Law Firm Newsletter: How to Stary Your Own in 2023 (& Why You Need One)

Having an effective marketing strategy is more important than ever for law firms. There’s a lot of competition in the leagal industry, and it’s a good idea to make sure you have a multi-pronged marketing plan in place to help you establish and grow those relationships.

One powerful tool for building and maintaining relationships with clients and potential clients is a well-crafted law firm newsletter. This digital marketing technique can be done by ANYONE (you don’t need to be an expert), and it’s relatively low cost.

But what exactly is a law firm newsletter?

It’s a regular communication sent to a targeted list of subscribers (often called a mailing list), which can include current clients, prospective clients, and other interested parties. A law firm email newsletter can cover a variety of topics, including information on the legal process, case studies, and insights on industry trends. But overall, the goal is to demonstrate your firm’s expertise by providing a valuable resource to your client base (both current and potential). 

Benefits of doing this low-effort practice are plentiful. By providing valuable and timely information, you can build trust and credibility with your audience, which can ultimately lead to more business.

In this article, we’ll dive into the specifics of how to start your own law firm newsletter in 2023, including choosing the right platform, crafting engaging content, and growing your subscriber list. We’ll also explore some best practices for making sure your newsletter is effective and well-received. So, whether you’re just getting started or looking to revamp an existing newsletter, you’re in the right place.

Why Your Law Firm Needs a Newsletter

A law firm newsletter is an essential marketing tool for legal marketing, but why?

Establishing Credibility and Expertise

A law firm newsletter can help establish your firm as a credible and knowledgeable source of information in your practice area, showcasing your expertise and reinforcing your reputation.

By providing valuable insights and updates on legal developments to your email subscribers, you can position your firm as a thought leader and go-to resource for clients and prospects. This can be particularly important in highly competitive practice areas where establishing credibility and expertise can set you apart from the competition.

Overall, a well-crafted newsletter can be a powerful tool for building trust and establishing your firm as a leader in your field. Both to clients, and to other firms that might recommend your services. 

Staying Top of Mind with Clients

A law firm newsletter can help you stay top-of-mind with clients and prospects by providing timely and relevant information on a regular basis. By sending out a newsletter on a consistent schedule, you can keep your firm’s name and expertise in front of your audience.

When clients and prospects receive your newsletter, they are reminded of your firm’s capabilities and the valuable information you provide. This can be particularly important in situations where clients may not need your services immediately but may in the future.

By staying top-of-mind, you increase the likelihood that they will think of your firm when they do have a need for legal services.

Generating New Business

A law firm newsletter can generate new business by keeping your firm top-of-mind with clients and prospects, providing valuable insights, and driving engagement and referrals.

By regularly communicating with your audience and positioning yourself as a trusted advisor, you increase the likelihood of being contacted when legal needs arise. Referrals can be particularly valuable in highly competitive practice areas where word-of-mouth recommendations can make all the difference.

Overall, a well-crafted newsletter can help drive business growth and establish your firm as a go-to resource for legal services.

How to Start Your Own Law Firm Newsletter

Starting a law firm newsletter can seem like a daunting task, but it can be a powerful way to establish credibility, stay top-of-mind with clients and prospects, and generate new business.

1. Define Your Goals and Audience

Before starting your law firm newsletter, it’s important to define your goals and target audience. You want your newsletter goals to align with your firm’s overall marketing strategy, whether it’s to increase brand awareness, generate new business, or establish thought leadership in your practice area.

With your goals in mind, you need to consider who your target audience is? What topics and information are of interest to them? Defining your audience will help you tailor your content ideas to meet pique their interest and provide value, which ultimately helps you accomlish your overall goal.

Overall, defining your goals and audience is a critical first step in creating a successful law firm newsletter that engages your audience and helps you achieve your marketing objectives.

2. Choose a Platform

You aren’t going to want to send your law firm email newsletter from your personal inbox, that’ll just be messy and confusing. Instead, you want to contact your mailing list using email marketing software. 

There are plenty of choices out there, but we tend to recommend Flodesk (our favorite) or ConvertKit. Flodesk is the more affordable choice, but ConvertKit has a bit more customization, so it depends on what you’re going for.

Choosing the right platform is essential for creating a visually appealing and engaging newsletter that effectively communicates your firm’s message and brand.

3. Plan Your Content

Planning your content is a crucial step in creating a successful law firm newsletter. We recommend sending your newsletter at least twice a month to maintain regular communication with your audience. Planning out your content in advance, ideally at least four months ahead, can help you stay organized and avoid last-minute scrambling.

When planning your content, consider what topics and themes will be of interest to your audience. You can draw inspiration from recent legal developments, client successes and testimonials, industry trends and insights, and thought leadership in your practice area. Your newsletter should also include a mix of content types, such as short news items, longer articles, infographics, and multimedia elements.

