This document provides guidance to solicitors on digital marketing success. It discusses determining a legal niche and USP, developing quality online content through blogging and social media, optimizing a website for search engine rankings, and using various marketing tactics like Google AdWords, SEO, and listings on Google My Business. The goal is to attract potential clients searching online, engage them with helpful content, and convert them into leads and eventually paying clients of the solicitor's practice.

1. THE IRISH SOLICITOR’S GUIDE TO
DIGITALMARKETING
SUCCESS

2. Content
Introduction
Solicitors and Advertising
The Anti-Risk Mindset
Your Legal Niche
Your Biggest Challenge
03
04
06
07
08
Determining Your Strategy 09
How Will The Right People Find Your Website? 10
Successful Marketing Involves 12
Marketing Tactics 13
Email Newsletters and Autoresponders 16
Building an Effective Website 17
Converting your Visitors 18
Measuring Performance 19
What Is Your Lead-To-Client Conversion Rate? 20

3. Using the internet to research businesses isn’t a new phenomenon,
but it has become an established part of everyday life.
Introduction
3
As a solicitor, you’re offering one of the more important services on the
market, but how are potential clients meant to find you? You may well
get some work from random passers-by who notice the sign on your
front door but in this, the Digital Age, the internet is by far the most
popular way for people to source services, and that includes solicitors.
If people are busy researching which restaurant to visit on a Friday
night, you can be sure that they are also using Google to look up
solicitors. It is, therefore, essential for any business that wants to
establish credibility to have a strong online presence.

4. Many solicitors make the mistake of believing that because they are
expert in the practice of law, their business will take care of itself. But
that’s not how it works. Clients still need to find you, and you have to
convince them that your business is right for them. Despite what you
might want to believe, your business is much the same as any other
business and needs to be approached in a similar way.
If you have answered yes to both these questions, you’ll realise
that the only way you can help more people is to advertise and
let them know you are out there.
The Solicitors Advertising Regulations 2002 states in Regulation 3 that:
Traditionally, solicitors have been somewhat squeamish about
advertising. The idea that ‘if you’re good enough, people will find you’
prevailed. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Advertising is
straightforward really. Do you believe that you are the ideal solicitor for
a potential client who needs your help? Or do you know of someone
who has lost out in a situation where you could have helped, had they
reached you first?
Solicitors and Advertising
4
... ‘Subject to these regulations, it shall be
lawful for a solicitor to advertise.’

5. 5
You may be selling your legal expertise, but the actual business
operation is no different than any other. The practice of law is just one
component of your business. Finding new clients is equally important.
Simply putting up a static website with a 'Call Us' button is not
sufficient to convince customers to choose your business. To be
successful, you must learn how to use the internet to develop an online
presence that, not only showcases your business, but turns visitors
into clients by showing them they can trust you with their legal affairs.
In this guide, we will show you how to build your credibility online and
optimise your digital presence to achieve the results you want. We will
show you how to get more leads, and track down potential clients who
are interested in your content and services – whom you can nurture
until they are ready to become your client.
‘The purpose of a business is to create and
keep a customer.’
The renowned management consultant, Peter F Drucker, once said:

6. One of the biggest obstacles that a solicitor getting involved with
marketing for the first time needs to overcome is the lack of
certainty inherent in it. Legal professional training stresses risk
avoidance. It is all about what you can’t do and how things can go
wrong when you take risks. You will have spent years learning how to
spot and avoid risk, whether drafting contracts or dealing with any
other area of legal work. Your colleagues have been trained in exactly
the same way. This approach is essential to making a success of your
legal practice, but it creates a difficulty when it comes to digital
marketing.
There is always a degree of risk in both digital marketing and
marketing in general. This risk is unavoidable and can be a serious
mental obstacle for many solicitors who value certainty and perceive
themselves as experts. They pride themselves on the certainty of
their opinions. In the world of business, expert advice is valuable,
but it forms only a single component of a bigger picture.
6
The Anti-Risk Mindset
Not every marketing technique you try is going to work, but
you won't know whether it does or not until you take the risk
and give it a go.

