6 Steps to build a new law firm’s brand that get customers

Congratulations! Your legal practice is now up and running. It’s time to move on to the next important step: finding clients for a business that no one has heard of.

A legal firm cannot exist without clients, however,  obtaining them requires a different skill set and is only loosely connected to law practice. To draw new customers, you’ll need to include some marketing expertise into your development strategy and maybe venture outside of your comfort zone.

Finding new customers is no simple task, whether you are a young lawyer just beginning your legal career or have worked for a renowned law firm and opted to start as a lone practitioner. When you are first starting out, you should bear in mind that it might not be able to win significant cases, therefore you should strive to be realistic and set modest expectations.

It’s not at all awful to start small. It provides you the ability and potential to establish a reputation for yourself and a base of devoted customers as you chase the bigger fish. If a legal firm doesn’t have the resources to meet every client’s demands, they could recommend them to you if you previously worked there and departed amicably.

How do clients locate attorneys?

What steps do you believe someone takes to obtain a lawyer when they need one to create a contract or defend themselves or their company in a legal dispute? 40% of clients will use friends, relatives, or other trustworthy sources will be the first source.

If you are new to the business, you might not have a track record to speak for you, but you can still make sure that people know about you. Inform your friends, relatives, and acquaintances that you have opened a legal business so they may recommend you to others they know who need an attorney in your area of expertise. The good old’ word of mouth is a fantastic technique to spread the word about you.

If you have satisfied current or past clients, they may serve as fantastic brand ambassadors and recommend you to their friends and co-workers.

In contrast, over 60% of clients also used online search engines like Google to discover lawyers, indicating that recommendations are not always the greatest method for clients to find attorneys. Many customers were able to discover their lawyers by searching online and reading reviews.

In light of this, it’s never too early to go above and beyond to make sure your customers are happy with your services and the way you handle them.

Over 80% of customers are looking for a remote alternative due to recent business changes and the widespread adoption of remote work, and 67% prefer a lawyer that can provide both remote and in-person services as needed.

Now that we are aware of how clients locate attorneys and what qualities they value in them, let’s look at what you can do to increase the likelihood that they will choose your company.

How to find customers

You may develop a plan to draw customers to your company by being aware of how they search for attorneys to meet their legal requirements and what level of accommodation they require. Make yourself reachable and visible everywhere your potential clients could go for legal services rather than concentrating on a single channel.

What we suggest an attorney undertake in order to get clients for their fresh legal company is as follows:

• Excellent internet presence and website

Given how many people look for attorneys online, you should make sure your website is excellent. The initial impression a potential customer gets of you might be greatly influenced by the website, which represents your business and your brand online.

A website serves as an online resume and portfolio for lawyers. You shouldn’t pay your neighbour’s child to design it because you don’t want it to be plain, boring, or broken. Think about hiring a web designer who can produce a useful, aesthetically pleasing website with all the necessary information.

Your initial sales presentation to potential customers is on your homepage. Additionally, it must make contacting you simply for them.

Make your website searchable and increase its search engine ranking if you want people to find you. You must optimize the content on your website and establish your authority on pertinent subjects and popular legal search terms to achieve this.

Create a few high-calibre articles about some of the most important topics in your field of expertise that people are interested in, then post them on your website to serve as helpful resources for potential clients.

This task may be outsourced using platforms like Fiverr. However, it is always beneficial to check and reinforce the subjects covered with a qualified legal eye.

When they want more information or a qualified legal professional’s perspective, they look for legal subjects online. They could opt to get in touch with you after reading your posts and seeing how knowledgeable you are.

However, search engine algorithms are quite complex, so you must put out constant work if you want to score well for the keywords associated with your field of expertise.

As a new law business, you probably don’t have many client testimonials to speak in your favour. To improve your rank on search engines, concentrate instead on producing high-quality legal advice material.

Because SEO for legal services may be quite difficult, especially in big cities, think about hiring marketing experts to assist you in developing and implementing a digital marketing plan for your business.

• Create a strong online presence.

When looking for information on a legal issue, consumers read more than simply news stories. People now prefer videos as one of the most practical mediums when they want to learn more about topics that interest them.

Consider signing up for online legal platforms and producing instructional films that explain complex legal concepts and procedures, or even an opening video to introduce yourself to potential customers.

If you have the time, ask your co-workers to join you while you debate current legal issues to produce a podcast that your prospective clients will like. Keep in mind that video is seen favourably by search engines as a content format, which should improve your ranking.

On other websites or legal forums, you can also respond to some legal queries. Don’t forget to consistently update your website with high-quality content and establish your authority to draw in readers.

• Utilise internet directories, and client testimonials

Internet directories and client testimonials are a great resource for attorneys looking to spread the word about themselves and attract additional customers.

The ratings you receive from customers may be closely correlated with your rankings and reservations. You should be concerned about it right away while starting your legal practice. Take the most advantage out of free listings.

• Management of reputation

Not all of your customers’ reviews will be complimentary. There will undoubtedly be some clients who are dissatisfied with your legal counsel and may wish to make it public.

You definitely don’t need to worry about that now because your business is starting off, but you should be ready to respond to negative reviews later on.

You must first apologize to your client for the unpleasant experience they had and take steps to make things right. Don’t allow your feelings to control you. As an alternative, tell the customer what went wrong and convince them that you did all in your ability to manage their issue in the best manner.

Don’t take your reputation for granted at any time in your legal profession since it’s essential to a lawyer’s success.

• Referrals and networking

This stage could sound a little intimidating if you tend to be a bit of an introvert. However, if you are not comfortable doing so, networking does not entail going to formal and casual gatherings and activities with other attorneys.

If so, take advantage of the chance to introduce yourself to other attorneys who may specialize in various fields. They could recommend clients to you if you can convince them that you are a reliable and competent lawyer.

I noted that a lot of individuals seek recommendations from people they trust. If someone in need of legal representation is referred to you by previous instructors, classmates who are maybe now barristers, or other attorneys you encountered while networking, you should at least consider the issue.

These are some strategies you might employ as an attorney in young law practice to attract customers. Keep in mind that you may always ask more seasoned attorneys to share their knowledge and offer suggestions for generating new business.

Last actions

Your legal business should also think about investing in an anti-money laundering (AML) and identity verification solution,  to build up a terrific client onboarding experience now that you are more knowledgeable about luring prospects to your firm. Thread Legal AML verification feature is already built into our software.

This will fill in a vacuum in the complex web of international regulations that this business must contend with every day and guarantee that it is ready for developments in the future that will certainly tighten client identity requirements.

You need to have a clear understanding of who your clients are, including their biometrics, addresses, and other identifying characteristics. Making an early investment in this solution will guarantee that as your law firm expands in the new digital world, you are meeting all ‘know your client’ and AML legislation requirements.

However, only checking the boxes to satisfy these standards is insufficient to stop fraud. You can safeguard your law firm from fraud by investing in a new client onboarding technology platform that uses biometric NFC-based (near-field communication) identity verification, global address verification, open banking digital statements, and global politically exposed persons and sanctions checks.