Would it make life a lot easier if your law firm were able to effortlessly generate new clients on a regular basis?

(Hint: yes).

Would it help profitability if you didn’t have to spend so much money on acquiring these new clients?

(Again, the answer is “yes”)

What if you could focus on clients who were also more than happy to market your firm to their friends and family? Would that help?

(You get the picture)

Then, creating a marketing strategy specifically for your practice area’s Hispanic population should be an absolute no-brainer. As marketers who specialize in these kinds of campaigns, we can assure you that, if you don’t make Hispanic prospects a priority, your competitors will.

That’s why we’ve put together a comprehensive guide that will show you how to create a marketing strategy that ensures success with your local Hispanic market.

The Biggest Mistake Firms Make When Marketing to Hispanics

Many firms come to us after they’ve already struggled to engage their local Hispanic market. They don’t need convincing that Hispanic clients are worth targeting with their ads. Their real challenge is that they simply don’t know how.

And probably the biggest mistake we see these firms making is that they treat “Hispanic” as a highly-specific label as opposed to an umbrella term. 

This will absolutely doom your strategy to failure from the very beginning. 

Imagine trying to target everyone in your market who needs a lawyer. This would include everyone who needs help setting up a will, people who have been convicted of a crime, those who are filing for divorce, and more.

It would be impossible! You simply can’t use the same messaging with such a wide array of prospects. 

The same holds true for the Hispanic market. There are different segments, each of which responds best to different types of ads.

In this guide, we’re going to cover strategies we know work for our partners, but it will help if you also take some time to better understand the Hispanic market, so you can really key in on what your prospects respond to best.

Choosing Which Hispanic Segments Make the Most Sense for Your Law Firm

Once you understand the five segments of the Hispanic market in the U.S., you can start thinking about which ones make the most sense for your law firm.

Depending on where your firm practices, it might make sense to target more than one of these segments. In many cities, firms could effectively find clients among all five of them.

Whatever the case, you’ll need to follow the three steps below to ensure you’re putting your time and energy into strategies that will actually pay off.

1. Consider What Your Budget Can Realistically Support

A big part of making sure your time and energy aren’t going to waste is to first identify what your budget can actually support.

We’ve seen firms try to go after all five of those aforementioned segments in markets where this could have been realistic. The only problem was that their budgets just weren’t up to tackling that big of a challenge.

That’s why we are so adamant about starting with just one Hispanic segment. If you’re practicing in New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, or another city with a large Hispanic population, you might even be able to justify two.

Even then, we often recommend that our partners start with just one. For many firms, successfully marketing to just one of these segments provides more than enough business. If nothing else, this simple approach will narrow your focus and improve your chances of success.

Furthermore, a BIG piece of successful PPC marketing is understanding how much your budget depends on the cost of your keywords. If you practice in, say, New York City, you have a massive pool of Hispanic prospects.

At the same time, so do your competitors. Many of them probably focus solely on this market because of how large it is. As a result, those local keywords are going to cost more than they would in a city that doesn’t have the same Hispanic population. 

By starting out with just one segment, you’re giving your budget the best chance of producing a profitable ROI. You can then use that added revenue to go after another segment.

Otherwise, it’s just too easy for even a sizable budget to get spread too thin and limit what could have been fantastic returns.

2. Get Clear About the Actual Size of Your Practice Area’s Market

This naturally leads us to our next essential step.

The reason this step comes second is because we want you to be 100% clear on what your law firm can really afford to spend. Once you have that hard number, you can start exploring your local Hispanic market. 

Maybe you’ll find that just a single segment is completely within your budget. 

Great!

But what we want you to avoid at all costs (literally) is starting with assessing your local market because, if it is larger than you think, you might be tempted to increase the size of your budget past what is sensible.

Again, we’re all about starting small and then scaling up to incredible returns.

What about the exact opposite problem?

What if you’re in a practice area where there’s a smaller population of Hispanic Americans?

That doesn’t mean it’s not worth marketing to them. 

