Every profession requires marketing. After the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses that depend on foot traffic are losing out to digital ones Offline ads such as billboards are working less than online ad campaigns on social media.
Similarly, specialists, professionals, and domain experts are losing out to those who have a robust digital presence and a strong personal brand.
How to build an unbeatable personal brand?
Like most other things, it begins with defining your brand. Identify what makes you unique, different, and excellent. Cover all strengths, values, passions, goals, and experience. Think of this as a list of your USPs.
Once you have that ready, creating a brand statement will come easily. How many cases did you solve in the past year? What stands out with your criminal defense strategy? How do you do things differently?
Add all of it to your brand statement. Keep it concise and make sure that it sums up your personal brand. Ideally, your brand statement should effectively communicate who you are, what you stand for, and most importantly, what makes you unique.
Next up is building a robust online presence. Criminal defense law isn’t an easy niche to be an authority in. In fact, it’s one of the hottest and most competitive niches. As such, it will take time to have a well-rounded personal brand as a criminal defense attorney. Be patient and don’t look for immediate results. You can use paid ads to get more leads but to have an organically far-reaching presence, you need time more than anything else.
What’s included in the online presence?
- A professional website
- Creating social media handles
- Optimizing your LinkedIn Profile
Once you have your online presence set up, it’s now time to create content. Creating high-quality content is an effective way to showcase your expertise and build your personal brand. Consider starting a blog or podcast, or sharing your knowledge through social media.
All in all, you aim to provide value to your potential clients. Content marketing works by giving others selflessly. Don’t plug your service at the end of every piece of content you do, whether it’s an article, podcast episode, report, study, or expert analysis.
Generally, if you do content creation properly for a few months, you will start to accumulate what Google calls “authority” on your website. Once your website is ranking for keywords you care for, such as criminal defense law or criminal defense lawyer [in your city], you can start working toward building a network.
Building strong professional relationships is key to building a strong personal brand. Attend industry events, join professional organizations, and connect with others in your field.
Anyone interested in you from your networking efforts can easily look you up and see that you’re not all talk.
Consistency & evolution
Your job doesn’t end with all those steps. In fact, it’s a perpetual process. There are a couple of key ideas for you to follow now.
- Be consistent: Consistency is crucial when it comes to building a personal brand. Make sure your messaging, content, and actions align with your personal brand statement.
- Keep learning and evolving: Your personal brand should be a reflection of who you are and what you offer, but it’s important to continually learn and evolve. Stay up to date with industry trends, seek out new opportunities, and continue to develop your skills and expertise.
There are always new things to get into and new opportunities to capitalize on. Marketing yourself online is never an easy process. Once you have done the basics, here’s how you can evolve further (you can focus on one at a time):
- SEO: Criminal defense marketing isn’t easy. You can optimize their website and online content to appear higher in search engine results for relevant keywords. This can be achieved through keyword research, creating high-quality content, and building backlinks.
- Online directories and listings: You can list your practice on online directories and listings, such as Avvo, Justia, and FindLaw, which increases your visibility to potential clients.
- Social media advertising: You can also use social media advertising to target specific audiences and increase your reach. This can be particularly effective for promoting new services or legal areas of expertise. You can either run ads for your landing page traffic or capture leads via forms, offering a free consultation initially if that helps you sell better.
- Email marketing: Email marketing can be used to stay in touch with past and potential clients, providing them with valuable content, legal updates, and promotions.
- Online reviews and reputation management: You should actively manage your online reputation by encouraging satisfied clients to leave reviews on platforms like Google My Business and Yelp, and addressing any negative reviews promptly and professionally.
- Thought leadership and content marketing: Establish yourself as a thought leader in criminal defense by creating and sharing high-quality content such as blog posts, podcasts, videos, and webinars consistently with the help of a pre-planned content calendar.
Conclusion
Building a personal brand is important for criminal defense lawyers as it can increase their visibility, establish their expertise and credibility, and differentiate them from other lawyers.
To start, look at the best criminal defense websites to get an idea of how your online presence should look like!
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