Why Your Law Firm Needs a Content Strategy

In today's market, having exceptional legal expertise is no longer enough to attract new clients. Every law firm in the land has ‘exceptional legal expertise.’

Unless you have been living under a rock, you should already be aware that potential clients are increasingly turning to digital channels to find legal services, with research from the Legal Services Consumer Panel showing that 67% of consumers shopped around when choosing legal services in 2020, with much of this research happening online. That figure is only going to have grown since then.

But here's the challenge: how do you stand out in an increasingly crowded digital space where every law firm claims to offer the best service?

The answer lies in developing a strategic approach to your content marketing. Let me share some evidence-based strategies that can help transform your client acquisition and retention.

Understanding the Current UK Legal Market

The UK legal sector faces significant competition. According to The Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA), there were 9,178 regulated law firms in England and Wales as of February 2025, creating intense competition for client attention. This does not include the 3,800 unregulated legal service providers that are also competing in this space.

The Legal Services Consumer Panel Tracker Survey 2023 revealed that price sensitivity has increased significantly, with more consumers than ever comparing firms before making decisions. This shift means that demonstrating value and trust before a client even contacts you has never been more important.

The Building Blocks of an Effective Legal Content Strategy

1. Know Your Audience Intimately

Different practice areas require different content approaches. Research by the Legal Services Board (2022) found that information needs vary substantially between client segments, with individuals seeking family law services often prioritising emotional understanding and clear pricing, while commercial clients typically value technical expertise and sector experience.

Law firms can benefit from creating detailed personas based on demographic data and client interviews to better target their content efforts. The 2022 Legal Content Marketing Benchmark Report by LexisNexis found that firms using defined audience personas saw 24% higher engagement rates with their content.

2. Create Content That Actually Helps People

The most effective legal content addresses specific client questions and concerns directly. According to research by IRN Research (2021), potential clients are most engaged by content that helps them understand how to solve specific legal problems, rather than generic service descriptions.

The Content Marketing Institute's 2023 research found that the most successful B2B content marketers spend 40% of their content efforts on educational materials rather than promotional content - a lesson particularly relevant for law firms.

Some firms I’ve worked with have been concerned about giving too much away in the content and are worried that the client will glean the answers and not need to engage them. This is obviously rubbish. With a few keystrokes on Google, clients can find out almost anything, so you may as well be the one offering up the free guidance.

3. Build Trust Through Multiple Content Formats

Research by FindLaw's 2022 Consumer Legal Survey showed that prospective clients engage with legal information across multiple formats:

• 58% read articles or blog posts

• 42% watch videos

• 37% use interactive tools like calculators or eligibility checkers

• 31% listen to podcasts or audio content
  

This suggests that law firms should diversify their content formats to reach potential clients at different touchpoints in their decision journey.

4. Demonstrate Outcomes, Not Just Services

According to the SRA's "Price Transparency in the Legal Services Market" research (2020), clients are less interested in how you'll solve their problem than in knowing that you can solve it. Case studies that focus on client outcomes rather than legal processes often generate higher engagement.

Research by Acritas (now part of Thomson Reuters) found that clients are 64% more likely to engage firms that demonstrate understanding of their specific situation and provide evidence of similar successful outcomes.

5. Implement a Strategic Distribution Plan

Creating excellent content is only half the battle. The 2023 State of Digital Marketing for Professional Services by Hinge Research Institute found that top-performing firms use at least 3 different channels to distribute their content.

LinkedIn: The 2022 Social Media Marketing Industry Report found that LinkedIn is the most effective social platform for professional services, with 66% of B2B marketers rating it as their most effective channel.

Email marketing: According to Campaign Monitor's 2023 Benchmark Report, legal industry email newsletters achieve an average 22% open rate when properly segmented by practice area and client interests.

Local SEO: BrightLocal's 2023 Local Consumer Review Survey found that 93% of consumers used the internet to find local businesses in the previous year, with 34% searching weekly, making local search optimisation crucial for regional law firms.

Implementing Your Strategy: A Practical Framework

• Audit your existing content and identify gaps in your coverage of key client questions

• Research your ideal clients' information consumption habits and preferences

• Develop content guidelines that ensure consistency in tone, quality and messaging

• Create an editorial calendar that addresses seasonal issues and anticipated legal developments

• Build measurement frameworks to track performance against clear objectives

Measuring Content Marketing Success

The 2023 Legal Marketing Association research on digital marketing ROI identified several key performance indicators that successful law firms track:

• Organic traffic growth to practice area pages

• Engagement metrics (time on page, pages per session)

• Lead generation rates from content-driven channels

• Consultation-to-client conversion rates

• Client acquisition costs

• Average matter value from content-generated leads

Most of these metrics can be measured through platforms like Google Analytics or if you use an SEO agency, they can provide detailed monthly reports on how you are tracking and what content is performing best.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Based on surveys of marketing professionals in the legal sector by Legal Marketing Association (2022), the most common content strategy failures include:

• Creating overly technical content that fails to engage non-lawyers

• Inconsistent publishing schedules that undermine authority building

• Focusing exclusively on awareness content without developing conversion pathways

• Neglecting to repurpose valuable content across multiple channels

• Failing to align content with the specific needs of target markets

Most firms have a tendency to over-focus on ‘news’ type content such as winning an award, charity efforts, or partner promotions. While these help to give a flavour of the sort of organisation you are, they provide very little to 99% of your potential clients. Concentrate the bulk of your online content on information that is useful to the reader and not just about self promotion.

Getting Started

The Legal Content Marketing Benchmark Report (LexisNexis, 2022) found that firms that commit to consistent content strategies for at least 12 months see significantly better results than those taking a more ad hoc approach.

Begin by identifying your firm's unique positioning in the market, then develop content that authentically reflects this positioning while addressing genuine client needs. Remember that in a profession built on trust, your content strategy must demonstrate not just your legal expertise but also your understanding of and commitment to solving your clients' problems.

With a strategic approach to content, your firm can build meaningful connections with potential clients long before they need your services—ensuring you're the first call they make when they do.

Need help with content strategy?

If this all sounds like something outside your comfort zone, or you don’t have the internal resource for it, then get in touch. We can help you develop a content strategy that will give you the edge over the competition, attract new client enquiries, and keep your legal teams busy with work.