Embrace the Holiday Spirit to Boost Your Law Firm’s Marketing
Did you know that law firms who engage in holiday marketing see a significant increase in client engagement and referrals?
Let’s explore how you can leverage this festive season to your advantage.
As the holiday season approaches, law firms must take advantage of the perfect opportunity to strengthen their relationships with their clients, boost their marketing efforts, and expand their firm’s network.
During the holiday, connecting with clients on a more personal level fosters trust and goodwill. It showcases the firm’s good value and will also create a positive impression of your firm to prospective clients.
Let’s explore the latest holiday marketing ideas that are specifically tailored for law firms to enhance visibility while establishing meaningful connections— because, after all, we are greatly influenced by those we like and trust.
So, grab a cup of your favorite holiday drink, and let’s indulge in learning how to turn this holiday season into a productive and memorable one for your law firm!
Connect Personally: Strengthen Client Relationships During the Holidays
Host a Community Service Event: Engage and Give Back for Greater Impact
Engaging in community service events can have a great impact on your firm’s marketing efforts and your overall sense of gratification.
Community Service Is So Important, and Here Is Why
- It captivates socially conscious clients
- Clients nowadays are more aware of environmental and social issues, that’s why they prefer businesses that support the same causes as them.
- Community service is one of the best ways to showcase that your firm is a part of the community and that they share their clients’ values.
Monica Tarantino, Digital Marketing Manager at Consultwebs, has over 15 years of experience in digital marketing and concurs with the importance of law firms being part of a community.
Truly, by giving back to your local community, you not only help those who are in need but also promote your law firm’s dedication to social responsibility, which will set your firm apart from your competitors. And quite frankly, why not give back, right?! Gift-giving is a beautiful act.
Monica takes a deep dive into the impact law firms can have in their community service. Check it out:
Digitally Decorate: Add a Festive Touch to Your Branding
Adding a symbol of the holidays is a simple but powerful way to add some holiday touch to your branding.
You can include this strategy on your:
- Website
- Social media
- Emails
- Newsletters
Promote a Social Media Giveaway: Engage Your Audience with Creative Contests
December is coined the ‘giving season,’ but honestly, this should be an all-year-round practice, and you can get creative through your socials!
It’s no secret that most people spend time on their favorite social media platforms pretty much every day. While Consultwebs offers more tailored strategies for effective law firm social media marketing, the holidays present a unique opportunity for all law firms!
You can offer a giveaway by:
- Offering gift cards
- Offering a giveaway and boosting engagement by adding calls to action like, ‘tag 3 friends’, ‘repost this in your story and add the hashtag #______’)
- Hosting charitable donations (Which causes do you deeply care about?)
- Offering gifts to members of your community and, of course, staff
Pro-tip: If you want to build better relationships and expand your reach at the same time, you can do all of this by partnering up with a local business/organization.
Gamifying the contest is a surefire way to boost engagement and energize the giveaway and you can get creative with this.
One example would be, “The first 50 to like this post get entered to win!” is a lot better than “Like and share!” Contests like this also have the added benefit of beefing up your social media presence with outbound links.
Donate to Charity: Showcase Your Firm’s Commitment to Social Responsibility
There is no shortage of national and local charities and nonprofits that would welcome donations at this (or any) time of year.
At Consultwebs, we host a beautiful initiative called CW4Good. As Rosana Hernandez, administrative assistant at Consultwebs, states:
If your caseload isn’t too heavy, you could offer pro bono legal work to someone in need or host a free legal clinic. You could also give a percentage cash donation to a worthy local charity for each new case you take during a certain time frame.
The following are charities looking for donations:
- Make A Wish Foundation
- The American Red Cross
- Local Children’s Home Societies
- Local Community Programs
However, we encourage you to think local. The more you engage within your community, the more top of mind you will be, and honestly, local communities often need the most support!
Organize Fun Office and Online Activities: Strengthen Team Bonds
Don’t underestimate the power of building connections with your direct teammates!
Firms that are interested in virtual Christmas parties or office parties can benefit from hosting a hybrid approach. On one hand, the firms that are in-office have an epic photo opportunity. This can be helpful in your law firm’s social media marketing through promoting the event and posting pictures with the staff’s permission.
On the other hand, firms working from home or with a hybrid office can bring their team together by hosting virtual Christmas events on platforms like Zoom. It’s important to prepare beforehand for this, e.g., who will be the host? Is there an activity planned? etc.
Some fun activities to include during your virtual Christmas party include:
💡Online Bingo
💡Scavenger hunts
💡Christmas-themed games and activities
💡Virtual trivia
And if you want to give a present to the winners or through a raffle, make sure to add a personal touch. For example, have their name and your law firm’s name engraved on, e.g., a t-shirt, a mug, stickers, etc.
(Want to know a trick as to why this works even in the short term? From a psychological standpoint, this works because people love belonging! The more you build on this idea of belonging, the better.)
