What is content marketing?
Content marketing is a way of communicating with your potential mediation clients, without directly appearing to use blatant self-promotion. The motivation behind using content marketing is to influence your client's behaviour in a positive way and get them interested in your mediation services.
Legal content marketing requires thought and attention. By writing content you are able to demystify the dispute resolution services that you can offer and demonstrate both your areas of expertise and your authority on mediation. Legal content needs to be well written and informative. It should guide potential clients and help them to reach the decision that they can benefit from your mediation services and therefore need to appoint you as their mediator.
What is the best form of content marketing?
Authoritative mediation-centred blogs and dispute resolution articles, lie at the heart of successful content driven activity. You should aim to provide clients with news which is relevant to today and articles which position you as the voice of authority and expertise in mediation.
The key to a good content strategy is to engage with your audience consistently and regularly. Content needs to be well thought out. Write in such a way that you are seen to be educating them about mediation and also providing useful industry information. What you provide should help them with their own dispute and also endorse and showcase your mediation expertise, authority and trustworthiness. Show clients how you can help them and give them examples of a positive outcome that they can relate to by providing case studies.
How do I design a content marketing strategy?
By asking yourself a few simple questions and providing honest and simple answers, you can easily develop your content strategy. Think about:
Why do I need a content strategy?
What do I hope to achieve by publishing content? (brand awareness, new clients, mediation bookings?)
Who do I want to attract and what do they need to achieve from my mediation services? Are they completely new clients or returning clients?
Why should a client care about my mediation skills?
What unique skills can I offer as a mediator?
Context - what do I want to say? What message am I trying to get across and is there a particular time or platform to start the conversation?
How do I want people to engage with my content? Do I want them to sign up to my newsletter? visit my website? book a mediation? book a seminar?
How does my content compare with others in the industry?
Now that you have explored the questions above, and know how and why you want to design your content, you need to actually create the content and make sure it is effective. Content can be broader than you might think, even with a niche area like mediation.
What content can I create?
Information on your mediation website. Include the mediation services that you provide and your full contact details. Other great content on your website could be showcased using a blog, informative videos, FAQ pages.
Blogs can be educational, creative and cover many purposes and topics. They provide a stage to promote other content, include links, social media share buttons and service information.
Videos, like podcasts, can help to build up business and attract clients. Video content can be shared across various platforms, including other people's websites.
In-person or online events count as content. Webinars or networking events are very good for attracting new clients and demonstrating your expertise, especially as mediation is a service based product. Many legal service providers have now set up Podcast channels. Podcasts are a great way to discuss specific mediation topics or areas of expertise.
Social media posts. LinkedIn is an invaluable tool for any mediator. Twitter is also useful, as is facebook (more so for family mediations)
Brochures, flyers and infographics are a fantastic, visual form of content marketing. These are a good way to display information and data in an easy to understand, graphic format. Mix together short statements, wording and images to effectively communicate your content. For example you could demystify the mediation process by breaking it down into something visual.
Whatever marketing channel you choose make sure you always put content at the heart of what you are doing. It's worth remembering that you are not trying to push or force your services in people's faces, but rather offering good quality content that clients can use at the right time for them. This is particularly true of web pages and content you publish online. Having a good strategy with the right content will help you to rank higher in the SERPS (search engine results pages) and make sure your services can be reached when clients need them most.