Marketing Strategies
Law firms need to focus more on successful marketing for several key reasons:
Increased Competition
The legal services market has become increasingly competitive, making it crucial for law firms to differentiate themselves and attract clients. With more firms vying for the same pool of potential clients, effective marketing is essential to stand out.
Shift to Digital
There has been a significant shift towards digital channels for finding legal services. In fact, 96% of consumers looking for legal services now use a search engine. This means law firms need to have a strong online presence and digital marketing strategy to be found by potential clients.
Client Expectations
Modern clients have higher expectations for how they find and interact with law firms. They expect easily accessible information online and a smooth digital experience. Effective marketing helps meet these expectations and improve client acquisition and retention.
Economic Pressures
Many law firms faced economic challenges in 2023, with only about half reporting growth above inflation rates. Strategic marketing can help firms weather economic uncertainty by attracting new clients and retaining existing ones.
Reputation Management
Online reputation has become critical, with 82% of legal services consumers considering reputation important when choosing a provider. Marketing efforts focused on managing and enhancing online reputation are now essential.
Leveraging Technology
New marketing technologies and AI tools provide opportunities for law firms to reach clients more effectively and efficiently. Firms that don’t adopt these new marketing approaches risk falling behind competitors.
Changing Legal Landscape
As the legal industry evolves, marketing helps firms communicate their expertise in emerging practice areas and adapt to changing client needs. By focusing on successful marketing in 2024, law firms can address these challenges, capitalize on new opportunities, and position themselves for growth in an increasingly competitive and digital-focused legal market.
Did you know?
EnergiseLegal
- Our marketing expertise is strategic not tactical to create a unique differentiation in the market with more competition.
- Our career heritage is in strategic marketing and marketing communications, both employed and freelance.
- We facilitate your practice groups to create a marketing strategy and plan and provide individual marketing mentoring to ensure that it is implemented with follow up and accountability.
- Fee earners are full of good intentions with their marketing, but these can get sidelined when the client calls.
- Are not digital marketing experts – this is a specialist area, changing fast.
- Think that too many Partners who are good experts in their legal field, get left to create a compelling new marketing strategy and plan, if given support and time in their diary.
- Love working with practice groups and individual lawyers to create client focus and truly understand what marketing is and how it is useful.
- Understand that many law firms think that marketing is about events with clients. No, this isn’t marketing.
- Know that when law firms understand what marketing is, rather than what they think it is, and break down barriers to making it happen, marketing can become part of the DNA of every lawyer’s day, when given a time code.
- Have expertise in low cost marketing that lawyers like – thought leadership, interactive events, original things that your competitors are not doing.
- Help you to understand the client journey – putting yourself in the client’s shoes and seeing it through their eyes. It isn’t about you, the lawyer, it is about the client and their experience, client journey and their satisfaction.
- Thought leadership is where we can work well together – lawyers sharing their expertise. We can interview your clients, gaining valuable insights and you get the credit and they get quoted in your white paper.
What Next?
What Next?
Read our client case studies and testimonials and get in touch for a no-obligation short meeting.
We help
- You pinpoint your blocks about marketing and overcome them
- You gain a practical marketing strategy that works for your business
- Create a step by step marketing plan to deliver your marketing strategy
- Create content if you want us to
We support
- Using our niche marketing experience
- With insights and ongoing support
- By making our approach suit your need with marketing strategy workshops and individual marketing mentoring
Services
- Individual marketing mentoring
- Practice group workshops
- Client journey experience workshops
- ‘Blowing your own trumpet’ events
- Content for workshops
Case Studies
Client Testimonials
“Inspiring and practical guidance that was made enjoyable by Rachel.”
Gemma Nicholls, Solicitor, Henmans LLP.
“Rachel has lots of down to earth practical advice. She provided us with all the right tools to go out and win new clients.
She’s relaxed and easy to communicate with.”
Louise Golding, Partner, Dehns.
