10 Law Firm Content Marketing Ideas You Need to Try

As you start on your journey of content marketing for your law firm, you know you need high-quality content that will be useful and interesting to your potential clients.

Unfortunately, coming up with content ideas off the top of your head can be a challenge--especially if you're in a crunch to get started or are trying to come up with a content calendar for the year.

These 10 law firm content marketing ideas will get you started and help you build a content library that will improve your SEO, attract interested clients to your website, and ultimately help improve your business.

10 Law Firm Content Marketing Tips

1. Check out the news.

What hot topics are fascinating people in your local area? How can your law firm cover the legal issues? Ideally, you want to do this from a unique angle that will push your firm to the top of the search engine results.

Local news can cover a variety of topics from instructing people on what to do about the slew of traffic tickets that are being acquired near that new red light to giving information about what to do when caught with illegal substances, thanks to the new crackdown on drugs in the area. It doesn't just have to be local news, however! Celebrity scandals are the perfect opportunity to cover advice in divorce cases, while big crimes that make headlines are a great chance to share information about your services.

2. Discuss the reasons behind a current court decision.

This is particularly useful when there's been a controversial ruling that many people don't understand or don't agree with. You have the opportunity to go into detail about the law that was referenced in the case and explain why the verdict ended up where it did. Showcase your expertise!

Keep in mind as you're discussing the law in its most detailed form, your best content will be simple enough for the average reader to understand. After all, you want to write content that they will read, not just content that will draw clicks.

3. Ask clients what they want.

When they visit your website, what are your clients looking for? If you don't want to ask clients directly, pay attention to the questions that they ask while they're in your office. Those questions likely aren't very different from the ones they're already asking their search engines before they enter your office.

Your blog doesn't have to go into as much detail as you will in person, nor should it. Each situation is specific to the individual in the middle of it. Offering a general overview, however, will draw in plenty of search traffic and encourage prospective clients to trust your advice.

4. Focus on your specialty.

What branch of law gets you fired up and ready to dive into the courtroom? Where does your firm focus? If you're a contract lawyer, for example, you probably aren't all that interested in criminal cases, so it doesn't do you any good to write about them.

Write about something that interests you within your specialty. What interesting facet of local law have you recently uncovered? How is a specific criminal law put into practice?

Think about the things that genuinely interest you about your specialty and you'll find it's easy to write stunning, informative blog posts sure to appeal to your clients.

5. Take to the movies (or television shows).

Movies and television shows often give highly inaccurate portrayals of courtrooms, police procedures, and more. Do you get fired up and frustrated just watching? Blog about it!

Explain how those situations would really go--especially if you're looking at the latest episodes of a popular series or a new movie that's just hit the big screen.

Potential clients will find themselves fascinated by the difference between your portrayal of events and the ones shown on the screen. Not only that, it might be enough to help future clients understand the road they're walking is very different from the one they saw in the movies.

6. Think about the questions clients should be asking.

There are clients who sit in your office every day who are incredibly uninformed about current events, legal ins and outs, and how to handle the situations in front of them. Do you ever find yourself frustrated with the questions they don't ask? Now's your chance to write about them.

Clients are often so focused on how much it's going to cost them to use a lawyer they forget to think about the benefits of legal representation. Clients who need a contract drawn up might forget an important detail. If you've found yourself explaining the same thing over and over again, now's the time to put it in writing for the world to see.

7. Generate predictions.

Is there a case currently getting a great deal of media attention? What about a local problem that pertains to your area of legal expertise? Leverage the news not just to write about things that have already happened, but also to make predictions about things that haven't come rushing down yet.

The more accurate your predictions, the more amazed potential clients will be in the future when they come to check out your blog. Inaccurate predictions, however, shouldn't be deleted or edited. Instead, you've got a new topic already created for you: a discussion of why things didn't go the way you thought they would, how the case has set a new legal precedent, or how the client in the case managed to circumvent the traditional outcome.

8. Branch out.

As a lawyer, you often find yourself working with individuals in very specific times of their lives. During those periods, they need a broad range of advice--and your blog posts can provide it. Not only will it help improve SEO, it will increase your clients' faith in you.

  • If you're a divorce lawyer, offer posts on financial tips, how to adapt to single life, or decisions not to make until the divorce is final (for example, jumping into a new career in the middle of complicated divorce proceedings).
  • Cover contract law? You have the perfect opportunity to discuss business advice for your preferred client base.
  • If your specialty is criminal law, offer a "What not to do after your trial" advice piece. For example, someone who has managed to dodge a drug charge probably shouldn't be rushing straight to the bathroom to get high after the trial.

9. Get real.

Many of your clients have never been in a courtroom before, and they'll find themselves nervous about it. Get serious and get real with your clients and give them posts that they really need. Provide advice on how to dress (or not to dress) and how to act in the courtroom for individuals in situations that are relevant to your practice.

This is your chance to talk to all the clients who have frustrated you in the past--all without giving names, of course. From the client who shows up to a high-stress custody case looking like she just rolled out of bed to a client fighting a traffic ticket while wearing a t-shirt proclaiming a need for speed, you can call them all to mind and give advice to help future clients avoid making the same mistakes.

10. Bring in a guest.

Here's the good news, especially if you're staring at your blog calendar and having flashbacks to those high-stress law school days with a paper due in the morning and no idea what you were going to write about: you don't have to write every piece of content for your blog.

Bring in a guest who is an expert about a particular area. You can do it interview-style, asking them key questions and including their answers in the post, or you can simply ask them to write a guest post about a topic near to your heart. This is particularly useful if they have a view that's different from yours, since it will help keep your blog fresh and interesting.

Coming up with fresh content all the time can feel like an incredible challenge. Once you get started, however, content ideas will be more likely to flow. Keep a list on your phone or in a notebook that you carry with you: whenever a topic idea occurs, go ahead and jot it down so that you will remember it later. Looking for more help creating a fantastic content marketing strategy? Contact us today to learn how we can help take your content to the next level.