Which Is The Best Method for Promoting Your Law Firm? Digital Or Print?

Starting a law firm is not a hard thing as you have been led to believe. The first step is usually to get a license so that you can be authorized to work in your state. This process is straight-forward and may take you a few weeks to get everything in order.

You don’t need to have a partner, but it’s highly encouraged. A partner will assist you to get more clients, and pay the bills. What the majority of new law firms tend to fail to take into account is the marketing of their new firm.

Let’s face it; if you don’t market your business, people will not be aware of its existence, which will make its growth hard. There are different methods that you may use when it comes to law firm marketing.

There has been a heated debate from people regarding whether you should use the digital or print media to market your business. Some law firms have abandoned the print method and adopted the digital method, while some have combined the two. In this article, we will look at the two marketing strategies and identify which method will help your law firm business grow.

Print Media

Print media was a huge hit a few decades ago. It was the only marketing strategy that was guaranteed to get you prospects and leads. Even though people still advertised through radio and television, print advertisements were more accessible, and the message was always in front of your target audience without a need for creating new ads.

It has been proven that prolonged exposure to an ad will always trigger someone to take action. Coming across newspapers and magazines that had advertisements on them wasn’t unusual during those days.

Billboards were also very popular, and they were responsible for over 40 percent of leads and sales. Banners were also very popular during those days as well.

All these methods are still in use, but their effectiveness has reduced. A great example would be the decline in popularity of the newspapers. The number of newspaper readers has declined by 60 percent globally, and the numbers are expected to keep going down.

Billboards, on the other hand, have seen their popularity rise in the last five years. Marketing experts believe that their popularity is driven by their effectiveness in marketing. They are huge, and it’s not easy to miss them. Urban centers are filled with these billboards, and there is an estimation that their numbers will keep going up.

Banners have been doing fairly well, and it’s easy to come across a few during the day. However, their effectiveness has been a subject of debate, given that people are more distracted by their phones to even notice these banners.

Even though some print marketing strategies have seen their demand diminish, others such as brochures and flyers have continued to be used with success. They are commonly used for advertising the launch of a new product or service or give out information regarding an event. One thing that makes these two print marketing strategies stand out is the fact that nearly everyone receives the message, which increases the chances of getting new clients.

What are the Advantages of Print Media?

Print media has been proven to have a longer impact on the readers compared to other forms of marketing. The ad may remain visible if the material it’s printed on is not damaged.

Brochures and flyers can be used to target your audience directly, which may prompt them to take action.

Print media is also tangible and may identify with the audience that prefers hard copy reading material. People who prefer using print media as their source of marketing have mentioned this as the primary reason for their choice.

It commands credibility and may result in more people taking action as they tend to trust any information that is printed rather than that found in digital form.

Your message can be dispersed over a larger population, and you won’t incur additional expenses.

What are the Drawbacks of Print Marketing?

Technology has changed how people receive their news and information, which has reduced the popularity of newspapers. The newspaper circulation dropped by 28 percent in 2018, and there is an expectation of the retention of the same figure. People can get the news they need from blogs and social media platforms. Some newspaper companies noticed the changes and adopted digital media. However, there is still a decent number of people who read newspapers across the world, which means the media is not dead. Even with this said, you shouldn’t rely entirely on it.

Another problem with print media is the costs that are incurred. Booking a billboard is not cheap. The high costs are derived from the satisfaction that having your ad on a billboard will increase the chances of getting new clients by 90 percent. These are impressive figures, and anyone serious of growing their law firm should consider this option.

Print Media doesn’t allow you to target a specific audience. The ads are displayed to the general population. It may become a bit difficult to land the clients that you need through this method. However, the majority of advertising agencies conducts research on your behalf and know the best place to place your billboard ad.

Should you Use Print Media to Market your Law Firm?

Even though print media has its drawbacks, you should not write it off. You can still take advantage of its effectiveness and try to get your message out to your clients. However, you need to have a talk with your marketing department so that you can know the best locations to target with this strategy.

The best way to avoid overspending on print media is by starting small. Start by focusing on one area before expanding your marketing campaign. You can also have banners and flyers created for your law firm then get people to help you distribute the material around the city.