“Rachel is knowledgeable in a wide variety of different marketing areas, and very willing to apply her knowledge to our needs.”
Phillip Webber, Partner, Dehns.
“It was a good mixture of inspiration and practical suggestions. Rachel listens to what you want and helps you to see how you can achieve it.”
Adrian Samuels, Partner, Dehns.
“Rachel has lots of down to earth practical advice. She provided us with all the right tools to go out and win new clients.
She’s relaxed and easy to communicate with.”
Louise Golding, Partner, Dehns.
“Rachel is knowledgeable in a wide variety of different marketing areas, and very willing to apply her knowledge to our needs.”
Phillip Webber, Partner, Dehns.
“It was a good mixture of inspiration and practical suggestions. Rachel listens to what you want and helps you to see how you can achieve it.”
Adrian Samuels, Partner, Dehns.
“Advice on marketing is legion and often depressing to read. It leaves the unwilling or unhappy marketer feeling impotent, inadequate and a misfit. All the more refreshing therefore to be met with Rachel Brushfield’s premise that you should find what you love to do and do more of it.
Hooray, we cry – no more awkward silences at networking events, no more cold-calling or uncomfortable trumpet blowing! The mythical concept of what is marketing is comprehensively debunked. As a result of this deconstruction, all of those promotional activities that make many lawyers squirm, are broken down into more manageable tasks that therefore lose their ‘queasy’ nature. The advice is ‘to start small and easy’ and be comfortable with ‘imperfect actions’ as being better than no action at all is wise counsel.”
Katherine Southby, Former Editor, The Association Women Solicitors (AWS) Link magazine.
“Rachel provided valuable team training on helping clients in difficult times and real insight into communication and empathy skills. We would recommend her to anyone in a client facing role.”
Slater & Gordon
Content Creation
Content creation is a crucial component of marketing for law firms, allowing them to establish thought leadership and connect with potential clients. Here’s why it’s so essential:
What is Content Creation for Law Firms?
Content creation for law firms involves producing valuable, informative materials that showcase the firm’s expertise and provide useful insights to potential clients. This can include:
- Blog posts and articles
- Videos and podcasts
- Social media content
- Whitepapers and ebooks
- Newsletters
- Webinars and presentations
The goal is to create content that addresses common legal questions and concerns of the firm’s target audience.
Why Thought Leadership is Essential
Establishing thought leadership through content marketing offers several key benefits for law firms:
Builds trust and credibility
By consistently publishing high-quality, authoritative content, law firms can position themselves as trusted experts in their practice areas. This helps build credibility with potential clients who are researching legal issues online.
Demonstrates expertise
Thought leadership content allows firms to showcase their deep knowledge and experience handling specific types of cases or legal matters. This gives potential clients confidence in the firm’s capabilities.
Improves visibility and SEO
Publishing regular content optimized for relevant keywords can significantly boost a law firm’s search engine rankings and online visibility. This helps attract more potential clients searching for legal information and services.
Engages potential clients
Valuable content engages potential clients early in their search for legal help, allowing firms to start building relationships before a formal consultation.
Differentiates from competitors
In a crowded legal market, thought leadership content helps law firms stand out by highlighting their unique expertise and approach.
Supports other marketing efforts
Content can be repurposed across multiple channels to support social media, email marketing, and other promotional initiatives. By investing in thoughtful content creation and thought leadership, law firms can establish themselves as go-to resources in their practice areas. This builds trust, attracts more qualified leads, and ultimately helps grow the firm’s client base over time
Did you know?
EnergiseLegal
- Have a proven track record over 20+ years in thought leadership – books, chapters, articles, white papers.
- Don’t create videos or podcasts – there are lots of experts who can help you to do this.
- Are strategic and very practical – we demystify marketing so that your lawyers choose to do it, rather than avoid it.
- A lot of marketing can be done at no/low cost – time, thought and enterprise. Do what your competitors don’t – reposition the opposition – your competitors.
