Whether you’re a solo lawyer, small firm lawyer, or part of a larger firm and you’re interested in growing your client base and expanding your customer base, tapping into the substantial (and underserved) Hispanic community is an excellent strategy. Hispanics make up roughly 18 percent of the total population of the United States, and 25 percent of Millennials and below — as such, they are a potentially significant source of clients, assuming that you set up an effective marketing funnel so that you can acquire their queries as inbound leads.
Here at Walker Advertising, we understand that building a marketing funnel of your own can be a confusing and resource-intensive challenge, especially for lawyers who would rather focus their attention on providing high-quality legal representation. Contact us today to speak to one of our experts about how we can set you up to receive a number of inbound leads from prospective clients (every month).
Ready to learn more about growing your client base — and specifically, growing your Hispanic client base? Keep reading to better understand some of the core issues.
Issues affecting the Hispanic community’s access to legal representation in the USA
There are a variety of issues that negatively impact the Hispanic community’s ability to access reasonable legal representation in the USA — whether in California, Florida, Texas, or any other state. Let’s take a brief look:
Language barriers
Many non-assimilated Hispanics in the United States have limited English proficiency, which can impact their ability to secure and receive top-notch legal representation — and it can lead to mistakes in advocacy, too. For example, if a non-assimilated Hispanic individual is injured in a car accident, and he isn’t comfortable in English, his narrative explanation of the car accident (in conversation with an English-only attorney) may contain mistakes that the attorney doesn’t realize are due to the language barrier.
Beyond this, language barriers can actually discourage claimants with an actionable legal claim from moving forward. Language is the primary form of communication, and with a limited ability to communicate with an English-only attorney, a Hispanic claimant may decide that it’s simply “not worth it” to approach an attorney and have their case evaluated. Legal disputes can be intimidating. Additional barriers to communication can further a potential litigant’s sense of alienation and prevent them from pursuing their claims.
Immigration status
Concerns over immigration status affect millions of Hispanics in the United States. These concerns — whether the concern is related to one’s undocumented status or legal immigration status — can have a substantial impact on the individual’s willingness to obtain help for their legitimate legal disputes. Often, the affected individual worries that by merely contacting an attorney, they are bringing attention to their immigration status, and could be deported and have their entire life uprooted. Even if these concerns are not rationally supported by current regulations, they should be taken seriously if you are to convince the non-assimilated Hispanic community to contact your firm for assistance.
Disproportionately low representation in the legal profession
Unfortunately, Hispanic Americans are poorly represented in the legal profession (as compared to their total numbers in the country). This has led to a shortage of Spanish-speaking attorneys with the cultural context necessary to serve the Hispanic community well. The gap in the legal market created by this disproportionate representation is significant, and it’s worth considering the impacts that it can have downstream. For example, a non-assimilated Hispanic individual may not feel entirely comfortable working with an attorney who is not also Latino, as they might worry that the attorney won’t “understand” some of the emotional and cultural issues that are of concern to them.
Cultural factors
Hispanic people are not a monolith. That being said, “Hispanic values” do have a tendency to be somewhat more family-oriented than the default American standard. Factors like loyalty and family orientation play a huge role in Hispanic cultural engagements, and this carries over to the professional realm, too. Making space for the family and their various concerns — and aggressively and rambunctiously serving one’s clients to demonstrate loyalty — are key ways to win over a Hispanic client base at large.
Socioeconomic factors
Broadly speaking, the Hispanic community in America tends to be in somewhat poorer shape economically than many other demographics. This can impact their ability to secure representation, as well as their willingness to even explore the possibility of legal representation in the first place. They might not realize that many attorneys offer fee arrangements that do not require a substantial upfront cost.
Important steps to take to grow your Hispanic client base
There are a number of steps that you can take — as a law firm growing your client base — to tap into the Hispanic community and thereby maximize your marketing funnel. Let’s take a brief look at a few steps worth implementing:
Implementing changes based on customer feedback
Customer feedback is crucial in shaping business strategies and improving customer experiences. Actively collecting feedback through surveys and analyzing responses can help identify strengths and areas for improvement, ultimately attracting new leads and enhancing customer satisfaction.
To enhance customer loyalty, consider implementing customer loyalty programs to reward repeat customers and improve retention rates. Implementing a customer loyalty program with tiered memberships can incentivize repeat purchases and provide measurable metrics of client loyalty.
Customer retention is critical for enhancing loyalty and increasing profitability. Implementing customer loyalty programs and maintaining constant communication with existing clients can significantly impact your bottom line. A skilled customer service team can effectively manage increasing demands and enhance customer experience.
