Essay: Effective Content Marketing For Lawyers: Key Strategies.

Discuss about the Marketing Service Organization for Research in Interactive Marketing.

Content marketing is a marketing technique which is used to attain new leads (Holliman & Rowley, 2014). Content marketing is more than just a marketing technique and most lawyers are not considering this strategy as a technique which creates interest in their legal services.

 The biggest challenge that people face in employing a lawyer is understanding the unintelligible language that can be confusing to them. But content marketing makes it possible for lawyers to speak in a language that people understands (Lieb, 2011). This task will describe how the lawyers should execute content marketing the right way. It will contain the key points to the study, the link to the study, managerial implications of the study, conclusion and a reference list.

Creating a specific content rather than a general one is more important because it focuses only on a specific client.

1. The content should be written in a simple language that the clients will be able to understand.
2. Another way to be able to execute content marketing in the right way is creating a plan.

• Lawyers should also try as much as possible to avoid common mistakes.

1. The content should be behavioral, essential, strategic and targeted.
2. The lawyers should ensure that they share their strategies, tactics, goals, and methods with their team by getting them buy in and letting them understand what they are supposed to know.
3. Lawyers should be able to measure their content marketing to ensure that they don’t waste more money on marketing.

To be able to generate the best course of action that will lead to increase in the profile of the law firm, a good content marketing technique should be used. This will also lead to the generation of new leads on regular basis (Stokes, 2011). Creating a specific content rather than a general one is more important because it focuses only on a specific client. Example being a criminal lawyer, one is supposed to create a content of individuals with criminal cases. Focusing on a specific client is important because producing and distributing the content will be easier (Gunelius, 2011). This is the best strategy that most marketers are using in their content marketing. The content should be written in a simple language that the clients will be able to understand. The content should also be able to educate the clients on how a particular case can be formed.  By doing this, the client will be more informed before inquiring the services. To be able to form the buyer persona, one is expected to carry out surveys inquiring feedbacks from different clients (Rose & Pulizzi, 2011).

Another way to be able to execute content marketing in the right way is creating a plan.  The Content should be released regularly and the clients will be used to reading these releases (Lipsman,A.,Mudd,G.,Rich,M.,&Bruich,S., 2012). This is done to ensure that the news and stories that emerge every day in the firm are made available to clients. How the plan will be delivered should also be displayed and should more comprehensive so as to defeat competitors (Smith, Fischer, & Yongjian, 2012). The medium in which the content can be distributed include social media, emails and guest-posting on websites which are relevant. Guest-posting is the best channel which most marketers use to create new leads through marketing.

Key points of the study

Lawyers should also try as much as possible to avoid common mistakes. Many marketers make the same mistakes every day which brings them down. They should always be concerned about the quality of the content and not just the quantity which will not only educate the clients but they will also find it enjoyable to read (Odden, 2012). This includes its relevance, accuracy and information value. This is because after posting is done on regular basis, the clients will look back to view the previous posts. The importance of content marketing is generating new leads but if the lawyers are promotional in their services, the clients will not be able to trust them. Hence a good content should be able to achieve the trust of clients. Every content should only identify a specific client and not being general (Le, 2013). This will increase the chances of engagement from each written content.  Promoting their services at every post is a mistake the lawyers make rather they should add a link to a related post.

The content should be behavioral, essential, strategic and targeted. The clients always understand that there is a problem and they have to look for solutions from the legal counsel where they have to decide who to trust with their cases. Hence the contents should take into consideration what the clients need (Harad, 2013).

The content should be behavioral, essential, strategic and targeted. According to research, most lawyers lack a documented content marketing technique and this can be a disappointment to firms who rely heavily on a documentary in most of their work (Rahimnia & Hassanzadeh, 2013). By not having a documented content distribution strategy will affect all that is created by rising in the digital world.

To have more followers in the content posted in the distribution channels they should promote the posts through low-budget. They should look out for the relevant websites and not competitors to share their content. Commenting on active social media like Facebook is also necessary to increase the followers.

A quality content should be treated as an asset by making a maximum benefit of one post by repurposing it. Even though this takes a lot of time to implement, it is better than writing content after content.

The lawyers should ensure that they share their strategies, tactics, goals, and methods with their team by getting them buy in and letting them understand what they are supposed to know. By working together as a team to achieve set goals and objectives will be important than one person working alone (Ludwig et al., 2013). They should understand what they want to achieve and ask for help if need be. They should always find what other lawyers do to take advantage of social media to sell their content marketing.

Link to the study

Lawyers should be able to measure their content marketing to ensure that they don’t waste more money on marketing. Many have no idea why their marketing is successful and hence they end up wasting money on things which work and which don’t work. To be able to compete with their rivals, they should measure everything so as to cut what does not work and increase what works (Rose & Pulizzi, 2011).

They should also consider their own clients in any business development because the clients trust them and they hire them. It’s necessary to open new files from their clients than new clients whom they do not know. They should know their clients better because it will be easier and cheaper to refer a satisfied client than trying to get attention from another client.

Engaging in a trade association of clients is also important because they are the people who hire them. They will be able to inquire about the association and the types of meetings held and this will make them be in touch with the directors.

They should know where their clients are, either online or offline. By doing this, they will be able to know where their clients engage online and need to use that content digitally. All the social media should be considered but not all the contents are displayed online (Forouzandeh, Soltanpanah, & Sheikhahmadi, 2014). Example they can either advertise or do face-to-face activities. But all this is determined by the relevant content which is able to reach the specific client.

The contents should be created and optimized in a way that can be used in marketing. The lawyers should determine which contents need to be reused and what new contents are needed. They should be relevant and reachable across the channels they will use to reach the targeted clients.

A content marketing strategy should have a formal monthly content calendar. the content should be promoted effectively across the channels.

