Guide for Using Email Marketing Effectively as a Bankruptcy Attorney
Just about everyone uses email these days, and it is a great way to get in touch with your current and prospective new clients. You'll need to have a firm grasp of email marketing for bankruptcy attorneys in order to make the most of your monthly newsletters, new client offers, and other messaging. The team here at Madison Ave Media specializes in email marketing services for bankruptcy attorneys, enabling us to best serve the unique needs of this market sector.
In this guide, we'll review the key aspects of running a successful email marketing campaign. Here's a look at what we'll discuss:
Get People Excited to See Your Email in Their Inboxes
Build Your Email List as You Go
Maintain Relationships with Your Readers and Current Clients
Email Marketing Best Practices
Brand Your Campaign
Optimize Your Emails for Desktop and Mobile
Avoid Spam Filters
Be Friendly, Not "Salesy"
Get Consent
Types of Email Marketing Campaigns
Fun Things You Can Do with Email
Feel Free to Be Creative when Using Images and Videos
Promote Your Blog
Test Which Day Is Best to Send an Email
Great Email Marketing Tools That'll Help You Build Your List
Review Your Analytics, Keep What Works, and Throw Away What Doesn't
By following the tips and strategies here, your law firm will be able to generate new client leads, keep your existing clients informed, and encourage them to bring in referrals, expanding your client base even further. Read on for everything you need to know about email marketing for bankruptcy attorneys, and feel free to get in touch with us at any time if you have questions or need additional assistance. We're always happy to help.
Now, let's get started.
1. GET PEOPLE EXCITED TO SEE YOUR EMAIL IN THEIR INBOXES
The first step to a successful email marketing campaign is to get readers to open your emails. The goal is to provide valuable content they can't wait to read. Don't think of your email marketing as an afterthought to your practice; from creating catchy subject lines to producing engaging, informative content, you'll need to give your newsletters and other emails the care and attention they deserve.
2. BUILD YOUR EMAIL LIST AS YOU GO
While you may already have a list of your clients’ email addresses, there is no need to stop there. To truly make the most of your email list, you'll need to be constantly adding new subscribers. Throughout your website, be sure to incorporate lead magnets to gather new email addresses. You can try offering additional, premium content as a reward for subscribing or offer a discount on a future service. To encourage people to sign up, it is also a good idea to provide samples of what your content looks like so they know what to expect.
You can build your email list following consultations and new inquiries. Have your administrators encourage clients to provide their contact information after a a consultation to keep your firm top of mind. You can even give them some kind of reward, such as discounted services for referring their friends and family members. Giveaways and contests are great for generating new subscribers as well.
3. MAINTAIN RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR READERS AND CURRENT CLIENTS
In creating your content, try to include information that will appeal to multiple sectors of your audience. For example, current clients will be interested in any new updates at your firm or within your industry, while prospective clients will want to know why they should choose your bankruptcy law firm over others. General information about the bankruptcy process and current trends in the industry will appeal to both audiences.
4. EMAIL MARKETING BEST PRACTICES
No matter what industry you are in, there are certain email marketing strategies that will give you the best chance of success.
Subject Lines
Your email subject line should be short and to-the-point. It should entice your readers to open the email and read your content but without sounding spammy. For example, "Expert Legal Tips and Help from Our Team of Bankruptcy Attorneys" is a strong headline, while "READ THIS NOW!!!!!" will likely end up in the spam folder.
Content
Once you've gotten readers to open the email, you need to provide valuable content.
Personalization - You want your readers to feel like your content is specifically designed for them, so avoid being too broad or general in your information.
Humor - While humor can be effective at times, it is also subjective. You don't want to risk offending anyone, so take great care in adding humor to your content.
Stories - Personal stories help your readers establish a connection to the content, so try to incorporate them whenever possible.
Theme - An overarching theme for each newsletter can help tie all of your content together.
Length - Many readers will be viewing your content on mobile devices, so try to keep it short and direct. Keep individual paragraphs and sentences short as well, and include bullet points to make content easy to scan.
Providing Value
At the end of the day, the primary goal of your content is to add value to your readers. If you wouldn't be interested in reading it, don't email it; it's that simple.
Building A Sense Of Community
Making your law firm feel like a family will go a long way towards encouraging clients to stay with you over the years. Be sure to include updates about new members of your team in your emails so clients can get to know them before seeing them in your office.
Call To Action
You don't want readers to just look at your emails and then forget about them. Every email should include a call to action, encouraging them to get in touch with your office to set up a consultation.
Time And Frequency Of Each Email
If you send your messages in the middle of the night, they'll likely wind up at the bottom of your readers' inboxes by the time they get up. Try scheduling your messages for when they'll actually be available to read them, such as during lunch or after work. Keep your emails to no more than once per week so you don't overwhelm readers with too many messages.
