The legal industry is ultimately a people-oriented business.
This being said, being a legal professional in this prestigious industry means using effective marketing to communicate with people to grow your practice, gain trust and stand out amongst other lawyers and legal firms.
To do this, you need strong messaging, valuable content and a brand that your clientele will resonate with – this is where legal copywriting and marketing for legal brands comes in.
Let’s be honest: you operate within a challenging profession, with complex cases, demanding clients and intense competition.
So, to help you understand how to articulate the value your legal firm offers clients and connect with your audiences, we have prepared the ultimate guide to legal copywriting, Law Firm branding and Legal content marketing.
Here’s how your legal firm can stand out.
What you’ll find in this ultimate legal firm marketing guide
In this marketing for legal firms guide, we’ll explain everything you need to know about marketing, content and copywriting and how to use it to stand out in the Australian legal sector. By the end, you’ll have a clear idea of how you can leverage legal branding and law-driven marketing content for your firm so you can get ahead.
CHAPTERS
About the legal industry in Australia: demand is strong
Every Australian, at one point or another, will need to reach out to a legal professional for a variety of reasons. Since the Australian law industry provides legal advice, supports those who seek representation in court and prepares legal documents that people need for properties, businesses and other matters, the demand for legal services remains constant, even amidst market changes.
The Australian legal profession includes solicitors, barristers and legal executives who practise law in Australia, providing a comprehensive list of legal specialities, including:
- Animal Welfare
- Bankruptcy and Insolvency
- Commercial Law
- Community Legal Services
- Constitutional Law
- Consumer Law
- Corporate Law
- Criminal Law
- Estate and Will Planning
- Family Law
- Finance and Banking
- Human Rights
- Industrial Relations
- Intellectual Property
- Personal Injury
- Property Law
- Taxation
The Australian legal industry is growing – a double-edged sword
Given the diversity of services and the universal need for legal services, it’s no surprise that the industry is a consistently growing niche – with a total market worth of around $27B in Australia. According to IBISWorld, legal services in Australia have seen a market size growth of 2.5% in 2022 alone and an annualised market size growth of 2.8% in the past five years (2017-2022).
The industry has managed to thrive and continuously grow despite the challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic, with a recent nationwide survey by PracticeEvolve on mid-size Australian firms reporting a 20% increase in the demand for litigation, labour, and estate planning services.
As we embrace a post-COVID new normal, the legal profession is looking to further improve efficiencies, adopt technological advancements and continuously work on client relationships as a response to the evolving business conditions and client needs.
But most of all, smart legal firms need to sharpen their marketing to drive demand, create comprehensive content to lead the conversation, and focus on quality legal copywriting to deliver relatable messages to clients.
This is because, while the resilient and thriving legal industry is a good sign for legal practitioners, it also means a constant increase in the number of competitors (within the local area and beyond) and thus, the need to stand out, connect with your potential clients and make them feel that your firm is the ideal choice for their legal needs.
Here’s how marketing, copywriting and content marketing can help you do just that.
About content marketing and branding in the legal industry
One of the tell-tale signs of growth in the Australian legal industry is the rise of marketing and branding initiatives across law firms to promote their legal services.
While in years gone by, legal firms didn’t have to rely as much on marketing, in today’s competitive and digital era, creating content and focusing on building a strong and recognisable legal firm brand is absolutely essential.
At the core of every thriving legal brand is quality content marketing with well-thought-out marketing strategies. And given the technical nature of the legal profession, using marketing to connect with your ideal clients is important as, without it, clients won’t even know you exist or, if they do, they will overlook you.
A law firm marketing strategy for legal professionals can create demand for your profession, build great brand awareness and create a thriving pipeline of clients.
Let’s talk more about the value of marketing in your legal industry.
Why the legal industry needs strong brand messages
People don’t make decisions on a whim – especially when it comes to services and even more, when it comes to deciding on which legal professional to choose.
What are people doing, then? Your ideal clients today are constantly hunting for informative value to help them make the right decisions. So, it helps to position your brand at the forefront, so they find you across all possible marketing channels.
To make sure that all these marketing efforts are successful, you need consistent and unique brand messages that will resonate with your audience and encourage them to interact with your brand.
