Clever Estate Planning Marketing Tactics That Drive Real Growth

Sep 4, 2023

Patrick Carver

Patrick Carver, CEO & Founder, Constellation Marketing

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Estate Planning Marketing Tactics That Millionaire Estate Planning Attorneys Use!

With more Americans pursuing estate plans than in years past, business is increasing for estate planning firms. But even with this recent growth, estate planning lawyers can’t survive on referrals alone.

Instead, consider leveraging the power of online marketing to help increase your monthly case count and generate a steady flow of top-tier clients.

Our team utilizes proven, effective marketing strategies, helping our estate planning clients earn $20,000-$50,000 in extra monthly revenue. Keep reading to learn the specific tactics we use and recommend!

 

Why Investing in Digital Marketing Makes Sense

With potential estate planning clients using search engines to locate an estate planning lawyer, having a robust online presence is crucial.

As mentioned, referrals alone won’t accelerate your practice growth or help you reach your financial targets. Expanding your client sources isn’t just desirable. It’s imperative.

Additionally, estate planning law firms face fierce competition from do-it-yourself (DIY) online options like LegalZoom and RocketLawyer. You need an effective estate planning marketing strategy to stand out against these DIY websites and other rival estate planning law firms.

 

Top 4 Secret Estate Planning Marketing Tactics the Pros Don’t Want You to Know!

As the driving force of estate planning marketing, we recommend using a skilled team of professional estate planners to fine-tune your approach to attracting new clients. At Constellation Marketing, we are here to help you secure new business, fortify your position against competitors, and provide a high ROI every time.

Your end goal? To be the first law firm website that surfaces online when a prospective client seeks guidance for estate planning services.

1. Implement Email Marketing

A basic financial planning newsletter can keep you in the spotlight among people in your network, whether past clients or friends. This clever tactic often delivers a sizable ROI and is affordable to implement.

2. Use Social Media Platforms

Did you know that the number of social media users is expected to hit 5.17 billion by 2024? Like email marketing, social media marketing is a golden opportunity for estate planning attorneys. These platforms enable you to build your brand and showcase your firm’s strengths.

3. Gather Client Reviews

Reviews are your stealthy ally in establishing your reputation as an estate planning specialist in your area. They’re an uncomplicated yet powerful tool to augment your client conversion rates.

It’s crucial to ask satisfied past and existing clients to publicize their experiences with your estate planning law firm via Google Reviews. Even if a client wishes to remain anonymous, be sure to collect their feedback to place on your website or social media pages.

4. Grow Your Network

Did you know that estate planning attorneys who network are better positioned to become thought leaders in the industry? Here are five ways to establish yourself as an authority in an estate planning practice:

  1. Write helpful articles and blog posts on relevant estate planning topics.
  2. Participate in legal seminars and conferences.
  3. Host online webinars or in-person workshops to educate your audience on crucial estate planning matters.
  4. Engage with legal questions on online forums, Q&A platforms, or your website.
  5. Provide educational sessions for fellow legal professionals. Sharing insights helps to contribute to your thought leadership!

For additional inspiration, check out our in-depth list of estate planning marketing ideas. We feature a broad array of tactics that estate planning professionals can use to obtain new leads and clients.

5 Solid SEO Strategies for Estate Planning Law Firms

Law firm SEO aims to increase organic traffic to your website by making it more attractive to search engines like Google. When done effectively, search engine optimization (SEO) significantly improves your website’s visibility and contributes to your law firm’s growth and success.

Over the past seven years, our innovative marketing efforts have funneled thousands of prospects to estate planning attorneys. Let’s dive into five critical elements of a successful SEO campaign!

1. Quality Content

In the digital world, “content is king,” and it is essential to your law firm’s SEO success. Leverage top-notch content marketing to meet your goals and outshine your rivals. The right content satisfies your target audience while serving the search engines’ algorithms to improve ranking.

To determine what your prospects are searching for, study your clients’ performance and use the data in crafting a targeted content marketing plan. This process can be an ongoing endeavor to keep up with legal trends or changes. It’s also necessary to update older content regularly

Search engines prefer fresh, high-quality content, and this strategy will help you stay relevant in your local estate planning market.

2. On-Page Optimization

On-page optimization involves optimizing your estate planning law firm’s website content, structure, and design to improve its ranking on search engines. This can include keyword research, creating unique meta descriptions and titles for each page, using header tags to organize content, and ensuring that the overall user experience is positive.

A well-optimized website will not only rank higher on search engines but also lead to better user engagement and conversions.

3. Link Building

Link building is the process of getting other websites to link back to your website. This not only helps with referral traffic but also signals to search engines that your content is trustworthy and relevant. Focus on creating high-quality, informative content that other websites would want to link back to naturally. Guest blogging and collaborating with other professionals in related industries are great ways to build links for your website.

4. Local SEO

For estate planning law firms, it’s crucial to have a solid local presence. This involves optimizing your website for location-specific keywords and ensuring that your business information is consistent across all online directories and platforms. Local reviews also play a significant role in local SEO, so encourage your satisfied clients to leave reviews on Google and other review platforms.

5. Website Performance and Design

A cutting-edge estate planning website is crucial to a successful SEO campaign. Google loves to share websites with lightning-fast loading times, adaptable design, and utilization of advanced technology. This includes optimizing for mobile devices, as more people are accessing the internet through their smartphones.

