Finding And Building An Employment Law Niche

If your website, social media profile, and Google ad says you are an “employment law” attorney, then you are missing opportunities. There are many potential clients who need you — but they can’t find you. This is because they might be searching for an attorney using words that reflect their problem. Or because there are many “employment law” attorneys to choose from in your area, and your name didn’t appear at the top of their online search results.

Identifying and creating a niche employment law practice can capture those opportunities.

There are many ways a potential client might search for an employment law attorney. Words like “harassment,” “retaliation,” “discrimination,” “whistleblower,” “unequal pay,” etc., are used by clients to describe a problem in need of a legal solution. They are all also potential niche employment law practice areas.

The Benefits of a Niche Employment Law Practice

A niche is a specialized or focused area of a broader legal practice that serves to differentiate an attorney from the competition. Presenting yourself as a generalist, even in a specific practice like employment law, leaves potential clients guessing if you handle, or are proficient in, their exact matter types or, worse, not finding you at all.

Along with a niche employment law practice comes a niche target audience. This may be a smaller pool than a general employment law practice’s target audience, but that’s ok: It’s better to reach fewer people with your marketing outreach if they are the right people. In marketing terms, this means the ability to tailor communications, reduce competition, and build relationships effectively, saving time and money.

In addition, building a niche employment law practice will allow you to create a practice that is personally and professionally rewarding.

Four Ways to Build a Niche Employment Law Practice

1. Identify what interests you. We mentioned above that a niche practice could be rewarding to you because it should be based on what interests you, your passions, and your business and practice priorities. Just like when you create a personal brand, establishing a niche practice begins with understanding what you want. For inspiration, think about why you pursued a law practice in the first place, the publications you read, the organizations you belong to, and even how you spend your free time. For example, your list might include: Wage and hour laws, providing pro bono services at community events, negotiating, human resources trade organizations, and making a difference in people’s lives — especially women and minorities.
2. Pinpoint the problems you can solve. Use your lists of interests and research how those apply to potential clients’ needs. There are many resources available, including client feedback, your law firm’s website analytics to see what topics resonate with visitors, keyword research on Google, and general and trade news publications. These will reveal the latest trends and challenges in employment law, such as pandemic hazard pay for hotel and restaurant workers or staffing shortages causing stores to reduce hours. Couple this research with your list from above and perhaps a niche employment law practice reveals itself: Representing non-union workers, especially women and minorities, in wage and hour disputes over pandemic-related hazard pay and reduced wages.
3. Perform a competitive analysis. Once you’ve identified a potential niche, conduct research to see what, if any, competitors there are in practice and how they’re marketing. Competition should not be a deterrent; however, you will need to think about how your practice is different than theirs and develop a value proposition. Look at competitors’ websites and social media profiles and see who shows up when you search online using keywords like “hotel worker wage lawsuit attorney.” For more ideas on how to gather competitive intelligence, see this previous post.
4. Test and measure. Put your niche practice to the test by creating a website page focused on this service, write some blog posts about related issues, and do some social media marketing around it. Did these generate interest in the form of phone calls or emails to the firm, or even engagement (as measured by website and social media analytics)? If yes, keep going! If not, consider if this niche can be drilled down further or expanded on or if it’s better to start over with another. Be patient and give the topic a little time to reach its intended audience.

Tools to Market a Niche Employment Law Practice

Once you’ve established a niche employment law practice, you’ll develop a legal marketing strategy and a legal marketing plan or campaign to promote it. Options include:

• Update your law firm website to ensure there is dedicated content that describes how the niche practice solves problems and for who. Highlight your experience and successes in the area.
• Build an elevator speech around the niche.
• Highlight the practice in all marketing materials, including brochures, social media profiles, and advertising.
• Develop content about the latest trends, legal developments, and other helpful information related to the niche. Post that content on your website and social media and send it to your contacts via email. Be sure it includes keywords so it ranks high in online searches.
• Pitch stories to publications that those in your target audience read.
• If appropriate, advertise in those publications or other general circulation media outlets.
• Look for opportunities to present webinars or seminars to both community groups and legal industry professionals, as other attorneys are always great referral sources on niche legal problems.

Don’t get frustrated if the niche launches slowly. The more you stick to it and build experience, the more you’ll learn and hone your expertise. Tout your knowledge and successes whenever you can.

Scorpion helps employment law firms stand out from the competition in a variety of ways. Contact us to see how we can help you build your niche employment law practice.