Here are just some of the key benefits of having strong legal brand messaging:
1. Personable marketing humanises your practice.
Since the legal industry is quite technical, you must find a way to make your profession more relatable to your ideal clients and let them see the relevance of your service and brand.
For instance, most home buyers don’t know what a Conveyancer even is, how a Patent Attorney can protect their new creation or how a Family Lawyer helps them navigate the complex family law system.
This is your opportunity to educate clients about your speciality and raise brand awareness at the same time.
Since there are people who are not quite familiar with all of the legal jargon, relatable brand messages from legal firms helps them realise that behind the complex practice are approachable legal professionals who understand their needs and are people who they can depend on.
That encourages them to choose you over others.
2. Marketing gives you a unique position in the industry.
With several other law firms offering the same services and promising the same benefits, you want to have your own unique marketing messages so your potential legal clients can immediately identify what sets you apart.
With relevant legal marketing messages and branding, you can make them feel that your firm is the right choice and get ahead of your legal firm competitors.
3. Marketing boosts your credibility.
Given the complex and often confidential nature of Australian legal practise, it’s vital to position your brand as someone that your clients can trust. Using personalised and unique branding can help you achieve this and empower you to connect more emotionally with your customers.
For more information on the benefits of branding for your legal practice, check out this blog: How Polished and Personalised Branding Can Boost Your Business.
Why the legal industry needs marketing content
Where do your clients typically come from?
Your potential clients today will do their research online before reaching out to you and scheduling an initial legal consultation.
Even if they’re a personal referral, they’ll still be doing their research before they contact you.
As such, you want to make sure that when they search for legal services online, they will:
- find you in their search results
- see that you are a reliable, credible law firm that can address their concerns
- read content published by you that will help them see that your legal firm is the perfect choice for their legal concern.
You might ask, should I really share marketing content online?
Wouldn’t I be giving away my IP for free if I do that? And if I’m giving my services for free, would they hire me?
On the contrary, the more general legal content you post (like videos, articles and podcasts), the more opportunities there are for your audience to see and experience the value you offer. This, then, will encourage them to engage with you and choose your legal firm over others.
To explain this, here are the reasons why you need legal marketing content to stand out in the Australian legal sector today:
- Content marketing helps raise brand awareness and relevancy.
By sharing regular content, you can increase brand awareness and relevancy and reach people who are not aware of your brand and services yet. This connects with your ideal audience by educating them about the value you offer as well as how it can match their circumstances. - It helps you guide your clients throughout their journey.
Addressing every touchpoint of the customer journey means you’ll be able to walk strangers through your brand until they become leads, then customers and, eventually, advocates of your firm.
With the right content, you can also have tailored content that caters to every type of client and encourages them to work with your law firm. As they read through your legal marketing content, they will realise just how valuable your services are. - It helps your customers know what you’re up to.
We already talked about humanising your practice through branding and making it more accessible to your customers earlier. In line with that, you want to publish content that allows your clientele to see you as more than just a business or a firm – you want them to experience your culture to see you as a relatable brand that they can trust with their legal concerns.
The more trustworthy you come across, the more customers will be encouraged to connect with you.For more information about content marketing, check out these trends that can guide you when planning: 10 Content Marketing Trends To Embrace in 2022.
How does a legal firm create strong brand messages and marketing content?
You can achieve both of these with quality legal copywriting!
For strong brand messages that will complement your branding and complete your brand, you need a consistent tone and messaging that will serve as a branding guide – but for words. This will allow you to clearly communicate your value to your clients, simplify the complexities of the legal profession and bring it closer to the people who matter the most: your clients.
You can do all these with a core brand messaging document that will give life to your brand.
But how about the rest of your content?
You can also employ the help of marketing copywriters and legal copywriting services to create all your content marketing needs. This way, you can have carefully researched content that addresses your clients’ pain points and allows you to connect with them through well-chosen words paired with the latest and most effective marketing strategies.
At Melotti Media, we can do both of these for you!
We can develop strong brand messages for your legal firm through message marketing services and help you stand out in your field with a core brand messaging document.
