Lead Generation for Law Firms: A Fractional CMO Guide

A law firm can only succeed in a competitive marketplace through a steady stream of leads and clients. With so many firms vying for the same clientele, it’s up to you to devise new, innovative ways to make your law firm stand out. Or — it doesn’t have to be up to you.

This is where fractional CMOs come in. They are marketing and lead generation experts who strive to attract new clients to your firm. Lead generation for law firms with a fractional cmo is simply easier. This guide introduces helpful tips for perfecting lead generation for law firms with a fractional law firm CMO.

Looking for a new partner in your marketing initiatives? Find out more about working with fractional CMOs with Jason:

What Is a Fractional CMO?

A fractional law firm CMO is a C-level executive who oversees a company’s entire marketing plans and processes. They work part-time or per project, making them more affordable than a full-time CMO.

These marketing professionals have years of experience working in multiple industries. Their vast skill set also makes them the ideal people to handle any of the client’s problems or issues when it comes to marketing – from finding clients to keeping them happy.

Who Hires Fractional CMOs?

Any law firm that needs marketing guidance and leadership can hire a fractional CMO. Fractional CMOs have years of experience working for various legal fields, such as:

• Personal injury
• Family
• Intellectual property
• Immigration
• Property
• Labor
• Corporate

Unlike larger law enterprises with their own marketing department and larger budgets, an FCMO is ideal for smaller, mid-sized, and growing firms with limited marketing budgets and marketing personnel. This allows them to save costs in the long run while gaining access to expert marketing solutions.

How Many Hours a Week Is a Fractional CMO With Their Clients?

The number of hours a fractional CMO works varies depending on who you hire. The only distinction is that they aren’t full-time employees. 

Generally, a fractional CMO may work around five to 20 hours per week with a legal client. Other times, they may work 50 to 60 hours per month. 

Why Law Firms Need a Fractional CMO

Hiring a fractional law firm CMO offers many long-term benefits, such as:

• Cost-effectiveness: Because fractional CMOs work part-time, there’s no need to accommodate full-time costs like monthly salaries, health insurance, and additional benefits. 
• Access to expertise: An FCMO’s years of experience and wide skill set allow them to create tailored marketing strategies that make your law firm stand out.
• Growth-focused: Fractional CMOs don’t just help companies sell products or services; they develop growth-centric marketing strategies that bring in new leads and maximize ROI. It also means when they leave, you don’t have to worry about the gap; FCMOs train existing teams to continue with the strategies. 

The Law Firm Lead Generation Funnel

Lead generation for law firms with a fractional CMO starts with understanding the customer journey. These are different stages when moving a potential client down the lead generation funnel.

A general breakdown of the stages of the lead generation funnel is as follows:

• Awareness: This stage is when people become aware of your firm (basically, your brand), whether it’s through ads or word of mouth. This is your chance to introduce yourself and highlight your services.
• Interest: The Interest stage is when potential leads seek more information about your law firm before making a decision.
• Consideration: After learning more information, leads consider buying your services. This is where you must solidify yourself as the best choice.
• Purchase: Leads are now converted into paying clients who see the value in your organization and decide to officially sign a contract with you and retain your services. 
• Advocacy: After being satisfied with your services, happy clients hire your firm again and recommend it to others. This stage focuses on maintaining client satisfaction and building strong relationships.

How To Generate Leads as a Lawyer: 8 Ways

Generating strong leads is the first step to achieving business growth. Here are some effective ways to go about lead generation for law firms with a fractional CMO.

1. Website Improvements

Your legal website is one of the first things a potential client will see, so you want to make a good first impression! Ensure all site elements are functional, user-friendly, and mobile-responsive, including the different pages, buttons, and forms.

A good website must be professionally made while prioritizing user experience to prevent bounce rates or people from leaving your site too soon. You can provide easily accessible and understandable content that answers the reader's questions and concerns.

People tend to trust a website more if it’s secured, but some users might not even know if a site is safe to input their information. That’s where Google steps in. As part of the ranking, Google looks for safety features like if a site has an SSL certificate. 

SSL certificates are data files that enable encryption to protect user information. This makes Google see a site as more trustworthy. 

2. High-Quality Content

Content is a great way to showcase your authority and credibility as a law firm. Your FCMO helps create a content calendar that outlines your entire content strategy, including what to write/post, when to upload it, and on what platforms.

Content is key to answering your user’s questions. This can be done through informational blogs, landing pages, videos, and FAQ pages. These types of content can address a client’s legal questions or concerns, and it’s your job to provide them with relevant answers.

