Content Marketing for Law Firms

The rise of the internet also brought about the rise of content marketing. Before getting on to how best to optimize content marketing for law firms, it is best to speak a little about what content marketing entails as there is often a great deal of confusion about it.

Content marketing is best understood as the combination of content and marketing. In the pre-internet days, simple marketing – or contentless marketing, if you like – was much more the norm.

The rise of content marketing is down to the way content is consumed online. Online, you can always click away from an item of marketing (or anything at all) at a second’s notice. This means that a lengthy brand advertisement doesn’t quite fare as well online as on the television, in the cinema, on a public billboard, or anywhere else where those who see it cannot immediately get rid of it.

Online, it is a different story, and if you bore an internet user with an item of marketing, they are not likely to watch or readuntil the end. However, when you know what type of content is popular online, it’s easy to seehow combining your marketing with thatis the only way to really reach internet users.

YouTube tutorials, smartphone videos, Instagram posts, podcast audio material – these are all things that are popular online. Accordingly, content marketers aim to work the marketing into this. Think of a blog post that is not about the product, but mentions it. Or consider a video that shows, at some point, your product being used. These are both good examples of content marketing.

Law Firm Content

But how does this apply to law firms? Well, the first thing to note is that frivolity doesn’t really work in this context. Many an ecommerce company will use zany smartphone “viral” videos to promote their products. This wouldn’t work so well for a law firm though. Law firms prioritize the maximum of professionalism and trust – it is there in their sparse and clean offices, and in the sleek web design law firms often apply.

Peak Design, specialists in attorney website design, advise that imitating the sleekness of a typical law firm office is indeed the main approach for law firm web design. But what about content marketing?

An important thing to note here is that law firms have a pretty limited range of content that they distribute aside from their services. You will find no “fun” videos or viral Instagram posts from a law firm. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have content.

Competent and professional legal discussion is perhaps the one thing to prioritize above all else. This is the type of content that broadcasts one message above all else – “We are competent, we are professional, and we know what we’re talking about”.

In practice, this marks out a few forms of content marketing that clearly work better for law firms. A blog on legal issues is a great idea (just make sure you share it far and wide as content marketing) and a podcast about the same is another good move. People rarely make impulse purchases from law firms, but they might find themselves educating themselves by reading your blog or listening to you podcast. If you make this content shareable, it makes for excellent law firm content marketing.

Conclusion

So, there you have it. Content marketing from law firms is not too complicated. In fact, it is significantly easier than some other online business types. Law firm websites are elegant and sparce, and there are only certain types of content that work for law firms. Therefore, this is where you start.