7. 7
As a solicitor, you probably deal with a wide range of legal problems
every day. Many make the mistake of trying to adapt this approach to
their marketing. Generalists will struggle online. An ad claiming, ‘we
can solve your legal problems’ will not pay dividends. Too many
others are running similar adverts and you’ll soon find that it is too
expensive to promote your business in this way. Your colleagues are
probably also generalists so you’ll spend your advertising budget
competing against each other and failing to stand out.
The key to success is in finding some way to differentiate your
business from that of your competitors and the simplest way to do
this is by choosing one or two niche areas and focusing your efforts
on these.
Your Legal Niche
Most of us don’t look for a solicitor because we might need one in
the future. We look for a solicitor when we have a problem right now.
To be successful, select an area – or two – of law and market your
business to people with problems in those areas right now.
Some might feel they are fishing in the small client pool that is
Ireland but plenty of people could benefit from your professional
services, if only they knew what you have to offer. Others might think
they are limited by their location. Perhaps they are in a remote area
with a small population and only so much legal work to go around.
Even in such a scenario, you don’t have to settle for whatever
meagre pickings come your way. It is possible to get significant,
valuable business from all over the country – and abroad – if you’re
sufficiently focused on your niche and can prove your expertise to
your clients.

8. • Agriculture
• Brexit for companies seeking a foothold in Ireland
• Intellectual property
• Aviation leasing
• Compulsory purchase orders
• What you enjoy doing
• What clients will pay well for
• Where your expertise lies
Ultimately your choice of which niche to select will come down to
your Unique Sales Proposition (USP). What exactly is a USP?
It’s the intersection of:
Your Biggest Challenge
Niche-based marketing opens up many possibilities for your practice
but it also means that you will have to exclude potential areas of
interest and that can be an issue for solicitors who like to advise on a
wide range of general legal problems. They are genuinely concerned
that they may be limiting their growth by ignoring potential clients.
Such solicitors need to turn their thinking around.
By trying to reach everybody, you dilute your marketing efforts. It
doesn't matter how good you are at your job, unless you can reach
clients and convince them to use your services, your message will be
lost in the crowd, all marketing the same services in the same way. You
will end up reaching no-one. By taking a focused marketing approach,
you can target your efforts at those with a particular problem and
explain why you are the best person to resolve it.
8
Does the idea of marketing to a particular niche seem limiting?
There are hundreds to choose from. A small selection could include:
Practice-based Niches1
Client-based Niches2
• Medical device companies
• Biotech companies
• High-net-worth returning emigrants
• Family law focused on surrogacy
Service-based Niches3
• 24/7 service
• Emergency help

9. 9
It’s not about you! Many companies fail at digital marketing because
they don't understand this. You only have to glance at some websites
to see why they aren't earning the rewards they would like. Often
these sites spend pages listing awards they have won; how
prestigious they are; how modern their office is. No-one cares. A
potential client is browsing your website because they have a
problem and want to know if you can help. Your qualifications,
experience and skills are a given. Your competitors have similar
skills. What the would-be client is interested in, is what sets you
apart and what you can do for them.
Another mistake smaller companies make is relying on brand
advertising. Advertising your company brand is effective only when
you already have high brand recognition. If you are Apple or L’Oréal,
people will most likely have heard of you already, in which case
brand advertising can work. If you are an Irish solicitor, brand
advertising is a complete waste of money. The key to your success is
direct-response advertising as it provides immediate, tangible and
measurable results.
Determining Your Strategy
The steps you must take to achieve this are:
• Lead Generation (Marketing)
• Lead Conversion (Sales)
• Client Satisfaction (Service Delivery)
Don't make the mistake of thinking that it is all about attracting traffic
to your website. Website traffic is easy to get; all you have to do is
spend lots of money on Google Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads and you’ll get
traffic galore. The problem with this is, it won’t guarantee you clients. If
all you do is drive traffic to your website, but no-one enquires, you’ll
have spent money for no return.
If you want to succeed at online marketing, you need to attract the
right traffic. You want the people who are most likely to become your
clients. You want people interested in your business niche. These are
the people you’ve defined as your ideal customer, and it is these
individuals to whom you should be marketing.

