I heard someone tell (what I assume) to be a made-up story about a group of people meeting at a baseball field. The group leader tells everyone that their job is to count the blades of grass. People head off in different directions, albeit reluctantly. After several minutes, the group leader sees one person measuring the dirt and another counting links in the fence. The story’s moral is that a “blade of grass” was never defined. The assumption that people understood what it was led to them getting the wrong results.
Build A Better Mindset about SEO
In marketing, people get tunnel vision and focus on the wrong results because they never defined success. No one in the business world truly wants to be on the first page of Google; they want to be a part of a profitable company that supports their lifestyle and family. The former is the means, but it is not anyone’s end state. Spotlight Branding is infamous for writing the Anti-SEO Report, but we are not anti-SEO. We are opposed to people putting that at the forefront of their marketing plan and assuming that it is the only thing they need to have a successful business.
We argue that your foundation should be content because it nurtures the leads you have already formed through your former clients or networking activities. After marketing yourself this way, you can still quantify your results. Look at how many referrals you are receiving, where they are coming from, the quality (and type) of clients contacting you, and whether you see a higher ROI on your other marketing efforts. You can begin with a monthly e-newsletter featuring educational content and run it for six months.
Start with strategies that have minimal costs and have been proven to be effective. Should you even decide to run digital ads to experiment with SEO, you have something to weigh your efforts against. How much did you spend on SEO? What types of searches give you the highest ranking? You’ll never know how effective it is unless you have metrics. Don’t default to “getting more clients.” Define what an ideal client is first, and ask yourself if your marketing is reaching those people. (The best clients generally come from referrals.)
Let’s Talk Social Media Results
There’s a significant overlap between social media and my last point about SEO. Instead of being on the first page of Google, substitute likes, followers, and clicks. There is no blueprint for having a massive following on social media. This is an even more enormous task if you are an attorney because the type of educational content you create will not lend itself to going viral. If you ever get upset with how many people aren’t following or liking your legal posts, ask yourself how many times you’ve followed, liked, or commented on a legal post.
That’s not to say social media can’t “work” for you; it can and will. If you use the aforementioned vanity metrics, you will become frustrated and fail. Social media is your means of getting someone one step closer to becoming a client. When they ask their friends or colleagues to get you as a referral, they will look you up. They’ll see your website, blogs, videos, and social media pages.
These people are not looking to be entertained; they want a solution to their legal problem. When your content bridges that gap, you build credibility and create trust. Assuming that a social media post will convert a cold lead into calling you to sit down for a consultation is akin to asking someone to marry you on the first date. Social media is a component of content marketing, and you still track results through how many referrals you are getting and the type of clients you are receiving.
Content Is A Repeatable, Reliable Blueprint
Whereas there is no recipe for blowing up on social media, there is one for content marketing. Educational blogs, newsletters, videos, and social media posts build credibility and close the referral gap. Instead of gambling on SEO, use a blueprint that works for everyone. We create this type of content for lawyers to get you more referrals and better clients. Speak with Jana, our Business Development Manager, to learn how we can do this for you.
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