For a content marketing to be effective, resource allocation and legal ethics. The consequences of these legal ethics are evaluated for the content marketing strategy for both the firm and every lawyer.

The lawyers should try as much as possible to be careful with the keywords they use. They should not use many keywords in their contents and they should also use synonyms to avoid repetitions. 

The lawyers should not only be concerned with their own contents but they should also try to create contents for other people’s website. This will not only identify new clients but it will also increase the credibility of the firm’s website.

Common mistakes to avoid

Even though content marketing is self-serving, it should also be a service to others because it brings the information that people need. Hence they should be helpful to others and not being selfish. This will ensure that more people get their information hence increasing the number of leads and making more money (Baltes, 2015). The language should not be lawyerly but it should be informative, credible and personable to provide general information.

They should ask their clients questions so as to get the information they need to create the contents. This is because people will always look for answers on the websites while searching for the services they need.

The content marketing should comprise different formats because the content may require videos and infographics to make it clear and by doing this, they will be able to reach many clients.  They should also build a network to promote their contents and boost it hence sharing in the other networks to get better results.

The lawyers should understand the difference between content marketing strategy and content strategy. Content marketing strategy reflects on the way, they should understand why they need to create the content and why it's important to their clients (Jarvinen & Taiminen, 2016). The content marketing strategy reflects on the goals of the firm which will be achieved through content marketing and the problems the content is expected to solve. The content strategy explains how this is done and what requirements are needed to implement the content marketing strategy.

Before any content marketing strategy is created, a digital competitive analysis should be developed first (Baltes, 2015). This will be able to measure which category the law firm falls as compared to the rivals and which areas need more emphasis. Some competitor’s tactics which make them successful are also identified.

The lawyers should act as experts because a quality content marketing requires expertise and does not push the product (Jefferson,S.,& Tanton,S., 2015). The format in which the content is delivered is important just like the message hence only useful information should be delivered to the clients.

The content marketing created should be timely and the lawyers should find their target clients and the type of cases they have and how they need them to be solved. They should engage in a conversation with their clients and hence they will be able to reply and make comments (Forouzandeh, Soltanpanah, & Sheikhahmadi, 2014). This will be achieved by a proper timing where they find the appropriate time when a maximum client can see the content or when they need solutions to their cases. The contents should be interesting so that more clients will be impacted and hence leading to more revenue.

Tactics for effective content marketing

Before executing any content marketing, the lawyers should find the best angle by understanding what they want to say before creating the content. A research should be done on the keywords to be used and the client engagement.

A useful content which will win followers is important because it yields readers, increase leads and drive search (Pulizzi, 2014). A good content takes time to do research and write and it’s also difficult. They may not be great writers but they should always enquire help from experts. By doing this, they will achieve the objectives of the firm and maximize time and effort.

Even though content marketing in the law firm is new, it should not be reactionary. The law firms which need to be a resource to their clients are creating these contents and planning their execution. Creating a quality and successful content marketing takes time because of the many cases that arise every day. Cost of investment in the content marketing is not important because many competitors use the strategies to look for new clients.

By viewing all these important aspects of content marketing, lawyers will be able to execute the content marketing the right way.

Conclusion

This task has viewed the ways in which lawyers are supposed to execute content marketing the right way.  According to this task, a comprehensive content marketing is necessary for the online environment because it means no competition. Content should be created with a distribution plan and in a language that the clients can easily understand.

References

Baltes, L.P. (2015). Content marketing-the fundamental tool of digital marketing.Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Economic sciences.series V,8(2), 111.

Forouzandeh, S., Soltanpanah, H.,& Sheikhahmadi, A. (2014). content marketing through data mining on Facebook social network. webology,11(1), 1.

Gunelius, S. (2011). Content marketing for dummies. John Wiley & Sons.

Harad, K.C. (2013). Content marketing strategies to educate and entertain. Journal of financial planning, 26(3), 18-20.

Holliman, G., Rowley, J. (2014). Business to business digital content marketing: marketers' perceptions of best practice. Journal of research in interactive marketing,8(4), 269-293.

Jarvinen,J.,& Taiminen,H. (2016). Harnessing marketing automation for B2B content marketing. industrial marketing management,542, 164-175.

Jefferson, S.,& Tanton, S. (2015). Valuable content marketing: how to make quality content your key to success. Kogan Page Publishers.

Lieb, R. (2011). Content marketing: think like a publisher -how to use content to market online and in social media. Que publishing.

Lipsman, A., Mudd, G., Rich, M.,&Bruich, S. (2012). The power of 'like': How brands reach (and influence) fans through social media marketing. Journal of Advertising Research,52(1), 40-52.

Ludwig, S., De Ruyter, K., Friedman, M., &Pfann, G. (2013). More than words: The influence of affective content and linguistic style matches in online reviews on conversation rates. Journal of Marketing,77(1), 87-103.

Odden, L. (2012). Optimize; how to engage more customers by integrating SEO social media, and content marketing. John Wiley & Sons. 

Pulizzi, J. (2014). Epic content marketing: How to tell a different story, break through the clutter and win more customers by marketing less. McGraw-Hill Education.

Rahimnia, F.,& Hassanzadeh, J.F. (2013). The impact of website content dimension and e-trust on e-marketing effectiveness: The case of Iran commercial saffron corporations. Information and Management,50(5), 240-247.

Rose, R.,& Pulizzi, J. (2011). Managing content marketing: The real-world guide for creating passionate subscribers to your brand. BookBaby.

Smith, A.N., Fischer, E.,& Yongjian, C. (2012). How does brand-related user-generated content differ across YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter? Journal of interactive marketing,26(2), 102-113.

Stokes, R. (2011). eMarketing: The essential guide to digital marketing. Quirk eMarketing.