With more than half the world’s population browsing the Internet daily, it’s undeniable how vital digital marketing is to stay competitive in your respective industries. Traditional marketing tactics like print media and TV or radio commercials no longer cut it when you realize magazine, newspaper, TV, and radio consumption continues to decrease each year. If your law firm doesn’t have a solid digital marketing strategy, consider investing in one as early as now.

Clients are the lifeblood of a law firm, and you can’t expect to get clients if they don’t even know your firm exists. Having a website doesn’t automatically guarantee brand awareness. There are over 200 million active websites online, and all your competitors also have websites. If anything, having a website is the bare minimum. If you want to stand out to potential clients, you’ll need to do much more.

Besides having a website and a social media page, there are many more effective digital marketing techniques available to you, from pay-per-click advertising to search engine optimization. With all these options, it’s easy to be overwhelmed. How do you decide which techniques are suitable for your firm?

Remember that digital marketing isn’t a one-size-fits-all thing. What works for a clothing brand isn’t suitable for a law firm. If you want a good foundation, look at your most successful competitors. What are they doing in the online space? What does their website look like? How do they communicate with potential clients? Can you emulate those techniques in your own online presence? By consolidating a niche-specific, logical, and cohesive digital marketing strategy, you could be well on your way to the top of the ladder. If you have the resources, hiring a law firm digital marketing agency can get you faster results since these agencies already have tried-and-tested strategies ready to go, only needing minor tweaks to be a perfect fit for your company. You can also consider building a team from scratch, but you’ll need to consider the time it’ll take to hire individuals, train them, then build a harmonious team.

Law firm digital marketing isn’t a game where the highest bidder wins; it’s a game where the smartest bidder wins. You need to know what techniques are worth your money to avoid costly mistakes. Here’s a short guide on what digital marketing strategies your law firm should consider investing in.

1. Search engine optimization (SEO). For those hearing about SEO for the first time, it’s easy to get lost in the mess of buzzwords and terminologies, but simply put, SEO is a method that seeks to increase a website’s rank on search engine results pages. The founding principle of SEO is the observation that users are more likely to click websites higher up the search results. SEO is favored among businesses because it’s a low-cost but high-impact technique. SEO ensures that new users are made aware of your firm. Additionally, it gives your firm an immediate boost since users perceive websites with high search rankings to be more credible and reputable.

A disadvantage of SEO is that you can’t expect results overnight. In fact, it generally takes about six months before you can see the effect of your SEO strategy on your business. For this reason, you may want to incorporate other, faster digital marketing techniques into your strategy.

2. Pay-per-click (PPC). PPC is an advertising technique that derives its cost from the number of clicks your ads generate. On top of being cost-effective, marketers like PPC because it delivers immediate results. The moment your ads are put up, you can see an effect on your site traffic. When used effectively, PPC also delivers a great return on ad spend. If you target your ads to the right keywords and demographics, you can get site traffic with the highest conversion potential.

It’s easy to fall into money traps with PPC if you don’t know what you’re doing. Targeting search terms that are too broad will cost more money but won’t generate relevant traffic. More specific search terms like “law firm in Michigan” or “legal services in Las Vegas” are cheaper and have a higher chance of conversion than someone searching “US law firm”.

3. Content marketing. Besides using your website and social media pages to provide information and advertise your services, you can also use them as platforms for engaging and high-quality content that your users will gladly consume. You can make videos or podcasts dissecting historical cases, or you can write an in-depth guide on certain legal processes. Content marketing actually has the highest potential for increasing brand awareness next to SEO. Some companies gained a significant following after their content went viral, so focus on generating premium, shareable content that resonates with your audience.

4. Social media advertising. In the US, 70% of people actively use social media, spending an average of 2 hours and 10 minutes on these sites each day. This means that social media is a prime real estate for companies looking to advertise their services. Social media has a sophisticated targeting scheme that allows advertisers to create a laser-focused advertising strategy, guaranteeing that the right people will see the ads. It may not make sense for you to limit those who see your ad, but by targeting your ads effectively, you ensure that the people who will see them are the ones most likely to need your services. If you are a law firm in Chicago, your services will be of little to no value to someone living in California. By targeting your ads to a specific state, even to specific zip codes, you’ll pay less but get better returns on your investment.

There are countless other law firm digital marketing techniques out there. Do your own research and tests to formulate a cohesive strategy that suits your firm. Don’t hesitate to consult and work with digital marketing experts. They can lead you in the right direction and even offer valuable insight that could help your firm achieve its marketing goals.