Don’t forget to include calls-to-action in your newsletter, such as inviting readers to schedule a consultation or follow your firm on social media. And remember to personalize your newsletter by including your firm’s branding, photos of your team, and other elements that help your audience connect with your firm on a personal level.

Overall, planning your content in advance can help you create a well-rounded, engaging newsletter that keeps your audience informed and connected to your firm. It also helps you avoid the stress and overwhelm of last-minute content creation.

4. Write Your Content

Once you have a plan in place for your law firm newsletter, it’s time to start creating your content. You want to come up with content ideas that are informative, engaging, and relevant to your target audience.

Many people are tempted to throw a bunch of links to blog posts and other resources in their newsletter and call it a day… but this won’t provide you with the best experience. It’s OK to provide links in your email newsletter but you want to include a maximum of 3 maybe 4, if you have a good reason.

The base of your email newsletter should be a call-to-action. That is something that you want people to do. This could be linking to a compelling blog post on the legal industry or booking an initial call with you – but whatever you choose you NEED to have ONE and only one call-to-action.

We also don’t recommend that all of your newsletter ideas end with “call us to book an appoinment” because that will get boring, fast. And, honestly, it’s not going to be the most meaningful action 100% of the time.  

You want to keep in mind that your attorney newsletter should reflect your firm’s voice and brand. It’s important to avoid legal industry jargon or overly technical language as this can confuse and alienate your audience. Plus, you don’t want to be overly serious – especially if you’re working in a more personable field like at a family law firm. You also want to make sure your thoroughly proofread your content before sending it out.

Visuals like images and infographic can be used to break up the text and make your newsletter more visually appearing. You also want to make sure you optimize your content for mobile devices by using short paragraphs and bullet points. 

Overall, writing your content is a key step in creating a successful law firm newsletter that effectively communicates your message and engages your audience. By providing valuable information and resources, you can establish your firm as a trusted source of legal expertise and build stronger relationships with your clients and prospects.

5. Create a Template

Templates save you A LOT of time when it comes to creating your regular lawyer newsletter. They allow you to maintain a consistent format and style, which can make it easier to create and send out your newsletters on a regular basis.

Consider using a design that reflects your firm’s branding and colors when creating your template. It should include your logo at the top, and your law firm’s contact information in a place that’s easy to find (most firms do this right in the footer).

Make sure the layout clean and easy to read, with ample white space and a clear hierarchy of information. This will provide the best user experience for your email subscribers. 

6. Schedule Your Email

We recommend sending your newsletter at least twice a month to keep your audience engaged and informed. However, you should also consider your audience’s preferences and adjust your sending frequency accordingly.

Generally, mid-week between Tuesday and Thursday is a good time to send newsletters, as people tend to be less busy and more likely to engage with their email during those days. Avoid Fridays if you can, as most people are checked out then.

Both Flodesk and ConvertKit allow you to schedule your newsletters to be sent at a specific date and time. This means that you can plan your newsletters for the next month (or even quarter) in one sitting, schedule them out and not worry about them!

It’s always a good idea to test your email before sending them out, just to make sure that the links and images are working correctly.

Step 7. Evaluate Your Efforts and Revise Your Strategy

One of the most important parts in a digital marketing strategy is to evaluate and adjust as you’re going. It’s also a step A LOT of us forget to do. Let’s make sure you do it to get the full benefit of your efforts. 

After you send out several email marketing campaigns to your email list, it’s important to top and evaluate your strategy. This helps you identify what’s working, along with where you can improve. 

You want to look at:

• Open rates: the percentage of people that open your email (and potentially read it)
• Click-through rates: the percentage of people who click through one of your links
• Conversion rates: the percentage of people that ended up converting based on your email – pending that’s applicable

Based on your analytics, you can identify areas of improvement in your newsletter. You can improve anything from the subject line, content, or even the frequency of your newsletter. 

You can further gather feedback from your audience by sending out surveys or asking for feedback directly. This can give you valuable insights into what your audience really wants and is interested in. 

Final Thoughts: Law Firm Newsletter

A law firm newsletter is a powerful tool for building strong relationships with clients and prospects. It can help you establish your credibility and expertise, connect with your audience, and generate new business development and client opportunities.

Creating a law firm newsletter is a great way to expand your digital marketing efforts. By following the steps outlined here, you can create one that engages your audience, provides valuable insights, and sets you apart from the competition.

Key components of your email marketing strategy is going to be:

• Writing compelling content that’s valuable to your audience
• Creating a template that you can reuse time and time again
• Pre-schedluing your email so you can do less last-minute work
• Continually refining your plans

Starting a law firm newsletter can feel like a daunting task, but with the right approach and tools, it can be a rewarding and impactful addition to your marketing strategy. So why wait? Start building your law firm newsletter today and see the benefits for yourself.

Law Firm Newsletter FAQs