As an attorney, you likely have a specified area in which you work. This means you need to grow your client base by attracting people who need your services within a particular region. On paper, that sounds simple enough, but how exactly do you go about finding these people? And the better question is, what can you do to help them find you?
This is where hyperlocal marketing comes into the picture.
What is Hyperlocal Marketing?
Hyperlocal law firm marketing is a concept that allows you to target the audiences who reside within your immediate region. The process takes the concept of local marketing—which is fundamentally based on specific cities or regions—and narrows it down even more, focusing on certain geographic areas such as neighborhoods or blocks.
Think about all the times you’ve searched for a service provider in your area. You likely entered a search query such as “near me” so you could easily find companies that work within your area. Guess what? People are doing the same thing when they search for attorneys near them. And, if you follow the best practices associated with hyperlocal marketing, your law firm could be one of the featured options your future clients see when they perform their searches. The goal of hyperlocal marketing is to capitalize on super-specific areas people are searching for so the search engines can direct people right to your site.
Still need some evidence to prove that attorneys should be turning to hyperlocal marketing?
- Nearly 9 in 10 marketers say location-based ads result in higher sales, with 86% growing their customer bases using this methodology, according to factual.com.
- 75% of people who use local searches will visit their businesses of choice within 24 hours.
- 28% of local searches that include the phrase “near me” tend to result in a purchase (or in the case of attorneys, a client signing on with the firm).
- 50% of people who are searching on their phones are most likely to contact your law firm after they’ve performed a local search.
- Since 2015, the number of “near me” searches has increased by over 500%!
Hyperlocal Marketing Ideas for Lawyers
Now that you know a little bit more about hyperlocal marketing, let’s talk about how your law firm can gain more clients using hyperlocal marketing methods.
1. Boast About Your 5-Star Reviews Using Ads on Google, Facebook, and Other Social Outlets
Here’s the thing: most people are looking at reviews long before they decide to hire a particular law firm. Think about the process you yourself go through when you’re looking for someone to help you—whether you’re looking for restaurants, HVAC pros, or something else. You probably head straight to the review sections of certain establishments to see how others’ experiences were before you proceed. That’s exactly what your future clients are doing when they’re seeking out a great attorney.
Google, Facebook, and other social outlets make it easier than ever for you to leverage the powerful content that testimonials provide. Use your outstanding reviews to your advantage by repurposing them into your advertising campaigns. This is a hyperlocal marketing tactic that offers a lot of impact without a lot of effort.
If you don’t have any reviews on Google or Facebook just yet, it’s time to start asking your clients to rate and review you through these platforms. Set up email campaigns, text drip campaigns, and social posts that encourage people you’ve represented in the past to talk about the great experiences they had with your law firm.
2. Check In with Your Business Categories on Google My Business, Yelp, and Facebook
What kind of law do you practice? Are you a personal injury attorney, or do you handle estates? Are you a tax attorney, or do you work with medical malpractice claims? As we all know, there are a lot of different types of attorneys, so ensuring that your business categories are correct on all platforms is extremely important when you want to be found by clients who need the type of law services you offer. Once you have your business categories correct with the major platforms, your ads will show up based on these categories when people search for the specific type of law you practice. Your organic rankings will also be influenced by your business categories.
For example, let’s say you’re incorrectly listed as a malpractice attorney when you actually handle employment law. When people search “employment lawyer near me”, you won’t show up because Google doesn’t recognize that that’s the kind of work you do at your firm. Search engines prioritize consistent and relevant information, so you need to be sure your firm is labeled correctly across the entirety of your business listings to ensure optimal results.
It’s important to be aware that you can also tag categories that you do not want your law firm to appear in when your ads are shown. If you don’t bother to take the time to perfect your categories, you could ultimately end up paying for needless clicks that don’t actually go anywhere.
3. Create Specific Landing Pages for Each Campaign & Tailor Them to Specific Locations
It’s never too late to start tracking your landing page traffic, so if you’re not doing so already, the time to start is right now. Local landing pages are created just like normal landing pages, but they include local modifiers to grab the attention of the search engine and local searchers who are nearby your law firm. In other words, instead of saying “personal injury attorney”, your keyword focus would be on “personal injury attorney in [your city].”
Sure, it can feel a bit redundant to build out area-specific landing pages for each region you work in, but this practice helps the search engines understand what your services are and where you perform them. This, in turn, can help you attract new clients who use the “near me” search option when they’re looking for a lawyer.
As you create your landing page content, be sure to follow these best practices:
- Include a clear call to action
- Incorporate an image that complements the services you’re offering
- Answer your audience’s top questions
- Include a clickable phone number
4. Leverage Ad Extensions and Call-Only Ads on Google
For obvious reasons, your law firm probably has a complicated sales process. Every case is different, and each client you talk to might have different needs. Call-only ads can be a fantastic way to alleviate the complication by suggesting that potential clients click on your number and call right away. In doing so, you’ll eliminate content that deals with pricing, and you won’t have to deal with the slow conversion times that can happen when people are shopping around for an attorney who can help them.
Just make sure that when you create your call-only ads, you use super specific language that cuts down on unqualified calls. You want to let prospective customers know exactly what services you offer and why they should choose you. Then, you should invite them to call your office to learn more or get started.
5. Engage in Nextdoor Conversations
If you haven’t heard of Nextdoor yet, you’re probably already missing out on plenty of potential clients. Think of Nextdoor like Facebook, but instead of being for a network of friends, it’s for a network of neighbors. It’s the place where homeowners and renters connect within certain areas to share information and recommendations for any number of things, including lawyers.
When you engage in conversations on Nextdoor, you can offer your expert advice without actually speaking as anyone’s attorney. Should they need further assistance, offer them your number and invite them to call you to consult further to see if you can help. There are plenty of people on Nextdoor looking for service providers of all sorts, and attorneys like yourself shouldn’t be left out of the mix.
6. Optimize Your Google My Business Listing
Google tends to prioritize its own products over all else when it’s deciding which search results to showcase to searchers. That’s why your Google My Business profile needs to be updated, on point, and accurate. This is the perfect place for hyperlocal optimization because your profile can contain super specific language and area-relevant terminology that can help you show up for more search terms.
7. Partner with Surefire Local: the Leading Local Marketing Software
When it comes to hyperlocal marketing ideas for lawyers, nobody has you covered quite like Surefire Local does. Thanks to our army of local marketing experts and a local marketing platform that gives you everything you need on a single screen, we’re sure you’ll soon love the idea of attracting new clients once again. Marketing doesn’t have to be overwhelming; you just need to talk to the right people to get you set up and on the right path moving forward. We can’t wait to hear from you!