Practicing law involves a lot more than searing courtroom testimonies and late-night legal form analysis. In fact, one of the most important aspects of the legal profession is maintaining client relationships and generating leads to increase the number of cases and clients your law firm takes on. 

Lead generation is the process of finding and securing new clients through telecommunication leads like radio broadcasts and sponsored search engines advertisements. No matter your attorney lead generation method, it’s important to have a lead generation strategy to increase your client base and improve your standing amongst the competition.  

In this guide, we’ll give you a few tips regarding the ins and outs of how to generate leads by taking a new approach to legal intake for your law firm. 

What is a Lead Capture?

What is lead capture, exactly? Many law firms can generate leads and attract new clients through lead captures, or any method that accrues the information of potential clients. Lead captures are diverse and include:

  • Law firm website forms
  • Monthly newsletter
  • Live chat boxes
  • Webinars, conferences, or workshops
  • Online advertisements
  • Television or radio broadcasts

Broadly speaking, there are three types of lead generation for law firms that can draw in potential clients: telecommunication advertisements, pay-per-lead services, and customer reviews. Read on to learn how to improve the lead generation process through advertising, pay-per-lead services, and customer reviews.

#1 Advertisements

Lead generation for lawyers often comes down to advertising. As with every service or product, customers have a variety of law firms to choose from when considering legal representation. 

Quality advertising makes sure those customers think of your firm first. As a lawyer, you have many lead generation campaign options when it comes to advertising your law practice, including:

  • Television and radio – Advertising on traditional media such as television or radio is a great way to make sure people see and hear about your firm. The value of this space is declining thanks to the rise of tv streaming, music streaming, and podcasts. However, they’re still reliable ways to generate leads, especially if you’re looking to target older demographics.
  • Online advertising – As television, radio, and print media decline, the effectiveness of online advertising is only increasing. You have an incredible array of options to advertise your law firm online. Digital marketing tools you can use include social media sites, banner ads on a news article or blog post, sponsored search engine results, online video advertisements, and email marketing. Online ads can also be targeted to specific demographics and locations.

#2 Pay-Per-Lead (PPL) Services

Using an online PPL lead generation service can direct people looking for legal representation to your law firm. In this case, a legal lead will visit sites like LegalZoom, 4LegalLeads, and Unbundled Attorney to find a legal firm to meet their needs. If you register on one of these sites, they can lead clients to your door. 

PPL services use models that take the user-imported data like location, legal needs, and budget to determine which law firm is the best fit. As a result, these leads are likely well-tailored to what your firm offers. However, this type of lead generation service has downsides as well including:

  • Expensive – These services are more expensive than other forms of advertising. Depending on how well your online advertising campaign is made, PPL may give you a worse return on your advertising investment.
  • Lead quality – The PPL models aren’t perfect. Sometimes your firm will get leads that don’t fit your ideal client profile or even leads you cannot represent due to jurisdiction.
  • Ethical concerns – PPL services may be seen by some lawyers as unethical. Some state bars prohibit or severely limit their use. Paying for legal referrals is seen as somewhat unsavory. Additionally, the information PPL services gather from consumers creates issues with confidentiality.

#3 Customer Reviews

It’s important to remember that your law firm is just like any other business that provides a service—reviews matter. Sites like Yelp or Google Reviews are used for restaurants or hairstylists, but law firms appear on these sites too. Many PPL sites also incorporate customer reviews.

Obviously, you can’t control what your reviews say, but you can use them to improve your business and promote your legal service, too. 

Fixing issues that clients commonly complain about is an obvious step, but responding to reviews is important for boosting your law firm’s reputation for customer service and gaining the trust of present and potential clients.

How to Vet Potential Legal Clients

Once you’ve put out your bait-filled hook, you’re sure to reel in a potential client. But how can you get the most qualified leads for your law firm? Start by asking yourself these questions:

  • Do they have the finances to pay for your legal service?
  • Are their legal needs aligned with your field of law?
  • Do they have a valid case? 
  • Is there a conflict of interest?

To maintain the integrity of your law practice, it’s essential that you only accept the leads that align with your firm’s principles and capabilities. 

Turning Leads into Clients with Alert

Implementing these strategies can attract a deluge of prospective clients to your law firm. However, knowing how to get leads for lawyers is just one step of the process. The next step is converting these leads into clients, which you can do with the help of a legal call center like Alert. 

Alert offers a variety of services to help in this regard. 

Services such as live call answering, responsive texting services, and live chat for law firms can help field questions with potential clients by keeping them informed on your firm’s operations. Our staff is on hand to let your clientele know that they’re valued and listened to. 

The final judgment? Alert is your go-to full-service communications team that can help grow your business and keep your current clients happy. 

Get in touch with Alert Communications today to learn more about the lawyer answering services we can offer.

Sources: 

Influencer Marketing Hub. Internet Advertising Statistics – The Rise of Mobile and Ad Blocking. https://influencermarketinghub.com/internet-advertising-statistics/ 

 Lawyer Legion. Problems with the “Pay Per Lead” Model for Attorneys. https://www.lawyerlegion.com/promote-your-law-practice/directory-of-attorney-directories/pay-per-lead  Harvard Business Review. 5 Principles for Responding to Customer

Reviews. https://hbr.org/2020/05/5-principles-for-responding-to-customer-reviews