Providing excellent customer service is crucial for customer engagement and retention. A multi-channel communication approach and promptly addressing customer needs can foster loyalty and satisfaction. Engaging with existing clients can generate new leads through word-of-mouth marketing.
Retaining and engaging existing customers is essential for driving new business. Encourage customer referrals through positive experiences and maintain ongoing communication to enhance loyalty and profitability. Great customer service can attract clients and encourage loyalty, leading to increased sales and positive word-of-mouth referrals.
Marketing techniques targeting your Hispanic audience
To grow your customer base, consider various marketing techniques that you can use to target the Hispanic audience, such as social media promotion, referrals, and offering free samples. Reward loyal customers for repeat purchases and use them to promote your business through referrals and reviews.
Offering multiple communication channels, such as phone, instant messaging, and email, can enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. Connecting with customers through various means can cater to different preferences and improve overall satisfaction.
Identifying and utilizing satisfied customers can enhance referral marketing strategies and generate word-of-mouth referrals. Utilizing social media networks to share new content and customer experiences can increase visibility and foster loyalty.
Defining your target market based on demographic and psychographic attributes can help develop tailored marketing campaigns. Leveraging word-of-mouth marketing through customer referrals and reviews can be a powerful strategy for expanding your customer base.
Hiring bilingual attorneys and other staff, and using online marketing to promote your legal services in Spanish (or even in Spanglish)
To get around the language barrier issue, we encourage you to hire bilingual attorneys and other staffmembers. This can help you soothe concerns that a prospective client might have regarding communication. Further, it will ensure that — when they are discussing their case issues with you — you do not “miss” any valuable information or context that could influence the dispute.
Worth noting: many non-assimilated Hispanics in the United States prefer Spanish over English, and may even speak a mix known as “Spanglish.” When marketing your legal services to the Hispanic community, it may be worth doing so in Spanish or Spanglish, so as to better relate to them and “meet them where they are.” Further, search engine optimization will be easier in Spanish as the competition is likely to be less than in English.
Cultural competency training, emphasizing Hispanic community values, and incorporating customer feedback
Hispanic community values — such as family orientation and a commitment to loyalty in one’s professional and personal engagements — are important to prioritize as you attempt to grow your Hispanic client base. You can improve the ability of you and your staff to relate to the Hispanic community by obtaining “cultural competency training.”
For example, an attorney without cultural competency might be dismissive and even disrespectful towards a Hispanic client who wants to have their extended family in the room while they discuss their case with you. By contrast, being flexible with your prospective clients and embracing their family dynamic could lead to them signing on with you since you would have showcased that you respect their values.
Providing clarity and reassurance regarding immigration status impacts
Because many members of the Hispanic community in the United States have a fragile immigration status (whether undocumented or legal), concerns over the impacts of a legal dispute on one’s legal status remain top-of-mind. Reassuring your Hispanic audience that legal proceedings will not affect their immigration status (i.e., they will not suddenly have their life uprooted for pursuing a legal claim) is absolutely crucial. Your ability to do so convincingly will help you convert many would-be claimants into call-ins and prospective clients.
Offering fee arrangements that involve low or no upfront costs and providing multiple communication channels
The general public — Hispanics included — has a tendency to believe that legal representation is extremely costly, and is something that is primarily available to those with resources at their disposal, such as big companies and rich individuals. To maximize your ability to reach your Hispanic audience, it’s critical that you provide flexible fee arrangement options that do not force them to pay a lot of money upfront. For example, contingency fee arrangements may be a good option when targeting prospective clients in the Hispanic community, who — in the United States — belong to a lower socioeconomic bracket, on average.
Contact Walker Advertising to help grow your customer base and your firm’s client base
Whether you’re a solo or small firm lawyer or are part of a larger firm with plans for expanding your client base, it’s important to invest in your marketing efforts and provide great customer service to hit your revenue and client growth goals. Here at Walker Advertising, we can help, especially when it comes to growing your client base in the Hispanic community. We operate a number of popular attorney networks — such as our Latino-focused Los Defensores brand — through which firms are able to access leads for various legal claims.
The leads we acquire through our various online marketing efforts — from social media marketing to targeted web ads — have been pre-qualified by our team so that you aren’t hassled by a flood of leads that are simply not relevant or actionable for your purposes. By accessing these quality leads, you’ll be well-equipped to select the best ones to grow your firm business.
Contact Walker Advertising today to connect to a member of our team who can explain how our legal networks can help your firm business thrive in this ever-changing digital marketing landscape.
We look forward to assisting you.
