How and Why to Humanize Your Law Firm

It’s no secret that many people carry a general distrust of lawyers. With lawyer jokes and the media that don’t pull any punches when framing attorneys in a negative light, it’s easy for the average person to view lawyers as another breed entirely. The impression of cold, calculating lawyers can even prevent people from reaching out for legal help when they need it.

Many of the things that can make attorneys seem unrelatable are not at all negative in nature; due to the years of schooling and extremely specific industry knowledge most attorneys possess, it can be easy for the layperson to view attorneys as “other”. It’s important to let current and potential future clients see that although you are certainly experienced and an authority in your field, you are also a person like any other with empathy, life, and expression.

A great way to break through barriers, access potential clientele, and correct negative impressions of the legal industry is to humanize your law firm. The good news is that humanizing is relatively simple, but it will take an intentional effort. The goal of humanizing anything is to help people relate. People are inherently drawn to things they relate to, and are wary of things they don’t. It’s not difficult to see the importance the relatability of an attorney or law firm has for the ability to draw in clients. The strategy you choose to go about this may differ based on your own firm’s unique strengths and personality.

Ideas for humanizing a law firm may include:

• Engage on social media. Engaging on the social media where your clients spend their time, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, is a great way to show your clients that you have things in common. Depending on the personality your law firm presents, you may choose to share interesting or relevant articles on your Facebook page, join social movement hashtags on Twitter, or share cute pictures of an office pet wearing a bowtie and glasses on Instagram. Office pets in general are a great idea for disarming wary clients; who doesn’t love puppies? These types of efforts can help bring a law firm back into a realm of life the layperson is familiar with.
• Give clients an audio-visual introduction. People want to see who they’re talking to. This is part of the reason video conferencing has become the order of the day in workplaces even over phone calls. Letting potential clients put a face to the name, and a voice to the information, is a great way to show that you are a person just like them, but with legal experience that can be trusted. This is where video marketing becomes one of the most powerful tools in an attorney or law firm’s toolbelt.
• Talk about your clients’ interests. It’s important to offer content that current and potential clients feel is relevant to them, while making sure not to stray too far from your practice area. Creating blogs, articles, and videos using normal everyday language rather than elevated legal jargon is a great way to show people that you are like them, and you are listening. Discussing frequently asked questions from clients in your field of law is a great way to show people that you understand where they are coming from, and that your primary goal is to help them recover from whatever situation they have found themselves in.

To learn more about online marketing for attorneys or for help humanizing your law firm, reach out to AskTheLawyers™.