If you want to know how to market your Chambers or yourself as an individual Barrister, then it can be confusing looking at all the different opportunities such as Google ads, social media and SEO.
Digital channels have played an important role in most barrister’s chambers marketing strategies for years. Many barristers already market to a range of prospects including clients and solicitors, and even the public via Direct Access. However, with audience expectations and methods of communication constantly changing it is important to understand how each development can help grow your brand and reach new clients.
Barristers and Chambers also face many risks from cuts in legal aid, meaning a declining caseload, an oversupply of barristers and increasing competition from other regulated and unregulated legal providers like solicitor advocates, therefore differentiating yourself and standing out from the crowd is now more important than ever.
Marketing and public relations is a field that is fast-moving, so barristers looking to raise their profile with the right audiences require a much more targeted and effective approach, that’s where we can help.
If you are thinking of starting a new digital marketing campaign for you or your chambers, there are a few things you need to consider first.
Free Initial Discussion And Quote
For a free initial discussion and for a no-obligation quote, please call us on 0330 133 8783 or email [email protected].
Barristers
Barristers operate in a very unique business environment, but many of the same lessons and techniques can be learned from other sectors and applied to the Bar.
Barristers do not need to leave the traditions of the profession behind them in order to raise their profile and embrace marketing and public relations, however with an increasing number of chambers stepping up their game, there is the potential for some to get left behind.
The internet continues to move at an incredible pace, so it is vital that your online presence keeps up with best practice and current trends in order to establish yourself in a position of thought leadership.
Websites For Barristers
Whatever area of expertise you practise as a barrister, at some point your clients will need to access your website to find your number, an office address or perhaps they found you online. Online users are becoming increasingly demanding in terms of the experience they expect from a website. They want a fast loading, mobile optimised website as a minimum and a responsive website design.
In addition, having a strong brand and easy to navigate website with prominent calls to action is paramount in getting people to make contact and win instructions.
The number of barristers who ask us to help them design and build a website separate from their chamber’s website is increasing. The advantages are numerous, including the opportunity of promoting specific, niche legal content that connects to a defined audience and extra rankings in search results.
Built properly, your website can achieve your business objectives and that includes targeting relevant litigation leads directly for your practice areas.
- Is your website mobile friendly?
- Is your website easy to navigate and well-designed?
- Are you regularly updating your website content?
- Have you decided on a set of objectives?
Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
With PPC you can target your prospects with digital ads, this can have a huge effect on generating leads for most if not all your practice areas. For Barristers, it can help attract more direct access work or solicitors looking to instruct a barrister.
Digital marketing for barristers and chambers requires a slightly different approach to that which applies to our more typical law firm clients, but there are similarities.
Before you put any money into paid search (PPC), be sure to do lots of research on the keyword you want to use. We are experts at managing Google Ad accounts and know the niche legal keywords to go after to create efficient and high ROI campaigns.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
While PPC is great at creating immediate results for both chambers and barristers, you should be combining it with, and investing in, SEO in order to enhance your online profile to appear prominently in organic search. By adopting a long-term holistic approach to developing an easily accessible portal of thought leadership and opinion, you can win online.
There are over 2 million legal orientated search queries every day in the UK on Google and if you’re not seizing that opportunity, by optimising your website and content, someone else will!
SEO allows you to appear at the top of Google consistently for specific, targeted search phrases which are essential if you’re relying on a steady stream of online business.
Having a solid SEO strategy in place from the start is important to get right as it will affect the long term success of future campaigns. With ongoing investment in SEO, particularly local SEO and unique optimised content, you can achieve great organic non-paid listings in Google pretty quickly, however, it does take time to see results.
Branding
Branding gives people a mental impression of your chambers and of course, it is much more than a logo! It makes your organisation both recognisable and memorable and helps attract new pupils and tenants in a competitive market.
Defining your Chamber’s brand can be as simple or complex as you want to make it. Aligning your business objectives, your target client’s perspective and your branding strategy is crucial to the success of your chambers.
A brand is your visual identity by which chambers’ and law firms want to be valued and remembered. A successful legal brand should be an expression of the ethos shared by Members, Partners and Staff, the services offered and the way they are delivered to clients.
Straplines and positioning statements provide support for your branding and differentiates you from the competition. They will help portray the strengths and values of a chamber in order to give the audience an insight and overview of unique selling points and specialist expertise.
We specialise in brand identity & websites for barristers, lawyers and chambers. We’ve been fortunate to work with many leading barristers’ and solicitors’ practices, as well as individual practitioners and chambers. We provide original and distinctive brand identity work and bespoke website projects that aim to deliver something unique and captivating for every client.
Social Media – Create A Following
Social media platforms are now increasingly being used by chambers and barristers to produce both traffic and engagement. You should invest your time in certain platforms that work for you and work on building up your followers.
Social platforms can be used as a means of promoting new news-based content that has been placed on the website blogs along with insightful commentary, raising your profile as a thought leader.
We know it is not always easy to find time to do this and it is not your expertise. Save time and money by outsourcing it to the experts where we provide help with setting set up accounts, designing them and managing and writing your posts. Our Social Media Management services also include targeting your specific niche area with a bespoke message to increase your followers.
Marketing is all about being where your potential clients are. Your potential clients are using social media every day. You need to be in that space too.
Using Marketing To Stand Out
To raise your game as a barrister or chambers, you should seek professional marketing and communications support and the insight and experience that brings with it. The Bar is modernising, becoming more commercial and therefore there is the need to look at new methods or ways to develop existing strategies to make sure the chambers and it’s barristers stand out.
To thrive, it’s vital to focus on enhancing your online presence and reputation for outstanding client service within your niche. When it comes to helping barristers succeed online our strategy generally revolves around digital marketing combined with establishing you in a position of thought leadership, authority and expertise.
How To Get In Contact
As specialists in the legal industry, we can assist you wherever you are based. To learn more about how we can help you, then contact us today for a free initial discussion, please call us on 0330 133 8783 or email [email protected].
