Content Marketing For Attorneys

Content marketing has been around for a very long time. Much longer than its explosive rise to buzzword status in the early 2010’s may lead you to believe. In fact, you could say that content marketing has been around since 1895. That’s the year that John Deere first published their magazine, The Furrow, which aimed to help farmers increase their profits by offering important agricultural information. The magazine is still in publication to this day, reaching readers in 40 different countries.

Another early example of content marketing occurred in 1950, when Betty Crocker released their iconic “Picture Cook Book”. It quickly became a best seller that many of us still remember from our parents or grandparents kitchens. The cookbook helped establish the Washburn Crosby Company (now better known to us as General Mills) as a leading food producer in the US, and became a memorable part of millions of lives.

For years, companies have been providing information in the form of articles, magazines, and videos in order to not only better serve consumers, but also to promote their brands.

It’s not hard to see the appeal of this type of marketing. Most people have learned to ignore traditional advertising. We’re inundated with ad copy and images everywhere we go, and many view advertising as annoying and invasive. If a company can offer potential customers information that they’ll actually be interested in seeing, while at the same time increasing their brand visibility, everyone wins.

Further Reading: The Benefits of Video Depositions

Content Marketing Today

Now, content marketing is used by all sorts of companies to sell all sorts of things. But what is modern content marketing exactly?

The Content Marketing Institute defines it as “a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience – and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer actions.” This can include anything from publications like the ones mentioned above, to articles, Tweets, videos and even video games.

For law firms, this usually means creating and maintaining a blog that speaks to the legal issues of the day, and gives useful information regarding legal situations in which everyday people may find themselves.

What Content Marketing Can Do For Your Law Firm

So why is content marketing for attorneys important? What exactly will maintaining and promoting a blog do for your firm?

1. It can help establish you as a leader in your field – By regularly publishing editorials written around current news items (frequently called “news jacking”), you can position yourself as an expert engaged in the conversation surrounding current topics. By weighing in on the news of the day, you can demonstrate your expertise and help stear the conversation.
2. It can increase brand awareness – By regularly blogging, and by consistently promoting your blog, you can do a lot to increase your brand’s visibility. Everyone is online now, and usually at multiple times throughout the day, seeking to fill many different types of needs. You need to be there as well, and not just in the form of paid advertisements or a website that isn’t getting enough traffic. People go online for information. If you give it to them, they’ll remember you.
3. It can help you get new clients – By providing important legal information and making sure it’s available to be found online, you can bring in new clients. Say someone in your geographic practice area is trying to find information after being injured in a car accident and they find your blog post about that same topic. You’ve already made a positive impression on that potential client. You’ve already begun to help them find answers and solve their problem. That’s something that an ad on a bus stop bench can’t do.
4. Your competition is already doing it – As content marketing gains momentum across different industries, more and more law firms are seeing the real value that it can provide for their practice. According to the 2014 State of Digital and Content Marketing Survey, 84% of law firms asked, planned on adopting content marketing campaigns as part of their overall marketing plans in 2014. Can your firm afford to not be a part of the conversation everyone else is having?
5. It can drive traffic to your site and increase your organic search engine rankings – Content is important, but just producing content doesn’t mean that it will get noticed. It’s important to have distribution and promotional efforts in place to bring attention to that content. Law Father’s Law Firm Fast Lane marketing packages have been proven to send large numbers of high quality traffic to our clients websites. And when a site gets a lot of traffic, the search engines notice and that can dramatically effect where on the search engine results page your law firm’s website ranks.

Work With a Content Marketing Expert Today

At Law Father, we’ve understood the power of content marketing for years, and have made it a key part of every marketing package that we offer. We only work with attorneys and understand how to properly promote law firms and help expand their client base. Contact one of our content marketing experts today to find out how we can help build your practice. Call (800) 325-7715, or fill the contact form on our website.