Mobile marketing needs to be a top priority for law firms that want to sign more clients from online traffic sources. Mobile is becoming more important every day and if it’s not a top focus for your firm you are missing out potential conversions. This is because we now live in a society where we’re attached to our phones 24.7.
According to a study from Rescuetime the average consumer spends over 3 hours a day on their mobile device. When potential clients are looking for an answer to a question they can simply pull up their phones and Google what they’re looking for.
If you don’t think that mobile is important in your particular practice area you’re definitely missing out on opportunities. Let’s take a look at a small example.
Below is the weekly traffic from a personal injury client of ours. You can see that I have highlighted over 53% of their total website traffic comes from mobile devices. These are potential clients seeking out the law firm from inbound marketing and after we were able to capitalize on mobile they saw a 224% increase in leads from mobile.
Typical Mobile Marketing Methods
For law firms, most mobile marketing is geared towards website marketing geared towards mobile devices and text message marketing.
Text Message Marketing Options: This is best used for inbound marketing after potential clients have already found your brand. Giving them the ability to communicate quickly through their preferred contact method can dramatically increase conversions. You can also use text message marketing (also called SMS marketing) from a brand perspective to build your referral network. Sending out Happy Birthday wishes and asking for reviews are commonly used.
Website Marketing: Having a mobile-friendly website that is optimized for conversions.
Paid Social / Ads: Paid social and Google ads can be very effective on mobile. In part, this is due to geofencing where you can serve ads to potential clients in a specific geographic area. Personal Injury lawyers have used this technology to skirt around state bar regulations and advertise to injured victims in hospitals and others use it to target a very specific message to a specific audience.
Over the years there have also been a lot of cool new mobile marketing technologies which have more or less come and gone. One example of this was through low power Bluetooth beacons. These were used for some time to serve ads within apps when users are within 30 feet of a beacon. This was a little too creepy for me and it never really caught on for law firms.
What Most Law Firms Get Wrong About Mobile Marketing
Hopefully, now you’re convinced about the importance of mobile when it comes to marketing your firm. But the truth is that many law firms still get this very wrong.
In my opinion, the best mobile strategy you can focus on is an inbound traffic strategy with your firm’s website in the middle.
Having a mobile-friendly website isn’t enough for most law firms to rank for important keywords and generate more leads. You really need to set yourself apart and 9/10 firm websites I look at don’t pass these tests, even if they have a mobile-friendly website.
- Is your website responsive? This essentially means you have one website that loads and looks different on desktop and mobile devices.
- Does the website load in under 5 seconds?
- Is your mobile score over 90? Use Page Speed Insights [FREE Test] or Lighthouse to measure your website
- Does it have a 4G load time under 2.5 seconds? (Think with Google has a free online test)
- Are Mobile calls to action for easy contacts like Text, Call, and Live Chat in place?
- Are the tap targets big enough for mobile users to use their fingers for website navigation?
- Is your mobile website ADA compliant?
- Are you taking advantage of AMP pages (may not be necessary).
In addition to this, when you think about mobile marketing you have to realize it’s not just about your own website.
I define true mobile marketing as being optimized for every mobile online touchpoint for your brand and market. Essentially this means you need to be optimized for every type of potential customer journey a client might take to find your firm online.
The average law firm has multiple avenues a potential client might search for them using their device. Here a few examples:
- Google Search. This is the top place potential clients will find your firm if they are not aware of your brand name.
- Visit your own Law Firm Website if they already know your brand name and URL.
- Google My Business Listing [Free from Google]. If they search Google or use Google Maps
- They might be using the Yelp App or website for reviews.
- The Avvo.com website (typically not a channel that performs well).
- Apple Maps [Generally fed by Yelp]
- Voice Search [Siri, Alexa, etc.]
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all of these options.
Where to Focus
If you’re wondering where to put your mobile focus with all of these options you’re asking the right question.
The channel that’s going to have the biggest ROI for your marketing will likely be your own website.
The main two reasons for this are that 1) people who don’t know about your firm can find you through a search (if done right) and 2) people who know your brand name are likely going to Google your firm name and find your website.
Here are the main areas of focus for most law firms and what you need to do to maximize these channels.
Your Firm Website
Having a mobile-friendly website is essential to the online marketing success of your firm. Here are a few things you should aim to have a strong mobile website:
- GTMetrix Page Load Speed under 2 seconds
- 4G Page Load Time under 2.5 Seconds
- 90/100 on mobile page speed scores for Page Speed Insights
- Click to call on mobile with easy to see phone number
- Click to text on mobile
- Click for live chat on mobile
- ADA Compliance
- Rank for important keywords in Google
Google My Business
Google My Business is a free service provided by Google that allows you to have a listing for your business in the search results. These will rank for important transactional keywords as well as your firm name. Google My Business listings are also connected to Google Maps which is another potential area where clients can find your business.
Below is an example of a Google My Business listing on a mobile device (iPhone 10s):
You can see the wealth of information provided through these listings as well as easy to contact options on mobile. In addition to focusing your optimization efforts to rank for important keywords, you need to pay attention to the details here. This includes things like:
- Getting more reviews from clients and responding to new reviews that come in.
- Ensure your contact information is up to date.
- Take advantage of Google Posts
- Fully optimize your listing and make sure it’s 100% complete
Mobile Marketing Is The Future
With more time being spent every day on mobile devices it’s easy to see why mobile is the future of marketing.
If your firm meets the requirements I have outlined above for your website and Google My Business listing then you are ahead of 99% of law firm websites.
The worst thing you can do is just assume that your website is good because you have a “mobile-friendly” website. There are so many elements here that are important and the most overlooked issue is site speed. Having a slow site can affect your rankings in Google and it will have a big impact on conversions.
Unfortunately, I have found that companies like Findlaw, Avvo, Wix, and Squarespace are selling website products that are not doing their clients any favors.
If you need a free mobile analysis I would be happy to help. Just shoot me an email at cmeraz [at] JurisDigital.com.
Have you involved any mobile marketing initiatives I didn’t cover? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
