If you’re looking to grow the revenue in your law firm, you’ve got three choices:  bring on more cases, bring on more lawyers, or become more efficient. A nicely-thought-out law firm marketing funnel becomes an absolute necessity if you are to grow in a more efficient and evergreen manner.

More than half of all clients will shop around and talk to more than one attorney to find the right fit – even if they have a referral. However, the attorney they talk to first usually gets the business. Clients are looking for some basic information in that first contact:  Experience, responsiveness, and understanding of the costs and process. What do they value most, however?  Timeliness. 82% of clients say getting through to someone quickly tops their shopping list. Even when they shopped around, 42% of clients reported they engaged the first lawyer they talked to. In other words, if you respond quickly, you’ll have the best opportunity to earn their business.

If it was only that easy, however, you’d have no problem growing your business. We all know it takes more than that. How do they decide to call you versus another firm?

What Is a Marketing Funnel for Law Firms?

A law firm marketing funnel is a process that converts prospects to clients by getting them into the funnel and then nurturing them until they commit to working with you.

Stages of the Marketing Funnel for Law Firms

  1. Inquiries/Unqualified Leads
    Search online and find your website
  2. Qualified Leads/Prospective Clients
    Call in, email, fill out a form, live chat
  3. First Consultation
    Completed the vetting process to confirm a good fit for the attorney
  4. Engagement
    Appointment set for meeting with the attorney
  5. Client Experience
    Retained client
  6. Bonus: Referrals

Top of the funnel marketing strives for awareness, so when they need an attorney, they go to your website or call you first. It is absolutely critical to eliminate poor phone answering practices at this point. have a Driving them through the various stages of the funnel is what leads them to do business with you. However, it has to happen quickly or they’re likely to move on the next attorney on their shopping list.

How do you make that happen efficiently?  Using technology to grow your client base and free up more of your time.

Automate Your Marketing Funnel

Top of the funnel marketing can be automated to drive people into the funnel in the first place. Social media posts, garnering positive online reviews, and establishing yourself as an authority in your field with content marketing can supplement your other advertising and marketing strategies. These strategies work together to improve your online presence.

The first step in driving people into the funnel is most often getting them to your website to check you out. Most people will research online before ever connecting with you. These top of the funnel strategies work to improve the likelihood someone will go to your website by providing multiple entry points and enhancing your reputation. They can also help your position when people search for legal assistance. They aid in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which helps improve page rankings on Google and other search engines.

Automating your marketing funnel means letting software handle the mid-funnel tasks, which can free up your time:

  • Filter out unqualified leads
  • Automated client intake
  • Apps that automate processes
  • Scheduling software
  • FAQs
  • Specialized landing pages
  • Lead generation forms

Working in concert, these techniques can increase your ROI. The minimal cost of automating your marketing funnel will often pay for itself with the first client you bring on that would have otherwise been lost. Moving prospective clients through the funnel, determining if they are qualified leads, and getting through the intake process more quickly makes everything run more smoothly and more quickly.

It’s Like Having a Full-Time Sales Department

Automating your marketing funnel will free up your time, your staff’s time, and let everyone work more efficiently. It will help you grow your client base and your revenue. It’s like having a sales department working for you that works 24/7 without ever taking a break.

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