10. 10
How Will The Right People Find Your
Website?
Having a well written, client-focused website won’t help if no-one
can find it. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways of making sure your
website can be found by those you are targeting. Start by thinking
about SEO.
When searching for a solicitor, most of your potential clients will
begin their journey with a search engine. They will type a query into
Google or some other search engine and they will get back a list of
websites that are in some way related to what they typed in. Your
marketing goal is to get your website on the results page for all
queries related to your chosen niche.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation.
Solicitor for housing
Solicitor for wills
Solicitor conveyancing
The keywords you choose should reflect the search terms that people
use to find your business. What are people typing into Google when
they want to find a solicitor? Don't expect to be found by someone
typing 'solicitor' or even ‘Irish solicitor', a search term that brings up
hundreds of results. Most of the people looking at those results are
unlikely to be your potential clients. They may live too far away, or want
a specialist in another area of law.
You must be specific about the keywords you target.
Depending on your chosen niche you could try:
Think also about targeting your specific geographic area. The more
detailed and informative your website is, the more likely it is to receive
a high Google ranking.
You can do this by carefully picking keywords, optimising your
webpages, and creating content related to the terms your ideal
client is searching for.

11. Social Media and blogging can work together to increase your
website’s visibility. As a solicitor you probably enjoy writing, which
gives you a huge advantage over other professionals trying to rank
well on Google. If you blog regularly on subjects relevant to your
niche, you will increase your authority among your social media
followers, who will come to value your advice. Each post you write
will also improve your rank in Google for the keywords for which you
want to be found.
Examples of jargon-free articles you might consider writing could
include:
• My mother excluded my brother from her will. What can he do?
• How to handle a conveyancing problem with a period house
• Is conveyancing different for new-build homes, and why?
• How to avoid being taken to court by a former employer
• What's my liability when an employee hurts himself through
no fault of mine?
• My competitor stole my IP. What are my options?
• How can I resolve a boundary dispute with my nice neighbour?
It may seem enormously time consuming or even
overwhelming to take on a project like this in addition to your
legal work, but you should be able to come up with a list of
titles and general outline, and hire a legal researcher or
student to draft the articles for you cost effectively. It will be
quicker and easier to edit these drafts and add your expertise
and personality, rather than you having to start from scratch.
Having quality content to share online is vital. It allows you to engage
with potential clients, and helps them to put a face to your name.
They begin to relate to you as an individual, not just a company. They
become connected to you, and you become their first point of contact
for legal advice. Being active on these networks also helps you to keep
track of the conversations that are important to you. You’ll have an
opportunity to listen to clients’ questions and concerns, and address
these with relevant content. In short, social media is the golf club of
our times, and you don’t have to pay €20,000 a year to join.
11
Your overall online objective is to produce as much quality content as you
can on a variety of topics closely related to your niche. The longer and
more comprehensive the article the better. Don't limit yourself to words.
Ideally include numbers, examples, charts, graphs, images and videos. It
all adds to the impression of completeness and improves your ranking.
PRO TIP!
By interacting on social networks where your clients spend
their time, you can become ‘real’ to them.

