Law Firm Marketing FAQ

Attorneys need answers to the FAQs about a law firm marketing agency upfront

Growing your law practice is always a top priority, and there’s no better way to do that than by leveraging the power of marketing. But with so many options available, it is difficult to know where to start or whom to trust.

That’s why we’ve created a comprehensive list of frequently asked questions about law firm marketing. This guide covers basic considerations as a first step in evaluating a marketing firm and will help lawyers make informed decisions toward successful digital marketing.

Why should we choose Vanguard for lawyer marketing services?

See the answers to the following 12 FAQs, but our elevator pitch answer is: Vanguard has 29 years of proven success marketing professional services practices and we are the only legal marketing firm we know of that guarantees practice growth with our services (15%-30% growth in year one).

How much does your LawMarketLink law firm marketing program cost?

Our three decades of experience marketing professional services clearly shows that a holistic approach to digital marketing is most effective, with all parts of a marketing plan centrally coordinated for maximum impact. Our legal marketing program, LawMarketLink, has a few marketing service packages and price points to fit your law firm’s budget and growth goals. We charge a flat monthly fee for inclusive marketing services, consultation, reporting, and proactive planning so we can lead your marketing strategy and you can focus on winning cases and representing clients.

(And don’t worry, we are pretty sure we charge less per hour than you do.)

What are Vanguard’s differentiators in digital marketing?

• Practice growth guarantee: demonstrating our confidence to your success.
• Proven success: We have a long track record of success marketing medical practices.
• Comprehensive, customizable solutions: We offer a full suite of services, including web design, social media, SEO, branding, and PPC (pay per click), all aimed at maximizing attorney exposure.
• Experience & skilled team: including experts in marketing, content writing, graphic design, and more.
• Customer service: We’ve earned a reputation for white-glove customer service through rapid response to clients, constant communication, and reporting solid metrics on our work that often dwarfs baselines.
• Unique perspective: Our CEO-founder has a background in marketing and received his J.D.

What is Vanguard’s focus in legal marketing?

Digital marketing. This refers to marketing efforts that utilize the internet and other digital platforms like social media to promote brands, their services, and products. Consumers access digital media via computers, tablets, smartphones, and similar devices. Digital marketing does not include traditional marketing conducted via print magazines and newspapers, television, radio, or billboard-type display advertising.

Why provide law firm digital marketing and not lawyer advertising?

Because shotgun-style lawyer advertising doesn’t work well for most law firms. Less than 5% of people seeing a firm’s billboard or TV commercial actually need legal services (and that’s a generous estimate). In addition, 96% of viewers don’t trust ads. That isn’t to say that we don’t utilize advertising in small, meaningful ways. But we see better results giving useful legal content to those actively seeking legal information and services.

With its ability to target audiences more precisely and ensure that the message reaches the right people, digital marketing has become a highly effective tool for firms of any size looking to grow their market share and build brand awareness. The result is higher quality leads and more cases for you.

How do you approach law firm SEO?

Being honest that effective SEO is somewhat simple. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, but from nearly three decades of experience, we know that 85% of effective SEO work is writing comprehensive, authoritative, and accurate information readers can easily grasp. No black box secrets. The rest of good SEO is part insightful keyword use and part optimizing a website for web crawlers like Google’s to find and highly rank your content.

How long does it take for lawyer SEO to start working?

It takes time to rank well because you’ve got a lot of competition and older, well-optimized sites have an advantage. Hardware and infrastructure, site optimization, and content creation all need to be in place before Google will rate your website or content favorably. But with an integrated program, you should start seeing some results in 3-4 months. In our experience, from 6-12 months will show very good results. What does Google say? Watch Maile Ohye with Google Search: she says it takes 4 months to a year to implement a good SEO program and see benefits. She also gives tips on what to look for in an SEO manager (we do everything she says).

How does content marketing for law firms pay off?

To bring in new clients, content marketing works way better than advertising and costs way less. Great content can get your website into the top search results Google returns for that topic, while also building client trust and a reputation for your firm. The top search spot is clicked 39.8% of the time; the top Google ad spot is clicked 2.1%. Law is an information-driven field, and potential clients want legal info. Make your website the go-to source of legal content in your area and you will earn respect and cases.

Why is Vanguard a good choice for legal firm web design?

We have decades of success building professional services websites that look great, are user friendly, technically solid, and data secure. Our combination of graphic design, marketing, and developer skills ensures our websites move into the upper search rankings. Plus, our collaborative approach means that we’ll work closely with you on branding and best practices to ensure your website is a true representation of your firm.

What are your law firm marketing KPIs?

Key performance indicators are important to us and to you. Here’s an abbreviated list of what we measure:

• Ongoing count of new practice leads earned through our website and other digital efforts.
• Google Analytics on how your webpages rank in search & how you rank against competitors for important keywords.
• Conversion and lead metrics such as online form submissions, calls, and appointment requests through our digital marketing platforms.
• Online pay-per-click search ad performance.
• E-mail engagement rates and website clicks.
• Online reputation management analysis, with monitoring, trends, and improvements.
• Social media performance metrics.

Do you offer legal public relations & online reputation management (ORM)?

Vanguard offers law firm public relations (PR) and ORM as part of its full-suite of marketing services. We have decades of experience in PR, and our services include media relations, crisis communication, and PR campaigns. Law firms and attorneys can greatly boost their visibility and reputation by becoming trusted media sources and thought leaders. Our online reputation management and lawyer review services include monitoring and rapid responses, as well as proactive testimonial outreach.

Does your program include lawyer blogs and lawyer social media?

Blogging is critical to our LegalMarketLink program, and we ghostwrite or edit yours. Blogs educate potential clients, make lawyers relatable, and highlight their expertise. A good blog post helps readers separate hype from solid information.

Social media is a must component of digital marketing for legal firms. Use it to share news, information, show personality, engage with the community, and get clicks back to your website.

Do we get a law firm email newsletter?

Yes, one that pops and has the highest chance of being opened and appreciated. Our strategy and design result in better than industry-standard engagement rates and visits to your website. E-newsletters show people more about your firm and show you as experts on subjects interesting to them.