Have you ever read a content piece that was intended to target solicitors but didn’t quite get the hypotheticals right? You may have been left scratching your head thinking, that situation only ever happens in textbooks – or not at all! One explanation for this scenario is that the author has not nailed their customer profiles.
As marketeers we swear by having your client profiles written down, mapped out, and agreed upon within your firm. Otherwise, you may be reaching out to the wrong people all together, and missing the mark when it comes to your target audience can be bad for businesses.
Don’t worry though! We’re here to guide you through the process of creating client profiles for your law firm. Let’s get started...
How Do I Create a Client Profile?
How Can I Use Client Profiles to Attract the Right Clients?
Create Your Buyer Personas with a Simple Template
What is a Client Profile?
You may have researched the marketing world in an effort to get the edge on your competitors and come across the term ‘buyer persona’. Understanding your target market is key to any business. A ‘client profile’ or a ‘buyer persona’ are essentially the same – HubSpot defines buyer personas as a “semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers”.
OnBrand Magazine's State of Branding report found that 72% of businesses realise the importance of knowing your personas when it comes to generating content that connects with them.
The good news is that creating client profiles will increase the amount of quality leads your business gets, but the bad news is that it takes time and effort to create these profiles - but we are here to help!
How Do I Create a Client Profile?
In order to create a client profile, you’ll need to conduct market research. You want to find out all about your ideal clients. You may reach out to clients in past cases you have won or successfully completed. You can interview these clients and then use the data to create a semi-fictional profile of the ‘average’ ideal customer. Find out more about the 5 best practices when building client profiles here.
You may want to target simple quick-win, easy-money property cases, more complicated car accident cases, medical malpractice, conveyancing, family law, or whatever specific sector your practice operates in. Who are the people behind those cases? When creating your client profiles, you’ll need to know that.
Furthermore, you’ll want to know what makes you stand out from your competitors. Why should a client hire you? What can you do differently? What services do you offer that will guarantee the outcome your potential client wants?
You’ll want to gather as much information as you can from real customers, discuss what other demographic you’d like to target, and write it all down in a usable, agreed-upon document, so all employees understand who your target market actually is.
Why Is It Useful?
Once you understand who you are targeting, then you can figure out how to target them. Understanding who you are writing to will help you create content that directly appeals to your target audience. Understanding the relative buyer habits of your target customer will help you determine how your client will conduct research and how they will find you.
How Can I Use Client Profiles to Attract the Right Clients?
Again, it’s all in the messaging. Clients have all the power now. There’s such a wealth of information out there at people’s fingertips that gone are the days when people simply opted for the law firm down their road. People want the absolute best firm for the job, with the best reviews that they can find and research quickly. When you know your target audience, you can tap into their queries and worries by creating content that reaches them specifically.
Keep Your Messaging Focussed
Knowing the target customer will keep your messaging focussed on the people you want to represent. You’ll need to make sure that any messaging you are putting out there about your company – whether across your website, on your blog, on your social media channels, and on any non-digital platforms – is clear and consistent. Communicating exactly what you can offer to potential clients will ensure you reach the right audience.
Document and Share Your Profiles
Understanding your client profile will keep everyone within your firm on the same page. Once you’ve created your buyer personas, disseminate them. Let your staff read and understand them. Have a meeting. If everyone understands your target market, then it will ensure that all correspondence has targeted messaging or that all new cases are relevant to your area of practise.
Connect with Your Clients
A solidified buyer persona will allow you to connect with your clients because you’ll understand their interests and what information they want from you. Furthermore, since 96% of those seeking legal advice do so with the help of Google, having a client profile will allow you to find that audience by utilising the appropriate keywords on your website, brand pages, in blog posts, and so on, meaning potential clients will be able to find your firm specifically.
And finally…..
Build Up Trust
If potential clients see that you provide expert and helpful (free!) advice via blogs, emails, consultations, and so forth, they’ll consider your firm to be a thought leader. This is a good way to build initial trust with potential clients. By creating buyer personas, you know exactly who you are targeting, helping you to create messaging that is more authentic.
You may have never considered how understanding your ideal client profile is important for your law firm, but it’s clear that you’ll reap the benefits of solidifying these details. The process of understanding who you’re targeting will help you get more of the legal cases you want, generate more direct ROI, and help you create content that truly connects with your target audience.
Get Started: Create Your Buyer Personas with Our FREE, Simple Template
Want to know more about what a client profile or buyer persona is, how to create it, and what to do once you’ve created it?
Download your free copy of our Customer Profile Template today.
