If you’re an attorney who wants to make the most out of digital marketing for your firm, it’s essential that you consider hosting a sweepstake. Sweepstakes can boost your profile and increase brand awareness without the unnecessary pushy advertising on your part, and help people to associate your practice with only positive factors.
As an attorney, you might not necessarily be bringing people to your site for immediate service. That said, by simply getting your name out there in a memorable fashion, you’re far more likely to be considered in future instances by a wider audience if you host a targeted, effective sweepstake. If you’re interested to learn how sweepstakes can improve customer retention and bring in more business for attorneys, read on.
What is a sweepstake?
You might have heard of sweepstakes in the betting sphere, but online sweepstakes, usually hosted by reputable businesses, are not the same thing. Sweepstakes are effectively large-scale competitions that are free to enter and offer an enticing prize, most often in the form of an expensive product or a substantial sum of cash. Some businesses may choose to offer their own products or services as a prize, but this is not essential. As an attorney, it is the association your potential clients will make to your name as a result of the sweepstake that is important.
There are several general rules that need to be followed in sweepstakes, and it goes without saying that a competition must not be rigged or falsely advertised. Sweepstakes usually run for a disclosed period of time, during which online and social media browsers will have the chance to enter. This is your opportunity to clearly lay out the competition rules, with the potential for additional marketing – perhaps you can offer an opt-in to receive a monthly email newsletter, for example. Once this allotted period is up, the winner will be announced, the prize awarded, and the competition closed.
How can sweepstakes bring in more business for attorneys?
Bring in more social media followers
One of the slight downsides of social media from an attorney’s perspective is that it’s harder to naturally build up a following because of the nature of your business. People only usually seek out attorneys when they need them, and are highly unlikely to give you a “just in case” follow on social media, unless you’re a digital marketing whizz and you’re producing entertaining content that appeals to everyone.
The advantage of sweepstakes is that you can run them partly or purely through your social media channels, meaning you can include in your competition terms that your entrants must be following your handles in order to be in with a chance of winning the prize. That way, you’ll easily gain an influx of new followers, many of whom will continue to follow you once the competition’s closed. If they ever require legal services in the future, you have a higher chance of being considered by your social media followers simply because they’ve seen your name around online.
Improving SEO value
The more people who tweet, post and share your sweepstake on social media, the better your search engine rankings are going to be. If your competition rules state that entrants can share the sweepstake to their own social account to, say, be in with a bigger chance of winning the prize, you’ve got yourself some easy brand promotion without the need for forced advertising.
Ultimately, the better your search engine ranking, the higher up you’ll appear on a search engine such as Google when people search for legal services or attorneys in their local area. In the case of a sweepstake, Google will notice your popularity on important sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, moving you up in the rankings as a result. This is one of the simplest ways to get yourself seen when it matters by the people who need you the most, helping you to organically improve customer retention.
Cost-effective on your part
Perhaps the most appealing thing about sweepstakes as a marketing technique is that aside from the prize, you will not have to part with a single penny of your cash for advertising purposes. Being careful with your money is key to success in the legal industry, which means only investing in the things that are going to give you value. When done properly, sweepstakes have a high success rate, making them more than worth the small sum of cash you may need to spend on the prize.
It’s worth bearing in mind just how far and wide your name can be spread if your sweepstake achieves online success. Every share on social media, every mention of your competition from one person or another, is no-cost advertising for your business, without any thought-out campaigning on your part. The most sensible way to advertise is surely through an enticing competition, which is why sweepstakes are such a win for attorneys looking to improve customer retention on a national level.
Simple to manage
If you’re afraid that managing a sweepstake might be out of your depth, don’t panic. As long as you have some basic marketing skills, a fairly good grasp of standard technology, and an understanding of the legalities of running such competitions, you shouldn’t struggle to put together an effective sweepstake that brings thousands of potential clients right to your doorstep.
Should you wish to hand over the responsibilities to an expert, however, your best bet is to get in touch with a National Sweepstakes Company. Find yourself a digital marketing expert who really knows what they’re doing, and you’ll be able to leave as much or as little of your sweepstake management entirely in their capable hands. A sweepstakes company can help you with everything from ensuring you comply with the legal rules, to handling the data entry and selecting and notifying a winner, leaving you with time to focus on your more important business tasks at hand.
