Legal Marketing During a Pandemic: What to Consider

A year into the Covid-19 lockdown and we’re into the final stretch. Roughly 25 million people have received their first dose of the vaccine and the prime minister has set out his plans for reopening the country.

There are positive signs emerging for the legal industry. New research suggests that law firms should prepare for a significant and sustained rise in new enquiries after lockdown. Live chat and phone answering service Moneypenny has explained that lockdown created pent-up demand for legal services.

Moneypenny head of legal sector Bernadette Bennett said: “Now that the prime minister’s roadmap has been published, the end of lockdown three is in sight and an extension of the Stamp Duty holiday is confirmed, lawyers are likely to be busy over the coming months.”

With this light at the end of the tunnel, let’s talk about what to consider in these final lockdown months when it comes to your marketing – because you still need to keep up with the competition.

Take your opportunity

In many ways, there has never been as much of an opportunity to market to people as there currently is. With little else going on to distract them, people are spending more time online. The country has seen record levels of internet usage during lockdown.

We’re all online more for both work and leisure, with videoconferencing now the norm for meetings and social media becoming one of the most used ways of staying in touch with friends and family. As a result, there is now a greater chance to capture potential leads online.

This makes it even more important to find out where your clients are spending their time online and invest in meeting them there. Analyse your traffic and find out where your site visitors are coming from and investigate whether you can focus more on this channel. Going where your target audience is remains a key aspect of marketing, regardless of the external situation.

Show some sensitivity

What you will need to bear in mind is the importance of sensitivity. Right now, people are facing difficult times – whether that’s due to their own health, that of their loved ones or their economic situation.

So if you tend to incorporate the odd bit of ‘fear-mongering’ in your messaging, it might be best to swap this out for a more sympathetic and helpful tone. You don’t want to cause any additional anxiety or stress for anyone viewing your marketing materials – particularly when they might be searching for some comfort.

For most firms, you won’t have to worry too much about being overly witty or amusing. It’s rare that a firm adopts this sort of tone of voice. Brands that do could face a backlash, as they’re accused of not taking the situation seriously enough. It’s an unlikely problem for your firm, but something to bear in mind.

Offer some positivity

Because people might be browsing social media more, they might find that they’re becoming overwhelmed with the amount of content they’re consuming – and at the moment, there’s not a huge amount of encouraging news. To break this up, try to incorporate some positivity in your posts.

Focus on the outcomes you’ve helped clients achieve and how well they’re doing now. Talk about the successes you’ve facilitated. When people are looking for some good news, it’s a real opportunity to provide them with some.

If you can express some optimism in your content, it could inspire your prospective clients to see things a little more positively. As long as you’re not getting too irreverent, looking on the brighter side of things could be a beneficial move for everyone.

Additional tips for pandemic marketing

Being too promotional may not work too well at the moment. You don’t want to be seen as capitalising on the pandemic. People may be experiencing exceptionally hard times, so if they perceive your firm as trying to take advantage of that, they’ll more likely develop a sense of resentment than appreciation.

Bonus points if you can avoid the use of ‘Now, more than ever’. We’ve all seen more of this phrase than we probably needed to at this point. Everyone knows we’re living through ‘unprecedented times’. We don’t need any more reminders. Think about your messaging and avoid the pandemic cliches that have taken hold in other firms’ marketing.

Keep your copy up to date. The situation has been changing almost daily, with new announcements made regularly. If you refer to anything specific, make sure you’re going back to check it often. You don’t want to have inaccurate or outdated information present on your site. And don’t forget to check the rest of your online presence, from social media profiles to your Google My Business listing.