What does a core brand messaging document do?
A core brand messaging document gives your legal brand a unique tone of voice and serves as a complete messaging framework for your wording, messaging and communication style. It serves as your language guide for all your marketing collateral across all of your channels.
Check out some of the clients that have used our core brand messaging development services:
For more information, you can get a free copy of our quick guide to Core Brand Messaging Development here.
We can also take care of all your other legal content marketing needs, allowing you to connect with your audience using content that you can share across all of your channels.
What types of marketing content can a legal firm use?
- Blog posts and articles
Legal blogs and articles are one of the best ways to establish authority and credibility in your field. As these also help you rank higher on Google Search, it helps if you write blogs on legal topics that your clients are interested in.
For instance, writing blogs on topics such as:
– What to do when [matter] happens?
– How can a lawyer help me with [matter]?
– What does a [field] lawyer do?With these articles and blogs, you can show your potential clients that you have extensive knowledge in your field and encourage them to reach out to you for their specific legal concerns.
Wouldn’t it be nice if people talk about you and say, “I saw an article from that law firm and it helped me understand this topic.”
This would certainly gain your clients’ attention.
- Newsletters and emails
Professionally written and client-focused emails and newsletters bring you closer to your audiences, allowing you to be present and share value as they check their inboxes as part of their daily routine.
This is an efficient way to provide ongoing value (and not just additional noise) to potential clients. For example, you can write legal newsletters with catchy subject lines, discuss current trends and become a more relatable brand for more Australians.
- Adverts
Paid legal advertisements are also one of the most common ways that will get you onto your potential clients’ radar. But to make sure that this will work and yield a maximum Return On Investment (ROI), you want quality advertising copy that will appeal to your target audience.
These legal firm adverts will help create a strong first impression and with quality messaging, you can ensure that you don’t get lost in the clutter of ads. Instead, you can position yourself as the go-to law firm in your niche.
- Client Case Studies
With case studies, you can show actual evidence that the work you do makes a lot of difference to clients and connect with your audience on a more personal level.
You can highlight your expertise through these case studies and encourage potential clients who may have similar concerns to reach out to you. You can then share these case studies on your website, your social media or as content within your regular newsletters.
- Videos and Podcasts
Not all of your potential clients enjoy reading – this is where legal firm videos and podcasts come in.
Even if this type of content comes in a different media format, you still want to make sure that you’re saying the right things and that your viewers and listeners are getting the most out of your marketing content.
- Social media posts
Most people today are on social media – in fact, 54% of clients use social media to research products and services before they decide.
To keep up with this trend, it helps to make your legal firm brand as accessible as possible on the channels where your potential legal clients are. A good social media presence allows you to connect with your audiences, establish credibility and help to be recognised as a modern brand that adapts and embraces innovation.
For more, read 6 Types Of Content Marketing And When It’s Best To Use Them.
Other than these content marketing types that we have mentioned here, you can also use quality copywriting services to polish your website, write winning award submissions, prepare press releases and more.
We’ve made a difference for these law firms. Yours could be next!
We have provided legal copywriting services to several Australian brands and we are proud to say that all of them are thrilled with the results.
Check out how we worked with phenomenal brands here.
Ready to make your law firm stand out?
Now that you have a full understanding of the power that strong legal brand messaging and content marketing has in the legal industry, it’s time to turn what you learned into action.
To make your law firm stand out, you need a reliable copywriting partner who fully understands your brand, your audiences’ needs as well as the most recent trends in the market that will keep you at the forefront of the legal profession.
How can Melotti Media help your law firm?
We understand that you want to achieve business success through marketing and content marketing planning.
But you may find that you’re time-poor and spread thin or you still have a lot of unanswered questions.
You don’t need to worry!
At Melotti Media, we can assist with all your copywriting and content marketing needs while you focus on what matters most to you – growing your business.
Let’s start earning the results your business deserves!
To speak to your trusted message marketers and copywriters, email us at enquire@melottimedia.com.au or phone 1800 663 342.
We can sharpen your words to achieve your goals today!
The Melotti Media Team
Melotti Media | Copywriting & Message Marketing Bureau
www.melottimedia.com.au
