The COVID-19 pandemic caused lawyers and law firms to change how they do business, including the marketing of legal services. There were changes to virtually all aspects of legal marketing, from going fully remote and business shutdowns and all events cancellations. Now that we have a sense of normalcy, have you learned any legal marketing lessons? In other words, what marketing strategies and tactics did you use? Can you build off of any new marketing? And what can be forgotten or improved? This blog offers our opinions and observations.
Zoom and Technology
Out of necessity, law firms had to figure out how to stay in touch with clients. Thank goodness for technology such as Zoom. Client intake, meetings, and even court appearances all became virtual. Post-pandemic, these technologies are here to stay. For marketing purposes, these platforms continue to create opportunities. For example, a lawyer can take clients (within their licensed jurisdiction) who may have previously been too far away. Likewise, clients can choose the right attorney instead of one with a more convenient location. Distance barriers have been broken for those lawyers with a federal practice.
While technology has created opportunities and efficiencies, we caution about hiding behind it. One-to-one interactions with clients and referral sources once have a significant impact. Some people are experiencing the Zoom fatigue factor. This is especially true for those who are still working remotely and do not have the opportunity for in-person meetings. They may appreciate having a reason to leave the house, dressed for business, and enjoy some old-fashioned human interaction.
So, the legal marketing lesson here is that remote technology is commonplace. However, use it to your advantage to save time but do not hide behind it.
Client Service
In a previous blog during the pandemic, we recommended that you get in touch with clients to let them know you were available to help. Likewise, it would be best if you showed empathy and understanding as nobody knew the impact of the crisis. We must say, that was good advice. If you did this, keep on doing it. These “touches” show your level of caring and are a tangible way to showcase your excellent level of client service.
In another blog, we discussed how to communicate during COVID effectively. Continue to ensure you communicate your accessibility, office hours, and remote capabilities.
Marketing Tactics
Seminars, Webinars, and Events. Like the Zoom discussion above, you can now seamlessly hold just about any event virtually. For instance, we used to go to bar associations and conduct in-person CLE programs. Now through webinars, we do CLEs around the country. Sure, we would rather see people in the audience and personally meet them. But on the flip side, we expanded our reach and have retained new clients as a result.
LinkedIn. We always knew that LinkedIn (and other social media platforms) were instrumental in legal marketing. However, the pandemic kicked the importance up a notch or three. If you created a more prominent social media presence because of the pandemic, keep it up. Clients and referral sources are using these tools more often. And from this, they have become revenue generators.
Email & Direct Mail. Email marketing became the norm during the pandemic, and direct mail slipped into oblivion. Why? First of all, nobody was at work, so why try to mail them materials there? Plus, there was a time when people were told to sanitize their mail – thank goodness that is over. We feel that because the decrease in direct mail still has not caught up, it can have a more significant impact now. Therefore, think about adding some direct mail into your legal marketing mix.
These are a few of the legal marketing lessons we have learned in the post-pandemic world. What are your experiences? We would love to hear them or just talk about legal marketing in general. Give us a ring!