How to get your law firm in front of prospective clients

One of the most powerful tools you can have in your marketing armory is a decent collection of testimonials. They can make the difference between doing ok with your business and truly thriving. However, the key to maximising the reward is to make sure you use them effectively. There is no point in having a stash of testimonials if they are going to stay sitting in a folder!

In my role as Virtual Assistant, I am often asked to implement a process for gathering testimonials. If requesting a testimonial is not included within a workflow, it can be difficult to remember to do it at the end of the matter or project. Once the new process has been implemented, testimonials are requested as standard. I also then assist by sharing the feedback on social media and uploading the testimonials to the client’s website (and anywhere else it may be useful).

Testimonials are particularly useful in the legal sector because they can humanise a law firm, boosting its reputation and making it and the personnel within it more approachable.

What is the difference between a testimonial and a review

It is important to know the difference between a testimonial and a review. Testimonials are gathered by the business and written by the client or service user. They tend to be longer and provide more detail. Reviews tend to be collected by a third party such as Trustpilot, Google or Facebook. They are usually shorter in length and provide a brief summary of the client’s experience. Both have their place and can be utilised in different ways.

Testimonials offer increased credibility

Customer testimonials show potential new clients that your brand is respectable and trustworthy. They also give insight into the type of products and services you offer and the benefits that previous clients have experienced.

How to use customer testimonials to promote your brand

Once you have a client testimonial, you have an opportunity to use it in many ways to benefit your business. The easiest and most obvious way is to include testimonials on your website. Your website is the one piece of the internet you can control and it allows you to share what you want your target audience to see, hear and read. Most website visitors who are considering working with you will check your About page and your testimonials before deciding whether to contact you or buy from you.

You could also incorporate some testimonials within your newsletter. Good feedback is hard won so make it work for you.

Maximise a testimonial by creating a case study

As testimonials tend to be more detailed than reviews, they can be used as the basis for a case study. Case studies provide prospective clients with examples of how you have already helped other clients in similar situations and they can be the deciding factor when it comes to a potential client choosing you. Often, particularly when looking for legal services, people don’t understand the processes involved and a case study can talk them through what they should expect and the likely outcomes. A case study once again enables you to use one valuable piece of content in several ways to reach as many people as possible, maximising the benefits to your business.

Consider including employee testimonials too

When you collect employee testimonials you are allowing your employees the opportunity to speak to the culture of your company and share first-hand knowledge of the products and services you provide. You also offer employees the chance to share their views of you as an employer.

As people who know your products, employees are more relatable than a billboard, for example. If you are unsure how best to gather employee testimonials in a way that ensures you can collect authentic reviews without staff members being under pressure to offer them, please contact me and I can help you.

In summary

Testimonials can bring many benefits to your business. Making use of them effectively is the key. As a Virtual Assistant, this is just one of the many tasks I undertake for legal clients and those from other sectors.

If you would like to know more about how working with me can benefit you and your business, please don’t hesitate to get in touch at jen@businessowl.co.uk or on 07970 955535.