If anything, you might find that they become your best clients simply because your competitors either haven’t considered them a reliable source of business or – just as likely in our experience – they simply don’t know how to market to Hispanic Americans.

The good news is that a PPC campaign is the fastest way to discover if your local Hispanic population is enough to justify a holistic marketing campaign for your firm. Through the discovery process, you’ll see just how often Hispanic Americans are looking for the kinds of services you offer.

3. Coverage Reach

This last step is just as important as the others, but it’s one that most law firms completely overlook, even those that otherwise get the other two right.

By now, you’re probably well aware of your firm’s service area. You know which cities in your state you serve and which are just too far away to generally make sense (much less dollars and cents).

Just like you can be tempted into straying from your budget, you might be tempted into expanding that area once you start building a PPC campaign. That’s because you’ll see just how far your ads could immediately reach. You might even find that just a bit outside your practice area, some of the keywords you want don’t cost as much.

Granted, there are times when this might make sense (I won’t make the joke again). 

Maybe just outside your normal practice area is a sizable Hispanic population. Maybe you can also tell that they’re not being actively targeted based on the costs-per-click you’re seeing. In other words, if you’re willing to drive a few extra miles every week, you’ll be sitting on your own personal goldmine.

In that case, fine. As long as it otherwise makes sense for your firm, go ahead and stretch that practice area a bit. 

Another time it might pay off is if you know some of these peripheral practice areas are devoid of firms that offer your specialty.

Mass torts and other types of class action lawsuits are prime examples. You probably don’t have a lot of competition throughout your entire state. More than likely, there are clusters of firms around the metropolitan areas that specialize in that kind of law. As such, firms in the rest of your state probably don’t have an established local presence for handling these cases.

Provided you understand the intricacies of marketing to the different Hispanic segments, you could find yourself without any competitors for these valuable clients.

Roundup’s many legal cases illustrate this kind of opportunity perfectly. If you have experience with Mass Torts, you could run PPC campaigns that speak to Hispanic workers who may have been affected by that company’s products. You could then segment your campaign by demographics (gender, household income, etc.) to get even more specific with your ads.

Get in front of this market with these kinds of highly-targeted campaigns – right at the very top of Google– and you can win their business before they even move down the page to where the local competitors are relegated.

With all that being said, these scenarios are the exceptions. 

Usually, what you’ll find is that cities outside of your normal practice area fall well within the reach of other firms. Those firms may understand those jurisdictions better – a huge competitive advantage, as you’re probably well aware – and may have already spent years or even decades building their reputations. Even with a low CPC, targeting a Hispanic community in those cities that are otherwise out of your practice area probably isn’t a winning cause.

This is another example of why it makes sense to start with a realistic PPC strategy that can get you some initial results. Once you’ve become the go-to law firm for Hispanics in your practice area, you can always branch out. You might even find that the only way to do this is by opening an entirely new branch.

Understanding One of the Most Important Ways to Engage the Hispanic Market

Another big mistake we’ve seen a lot of law firms make when marketing to Hispanic populations is that they focus solely on their ads. 

Of course, it’s not bad to treat your ads as priorities. As we just covered in that last section, a lot of thought is required to see success.

And yet, Hispanic Americans – though incredibly active online – aren’t so easily won over by standard marketing practices.

Instead, this is a population that places a huge emphasis on the importance of trust. Obviously, as a lawyer, you know that your clients have to completely trust you in order to do your job.

However, with Hispanic Americans, you have to earn that trust long before they become a client. You can start that process the moment they contact your law firm – which we’ll cover how to do in a moment – but we’d actually recommend you get started long before that point.

Specialize in Community Outreach 

Community outreach has long been a pillar of law firm marketing. If you’re not currently holding events in your practice area, you’re probably aware of other firms that are.

It’s just that the same efforts that work with the general population aren’t as effective when you’re trying to zero in on your local Hispanic segments.

Earning a reputation as a caregiver, organising giveaways or sponsoring events that will attract and support the local Hispanic population – combined with ads that are strategically placed where Hispanics will see them – can make it easy for you to stand apart from competitors. 

