Mapping the Client Journey – The Guide to Law Firm Marketing in the Digital Age

Law school provides a wonderful, stimulating, challenging education.  You are a changed person after law school. You are now able to “think like a lawyer.”  Yet, there are some things that are lacking when you walk off that podium with the J.D. degree in your eager little hands.  As we all know, law school does not really prepare you for the actual practice of law.  There are no “Writing a Complaint” classes, nor is there a “How to Prepare Hard-Hitting Interrogatories 101” class.

Worse still, a law degree does not really prepare you for the actual business of law.  The notion of running a business and marketing a business is not something that normally comes naturally.  Indeed, you do not leave law school being able to “think like a marketer.”  Those are skills you learn along the way, which you mostly learn by doing.

At Oamii , South Florida’s leading digital marketing agency for law firms , we understand the pressures on your time.  We know that whether you are hanging out your own shingle or you are part of a large law firm operation, marketing never takes priority over court dates, briefing deadlines, and corporate meetings.

That is why you would be wise to leave the digital marketing side to the experts at Oamii .  We can work with you to prepare an effective marketing strategy that uses your advertising budget in the most efficient way possible.  Call us at 561-228-4111 to learn about what Oamii can do to bring you the book of business you have been looking for.

To give you a little primer about the power of Oamii’s digital marketing prowess, we are going to discuss with you a great way to organize your marketing approach.  It is called the Client Journey.

First, the Customer Journey – A Marketing Tool That Has Been Around for Decades

Marketing for products and services outside the legal industry has been around for many years.  Brick-and-mortar retail stores, as well as online retail stores, have been mapping the customer journey as a marketing tool for decades. As you would expect, mapping the customer journey looks at the world through the customer’s eyes. How did a customer-first learn about a product? How did the customer’s first interaction with the company go?  What happened during the purchasing experience that kept the customer loyal?  What happened that may have been off-putting to the customer?

All of those considerations go into the marketing strategy of mapping the customer journey Optimization .  The same considerations work just as well in the legal world.

Law firms have recently begun to realize the power of seeing the world from the client’s perspective, to better understand how to bring in new clients.  Legal services, however, are slightly different than other types of products and services.  Not only is it highly specialized, but people tend to only use the service when they absolutely have to, based on a lawsuit or criminal charge.

That aspect of legal practice requires slightly more focus on how a potential client learns about a law firm, and what tools are instrumental in making sure that potential client remembers your firm when the time comes.  In addition, prospective clients often like to gather information before making decisions.

Therefore, knowing where a client is on his or her journey will help you understand what types of content are most important, and when they are most important.  With that in mind let’s take a look at how you might be able to organize your marketing by mapping the client journey.

There is no question that the demand for legal services is out there.  People always need legal representation and advice.  Yet, the trick is that those potential clients need to find you.  The ethics rules we all know about keep attorneys from actively, directly soliciting clients.

The typical process of the client journey is in three basic steps:

1. A person comes to need legal representation;
2. That person then searches for legal representation; and
3. The person hires a lawyer.

To be considered by that potential client on that journey, you and your firm need to be present in the person’s mind during every one of those initial three steps.  In fact, your firm needs to visible before the client is even at step one of the journey.

The idea that your firm’s name is known to a potential client before he or she ever has a need for a lawyer is what we at Oamii call getting your name “into the ether.”

The best way to get simple name recognition out there is through non-digital marketing tools such as television ads, radio ads, banners, and billboards.  There are also digital marketing tools that are helpful, such as content-based ads online and publishing blogs or editorials on topics of local interest.

The goal for this part of the client journey is not to secure representation, but rather to educate the public about your firm.  You just want to plant a seed that there is a law firm out there – your law firm – that does a certain type of law practice better than the competition.

Now the next step of the client journey is when the potential client actually has a need for a lawyer.  If your firm’s name has successfully been put “into the ether,” now you need to focus your marketing on what will pull that potential client in your firm’s direction.  Of course, a well-timed digital or non-digital ad will always be powerful when a person is looking, but of course, many people seeking representation turn to a simple Google search.

Thus, your marketing plan must make it easy for your firm to be found online.  Oamii knows precisely what it takes to make sure that your firm’s website will be ranked high on Google so that a potential client will consider your firm as an option.  We can help you with a strong digital marketing / SEO (search engine optimization) strategy to get your website more traffic.

The final of the three client journey steps is interacting with the potential client to ensure that he or she will choose your firm.  The marketing techniques for this phase differ from the first two.

Most times, a client will call your firm by phone before making the hiring decision. Here is where your staff needs to make sure that a potential client is listened to, receives a call back when promised, and has his or her questions answered. This is the crucial step to sealing the deal with a client, and it is all part of your firm’s marketing approach.

We at Oamii , South Florida’s top law firm marketing agency, know all about the client journey and how mapping it can help your book of business.  Call us today to learn more at 561-228-4111.

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