Digital Media

Digital media is growing in popularity, and there is a huge demand for this marketing strategy. Every business, regardless of the size, should use this marketing method if they want to grow their revenue.

What constitutes Digital Marketing?

Any marketing that is done online falls under this category. With the growing number of bloggers and online marketing agencies, you are spoilt for choices. The most common form of digital marketing is by buying ads from Google and Facebook. These two companies are a leader in their industries, and using their paid advertisement is an obvious choice.

Another method you can use to target online clients is by buying ad space on popular blogs. Some of these blogs receive hundreds of thousands of visitors every month, and having your ad shown to these visitors will help you grow your brand awareness. There are no fixed costs of running such a campaign since every blogger charges differently.

YouTube is also another great channel of growing your client list. You don’t have to create your channel and upload videos. Thanks to YouTube marketing, all you need is to create a single as video and submit it to the company. The best thing about YouTube marketing is that your ad is shown on relevant videos. You also get to choose the keywords that should trigger your ad.

Using affiliate marketers is also another option. The best thing about the method is that you only pay them when you get a lead or a client. The affiliate marketers usually have a database of clients who might be interested in your services. They propose your business to them until you start getting clients. It may not be the fastest marketing strategy, but it’s the cheapest.

Content marketing is not the easiest strategy, but it’s affordable. It takes time to rank your content on Search Engines, but once the organic traffic starts to flow in, there is no stopping it. The only downside is that you need to understand SEO, which is not an easy thing. You also need to create content constantly, and the content should add value to your readers. Running out of content ideas is also another thing you should keep in mind.

What are the Advantages of Digital Marketing?

Huge Target Audience

Since the majority of people spend most of their time online, it has become easy to target them. Digital marketing provides you with a door that you can use to access these people. With the right campaigns, you can grow your business very fast.

Very Affordable

The digital marketing strategy is not expensive, and you can start a campaign with as little as $500. This option makes digital marketing accessible to anyone regardless of the size of their company.

Control over your Marketing

Digital marketing also gives you the opportunity to define your target audience, which is more than we can say about print marketing. Google allows you to choose the location and the keywords for your ad. Facebook has taken targeting to another level where you choose the age, the gender, and the interests of your target audience. Digital marketing offers you control over your ads, which helps you to improve your leads and client list. It also helps to lower the marketing costs, which may be a result of clicks and impressions from people who are not interested in your ads.

Over Exposure

Using platforms like Google helps to expose your business to other parts of your town since your ads will be placed on blogs that use Google Adsense as a source of their revenue.

What are the Challenges in Digital Marketing and their Solutions?

High Competition

The number of businesses that are using online marketing is very high, which also increases the competition for the top position. Gone are the days when you would create a standard ad, submit some keywords, and expect your ad to rank. If you want the top position on a search engine, you need to spend more. Some of those ads you see at the top of a search result pay over $1 per click. If you don’t have a huge budget, make sure you avoid such competition.

The solution lies in targeting long-tail keywords. These keywords usually have a low search rate but also have less competition. Instead of going for popular keywords that will cost you more money, try using alternative keywords. Using a keyword planner will help you research a keyword and provide you with alternative keywords. These keywords receive a good number of searches and will not cost you a fortune.

Try combining the long-tail keywords and short alternate keywords to get better results with your ads.

Creating Contents on a Regular Basis

When you are busy running your law firm, you may not have enough time to create your content. Search engine ranking requires you to create enough content regularly so that it may be indexed.

However, you can outsource this project to professional content creators. There are different platforms that you can use to secure the services of such people. Make sure you get unique and informative content from them.

Which Method is Best Suited for your Law Firm?

According to marketing experts, the only way to get the best out of your marketing efforts is by combining the two strategies. Even though the number of newspaper readers has dropped, the effectiveness of billboards has risen.

If you are struggling with a budget, you can combine digital marketing with banner and flyers marketing to begin. You can then monitor the two and decide whether it’s time to upgrade to a billboard.

The majority of law firms are combining the two marketing strategies, and that’s why it’s easy to come across a banner in your train station.

Make sure you have a chat with your marketing consultant regarding the two methods and how you can combine them effectively.