The goal is when your target market needs an attorney, to not search for “abogado cerca de mi.” 

To search for “Your name/Law Firm”.

And that’s exactly the result you want from your law firm’s marketing strategy. 

Community Engagement Doesn’t Have to Be In-Person 

Currently, nationwide lockdowns are still in place because of Covid-19, but we also know that many attorneys don’t feel have enough time to regularly hold in-person events with their local Hispanic community. 

Even if you think you could find time in your schedule, it may not be realistic to hold events throughout your entire practice area. If you practice in Houston, New York City, Miami, or other large metropolitan areas with equally sizable Hispanic populations, you could spend every weekend on outreach and still not get to everyone.

You may not have room in your budget for these kinds of activities, either. While the ROI of a successful event is always worth it, if funds are tight at the moment, the initial investment may be just out of your reach.

Don’t worry!

Many law firms have enjoyed success without spending a single dime.

Instead, they set up Facebook Live Events to both attract potential clients and build trust in the process.

For example, if you’re an immigration lawyer, you probably have plenty of prospects among your local Hispanic population. They may be immigrants themselves or they may be interested in helping family members emigrate to the U.S.

Either way, they probably also have a number of questions. What better way for them to get answers then by attending a Facebook Live Event hosted by an attorney who specializes in this field?

You could give a presentation that covers the topics you know Hispanics are most curious about and then hold a Q&A session at the end.

Of course, you would also provide your contact information, should any of your participants decide they would like to move forward with a formal consultation.

It’s that easy.

All you have to do is use a completely free social network, one that Hispanic people love, do a short presentation on a subject on which you’re already an expert, and then answer questions about this topic.

Consider, for a moment, how taking this kind of approach will position your law firm relative to the competition.

Before they ever step into your office, Hispanic prospects are able to become comfortable with you. You’re not just making a quick introduction, either. Instead, you’re taking the time to educate them on a legal topic of great importance and you’re answering any questions they might have.

There’s the benefit of social proof, too. As you get better and better at attracting people to your Facebook Live Events, larger audiences will help instill even more trust in each of your Hispanic participants.

Your competitors, on the other hand, will continue to hope that Hispanic people – who value trust – will simply decide to walk into their office after just a brief phone call with their receptionist and open up to a total stranger.

…well, good luck to them. 

Keep in mind that there are also endless possibilities for your Facebook Live Events. You could team up with other professionals in the community to host regular roundtables covering topics you know are important to this population. You could also look for other community members who have their own followings and offer to join their events.

3 Ways to Begin Marketing Your Firm to Hispanic Clients

In this last section, we want to pull together a lot of the points we’ve made above into a step-by-step plan you can follow to start marketing your firm to Hispanic clients. 

As we emphasized earlier, it’s usually best to start small, but that doesn’t mean you have to lower your expectations when it comes to results.

Just follow these three steps to create a powerful marketing strategy your law firm can rely on to generate Hispanic clients.

1. Start with Your Firm’s Current Level of Experience 

Many of you have probably already had Hispanic clients before, especially if you live in cities with at least an average-sized population. Maybe they even represent a decent percentage of your firm’s ongoing business.

In that case, the first step to greater success is to get exact with your efforts and really target one specific market. You’ll want to review the traits that characterize each of the five unique Hispanic segments:

  • Latinoamericana
  • Hispano
  • Americanizado 
  • Nueva Latino
  • Ambicultural 

Focus on one that best fits your firm’s current goals and start revising your marketing strategy accordingly.

If you haven’t had a lot of experience serving Hispanic clients, that’s okay. You just need to begin surveying what segment is present in your practice area. Then, engage with them on their terms to build trust as we’ve covered above and develop your reputation as an authoritative lawyer who understands this community.

2. Consider the Size of Your Local Market

As we touched on earlier, your local market could be huge, or it might be relatively small. Either way, there’s potential you shouldn’t leave untapped. 

