The Proper Use of Press Releases in Legal Marketing

There are a number of fallacies or myths about press releases. One is that press releases just don’t work for small law firms.  We beg to differ.

We had a small law firm that sent out their very first press release on the hot topic of identity theft.  A major newspaper picked it up and they got interviewed for the article. 

Because of that article, they landed dozens of new clients over a 30-day period and the newspaper even called them one of the leading Southern California lawyers on identity theft. Those are things you just can’t buy – and it happened from a press release.

There is another reason to use press releases and this is one that is incredibly powerful:  to boost your online presence.

Google loves press releases and we’ve been able to use that to get fantastic results. Google considers press releases to be an “authoritative source” and ranks them high for search results.

Now you may be thinking, what do I write it about? It could be about a number of different things:

• Commentary on current news events
• Legal decisions that potentially affect your community
• Results of a poll or a survey you conduct among clients
• Firm news such as new associates, awards, community involvement, etc.

You want to make sure that there is an angle to it and that there’s something that’s different. In fact, some of the best coverage we’ve gotten from press releases has been when we’ve taken a contrarian view.

We recommend at least one press release per month for most attorneys. If you’re a relatively new practice, then we recommend that you distribute two, three, even four a month to really jumpstart your online marketing efforts.