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How to market a law firm in 2026: 10 tips for SME law firm marketing
Marketing your law firm has never been more important or more complex. With client expectations shifting and search technology evolving rapidly, smaller firms can no longer rely on word of mouth or traditional advertising alone. Digital visibility, trust and clarity are now essential for growth.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an increasingly important tool for both businesses and consumers. Within the legal industry, the LPM Frontiers 2025 report shows that one-third of SME law firms plan to adopt generative AI for admin support. However, beyond business operations, it’s also vital to recognise how AI is changing the way people search for legal services. From AI-generated summaries to voice search and predictive text, client behaviour is evolving fast.
To stay competitive, SME firms need to rethink their law firm marketing strategy, shifting focus towards digital discoverability, clear communication, and content that builds trust at the very first interaction. In this guide to marketing for law firms in 2025, we’ll explore how to attract and retain clients in an increasingly AI-focused world.
Understanding AI overviews and generative search
Before getting into our top tips for marketing your law firm, let’s first explore how AI is being used within the context of search engine optimisation (SEO) and online visibility. This will give you a better understanding of how to adapt your marketing approach for a successful outcome.
AI overviews
AI overviews are concise, AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of search results in response to certain queries. These summaries pull together key information from multiple sources to provide users with quick, easily digestible answers. For law firm marketing, appearing in these overviews can significantly boost your visibility, credibility and client trust. To improve your chances of being featured, structure your content with clear headings, concise answers, embedded FAQs and schema markup to help search engines understand your content.
Generative search
Generative search goes a step further by using AI to understand the user’s intent and generate entirely new, context-aware responses directory within the results page. These responses often combine summaries, insights and even creative suggestions directly within the results page. For example, a potential client might ask a complex question like “What should I do if I’m facing redundancy in the UK?” and receive a tailored response rather than just a list of links. For marketing your law firm, this means your content needs to be clear, informative and relevant enough to be referenced in these AI-generated responses.
Law firm marketing tips to attract clients
Establishing a strong first impression matters for every business, but is particularly important in the legal sector, where trust and professionalism are essential. Attracting clients comes down to visibility, credibility and clarity. The following tactics, rooted in modern search behaviour and AI evolution, can reshape how you capture attention and build trust.
Optimise for AI overviews and generative search
As a modern business, you need to know how to market a law firm in line with evolving search behaviour. AI-powered search relies on concise, structured answers, so you need to make sure your content is optimised to deliver relevant information quickly and clearly. Use clear headings, brief summaries and embedded FAQs, and add schema to make sure your content is machine readable. With more tools scanning for authoritative snippets, this helps your firm to be discovered by potential clients during the research process.
Invest in local SEO and Google Business Profile
When people need legal support, they often look for someone nearby who understands local laws, courts and context. A well-optimised Google Business Profile can help your firm to appear in these searches, so make sure to keep it updated with accurate services, hours and images. Encourage satisfied clients to leave reviews, as social proof strengthens both ranking and reputation. This local focus is beneficial for marketing your law firm across both standard and AI-enhanced search results.
Create thought leadership content
Thought leadership content builds credibility, invites engagement, and helps businesses to stand out in a crowded digital space. Creating blogs, guides or videos that answer common legal questions positions your firm as the trusted voice, and can boost your reputation within your industry as well as with search engines. Use AI tools to spot trending and long-tail issues and then create high-quality content that addresses these insights.
Use paid search and social ads strategically
Paid campaigns like pay-per-click (PPC) advertising offer immediacy and reach, and are especially useful for SMEs with smaller budgets. Target high-intent keywords that show clear client interest, and focus on geographic segments. You can further refine your approach using AI-powered ad platforms that test and optimise your ads in real time. This will help to make sure your law firm marketing is effective in terms of both outcome and cost.
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Marketing your law firm to retain clients
Winning new business matters, but retaining clients is important for long-term value. Effective marketing for lawyers relies on delivering a consistently positive experience through clear communication, relevant content, and seamless interactions.
Leverage CRM for personalised communication
Every client journey is unique, and personalised communication helps to nurture loyalty without feeling intrusive. Use customer relationship management (CRM) systems to segment your clients so you can create tailored, relevant content such as newsletters, reminders and business updates. You can also use these tools to automate post-case follow-ups or check-ins so you never miss an important interaction.
Offer educational content and webinars
Educational content not only builds trust but also positions your firm as a reliable source of legal knowledge. Hosting webinars, publishing explainer videos or sharing updates about legislation changes shows that you’re proactive and informed. AI-powered tools can help you to tailor these resources based on client interests or case history, allowing you to deliver value at scale while strengthening long-term engagement.
Streamline the client experience with technology
A smooth client experience can be the difference between a one-off contact and lasting loyalty. Tools like e-signature platforms, client portals and live chat functions help to remove friction from everyday processes, making your services more accessible and convenient. Prioritising intuitive, mobile-friendly design ensures that your technology supports client interactions while reinforcing a professional brand image.
How to market a law firm to turn clients into advocates
Satisfied clients are your best ambassadors, essentially marketing your law firm for free. Turning clients into advocates means encouraging feedback, rewarding trust, and nurturing long-term relationships.
Ask for reviews at the right time
Reviews help to boost visibility and credibility for your law firm through real-life endorsements, but timing matters when it comes to asking for them. Waiting too long risks the client forgetting important details about their experience, while asking too soon could feel insincere or rushed. Automate review prompts for a few days after a positive outcome, and provide simple links to trusted platforms like Google, Trustpilot or legal directories to encourage higher response rates.
Create a referral programme
Even in a digital-first world, word-of-mouth is still one of the most powerful forms of marketing for lawyers. A referral programme helps to turn satisfied clients into advocates by offering meaningful incentives or simply recognising their trust. Share success stories (with consent) and make it easy for people to recommend your services, reinforcing your firm’s reputation while supporting long-term growth.
Engage clients on social media
Clients want to feel connected to the people behind the service. Social media offers a space to share curated testimonials, answer questions and give updates in a more personal tone. Invite comments and conversation to build a sense of community around your firm, and show that you’re accessible, engaged and genuinely invested in client relationships.
Law firm marketing FAQs
What is law firm marketing?
Law firm marketing is the practice of building visibility, credibility and trust through both digital and traditional strategies to gain new clients. Effective marketing helps firms to stand out and position themselves as the go-to choice for legal services in a competitive market.
What is the best way to market a law firm?
Like most industries, successful marketing for lawyers relies on a combination of online and offline approaches. Strong SEO, valuable content, local visibility, client communication and reputation management are all core strategies for being discovered and chosen.
How do law firms attract clients online?
Law firms attract clients by offering clear, relevant information where they search. Whether on your own website for SEO visibility or through paid ads, creating thoughtful, relevant content helps to convert interest into a valuable client relationship.
How do I get more client reviews for my law firm?
The key is to ask while the experience is still fresh. Automate your review requests so you can’t forget, use friendly, non-pushy language, and make the process easy by sharing direct links to trusted platforms like Google or legal directories.
Maximise time for marketing your law firm through smarter case management
When it comes to marketing for law firms, time and clarity are two of your most valuable resources. That’s why it’s important to streamline the day-to-day processes that can often hold your team back. With Access Legal’s industry-specific solutions, you can simplify operations, support more targeted content creation, and free up internal capacity to focus on strategic growth and client acquisition.
Our powerful case management software reduces admin overheads and improves workflow visibility, while the InCase onboarding and communications app helps to keep clients informed and engaged without draining your time.
To find out more about how we help legal firms to operate efficiently and increase visibility, book a demo or contact one of our experts and we’ll be happy to advise you.
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