You also shouldn’t assume that the market is already “owned” by other firms. While it’s true that other firms may already market to the Hispanic population, their attempts are probably leaving a lot of room for improvement. In our experience, most firms just don’t understand American Hispanics, even if they want this market’s business.

If you are in one of these larger metropolitan areas where other firms are actively targeting Hispanic prospects, you can still find success by getting even more specific with your campaigns. For example, if your law firm is in Houston, you could start by narrowing your campaigns to specific neighborhoods, like Denver Harbor, Magnolia Park, or Houston Heights.

Keeping it to just one neighborhood would also make it easier to hold in-person events or simply attend those being held by other groups. Add an omnichannel strategy to the mix and you have a recipe for winning over a large population of Hispanic prospects for your law firm.

That’s just one example. 

You also need to remember that markets with large Hispanic populations could include several different backgrounds for Hispanos and Latinoamericanos. As such, you should decide to focus on just one segment and create highly-relevant messages and branding for that particular community.  

For instance, if you practice in Miami, there’s a large population of Hispanics. Most of these people identify as Cuban. However, there is a growing Colombian community, too. You could choose this smaller market to start with and craft a message and brand more personal to them. You could invest in becoming a spokesperson to address their unique concerns. 

Of course, this needs to look natural and not forced.

Whatever the case, a holistic marketing strategy that proves you are dedicated to helping members of the Hispanic community will ensure you stand out. The vast majority of the time, they’re used to seeing generic lead-generation tactics that could just as easily be aimed at any other population with a few minor tweaks. Unfortunately, this is easily recognizable and even easier to ignore. 

3. Leverage Your Spanish-Speaking Staff

Last but not least, one step we can’t emphasize enough is leveraging any Spanish-speaking staff you have to make the best possible first impression with your Hispanic prospects.

In fact, we’d even recommend you prioritize bilingual candidates when hiring for lawyers, paralegals, and receptionists. That’s how big a difference it can make when it comes to making your Hispanic prospects comfortable enough to become clients.

Most marketers who fail with this population do so because they fail to make this connection.

Consider the following statistics about the importance of Spanish to American Hispanics:

  • 80% of U.S. Hispanics don’t feel they need to stop speaking Spanish to be part of the American culture.
  • 86% of respondents believe the Spanish language helps them remain connected to their culture.
  • Ads targeting Hispanics in Spanish significantly increase their interest in purchasing products.
  • When online, more than 80% of Spanish-dominant Hispanics use Spanish at least half of the time when they read, write or watch videos.
  • 79% of Spanish-dominant, 82% of bilingual, and 60% of English-dominant Hispanics surveyed on this research think brands should reach out to consumers in both English and Spanish.
  • 58% of Spanish-dominant Hispanics and 48% of bilingual Hispanics think that brands that reach out to the segment in Spanish demonstrate they value the Hispanic community.

This is why we always endorse taking a bilingual approach to ads.

It’s also why we advise law firms to have Spanish-speaking staff members who can provide a seamless experience after prospects see those ads and then visit your office. When Spanish-speaking clients don’t feel understood or struggle to communicate with their legal team, they feel an intense sense of disconnection. 

That’s never a good thing. 

Furthermore, having bilingual team members who can communicate in Spanish with members of your local Hispanic community will help you gain valuable insights into your market, including their unique needs and concerns. Ideally, you should employ people who mirror the population you’re looking to serve. 

Remember, Latinos are a diverse group. There are Mexicans, Dominicans, Salvadorans, Puerto Ricans, and many, many more. If you plan on focusing on one of these markets, employ people from diverse Hispanic backgrounds, too. You want your prospects to see themselves in every level of your staff.

Do You Have an Effective Marketing Strategy for Hispanics in Your Practice Area?

You now have a comprehensive guide for attracting more qualified Hispanic leads to your law firm. No matter where you practice, if there’s a Hispanic population, you have a strategy for generating new business, one with an ROI that will continue to grow as their numbers increase.

If you’d like an experienced agency to help you implement this strategy and create your ads – including Spanish versions – we’d love to help. Just contact us and we’ll be in touch ASAP.