The Importance of Telling a Story on Your Homepage and Throughout Your Website
Are You Telling The Right Story On Your Homepage?
As an attorney, you face plenty of challenges advocating for your clients in the courtroom or against insurance companies with deep pockets. But with nearly 1.2 million attorneys in the U.S., one of your biggest uphill battles is against the search engines and your peers.
With hundreds or thousands of attorneys in your area competing for the same client, how can you differentiate your firm and attract the best cases? Your track record is essential, as is your brand, but you can stand out and create more interest by telling stories throughout your website.
The Effectiveness of Storytelling in Marketing
Storytelling is one of the most powerful ways to breathe life into your digital marketing campaign. By giving your law firm and its services an identity, you can quickly engage your audience and connect with them on a more emotional level.
People who approach attorneys generally need help solving some type of pressing issue. They may be physically, emotionally, and financially in peril and looking for someone that can provide some hope. When you tell a story that quickly connects with them, you have a stronger chance of gaining their business.
Stories unite people with a common bond. When someone is dealing with the aftermath of a serious car accident, and you tell a story about helping a client in similar circumstances, that person is likely to respond.
Storytelling can also be used to transmit meaning and knowledge. Concepts that might be difficult to grasp become more clear when shared within the context of an interesting story.
In addition to being a valuable strategic tool, you can use stories to engage consumers that have become numb to the standard types of content. It gives them a new and engaging experience with an attorney and makes the interaction on your website a memorable one.
How to Use Storytelling to Attract More Cases
People hire attorneys they believe they can trust with some important matters. You can humanize your firm to build rapport and trust with potential clients that are looking for solutions.
Once you’ve established that connection, you’re one step closer to a consultation appointment and a new client.
Here are several ways your firm can use storytelling to attract more clients:
Understand Your Audience
Before you create any content or craft your story, develop a cohesive picture of your target audience. What are their demographics, values, and pain points? Once you have this information, you can tailor your story so that it resonates with them.
Is your typical client looking to maximize recovery on a personal injury case? Or, are they interested in affordable representation for an estate or family law issue? What emotions do you generally sense from them when they contact your firm? Do you find that they are familiar with the legal process or want some education?
The answers to these questions vary greatly across practice areas and firms. But, answering these questions first will help you create a story that is most appealing to your typical client.
Emphasize Your “Why” Instead of Your “What”
With thousands of attorneys in every U.S. state offering similar services, what your firm does may not be enough to differentiate it from the place down the street. You can spend some time on the “what,” but it’s vital that your story place significant emphasis on your firm’s “why.”
When you explain why you fight for the rights of clients, you make the clients the subject of the story instead of the law. As an example, you can tell readers that you believe one of your missions is to fight for the rights of injured workers against unsafe and unfair employers that are backed by powerful insurance companies.
Create an Emotional Connection
Legal marketing is equal parts strategy and art. Your job, or your marketer’s job, is to connect with a potential client’s mind as well as their heart. Decisions are often made more on instinct than logic, and emotion is a key driver of these choices.
You’re obviously a capable attorney, but piling statistics onto a prospective client may not be the best approach. Instead, you can tell stories that create an emotional connection with your reader, and that prompts them to make a decision.
One of the best ways to create an emotional connection is by inserting your reader into the story. For example: “After a crash with a commercial truck, you may have many questions. ‘Who will pay my hospital bills?’ ‘How will I survive with lost time from work?’”
Use Client Testimonials
Some of your most credible stories will be written by past clients. According to BIA/Kelsey, 97% of people (so nearly everyone) read reviews for local businesses. Incorporate client testimonials into your website content to communicate your story through the eyes of someone that has experience with your firm.
Produce Ongoing Quality Content
Putting your story on your website’s homepage is an excellent start. But this is also a theme that you’ll want to carry through your other pages and ongoing blog and social media posts.
People like to see a consistent message, and this can help your firm create an authentic brand. As you learn more about your audience and expand your firm’s services, your story can continue to unfold to incorporate those areas and send the message that you provide the best client experience in the area.
Contact Sundown Legal Marketing Today
Fortunately, many attorneys are gifted storytellers but don’t think to use that skill to market their own services. For more information on using this effective tool in your website content, reach out to Sundown Legal Marketing. Contact us today at (800) 864-1764 or online to schedule a free website evaluation or with any questions about our services.