- Rachel was a judge for the ‘Marketing and communications’ category at the Law Society Excellence Awards.
- The founder of EnergiseLegal Rachel Brushfield is a published author for the Law Society ‘Smarter Legal Marketing. Practical strategies for the busy lawyer’ with action planning tips.
Our book covers:
- what marketing is
- why it is essential to put yourself in your clients’ shoes
- the importance of having a personal brand
- how to make networking work for you
- what blocks lawyers have about marketing and how to overcome them
- how to fit marketing into your hectic schedule, without ruining your work-life balance, and manage it expediently
- how LinkedIn can help you to create visibility online and build your reputation
- how content marketing fits with your overall marketing strategy and plan
Client Testimonial
“Rachel has written across multiple law firm management topics for Globe Law and Business, including talent management, career management, marketing, professional development, personal development, business development and women in law, with women in law a strong strength. Chapters for Globe include: ‘Work’s Not Working – Portfolio Careers’, in ‘Career Development For Women Lawyers’ (2019), ‘Helping Women Lawyers Overcome Their Blocks About Marketing’ in ‘Business Development For Women Lawyers’ (2018), ‘The Shifting Sands Of Talent Management’ in ‘The Rise of Specialist Career Paths In Law Firms’ (2022), ‘Adapting Business Models To Ride The Millennial Wave’ in ‘Future Law Firm Business Models’ (2018) and ‘Essential Skills For The Changing Legal Market’ in ‘The Talent Management Toolkit For Law firms’ (2016). In addition, she wrote for several Ark Publishing titles, including ‘How Mentoring And Coaching Can Help With Life Balance Issues’ in the book ‘Mentoring and Coaching for Lawyers’ (2014) and ‘Women lawyers And How To Improve Gender Balance’ in the book ‘Managing Talent for Success.’ (2013). Rachel authored the foreword for the book ‘Business Development for Women lawyers, Second Edition’, published in August 2024 and made introductions to other high-quality authors for the title. Her article ‘The rise and rise of the consultant lawyer’ was published in ‘Modern Law’ magazine, a Globe publication in October 2024. Rachel consistently writes insightful and engaging copy, shares original topic ideas, meets deadlines and is proactive in creating awareness about our publications on LinkedIn and via EnergiseLegal’s own marketing.”
Alex Davies, Commissioning Editor, Globe Law and Business.
What Next?
What Next?
Read our client case studies and testimonials and get in touch for a no-obligation short meeting.
We help
- High quality unique content for your business including webinars, free reports and case studies
- Quality content in specialist areas including career, talent, marketing and brand
- Ghost written articles and white papers
We support
- Create a content schedule to meet the needs of your business
- Save time by creating content for your LMS (Learning Management System)
- Get the credit for quality content – whilst we do the work
Services
- Articles
- White papers
- Webinars
- E courses
- Books
Case Studies
Client Testimonials
“I just read your chapter on the gender balance. Excellent stuff, it’s good to see the analysis is finally getting beneath the surface and working out what it is about the business model that pushes women out.
Personally, I’ve always felt that it’s just that women are smarter than men and more prone to making rational, non-ego driven choices. And it simply doesn’t make sense to stay in a big law firm, for anyone. Anyway, congratulations on another great piece of work.”
Michael Bradley, Managing Partner, MARQUE
Lawyers Pty Ltd.
“I can honestly say I am very impressed and would be delighted to provide a review. In particular, I thought your chapter dealt with a slippery and sometimes controversial issue with clarity and a degree of practicality not often seen. I will be recommending this section to those involved in our Women Partners initiative.
This is a concentrated burst of thoughtful analysis and practical pointers. In a jargon-prone discipline, the author quickly gets to the heart of their topic, bringing clarity to key talent-related issues affecting law firms with a minimum of theatrics. This little volume punches above its weight.”
Stephanie Abbott, Director of Knowledge and Learning, Herbert Smith Freehills (about the IBA Talent development book for which we contributed a chapter on ‘Women in the law’).