Email Marketing for Lawyers

Email marketing continues to be a tried and true method for most businesses to reach current and potential clients. But for small law firms, planning, creating and executing an email marketing campaign is easier said than done.
At Smokeball, we think all small law firm owners should make it a point to become proficient at communicating with current and potential clients through email marketing. And once your first email sends, knowing what metrics indicate success and how to improve your campaigns is just as important.

To help master this necessary skill, Smokeball is hosting an Email Marketing for Lawyers webinar on Thursday, June 25th at 1:00 pm CST. If you can’t make it, don’t worry–we’re giving you a quick preview of what an effective email newsletter looks like and discussing how to go about creating one right here on Law in Order.

Creating a Monthly Email Newsletter

Before building your newsletter, it’s important to know what separates a good email from a great one. The best newsletters are:

• Short. They read like a story and provide helpful information to your reader in a succinct way.
• Packed with a punch from the start. Using a strong, catchy subject line will motivate people to open your email instead of sending it to the Trash folder.
• Designed well. If your newsletter design template hasn’t been updated in some time, consider fixing that ASAP. Readers are more apt to continue opening your emails if the design is modern and clean.
• Full of photos and links back to your website. You want to inform your readers, but also drive them back to your website. Link any relevant information, like blog posts or helpful web pages inside the newsletter content.

Additionally, strong monthly newsletters are often divided into content sections, featuring an introduction, 2-4 sections in the body of the email and a sidebar with clickable calls-to-action. When deciding which sections to incorporate into your law firm’s monthly newsletter, take stock of what content you have available. Sections featuring practice area news, blog posts, press and company updates are all great options to get your firm’s newsletter started.

Writing Your Email Newsletter

Now you’re ready to begin drafting your newsletter. If you’ve never done this before, it may seem challenging, so beginning with an outline will help organize your thoughts.

Once you’re happy with the outline, use it to begin fully building out the content in each section. Then, add in the appropriate photos and links, and you’re ready to send your email. Prior to deploying to your entire contact list, send a few test emails to yourself first to make sure the formatting, spelling and grammar are correct.