6 Common Questions about Law Firm Newsletters
Starting an email newsletter is one of the best ways to promote your law firm online. However, newsletters can be complicated. To help you get started on the right foot, here are our answers to the most common questions about law firm newsletters.
1. Does My Law Firm Need a Newsletter?
We certainly think so. While an email newsletter does take some time and patience, it can become a priceless digital marketing tool for any law firm.
Newsletters provides ongoing value for your target audience, helping you demonstrate your expertise and stay top-of-mind with potential clients and referrers. Then, if a time comes when someone on your email list needs legal help, they’ll be more likely to remember your firm as an authority in your field.
2. How Should I Build My Email List?
When starting an email newsletter, it can be tempting to automatically add all of your existing contacts to your subscriber list. Sending out your newsletter unsolicited will appear unprofessional. It may even violate ethical standards.
(We recommend that every law firm review the rules of the CAN-SPAM Act and any state bar marketing guidelines to ensure compliance.)
Fortunately, there are plenty of options for building your email list ethically and organically. For example, you could:
- Send a single email to past or current clients and colleagues, inviting them to subscribe to your newsletter
- Add a simple subscription form to your website (pop-up windows are especially popular for this)
- Hold online events, such as webinars, where you can promote your newsletter
- Offer a free e-book or other downloadable material that includes a link to sign up
- Spread awareness for your newsletter via your social media profiles
3. How Often Should I Send Out Emails?
Broadly speaking, the answer to this one is “it depends.” Most firms opt for a monthly program, but your schedule could range anywhere from one newsletter per quarter to multiple newsletters per week.
The real key is consistency. No matter what schedule you choose, be sure to stick to it. If your newsletter is random and irregular, it’s very unlikely it will ever see meaningful results.
4. How Can I Keep My Emails Out of the Spam Folder?
Spam folders have been the bane of law firm newsletters for years. To avoid this problem, follow email marketing best practices, such as:
- Only sending your newsletter to people who have voluntarily opted in
- Making it easy for subscribers to opt out
- Regularly cleaning up your subscriber list
- Segmenting your newsletter audience (if necessary) and sending tailored emails to each segment
- Identifying your law firm in the sender name
- Not emailing too frequently
5. How Do I Get People to Open My Newsletter Emails?
Growing your subscriber list won’t matter much if no one opens your emails. To increase open rates, you have to grab your audience’s attention right away. This means designing:
- Compelling subject lines
- Appealing layouts
- Catchy visuals
- Easy-to-read text
Then, make sure that the content is truly valuable to your audience. If a subscriber opens one of your emails only to find it boring or irrelevant to them, they aren’t likely to open any more. Consider including bite-size, useful content such as:
- Brief articles
- Quick tips and listicles
- FAQs
- Links to blogs or podcast episodes
- News related to your legal niche
- Updates about your firm
- Case studies
- Educational videos
6. Can I Get Help with My Law Firm’s Newsletter?
Absolutely! Starting a newsletter takes time, energy, and plenty of patience. If you’d rather let someone else handle the headaches, we can help.
At Let America Know, we give attorneys across the nation the support they need to grow their practices through email and social media marketing. “You Should Know” is our monthly email newsletter, which we customize for your firm. Just contact us, and we’ll manage every step from start to finish, including:
- Designing your newsletter
- Writing valuable content for your firm
- Publishing every month without fail
- Strengthening your brand
…so you can focus on serving your clients.
Click here to learn more about our fully customizable e-newsletter service for trial attorneys.