12. Who are you trying to reach?
Know who you are trying to market your services to. Determine your
ideal client profile. The more you know about your potential client,
the more effective your marketing will be.
Think about your client’s likely age, job, where they live, what
hobbies they enjoy. By having a real person in mind when planning
your marketing, you can develop empathy with that individual; you
can begin to understand what their goals are and what they hope to
achieve in hiring a solicitor. Once you know this, you can target your
advertising to explain how you can help them meet these goals.
Defining your:
12
Successful Marketing Involves:
What are you offering that will prompt a potential client to take
action?
As a solicitor you are used to dealing in facts. If you know who you are
marketing your services to, you can begin to think about what you want
to tell them. What is it about you and your business that could
persuade a potential client that you are the right person to advise
them? Focus on how your skills and experience can solve this person’s
problems. How can you help them to achieve their goals?
1 Your market
Which methods are you going to use to reach potential clients?
The medium you use to reach potential clients will depend on several
factors, including your budget and the types of marketing you feel
most comfortable with.
If you have the budget for it, Google AdWords can be a good way of
reaching people who need your services. If you prefer social media,
writing quality content can help you build a substantial following on
Facebook or Twitter.
Let's take a look at the options and explore the advantages and
disadvantages of each one. Not every method will be right for you but
it’s important to know your options.
2 Your message
3 Your medium

13. 13
Marketing Tactics
Google Rankings (SEO)
We have already looked at how your website’s Google ranking is
affected by SEO. It is important to remember that everything you
write online, including on your social media profiles, is valuable for
SEO purposes – so make sure that you write them with your
keywords in mind.
Finding suitable links to your website from other relevant websites is
another critical way of improving your Google ranking. When it
comes to links, quality tops quantity. One or two links from
high-ranking, relevant websites will work much better than hundreds
of links from low-quality directories or websites.
It’s free and well worth the few minutes it takes. It’s particularly
useful in that it allows you to specify a location for your business so
that your listing will appear to potential clients who live or work
nearby.
If you haven't listed your business in ‘Google My Business’,
you should do so without delay.
Google AdWords (PPC)
AdWords is probably Google’s best-known marketing tool. The
adverts that appear at the top of most Google search results get
there as a result of Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising. You can pay to
have your advert appear when a Google user types in a particular
search term. This can be quite expensive but you're in control of the
budget, so you need never spend more than you want.
You must also be confident that you can convert those who click into
leads. Do not consider using Google AdWords until your website is
converting well, as you will be throwing money away. Use Google
Analytics to find out where people are getting lost in the conversion
process. If you are happy with your conversion rate, Google AdWords
can be a great tool. The longer you or an employee spends managing
your Google AdWords account, the greater your competitive
advantage will be, but you must balance that against the costs of
managing your account.
To use Google AdWords effectively, you must target the right
search terms so that the right people click on your advertisements.

14. Remarketing is a relatively cheap way to stay in front of clients while
they engage in other activities online. It lets you show adverts to
former visitors to your website who have left without making an
enquiry or joining your email list.
The benefits of this should be clear. These are people who have
already demonstrated an interest in your services, so you know that
they have some desire at least to engage a solicitor.
Prospect Your
Website
Prospect
Tracked
Prospect returns
to your website
Prospect
Leaves
Your AD on
Other Sites
Remarketing allows you to reach people whenever they use Google search or when they
visit any of the 2 million websites and mobile apps that are a part of the Google Display
Network.
Beyond Google advertising, the world of social media can reap rewards.
14
Remarketing

15. If you produce great content for your website or blog, Twitter will help you
direct people to it. Twitter is excellent for building connections and getting to
know people, but don’t expect to get business directly from it.
There are lots of other social media networks, such as Snapchat, Instagram,
Pinterest, Google+ and MeWe. You can use them for fun but they probably don't
have enough market share to be worthwhile for your business.
Twitter
15
Facebook is a serious rival of Google’s when it comes to online
advertising. Using Facebook, you can target specific demographics.
This is powerful as it allows you to target locations, age ranges,
interests or professions. By choosing the targets of your advertising
carefully, you can drive specific traffic to your website, which you
can then capture as a ‘lead’ with a name and email address.
Facebook
This is populated mainly by white-collar professionals and
entrepreneurs so if that’s your target audience, use it to connect
with as many relevant people as possible. An easy way to do this is
via the LinkedIn mobile phone app.
As LinkedIn is a network for professionals, you can't approach it in
the casual way you might your personal Facebook profile. LinkedIn
professionals are often careful who they connect with, as they know
potential employers may be checking them out, so make sure your
profile looks sharp. Irish people on the platform will usually connect
with you if you smile and look halfway normal in your profile photo!
LinkedIn Publisher is a helpful tool that allows you to publish articles,
driving connections to your website to leave their contact details in
return for additional information. Such information might include,
for example, a free downloadable guide to resolving boundary
disputes or a template for writing a will.
Linkedin

