Local Marketing: Your Guide

When they need legal assistance, many clients prefer to use a local firm. There are a multitude of reasons for this, including that they’d be able to pop into the office if necessary. Indeed, some people don’t even realise they’d be able to use a firm that wasn’t based nearby.

This means there are many potential clients right on your doorstep. Marketing to them will help put your firm front and centre when they need help. Today’s clients look for services as and when they require them. And the firm that markets itself best will often win that business.

Your local marketing should be carried out alongside your general marketing. It’ll help to supplement your efforts by targeting a section of the market you might not reach otherwise.

If you can optimise your online presence, you can capture leads at the beginning of their search, stopping them from considering your competitors.

Benefits of local marketing

In addition to your general nation-wide marketing, a local focus can put you in front of the people who are only thinking nearby.

Online search volumes for terms like ‘solicitors near me’ or ‘solicitor in [town/region]’ can be huge so there is real potential in marketing to the people behind these searches. The algorithms powering search engines are now sophisticated enough to work out where a searcher is and provide them with nearby firms.

By maintaining a presence in your local area, you could help to make your firm appear more accessible. You understand the people in your region so you might have a better understanding of what they’re looking for. You can use this knowledge to build trust in your firm, thereby helping to win more business.

Top tips for local marketing

• Think local when national

Even if you have multiple offices, your firm can still work to a local plan. Create separate pages on your site for each office and use these to target those local markets. Each page should have the contact details for that specific office. But make sure you’re not duplicating the content across these pages. That won’t do your rankings any favours.

• Use Google My Business

We’ve gone into this in more detail in a previous guide, but Google My Business (GMB) is one of the most important tools in your box when marketing your firm locally. You can set up different profiles for each of the branches your firm operates, giving more searchers the opportunity to find you.

• Don’t forget Bing

Although Google is the most used search engine in the UK and the world, Bing does still have users. So claim your Bing Places for Business account and keep it updated with the relevant information. It’s free to set up and maintain and can give you the edge over other firms who haven’t put any time into Bing.

• Maintain a local directory listing

Although many potential clients will simply head to a search engine to look for a solicitor, others will turn to the online equivalent of the Yellow Pages. A Yell listing can help prospective clients find you and give your business an enhanced online presence and, therefore, a little more credibility.

• Encourage reviews

Encourage your clients to leave reviews on your GMB listing and on other sites. Positive reviews can be all the persuasion someone needs to make an enquiry. You’ll need to ensure you’re putting in the work to secure more positive reviews than neutral or negative for this to be a success. If you have multiple offices, you can analyse sentiment across the locations to identify any office-specific problems.

• Create the right content

As part of your local strategy, you’ll need to create content that appeals to potential clients in your chosen regions. Look at your clients’ pain points and what services are required most in which locations. Create your site content around that. If you have any office-specific news or events planned, use your site to tell people about them.

• Go offline

If you’re looking to target more local clients, consider getting offline and into the real world. Look into local magazines that offer advertising and think about sponsorship opportunities – local sports teams or awards, for example. If your local area doesn’t have any kind of local awards, you could always consider setting one up and sponsoring it. It’ll give you as much publicity as winning.

• Get social

Social media platforms allow you the opportunity to connect with potential clients through a channel many are comfortable with. Since so many people use it as a search engine, Facebook is a particularly powerful platform for local marketing. It allows you to be found by local people, keep them updated about your firm and even manage their reviews.