Mapping Content to Accelerate the Legal Buyer’s Journey
In my last article, I explained the essential elements of an effective content program, including well-defined content pillars, the right mix of content, and alignment with your business development objective.
I also noted that different types of content work better for different stages of the buyer’s journey (which is often where the confusion around being able to get clients directly from a blog/alert/speaking engagement/email occurs), and I teased a deeper look at mapping your content into that journey.
Let’s buckle up and take that trip! (Caution: more road metaphors ahead.)
Not Even Thinking About The Journey (yet).
Some marketing professionals call this the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey; I prefer to think of it as the “unawareness” stage. At this point, potential clients may not have (or don’t know they have) a legal problem that requires a lawyer. They may not be “on the road.” Yet I think it’s important to consider prospects at this stage in your content planning, in part because clients can go from “not really looking” to “considering options” very quickly when the need for legal services arises.
Your objective (as always) is to be on the short list of the lawyers and firms they are considering when that time comes.
Your target clients may have found their way into your orbit from LinkedIn, other social media, or legal, business or industry associations where you are active. They may also be clients of other lawyers in your firm or of other professionals who serve as referral sources in your network. I also count potential clients in your target market who are not yet aware of you in this “not really looking (yet)” category.
Your content should have two goals at this stage. The first is to keep prospects already in your orbit engaged and build a trusted resource relationship with them until they have a need for the legal services you offer. The second is to bring more prospects into your orbit with content that generates visibility and awareness and extends your reach in the marketplace.
What Type Of Content Works?
When we talk about the right content, we’re talking about a number of factors, including topic, format and distribution channels. Unless you’re aiming to develop a new practice area, your content should generally fit within one of your established content pillars. Beyond that, this stage of the buyer’s journey accommodates the widest variety of content — as long as it’s educational or informational.
Because you also have the potential here to spark interest in your legal services — in essence, to create a market by identifying problems and challenges that your target clients may not even know they have — content about new legal developments and trends may be particularly useful. “Breaking news” alerts, deeper dives into legal or industry trends and developments, and deadline- or compliance-driven content focused on what clients should be doing to get ready for an imminent change or a new set of requirements are also useful here.
Variety is important, and consistency is critical, because your goal is to keep people regularly engaged. Leveraging the reach of your content is also particularly important at this stage, so include it on your website, send outbound email campaigns and post on social media. Not everyone who engages with your content at this stage becomes a client, but they can’t know about you if they can’t find your content.
Mapquesting The Journey: The Looking-Around Stage.
While the hiring journey is often depicted along a timeline or as a pipeline, it isn’t necessarily linear. Potential clients may not enter it at the same place or for the same reason. I think of it more like a car on a road trip, which has the ability to take different roads to get to the end point, rather than a bus making specific stops along a predefined route. There are many ways clients can enter the roadway and begin their journey toward hiring a lawyer.
Clients may begin to research legal services because they have specific legal matters they are facing — for example, a conflict or a dispute that could lead or may have already led to litigation, or a transaction for which they need representation. This is an event-initiated road trip. Or they may decide to begin the search for a legal services provider because they identified a potential (not acute) need — perhaps your educational content helped bring them here. This is a client-initiated road trip.
However they arrive at this stage, prospective clients are evaluating both possible solutions to the legal challenges they’ve identified (or you’ve identified for them) and the right lawyer or firm to provide those solutions.
What Type Of Content Works?
Content that demonstrates expertise and a track record of helping clients in specific practices or industries is particularly effective here. Clients and prospects always appreciate actionable content — FAQs, checklists and resource guides. Case studies, client stories and annual reports, as well as detailed representative matters lists and client testimonials, will also help emphasize your experience and expertise.
Because this is the time when potential clients are looking more closely at each provider’s experience, skills and knowledge, it’s essential that traditional website content — practice pages and lawyer bios — also bolster the message that the lawyer and firm are the right choice for the specific problem or challenge.
Are We There Yet? Considering Options/Ready To Make A Hiring Decision.
At this stage of the journey, prospective clients may have a short list of options. In fact, some clients may enter the “highway to hiring” at this on-ramp, particularly if they have a more acute legal need and have sought referrals, rather than be starting from scratch and conducting broader research. At this critical stage of the journey, your goal is to give the prospect confidence that the best choice is to hire you rather than your competitors.
What Kind Of Content Works?
Content here should bolster everything potential clients have heard or discovered in their research about you and your firm, and it should make them feel secure in making the choice to entrust their legal problems to you. Pitch materials, responses to RFPs and other more traditional business development pieces can be key in situations where the client is using that kind of process — but not every prospective client requires those.
If you’ve been focused on generating a strong library of content to establish your knowledge, skills and expertise, you’re in good shape. Now is the time to convey why a client would want to work with you or your firm rather than others; content that highlights your client experience or approach to matters can help differentiate you from competitors. Content conveying the firm’s broader brand messaging as well as firm culture can also be effective here.
You have arrived! (But the buyer’s journey isn’t over.) Once a prospect makes the decision to become a client, it might seem you have reached your (mutual) destination. From a marketing perspective, however, you’ve really just embarked on a different but equally important journey: converting your new client into a loyal customer and referral source.
Stay tuned for our next travel installment!
Featured Articles
