Did you know that 75% of people needing legal services in Virginia Beach and throughout the country use online search before deciding which attorney or law firm to contact? This means that, unless you start investing in digital marketing, your target clientele is limited to the remaining 25%. Your potential clients use the internet for various purposes:
- To gather information about their case, the applicable laws, and the steps they need to follow
- To find lawyers in their area who handle cases similar to theirs
- To verify the reputation of a lawyer someone recommended to them
This suggests that, although strong word-of-mouth reputation is important, it is no longer enough. Someone hearing about the services you provide will try to find out more about them online. If they do not find your website or your law firm listed in the numerous online directories out there, they will surely find your competitors.
Are you ready to bet they will still come to you? Instead of taking chances, you should take measures to build that online presence and reputation everyone expects and treasures. That is where digital marketing comes in.
How Can Digital Marketing Help My Virginia Beach Legal Business?
The best way to understand the benefits digital marketing can bring is to look at its main elements and the impact they could have on your business:
Web presence is becoming increasingly important in the legal field. Focus DMG can help you build a digital marketing strategy.
1. Building a Website and a Blog for Your Virginia Beach Business
When you set up your office downtown, conveniently located close to the General District Court, or in some other high traffic area of the city, you wanted it to tell anyone passing by about your existence and about the services you provide.
Your website will do the same, except that it can be visible, if properly promoted, to anyone using the internet to look for the type of services you provide and related information. It will talk about you, your practice area, how you approach every case, and what sets you apart from your competitors.
It will give your potential clients useful information and advice relevant to your practice area, to prove your experience and willingness to help. It will also provide your contact details, so they can get in touch and schedule their first consultation.
2. Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization means adapting your website and everything you post on it to the ranking criteria search engines use to ensure Google displays it first in search results for queries related to your line of business.
Let’s say your law firm handles personal injury cases in Virginia Beach. Search engine optimization means adjusting your website and its content in such a way as to make sure it will be among the first results internet users see when using Google to look for information related to your practice area.
Your website could rank among the first results for search queries referring not only to personal injury in general, but also to car accidents, workers’ compensation, medical malpractice, slip and fall, wrongful death, and more. This means it will draw most internet users searching for information online. With attractive website design and convincing content, you can turn those visitors into paying customers.
3. Search Engine Marketing
We are not going to lie: while search engine optimization pays amazing results, those results do not appear overnight. They take hard work and publishing valuable written and video content regularly. That is where search engine marketing comes in.
With the help of paid, targeted ads, it is possible to:
- Get your website listed first in the search results for anyone using Google to look for information related to your practice area, in your service area
- Display ads of your law firm on third party-websites to users who have visited your website or looked for legal information related to your practice area online
In other words, your potential clients can see your name and service ads wherever they look (online), so they eventually have no other option than visit your website, contact you, request more information, and hire your services.
4. Social Media Marketing
Your potential clients spend more than 25% of their time (16 minutes per hour) on the social media. They keep in touch with their friends, look up information and advice, follow service pages, and join support groups to obtain help with the problems they face.
If you want to turn them into paying clients, you need to meet them on their own ground and show them you are there when they need you. If you have already convinced them to pay for your services, social media platforms are a great way to keep them connected and to make sure they will turn to you again, when the need arises.
The same social media platforms can help you build and consolidate your reputation, expand your audience, and promote your services. You can secure testimonials, raise awareness about issues related to your practice area, and explain legislation changes to your followers. They will surely share the posts they like, and, thus, help you reach out to even more potential clients.
5. Content Media Marketing
The days when you could claim to be the best in your line of business and expect potential clients to take your word for granted are gone. People no longer settle for promises, they want facts; they want evidence that you can actually help them before paying for your services.
You can provide that evidence through the content you share on your website, blog, social media, and other platforms. It will have to be original, SEO optimized, catchy, and valuable, otherwise, it will not pay results. It will have to combine text with graphics and videos and send the same unitary message: that you know your practice area like no other law firm, and your clients’ interests are your own.
Content media marketing can help you expand your audience, reach out to more potential clients, and turn them into paying ones. It can turn you from an “ambulance chaser” into everyone’s go-to lawyer if you do it right.
Drawing the Line on Digital Marketing and Its Benefits for Your Virginia Beach Business
To sum up, digital marketing can help you:
- Create a name and a reputation for your business
- Reach out to a wider audience and engage more potential clients
- Turn potential clients into paying ones
- Create long-standing relationships with past and present clients
- Turn your law firm profitable, famous, and expand your services beyond Virginia Beach
Obviously, this will not happen overnight. It takes steady investments and the skills and experience of a digital marketing service provider like Focus DMG. Since we believe in showing, not telling, we hereby invite you to take a look at our portfolio and see what we have done for some of our clients.
We can do the same or even more for you and your Virginia Beach legal business. For more information on our digital marketing services and a personalized quote, call us now at 757-425-2779, or fill in the online contact form. There is no statute of limitations involved, but the sooner you do it the faster we can get started and help you enjoy all the benefits described above.
