you’re after a punchy, attention-grabbing format, short-form video is the way forward.

When it comes to short-form, platforms like TikTok, YouTube Shorts, or Instagram Reels are leading the way. Fear not, it’s not all dance trends and pet videos! You can also use them to humanise your team, break down complex legal topics into bite-sized updates, and offer value-led insights to your audience.

Remember: producing video doesn’t have to mean hiring a production crew. For short videos, the tools you need are likely already in your pocket. Smartphone cameras are more than capable and using wired or Bluetooth earphones for audio works surprisingly well. While you might assume videos need to look highly polished, a more authentic style often resonates better with viewers – and allows you to share timely, relevant updates fast, keeping your firm front and centre.

Build your brand presence

You could be the most effective lawyer in your local region, but if no one outside your immediate client base or referral network knows it, your growth may stall, and opportunities continue to be missed.

Brand building goes beyond having consistent fonts and colours (that’s branding); it’s about clearly communicating who you are, what you offer, and why someone should choose your firm over the competition. A joined-up content strategy and marketing approach ensures your messaging stays aligned and that your value is obvious – not just to potential clients, but also to referrers like accountants, IFAs, barristers, expert witnesses and fellow solicitors.

And don’t forget your employer brand. In today’s legal sector, attracting the best talent is just as critical as attracting clients. After all, there is no firm without your fee earners. Your brand should show why your firm is a great place to work – showcasing the quality work your firm does, the calibre of your clients, your work environment, values and ethos and ultimately what sets you apart as an employer.

Keep Google’s E-E-A-T framework in mind

Your channel mix, content quality, messaging consistency, and overall reputation also feed directly into how your website performs on search engines.

Google’s updated E-E-A-T model – Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust – now plays a crucial role in determining what content gets prioritised in online search results. The newer addition of “Experience” values first-hand insight into a topic, so if your content clearly shows that your team understands the legal issues they’re discussing, that contributes to better rankings.

The “T” – Trust – is also key. Client testimonials, case studies, accreditations (eg Cyber Essentials, Lexcel, ISO, Investors In People etc) and thought leadership appearances at events reinforce your authority with both real people and the search algorithms, confirming the credibility of your claims.

Firms that commit to regularly producing trustworthy, valuable, and relevant content with consistency are more likely to see a boost in search visibility – and considering 70% of B2B research happens online, it’s worth paying attention to what you E-E-A-T!

How To Turn clicks into clients

You’ve done the hard work to bring traffic to your website with strong content and a reputable brand – but how do you encourage those visitors to take action?

This is where conversion rate optimisation (CRO) comes in. A good CRO strategy ensures that your site encourages users to ‘get in touch’, ‘find out more’, ‘sign up to our newsletter’, ‘register for a webinar’ or ‘book a consultation’ – instead of bouncing to the next firm on the list that Google serves up – how can you make your website ‘sticky’?

By analysing user journeys and using tools like heat maps or A/B testing, you can identify where clients drop off and work closely with your web developers to make adjustments to your site to boost conversions by way of a process of continuous improvement. In our experience of law firm marketing, it is important to remember that once launched, a website should never remain static. When your user experience (UX) works for you, it helps your marketing investment go significantly further.

Talk to us

Keeping up with the latest marketing strategies and staying ahead of your competitors is vital – but it’s not always easy to do when you’re also busy with the ‘day job’ managing a legal caseload. That’s where we come in.

At Cal Partners, we combine deep legal sector knowledge with marketing expertise. We stay on top of legal marketing trends and use them to help you get more from your budget – so you can concentrate on your clients.

For a free initial consultation, call 0333 050 6015 or email hello@calpartners.co.uk.