5. BRANDING YOUR CAMPAIGN
Every email you send should include your firm’s name and logo, and it should look similar to the branding of your website. This way, readers will immediately know exactly who the message is from. Keep your branding consistent across social media channels and any print marketing as well.
6. OPTIMIZE YOUR EMAILS FOR DESKTOP AND MOBILE
More and more people read their emails on their smartphones or tablets these days, so you'll want to ensure your messaging displays correctly on any device, not just desktop and laptop computers. More than half of the traffic in 2020 is mobile, so you could risk the success of your email marketing if you don't embrace this trend. Your website should be mobile-friendly as well.
7. AVOID SPAM FILTERS
Email spam filters are great at removing emails that look like spam so that readers never see them. Avoid using all caps and spammy words like "free" too much in your content to keep it in the inbox where it belongs.
8. BE FRIENDLY, NOT "SALESY"
Your readers subscribed to your newsletter to gain valuable information, not to be inundated with sales pitches. It's fine to include some promotion of your business, but the primary focus should be on useful content. Build relationships with your readers first before you try to push your practice on them.
9. GET CONSENT
Some people don't want to receive email marketing from law firms on a daily or even weekly basis. Be sure to offer monthly options as well, and always give your readers the option to opt out of your emails if they are no longer interested.
10. TYPES OF EMAIL MARKETING CAMPAIGNS
Weekly or monthly newsletters are great options for email marketing for bankruptcy attorneys, but there is so much more you can do with email. Try sending birthday or holiday greetings to your clients, along with discounts for future services, to let them know you are thinking of them. You can also send out surveys to get feedback from your clients regarding your services. Mix it up so your email messages aren't always the same.
11. FUN THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH EMAIL
Beyond simply providing helpful information, there are many other things you can include in your emails to engage readers. If your firm has any events coming up in the near future, your email newsletter is the perfect place to announce them. You can also introduce new services and include special offers to entice prospective clients to try them out. You can introduce new team members and highlight your charitable efforts in the local community as well.
12. FEEL FREE TO BE CREATIVE WHEN USING IMAGES AND VIDEOS
Emails that include images are much more attention-grabbing than those that do not, so be sure to incorporate at least one image in each message. Don't feel locked into just using images of contracts and brief cases, though; images with people in them can be more powerful. Have fun with your imagery, and mix things up to create more visual interest in your emails.
Some of your email subscribers may not want to do heavy reading, so you can use videos to explain complex topics and make them more interesting and engaging. Try using video tours of your firm, introductions to the team, and explanations of services. Video is also great for brand storytelling.
13. PROMOTE YOUR BLOG
If you maintain a blog for your bankruptcy law firm (which you should if you don't already!), your email newsletter is the perfect venue for promoting your latest posts. In addition to guiding your readers to your most valuable information, you'll also be directing traffic to your website. This helps to tie in all aspects of your brand and can boost conversions.
14. TEST WHICH DAY IS BEST TO SEND AN EMAIL
We touched earlier on the importance of sending your email marketing messages at the right time of day, but the day of the week can play a role in your open rate as well. At first, don't always send your emails on the same day. This way, you can track clicks for various days to determine the optimal day to send your emails. Once you have figured it out, you can switch to a more regular schedule.
15. GREAT EMAIL MARKETING TOOLS THAT'LL HELP BUILD YOUR LIST
While you could manually input your subscribers' email addresses for each mailing, this can be tedious and time-consuming. It will grow even more so as your subscriber list grows. Fortunately, you have a variety of free email marketing tools at your disposal. Mailchimp (our favorite), Zoho campaigns, Sender, Omnisend, and Mailjet, to name a few, can be invaluable in helping you build and manage your email list, as well as your sending schedule, so you can focus on content development for your emails.
16. REVIEW YOUR ANALYTICS, KEEP WHAT WORKS, AND THROW AWAY WHAT DOESN'T
If you're not tracking the success of your email marketing messages, you could be missing out on major opportunities. It is always smart to pay attention to your analytics for each email. This will help you identify when to send your messages to get the most people to open them. It can also show you which types of content generate the most interest and which are largely ignored. This way, you can give your readers more of what they want while eliminating content that isn't of interest. The more you can constantly improve your email marketing, the greater success you will have with it in the future.
WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR Bankruptcy Attorney EMAIL MARKETING TECHNIQUES?
Each one of the tips outlined above will help with email marketing for bankruptcy attorneys, but it is a combined use of all of them that will maximize your success. However, between managing your firm and serving your clients, it can often be difficult to find the time to give your email marketing the attention it requires to do well.
That is where we come in. We'll work closely with you to develop an email marketing strategy that will work for your practice, and we'll handle the hard work for you. This way, you can focus on your clients, knowing that your email marketing efforts are in good hands. Reach out to our team today to learn more and get started.