16. Your email list is the most important digital asset you possess. The
names and email addresses of your current and former clients is the
lifeblood of your business. You can use this list for regular monthly
newsletters, ad-hoc communication, or any time you have something
worthwhile to say. Your email list is a valuable way of keeping your
business at the forefront of people’s minds, but don't abuse it.
People get tons of email and, if what you are sending them is not
useful, they will unsubscribe and be gone.
If you want to send out a series of messages that will interest only a
section of your subscribers, set up an autoresponder series and
invite those interested to sign-up. That's a win-win for you as you
learn more about your subscribers and it allows you to segment your
list. In this way, you’ll avoid losing members who might otherwise
have unsubscribed. Maintaining a good quality email list of the
names of those who are genuinely interested in your services is
essential.
You will need help maintaining your mailing list. A good option is
MailChimp, which is cheap and simple to use. If you segment your
list well, you can run some complex operations, such as arranging
follow-up emails or planning advertising campaigns.
Email Newsletters and Autoresponders
16

17. • A brochure site (a simple 10-20 page site that is mainly
about you and the work you do)
• A direct response site (where you exchange your knowledge
for potential customer details)
• A blog (where you write and share your knowledge)
• An ecommerce site (that takes credit card payments for
work such as wills or a simple consensual divorce)
17
Any marketing campaign will fail if the website you are driving
people to isn't converting as it should. Every solicitor needs a
website and must ensure that it is updated regularly. Nothing
demonstrates a lack of interest quite like a website that hasn't been
updated for six months or a year. Your website must be
customer-focused so don’t spend pages discussing your brilliance.
Just state what you can do for your client.
Your objective is to capture potential clients’ details. Demonstrate
your expertise by providing useful information that people will find
valuable. Resist the urge to use legal jargon that could confuse a
potential client.
Building an Effective Website
There are a few different types of websites solicitors tend to have.
The one you choose will depend on how you like to conduct business.
In most cases, WordPress is ideal. It is secure, simple to set up and
maintain and easy to edit. There’s a reason 23% of sites globally use
WordPress, including CNN, MTV, and ESPN.
When writing your website content, remember you are, in effect,
dressing your digital shop window. You are creating an opportunity
for visitors to find out what you do, and how you can help them. You
must make the best possible use of every word to maximise your
appeal and convert website visitors into clients.
What Type of Website Should I Have?

18. Make sure there is a clear call-to-action (CTA) on your website. Make
sure prospective clients know what they are supposed to do at each
stage of the process. If you want them to download a whitepaper,
make it obvious. Don't hide the link or make it complicated. If your
CTAs don't work, your entire website has failed.
Once you get your new prospect to the point where they are entering
their name and email address on your Contact Form, make sure you
don’t lose them. Don't ask for a litany of information that you will
never use. Make the form as simple and straightforward as possible.
Attracting the right type of visitor to your website is important, but it
is just the first step. Next, you need to convert them into leads by
gathering their contact information. At the very least, you will need
their email addresses. Contact information is the most valuable
currency there is to the online marketer. If you want your visitors to
offer up that currency willingly, you’ll need to offer something
valuable in return. That ‘payment’ is good content. The content may
take the form of an eBook, whitepaper, or tip sheet - whatever
information would interest your ideal client persona.
Conversion is the area where most websites fall down. Designers
often fail to take the needs and desires of website visitors into
account when planning the website. You must optimise every aspect
of your website to encourage conversion. Try to visualise each of the
personas you are targeting and imagine what they might look for on
each website page. What information would they like to see? What
would they expect the next step to be? How can you reassure them
so that they continue down the path to conversion? You’ll need to
close every loophole that might stop them entering their name on
the Contact Form and adding themselves to your list.
Converting Your Visitors
18

