Are Family Law Practices Prepared for Quarantine Divorces?
As the US slowly emerges from the pandemic-induced quarantine, a roiling wave of divorces may be on the horizon. The stress and economic fallout caused COVID-19 and government interventions to slow the virus’ spread may have helped create the type of emotionally unhealthy home environment that breeds marital conflict and divorce. Early data from China and past data on previous epidemics also appear to confirm that an influx of divorce filings is on the way.
The only question remaining is whether divorce attorneys are properly prepared. Divorce attorneys could see requests for services more than double through the end of 2020 and into 2021. Unhappy spouses will be scouring the web looking for answers. Firms that develop an early digital marketing strategy are going to be the most likely to see the largest share of the work.
No Baby Boom Here, Just Divorces
It’s not just your imagination. The global pandemic has pushed many couples toward the edge of what they can take. We likely won’t see any official numbers on total divorces or expert analyses of those numbers until well after we’re out of the pandemic, but there is data to confirm what we expect to occur.
A late March Bloomberg article highlights the uptick in divorces coming out of China since that country began lifting quarantine measures. One Shanghai-based divorce lawyer noted his caseload had increased 25% since mid-March. And one disgruntled wife explained, “I don’t want to endure anymore. We’ve agreed to get a divorce, and the next thing is to find lawyers.”
China’s early dealings with the coronavirus make it a bit of bellwether for what the US could expect. But there’s also historical precedent with other virus threats.
The Bloomberg article also states that, following the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic, divorces in Hong Kong were 21% higher in 2004 than in the previous year. This increase can be attributed in part to the economic and emotional stressors caused by the SARS virus and the government response to it.
Divorces Are on the Way in the US
Back in the West, media outlets and researchers expect a huge increase in divorces over the next 12-24 months. Multiple media reports also indicate that experienced divorce lawyers anticipate a significant spike in divorces, especially once courts begin accepting what are considered “non-essential” filings.
Additionally, some websites that serve as hubs of information on divorces report seeing a massive increase in search traffic interest. The website DivorceMag.com, for example, saw its traffic nearly dip in half as lockdown procedures took effect in mid-March. By the first week of May, its traffic had increased by nearly 100%.
Quarantine measures are ending and courts are re-opening. Effective digital marketing takes time, but the spike in divorce filings has likely already begun. Couples are making their plans to split, as evidenced by search traffic. If you wait too long to market your divorce attorney services you could put your firm at a competitive disadvantage.
How Can Divorce Lawyers Prepare?
The situation ahead of us is completely unprecedented. Many divorce lawyers and researchers expect an increase in divorces, with an unavoidable spike due to delayed divorce filings following government shutdowns.
To more effectively prepare for the influx of divorces, family lawyers and divorce attorneys may want to consider doing the following:
Increasing staff, particularly paralegals
Increasing digital marketing efforts across multiple marketing channels
Immediate staffing is critical
Most divorcees are already frustrated by the time they get to this point. The significant delays they’re facing due to closed court systems and the increased economic uncertainty that currently exists only serve to compound the issue.
If you can’t promise to handle their case quickly and efficiently, your potential clients will likely turn to one of your competitors.
Avoid losing business by adding staff who can help you handle the increase in demand. This should include paralegals who can help you maintain communication with the client and handle the breadth of the research and document filing.
Boost your digital marketing
Chances are good that you already have a digital presence. Even your business listing on Google—which includes your business hours, telephone number, and address—is considered a form of marketing. However, you’ll want to take a more active marketing approach to ensure your firm or practice is more prominently displayed on search engines, websites, and social media.
There are multiple routes to explore for digital marketing, some of which may have a more immediate impact. Other marketing channels will take time to show results but could be worth the effort and care you put into them.
Key digital marketing channels to consider include:
Local SEO
Search ads
Display ads
Organic marketing
Not all marketing channels will make sense for each business. Contact Madison Ave Media today for a complimentary consultation, including which digital marketing channels and strategies will work best for your family law practice.