Well-researched and audience-centric content also improves SEO performance. Google will likely rank your site higher if your content is high-quality. While Google doesn’t necessarily hate AI, it looks for content that focuses on appeasing living people, not robots. Their People-First Algorithm Update made sure people are always the priority. 

• Want more info? Check out our guide here: Content Marketing for Personal Injury Law Firms From a Fractional CMO

3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

It'll be very difficult to generate leads if your law firm doesn’t rank on the search engine. One of the best ways to do this is by perfecting search engine optimization. 

This process focuses on targeting high-volume and low-competition keywords that align with your user’s search intent.

For example, let’s say you want your injury law firm to increase SEO rankings. In this case, you’d want to target keywords like “personal injury lawyer” or “personal injury firm near me.” By focusing on personal injury lawyer SEO, you can increase your firm's visibility in your local area.

Other important elements of SEO include technical, on-page, and off-page optimization. These ensure that every page on your website is fully optimized with the relevant title tags, meta descriptions, headers, and target keywords.

Technical SEO focuses on improving the backend of a website. It includes:

• Site speed
• Mobile responsiveness
• Crawlability
• Indexing
• Secure connections (SSL certificates, for example)

On-Page Optimization deals with elements on a site that you can control and optimize directly. It includes:

• Optimizing content (keywords, headings, meta descriptions)
• Images (alt text)
• Internal linking
• URL structure

Off-Page Optimization involves improvements outside your website. It includes:

• Backlink building
• Social media marketing
• And more

SEO is a powerful tool for all practices. Here's Jason with the facts on SEO for personal injury firms:

4. Paid Ads: PPC

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising involves paying a certain amount whenever someone clicks on your online advertisements. It's an effective and relatively inexpensive way to increase online visibility and attract more leads. There are different types of PPC ads, including:

• Search ads: Involves targeting the right keywords for your website to appear first on the search engine.
• Display ads: These appear on third-party websites and are typically image-based or video-based. Usually based on a cost-per-impression model rather than cost-per-click.
• Local service ads: Google-specific ads that allow companies in a specific location to appear first on the search results.

To effectively execute a PPC campaign, it’s important to properly allocate your budget to ensure a maximum return on ad spend. A good PPC agency can help you figure out the best amount to spend, and so can this article: Personal Injury Law Firm PPC Strategy With a Fractional CMO. 

5. Social Media

Social media has millions of active users, making it an ideal channel to find potential leads. It's beneficial to incorporate social media ads into your digital marketing strategy to make your firm more visible to users.

Additionally, social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn allow you to connect with potential leads, your local community, and other law firms. Some examples of LinkedIn content would be sharing legal insights and content and engaging with users personally (via messages or comments).

6. Retargeting and Geofencing

Retargeting is the process of making an advertisement reappear before a lead who previously interacted with your website. It re-engages the interest of potential leads and eventually leads them to fulfill a call to action.

Geofencing is like drawing a virtual fence around a specific location and only targeting leads within that fence. For example, if your legal firm is based in Chicago, you'd draw the fence around the Chicago area only.

These two processes are similar in that they both target specific and relevant individuals. With an FCMO’s help, you can maximize both strategies to find the high-value leads who are most likely to convert.

7. Try Email Marketing Campaigns

With almost everyone having an email address, email marketing has become one of the most convenient ways to reach potential leads. Emails are great for maintaining communication and keeping leads engaged with weekly newsletters and special offers.

An FCMO focuses on high-value, qualified leads in your email list to ensure that your emails are sent to the right people with the highest chances of conversion. They also conduct A/B testing to see which email performs the best in terms of conversion rate, click-through rate, and open rate.

It’s also crucial to personalize every email and make each recipient feel personally addressed. A good CRM software or email marketing tool can help personalize emails based on an audience’s data. 

The laws on email marketing vary on a federal and state level. Ask about a fractional CMO about lead generation for law firms that follows regulatory guidelines.

8. Review Platforms

People are more likely to choose a service if they hear positive things about it from others; this is called social proof. Encouraging clients to leave reviews on review sites helps build your organization’s reputation and credibility. 

Review sites like Avvo, Find Law, and Justia provide valuable third-party information about your firm, which can increase your visibility and authority online.

More Tips On Lead Generation for Law Firms With a Fractional CMO Here!

Whether you need to build a strong personal injury brand or gain new leads in your local area, our team of expert marketers at Digital Authority Partners is ready to help.

We have the best digital-first CMO consultants to help grow your business. All you have to do is give us a call!