19. 19
If you spent €10,000 on advertising during one quarter and this
generated 50 new leads, the average cost of each lead is €200. Is
€200 a good figure or a bad figure? That depends on the nature of
your practice, the value of each client to your business and how good
you are at turning leads into clients.
If your client is worth €2,000 to you, spending €200 to attract them
might be okay, but not brilliant. If, however, the client brings you a
more lucrative case worth €25,000, spending €200 is more
acceptable.
Choose the time frame you want to work with
(weekly, monthly, quarterly)
1
Find out how many people signed up in that time2
Work out your total advertising costs for that period3
Divide the costs by the number of new sign-ups4
To estimate the cost of every lead (CPC) you generate, you must:Concentrate your marketing efforts on your chosen niches. Work
hard to ensure your website has the highest conversion rate
possible, and regularly share high quality blog posts with your
followers across social networks.
At this stage, your digital marketing efforts have probably brought
you a few extra clients but you’ll need to ask, is it really worth your
time? How much is each lead costing? How much are you spending
to attract a new client? Getting the answers to these questions can
mean the difference between a profitable solicitors’ firm and one
that struggles to survive.
These answers can only be found by tracking your marketing
campaigns properly and seeing what your actual costs are. The two
metrics that matter most are:
• The Cost Per Lead (CPL)
• The Cost Per Client (CPC)
If you can calculate these accurately, you can maximise your online
marketing efforts, reduce overall costs, and increase your profits. A
lead is anyone who signs up to your contacts list, and in getting
someone to that stage, you will likely have incurred significant costs.
These might be PPC costs or the costs of writing a regular blog.
Consider also whether any offline advertising you have done has
played a part in bringing people to your website.
Measuring Performance

20. 20
The other figure worth tracking is your Cost Per Client. What is the
cost of getting your new client to sign up?
Here are the steps you need to take to measure this:
If you spent €10,000 on advertising during your time period and got
50 leads, the CPL is €200. If those 50 leads produced 5 clients, the
cost per client is €2,000.
This brings us back to the question: is this an acceptable cost? It all
depends how much each client is worth to your business. If each
client is worth around €15,000-€20,000, spending €2,000 per client
is probably okay. If you focus more on clients with a lower average
value, €2,000 for a client may not leave you with a reasonable profit
margin.
Each business is unique, but you’ll need these figures to decide
whether or not your business model is sustainable, and whether you
can earn enough money as a solicitor to concentrate on the things in
life that are important to you.
Your Cost Per Client
Choose your time frame (the same time frame as for your CPL)1
Identify the number of new clients acquired during the time frame2
Determine the advertising costs incurred during the time frame3
Divide the advertising costs by the number of new clients4
How many people on your list will go on to become your clients?
A low conversion rate of just 5-10% will make a €200 cost per lead
unacceptable, but if your conversion rate is nearer 50%, paying €200
for a lead could well be reasonable. Once you have determined your
cost per lead, remember to measure it regularly. This will help ensure
that any irregular, one-off costs (such as web hosting fees) are
included even if they only occur once a year.
What Is Your Lead-To-Client
Conversion Rate?

21. You get more sales when we implement some of the following items
brilliantly for you:
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26A Mount Eden Road
Donnybrook, Dublin 4
www.tinderpoint.com
Google Rankings (SEO)
Google Ads (PPC)
Social Media
Content Marketing
Conversion Improvement
Email Marketing
Analytics
Website Revamps
Review Your Legal Marketing
Approach with Established ExpertsWHAT
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NEXTWe help Irish Solicitors get more sales,
leads and exposure from the internet –
and we keep it simple with no jargon.
Talk to us for 10 minutes if you want
more legal enquiries and let’s see if we
can help you grow your practice fast.
(01) 485 2611 digital@tinderpoint.com
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