Marketing Strategies for Divorce Lawyers
Focus your attention and resources on the digital marketing channels that will have the most impact. Here are several avenues that you may find beneficial in the coming months.
Focused attention on local SEO
Local SEO is incredibly important for divorce lawyers. While you may still be meeting with clients digitally over Zoom due to COVID-19 concerns, many clients may want to meet with you in person, even at a social distance. Most will be looking to hire a divorce attorney who is not just local, but has verified ratings and reviews that they can see online.
Your local SEO strategy should include a listing on Google using Google My Business. This free service from Google places your business information on a relevant Google search for individuals who are searching for a topic locally, such as “divorce lawyers near me”. Adding an address will also put your business “on the map”, so to speak, when individuals search for these keywords on Google Maps.
Other local SEO strategies include making sure your business is listed with other search engines, including Bing and Yahoo. You should also ensure your business information is listed and accurate on other sites and services people use to find local businesses, such as Yellow Pages and Yelp, and on legal services listing sites like FindLaw and Avvo.
Already have a local SEO strategy? Make sure to review your business listings for accuracy. When search engines crawl this information, they search for consistency. Inaccurate information can hurt your rankings and lead to distrust from potential clients (especially if your listed office hours are wrong).
Renewed focus on paid ads
Now is a great time to reinvest some capital into paid digital advertising. There are multiple paid ad models, although the two most commonly used models for modern digital advertisers are Pay-Per-Click (PPC)/Cost-Per-Click (CPC) and Cost Per Impression (CPM).
PPC/CPC models are what you’ll find more often if you utilize paid search. With paid search, you purchase the right to use a specific keyword that’s relevant to your business, such as “San Diego divorce lawyers”. Your ad will then appear at the top of the search engine results, and you’ll pay a certain amount each time someone clicks the ad, depending on what Google has determined the keywords’ value to be.
Not all paid ad models make sense for every business. PPC/CPC is a great short-term model if you’re able to identify that a reasonable amount of search traffic for critical keywords already exists. PPC/CPC models can still make sense with low search volumes, however, if the competition isn’t already there through organic search.
You should anticipate a run-up volume for many divorce-related keywords, making paid search even more important.
Display ad models, like CPM, can be a good way to keep the attention on your business as individuals make their way around the web. Many display ad methods utilize tracking cookies that can serve your ads on various websites to individuals who have recently accessed or searched for related topics.
Long-term focus on organic marketing
The best-quality marketing is always organic. When new clients come your way via a recommendation, they have a much higher chance of using your service. The same is true of organic digital marketing. When potential clients find you outside of paid search models, they’re more likely to convert.
Most organic marketing starts with SEO-optimized content. For that, you’ll need to start building out the content on your website to establish yourself as an authority and to increase your visibility on search engines.
There are several strategies for organic marketing you should consider.
First, your landing pages should all be updated. Make sure all landing pages include the keywords you’re hoping to rank for in organic searches, such as the cities or states you serve and the services you offer.
Once you’ve updated your landing pages, start developing a content development plan for your website. This should include blog authentically-written, SEO-optimized blog articles that serve a useful purpose. Avoid keyword stuffing, as Google penalizes sites and content for this practice. Instead, offer useful and expertly-written information that answers the type of questions potential clients are actually searching for, such as “how much does a divorce lawyer cost” or “how do I file for divorce in California”.
You should also market your content across different social media channels. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are all well-developed mediums for sharing blog content. You can even pay to boost these shares on social media platforms so that the content reaches individuals outside of those already within your personal network.
Get Ahead of the Coming Divorce Surge
One of the largest spikes in divorce filings is coming. Will potential clients be able to easily find your practice online when they search?
Don’t let your competitors get an edge in what’s going to be a historic surge in divorce filings. Get your digital marketing in order before the surge begins to increase your likelihood of success.
Contact Madison Ave Media today for a free consultation.