The 2-Phase Marketing Strategy That Every Law Firm Needs

🎯 Every small law firm wants to grow, but most skip the foundational steps that actually make marketing work. In this episode, Marc Cerniglia, Co-Founder of Spotlight Marketing + Branding, breaks down the two-phase marketing strategy that every successful firm needs to follow — from building credibility and staying top-of-mind with your network to running ads that actually convert.

📌 Key Takeaways:

• Why content marketing is the foundation for every other marketing effort.
• How to nurture referrals and repeat clients through consistent visibility.
• The second phase of marketing that turns awareness into real consultations.

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Chapters

• 0:00 The Two-Phase Framework
• 0:13 Phase One: Content Foundations
• 1:06 Strengthening Brand and Network
• 1:43 Phase Two: Smarter Ad Strategy
• 2:30 Lead Nurture Meets Long-Term Growth
• 3:12 Sponsor and Resource Link

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

The best marketing strategy for a law firm, I mean, there's obviously so many things that you could do, but honestly, I think there's really a couple of things that that every small law firm should be doing, and I would probably break them down honestly into like two phases. You know, phase one would be your content marketing, okay? And and I'll explain why, but you know, that would be things like obviously your website, but then it's gonna be content like social media, blogging, maybe an email newsletter. Um, it could even be a podcast, and that's a form of content, you know, although that's something that maybe is not as foundational, but anything that's content, videos, like we're doing videos right now, and you know, so and but the reason is because that is content that's gonna do a few things. It's going to actually build credibility. So no matter how somebody finds you, whether they do find you online or they're referred to you, that's all content that's gonna elevate your brand, increase your credibility. Um, and so that that's really important when you're a small law firm, helps you stand out from the crowd. You know, so many law firms want to jump into generating leads and things like that, but there's so much you should do that's foundational. The other thing content's gonna do for you in that first phase is it's going to help you stay in touch with your existing network more. And this is really important because uh we have found over the years that most small law firms still are not getting all the referrals and all the repeat business they should be and could be getting. So before you kind of move into the second phase, which I'll mention here in a moment, you know, you really want to do that first phase of marketing where you're really building your presence, you're building your credibility, your authority. You know, in marketing, we call that brand. You're also staying in touch with your network, your email list, your Rolodex, whatever you want to call it. Um, but then that second phase of marketing is when you can start to move into, you know, what we would call lead gen, and I would say more specifically is running ads. But I've got an asterisk by that, you know, because I think there's two types of ads that you should be doing. The one that everyone's familiar with that you want to, that I think is probably what you're thinking is running ads for your actual firm's service, right? So if you're a personal injury attorney running ads for people that are looking for a PI attorney, right? If you're a family law attorney running ads for people that are thinking about divorce or whatever else it might be. And that's great. Like that's going after the low-hanging fruit. But I think one of the biggest pieces of marketing uh that can be successful is running ads for people that are maybe interested in a topic. Maybe they're not looking for a lawyer right now, maybe they're not ready for a consultation right now, but maybe they're interested in a free resource, maybe they're interested in a webinar, they're interested in downloading something, and you're actually gonna get a lot more leads uh when you're doing something like that. And then you have your content marketing in place from phase one that's actually gonna nurture those people over time, and and then they will eventually schedule consultations. So phase one is that content marketing, phase two is ads, but understanding that there's value not just in running ads for people looking for a lawyer today, but there's also value in running ads for people who are just looking for some information right now. The Law Firm Marketing Minute is brought to you by Spotlight Marketing and Branding, where we help solo and small law firms get more plans and better comments. If you want more details, visit GrowMyLoft Firmsplast.com.