Send Holiday Cards: Personalize Your Client Communications
You likely already have some sort of communication in place with both existing and former clients. Do not overlook the personalized touch of sending holiday wishes to these folks.
Word-of-mouth referrals and previous clients are your best salespeople! Their powerful word of mouth could all circle back and give you more with time. This is where nurturing relationships are key. Remember the small details, and get to know them during the legal intake process and after.
If you’ve been practicing for longer than a decade, you should have an ample list of people you can remind of your services while also offering warm greetings and gifts.
One Final Tip:
Do not wait until the last minute to get your holiday law firm marketing started. If you want to promote any of these through your socials and website, it takes time and effort on behalf of your online law firm marketing agency. On the other hand, from an SEO and rankings standpoint, it can take several days, if not weeks, for Google and other search engines to index changes made to your website.
Plan Ahead: Start Your Holiday Marketing Strategy Now
It seems like the holidays sneak up on us every year and leave us feeling stressed and behind schedule. At such a busy time of year, a holiday marketing strategy for your law firm may not have crossed your mind. But don’t despair, there is still time to plan a promotion while spreading some holiday cheer.
So, why now?
People who are in the holiday spirit are more likely to invest their time and money, which paves the way for::
- Increased traffic to your website
- Additional interactions/followers
- Brand exposure
- Relationship building
Whether you’re looking to build on relationships, increase followers, or all of the above, we encourage you to set realistic goals, such as increasing the number of Instagram likes by 10+ interactions, nurturing 1-2 referral relationships, etc.
With the goals in mind you can:
- Determine what you need to do to get started
- Achieve the expectations you have for your campaign
- Help measure your success
With that said, let’s dive in.
The Top 6 Law Firm Holiday Marketing and Branding Ideas
1. Run a Contest
During this time of year, people actively purchase gifts for loved ones, friends, daycare providers, teachers, colleagues, and more. Giving people the opportunity to win something they could use as a gift will often inspire them to take time out of their day to enter a contest, leading additional traffic to your website or social accounts and increasing followers.
Contest prizes can range in a variety of types and values, such as:
- Scholarship
- Gift card
- Tickets to a local sporting event
- Cash prizes
Take advantage of your website by adding the contest information to a landing page.
- If applicable, utilize local avenues that could publish your contest information to increase reach.
- Partner with your voluntary bar association.
Find Out Why Voluntary Bar Associations Are Great for your Law Firm
2. Sponsor Drives
When you sponsor a drive, you’re supporting a good cause and creating positive publicity and brand recognition among potential clients and local organizers.
The type of drive that you run will determine which organizations you reach out to.
A few examples of drives can include:
- Toy drives
- Food drives
- Clothing drives
- Fund drives, while matching donations
We’ve covered more ways law firms can give back to their community here.
3. Add Promotional Freebies
This type of campaign typically requires more planning but carries big potential for great results.
Law firms have many great options for promotions and giveaways. Some examples could be:
- Free taxi rides home (within a certain distance)
- Uber codes for safe rides home
- Coupons or a percentage off of a good or service
Putting specific parameters for users to qualify for the promotion or giveaway will help ensure that you see some return on investment. The parameters could include the following:
- Linking your social accounts
- Tagging 2-3 people in the comments
- Sharing the post on social stories and tagging your firm
- Adding a link to the promotion on their blog or website
4. Create Your Charity Event
Giving back to your community is just as important as growing your business.
While there are several charities you can focus on, decide on something that speaks to you and your firm. Firms can develop a unique approach to branding through niche social responsibility campaigns.
Discover How Firms Leverage Social Responsibility Campaigns
5. Take Time to Celebrate Referral Relationships
Like any business, the business of law is about people.
You can do more than send your referral partners a holiday card that will potentially go unread. Please take this time to acknowledge your top referral sources. For example, a face-to-face meeting or dinner can strengthen these valuable relationships.
On this note, you can also….
Take Care of Attorney Referrals
Perhaps some small firms and solo practitioners have an abundance of caseloads during this holiday season, and their staff might want to take time off. If you know of a case and have the capacity, the holidays can be a great time to market your referral program and handle cases on behalf of others.
6. Host a Holiday Promotion
We’ll steer away from saying you should offer discounts as this may change a client’s perception of a firm’s rate. However, you can offer a fee relief!
Offering a fee relief helps your clients with short-term struggles but still maintains the integrity of your rates. Thomson Reuters states, “Bringing forward ideas like fee relief or fixed fees allows a law firm to provide much-needed assistance to clients, but on the firm’s terms.”
Wrap Up Your Holiday Marketing with a Bow
The holidays are a time to be thankful, express our gratitude, and ultimately sparkle with joy (with a few shameless branding plugins).
Many businesses investing in marketing capitalize on these efforts throughout the year and if you’d like some help with this, we’re here.
