Every day, millions of people go online to ask about the law, especially criminal defense. Long before they pick a law firm, they’re getting so-called advice – usually from “some guy on Reddit.” With many people finding it hard to sort truth from fiction, it’s no surprise today’s law firms want active blogs.

When it comes to marketing for law firms, a legal blog makes sense. A future client deserves to get vetted information from experts. When that information comes from your brand, it’s more likely they ultimately choose you for their legal representation.

In fact, many clients stick with the first law firm they consult with.

This has created unprecedented demand for law firm marketing. But, just like your clients, law firms need to heed the wisdom of caveat emptor. While personalized, high quality law firm marketing benefits you and the community, much of the industry-specific legal marketing out there sets you up to fail.

Why Industry-Specific Law Firm Marketing Can Do More Harm Than Good

You might think a shady marketing agency, or any other kind of unscrupulous supplier, would stay well clear of law firms. After all, the possibility of getting sued is a major deterrent. But the truth is, many legal experts are taken for a ride thanks to poor quality marketing for law firms.

Bringing third-party marketers onto the payroll is usually the first step for law firms wanting to expand their online reach. While blog posts are often attributed to partners, even paralegals can’t spare the time to research and author sound legal blog posts at most of today’s law firms.

That leaves an opening for freelance marketers, and it’s bad news.

Here’s how industry-specific marketing for law firms can undermine you:

There Are Too Many Law Firm Marketers and Not Enough Experts

Over the last few years, marketing for law firms has exploded as a specialization. But most of the people who claim they can get your law firm to “position #1 on Google” have never worked at a law firm. And on top of that, they can’t keep their promises.

Far from being fearful of a lawsuit, these freelancers and small marketing firms bet on a simple fact: You don’t have time to double-check their work. They can always promise real marketing results are just over the horizon, but they can’t bring any real knowledge to the topics.

Ultimately, that means your brand could be on the hook for oversights and misstatements that a marketer passes off as bona fide legal information. As you know well, disclaimers can only go so far to protect you.

Most Law Firm Marketers Do Only One Thing …

A genuine marketing agency delivers a wide range of skills. Content marketing via blogs is valuable, but it’s only one piece of the puzzle. Video storytelling, for example, is exceptionally powerful for law firms, especially when partners participate. But so-called law firm marketers rarely offer it, since it requires experience and skill.

The majority of these companies only do blog writing with a side of social media. That is, they post an article on your website and then promote it on Twitter or Facebook. That approach misses most opportunities to both attract would-be clients and motivate them to call you, so the benefits are marginal.

… But They Don’t Do It Well

What’s even worse than marketing that doesn’t help? Marketing that actively harms your brand. Unfortunately, that describes the majority of industry-specific law firm marketing. Informative, well-researched legal blog posts take time, so dishonest marketers re-use them repeatedly, changing only the name of the law firm.

Even law firms in direct competition can end up with the same content.

Google takes a dim view of duplicate content, applying penalties to all websites except the one that published the article first. Duplicate content causes your search position to plummet, so you’re even less likely to appear in search results relevant to your business. The longer this goes on, the harder it is to fix.

Plus, it tanks your trust among first-time legal consumers.

Hiring a Marketing Agency for Law Firm Marketing Just Got Easier

Marketing for law firms is anything but simple. It’s crucial that it not be left to amateurs. Hiring a marketing agency is the key – and that agency needs to have best practices in place to serve law firms like yours the right way, not just fill pages with text. With more than ten years of experience, New York Ave can help.

Contact us to find out more or get started with marketing for law firms that work.