Inbound Marketing

It’s Pulling vs. Pushing

Hubspot simply defines Inbound Marketing as:

Inbound marketing is the holistic practice of earning traffic, turning that traffic into leads, and turning leads into sales.

Don’t let all this talk of traffic, leads and sales turn you off. I know we haven’t historically used such in-your-face terms in legal marketing, but the practices behind these words are what are important, and definitely have their place in the marketing of your firm and practice. By letting your web content itself generate qualified leads, Best Case Media’s inbound marketing can efficiently enhance your traditional pipeline and brand your practice.

Let’s Break It Down

Among other things…

• You look at the big picture.
• You look in every corner to find the facts necessary to make an informed decision or recommendation.
• You ask lots of questions so that you don’t miss anything important to the matter.

In other words, you are looking at your client’s situation holistically, meaning you are taking every factor you can find into consideration in order to recommend the best course of action. You are looking at the entire, or the whole, situation in order to make a proper diagnosis.

A holistic practice of marketing is similar. When you market your practice and your firm, you need to take your whole situation into account in order to decide what the best, most efficient, most strategic plan of action is.

What Does This Look Like?

A holistic approach to marketing your practice means looking at the entire situation before making any decisions.

Among other things, it means we need to look at and answer…

• What are your goals for your firm or practice?
• Who are your target audiences?
• Where do they spend time, both physically and virtually?
• What information are they searching for on a daily basis in order to make good decisions?
• What is happening in their businesses that is on their minds night and day?
• What part of the above can you help with?
• What part can others you know help with?
• What is their decision-making process?
• What information, delivered in order, might be extremely helpful to them?
• When would the delivery of this information be helpful to them?
• What formats can this information be produced in so that our clients and potential clients can consume it in a way that is easiest for them?

This is a holistic approach to earning leads. They will come when you’ve given them a reason to come, and not a second before.

First, We Help Define Your Core Specialty and Brand

The product your law firm sells is your knowledge, experience and dedication. You may be developing or have already established an expertise, a specialty or a niche.

Let’s say your practice’s goal, for example, is to provide intellectual property counsel for video game companies. Or perhaps you’re the premier provider of immigration legal services for a particular community, with bilingual capabilities to match.

We get a clear idea of your firm’s core mission and brand, and determine 1) why exactly your services are so valuable to your clients and 2) what differentiates your firm from others. You can then create web content that addresses these and enables you to be found online through SEO.

Second, we make sure you are Compliant

The legal profession is subject to regulations when it comes to advertising and marketing. We are familiar with these regulations and the variances between states that stem primarily from self-established ethics guidelines. We check your state bar’s website to learn the marketing regulations and best practices to which your firm is subject.

Although not required in all states, we will assist you by including an attorney advertising disclaimer on all your marketing copy, including your website, blogs, e-books and white papers. Also note that some practices such as Bankruptcy or Tax require special disclaimers on all communications.

Third, we go digging in Best Case Media’s Inbound Marketing Toolbox to Add Infrastructure

There are so many types of content that we create for a law firm to use in their inbound marketing program.

• Resources

We provide resources on your website – white papers, presentations, news alerts, e-books and more. This is crucial for law firms because it allows interested parties to vet your experience and feel confident in your ability to help them with their needs.

• Blogging

Most experts recommend blogging at least twice a week. Realistically, it’s a tough publication schedule for most lawyers to meet. Our specialists and legal content freelancers can produce short articles that are relevant to your audience.

• SEO

We make sure your firm, practice and matter/deal descriptions, as well as your bio, contain the relevant terms to keep you at the top of search engine results. We don’t fall asleep at the wheel but keep monitoring your results and adjusting content to stay visible.

• Social Media

We create social media accounts for your firm, and then leverage these cost-effective communications platforms for increased traffic and content dissemination. An added bonus: social media also lets you engage your followers in two-way conversations.

• Call to Action

We include relevant calls to action in your content that will convert browsers to leads and ultimately to clients. We implement specific actions we want your readers to take, such as downloading a free ebook, or filling out a contact form for a free consultation.

• Responsiveness

As your inbound marketing program generates leads, it’s crucial that inquiries and questions are processed and responded to quickly and with the highest standards of customer service. We make sure your website makes it very easy to contact you, and help you consider dedicating a staff member to filtering and responding to queries.

• Videos

Posting digital videos on your website and YouTube makes sense for certain firms. We carefully review and analyze the types of videos you post, your purpose for sharing them and your rights to the content. Speaking engagements, community event participations or television appearances make valuable video clips that let potential clients see what you offer and we are sure to include them in your Video Channel.

Finally, your Content is Working for You!

Nothing will replace your need to network and manage referral and client relationships. But with a comprehensive strategic inbound marketing plan from Best Case Media, you’ll be surprised at how many quality leads will be produced.

The difference is that instead of you spending time to find clients, your clients will spend the time to find you. We’ll help you share with them that you’re the right choice.

If you still have some questions regarding inbound marketing, here are some of the common ones we answer all the time: