Criminal Defense Marketing Guide

Like  any other attorney, one of your top goals is attracting new clients. Still, it isn’t as easy to do as it was in the past when word-of-mouth referrals and courthouse chatter were effective. In the modern day, those will only get you so far.

The problem is compounded by the fact you are also competing with bigger law firms that have more resources and an easier time snagging all the big clients.

Thankfully, it’s possible to level the playing field with criminal defense marketing. More precisely - its digital element.

Let’s see how you can leverage the internet to put your services in front of a large number of new clients!

1. Build a Responsive Website

It’s surprisingly common for attorneys to get lazy with their websites. We’ve seen many of your colleagues settle for a website built in 2010 that’s actively turning off users with its outdated, non-mobile-friendly web design.

Even worse, some attorneys don’t even have a website.

If you fall into any of these categories - no judgment! It’s never too late to build a responsive website to attract new clients and kickstart your criminal defense marketing efforts.

Today, most clients look for legal representation online, largely looking for it using their smartphones. To meet them where they are, your website has to present your law firm in the best light possible, work on all devices (not just desktops), and be user-friendly.

It also has to look professional with the visual design guiding your potential clients toward your contact information and a call to action (CTA) inviting users to request a consultation. 

2. Leverage SEO 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an essential part of criminal defense marketing. It refers to a set of practices that improve the ranking of your website in search engine result pages (SERPs).

You could have the most visually interesting website and even be the best attorney, but if you’re invisible to your potential clients, it doesn’t matter. You will simply lose them to your competitors because they’re outranking you on Google.

What can you do about it?

The first thing should be clearing up any technical issues (aka technical SEO) such as slow page speeds, bad site architecture, and incorrect indexation. All of this matters because search engines like Google prioritize the user experience in their algorithms so if you check all the technical boxes, you’ll get rewarded with a higher ranking.

Next up, you’ll have to overhaul the content on your website and optimize it for the keywords related to the area of practice you want to rank for. By creating helpful content such as blog articles, you get the opportunity to hit those keywords, and more importantly, you can pop up in the searches for them. Neat, eh?

This type of engaging content (i.e. you can answer their queries) will help your clients but it will also increase your overall ranking.

Once you’re done with the engaging and helpful content, you’ll have to get the technicalities sorted out by optimizing the title tags, as well as using appropriate meta descriptions and heading page tags.

Finally, you’ll have to get backlinks from reputable websites. This practice is commonly referred to as off-page SEO and involves acquiring links to your website on third-party websites.

This so-called link building is usually tricky and might involve contributing content to respected sites in the legal industry. 

While this is all possible to do on your own, it’s going to take a lot of time out of your busy schedule so the most sensible thing would be to hire an SEO agency. By doing so, you can dedicate your full attention to your clients while professionals are growing your online presence in the background.

3. Work on Your Google Business Profile

Local search results are everything. In fact, people often search for an attorney who is in their vicinity. To capitalize on this, you should include Google Business Profile (GBP) optimization in your criminal defense marketing strategy.

This will involve improving the relevancy of your GBP page by introducing the primary category into the title and business info. Lastly, you should also use keywords in the title and the info section.

Another way to push your GBP profile to the forefront is by generating more positive reviews. This will also incentivize your new customers to pick you due to your overwhelmingly positive feedback.

Start by asking some of your clients directly to add a review for your firm, and you’ll be well on your way to success.

4. Use PPC Advertising 

The most straightforward way to receive high-quality leads is to utilize pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, making this an important tool in your criminal defense marketing arsenal.

By setting aside funds and paying for these ads, you can shoot right to the top of Google SERPs and capture the attention of the clients who are in dire need of legal services.

Since you’re paying money for each click, you want to get your money’s worth by ensuring that you convert the visitors who end up on your page. The best way to accomplish this is to create high-quality landing pages. These will make it easy for users to learn about your services but they’ll also have a clear CTA at the bottom, containing your value proposition. For instance, the CTA could be inviting visitors to sign up for a consultation.

Creating landing pages that convert will take a lot of experimentation. You’ll have to A/B test different versions of an ad copy and experiment with different targeting options. 

Depending on the cost per click in your area, it might be more cost-effective to hire a professional to manage your PPC campaigns to get the most value out of your marketing dollars.

Bonus Tip: Experiment With Traditional Pr Tactics

Although criminal marketing nowadays is overwhelmingly digital, it doesn’t mean you should completely abandon traditional strategies. In fact, traditional PR moves can drastically help your digital efforts by giving you valuable backlinks and building social proof.

Don’t believe us? Just look at any firm involved in a highly publicized trial and how it grew after that. 

This doesn’t mean you should become Amber Heard’s attorney to get headlines as you can focus on your local news outlets. You can also generate a lot of PR buzz by guest speaking on podcasts and radio shows, sponsoring local events, and just by being present at well-publicized local community events. This can all have a positive impact on your entire criminal defense marketing effort.

Become The Talk Of The Town

Since most customer journeys start online, you should make sure that your criminal defense marketing starts on search engines. The foundations of your success are your website, followed by SEO. 

If done correctly, you will have a steady stream of organic traffic to your website, which you can then supercharge with PPC ads. 

Nevertheless, marketing takes expertise so we recommend looking around for a digital marketing agency that can help you with your new criminal defense marketing strategy. Don’t leave your online presence to chance - hire someone who delivers consistent results on a regular basis. After all, it’s worth it if you want your practice to become the talk of the town.

If you need assistance with marketing, contact us through our contact form. We’ve helped many law firms put together comprehensive criminal defense marketing strategies consisting of everything from responsive web design and SEO to PPC and Google Business Profile management.