A well-designed website also contributes to a positive user experience, leading to better engagement and conversion rates. It’s essential to regularly update and maintain your website to ensure it is functioning correctly, loading quickly, and providing a seamless user experience.

 

4 Online Advertising Tactics for Estate Planning Law Firms

In the past year, Constellation Marketing has overseen more than $200,000 in ad expenditure for estate planning attorneys. Here’s the fantastic news: your expertly managed campaign is bound to yield a substantial ROI.

In one recent example, a Washington, D.C., client turned a $4,000 investment into $60,000 in new case fees within 60 days of starting his service. Here’s the feedback he shared:

“I’ve searched for a long, long time for a marketing firm to work with. Patrick and his team at Constellation Marketing are doing an amazing job. I highly recommend them!

Check out the four types of marketing efforts we typically use and recommend.

1. Google Pay-Per-Click Advertising

No other ad platform rivals the scalability provided by Google Pay-Per-Click. PPC ads may prove beneficial for estate planning lawyers for several reasons:

  • Targeted Audience: Google PPC allows you to target specific keywords relevant to your legal services, ensuring your ads are shown to users actively searching for estate planning services.

  • Immediate Visibility: With PPC, your ads appear at the top of search results shortly after setting up the campaign. This instant visibility helps you compete for prospective clients and quickly establish your presence.

  • Powerful ROI Potential: Depending on your niche, even a single estate planning case could yield a considerable profit.

2. Google Local Service Ads

Local service ads (LSAs) present a unique spin on the classic Google PPC model, acting as a conduit for new clientele. Here’s why we love LSAs and recommend using them to propel your estate planning practice to unprecedented heights:

  • Local Visibility: Google LSAs prominently showcase your estate planning firm at the top of relevant local search results, helping to capture prospective clients’ attention.

  • Highly Targeted: With LSAs, you can target specific legal services and practice areas, ensuring that your ads are displayed to people searching for services from an estate planning law firm.

  • Only Pay for Leads: Rather than paying per click, you invest only in potential leads. You can even dispute leads that don’t align with your specific market focus.

3. Facebook Ads for Estate Planning Services

Estate planning is one of the few legal services we believe makes sense to advertise on Facebook. Compared to more transactional practice areas (such as criminal defense), new estate planning clients generally require a longer courting period.

4. Webinars

Another common strategy is the “webinar method.” The idea is to invite prospective clients to a webinar to learn more about estate planning and then convert them down the road. If you’re interested in testing this method, we recommend working with a reputable marketing agency with significant experience.

 

5 Estate Planning Marketing Strategies That Often Fail

TV Advertising

Historically, TV advertising was an excellent way for attorneys to gain visibility. However, with the advent of digital media, its relevance has waned. The substantial production and broadcasting costs can consume your estate marketing budget and might yield a poor ROI.

Video Marketing

Video marketing is gathering momentum, with platforms like YouTube captivating vast audiences. However, video marketing seldom generates enough quality leads for law firms when used by itself. Producing high-quality video content demands considerable expertise, and the ROI doesn’t necessarily validate the investment.

Geo-location Marketing

Targeting potential clients based on their geographical location seems enticing, but the practicality is complex for most estate planning attorneys. Despite its hypothetical appeal, geo-location marketing often under-performs and fails to provide a robust ROI for estate planning law firms.

Billboards

Billboard advertising may work for some estate planning law firms, but they’re typically pricey. Evaluating their success may be challenging, as well. In the digital marketing era, this traditional advertising form often yields lower ROI compared to online strategies.

Podcasts

Although podcasts are popular, their efficiency for an estate planning business is debatable. They can amplify visibility, fortify personal branding, and affirm your expertise, but they may not yield high-quality client leads. However, a podcast could be an effective channel in specific scenarios for specialized estate planning services.

 

Track and Measure Your Marketing Success

No estate planning marketing campaign is comprehensive without tracking and measuring its success. With reliable data, you can tweak your strategies to increase their ROI. Here are a few key metrics to track for each of the above-mentioned marketing tactics:

Website Analytics

Your website is the virtual face of your business. Tracking its performance can give you valuable insights into the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Utilize Google Analytics or other tracking software to monitor metrics like website traffic, unique visitors, bounce rate, and average session duration. You can also track conversions, such as contact form submissions or consultation requests.

Social Media Engagement

Social media platforms offer a great way to reach out and connect with potential customers. Engaging content on your social media pages can pique interest and drive traffic to your website. Monitor likes, shares, comments, and follows to get an idea of how well your social media marketing is performing.

Email Marketing Metrics

Email marketing remains a highly effective tactic in the digital age. Keep an eye on metrics like open rate, click-through rate, and unsubscribe rate to gauge the success of your email campaigns.

Webinar Attendance and Conversion Rates

If you choose to use webinars as part of your marketing strategy, it’s essential to track attendance rates and conversions. This will give you an idea of how well your webinar content is resonating with potential clients and if it’s driving them to take action.

Grow Your Firm With Constellation Marketing

We get it: As a busy estate planning attorney, you may not have the time or expertise to implement these marketing tactics consistently. But joining forces with a top-notch legal marketing agency like Constellation Marketing can help you achieve your goals faster and more cost-effectively. We use proven, data-driven strategies to get your practice in front of more clients and drive real growth.

Reach out to us today to our estate planning lawyer marketing team and learn how we can help you grow your practice!

Patrick Carver

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