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Law firms need mobile strategy in addition to content strategy

mobile blog responsive

Law firms talk about content marketing left and right. Lawyers invest tens of thousands of dollars in time creating content. The smart firms are guided by a cohesive content strategy.

But the vast majority of law firms lack a mobile strategy. And per Mike Iadone of HubSpot (@iadone), that is a very big mistake.

  • Almost one third of the visitors that reach a site via search are coming from some sort of mobile device, whether it be a phone or a tablet.
  • People now spend 2.8 hours accessing digital media using a mobile device, while only 2.4 hours a day using a desktop or laptop computer
  • In the US, 39/50 news sites get more traffic from mobile devices than desktop computers.
  • 27% of consumers will leave a site if it is not mobile-optimized. Which means if content is the way you’re bringing people in, you may risk losing them well before conversion is even a possibility.
  • Magazines saw +65.3% growth in mobile web audience in 2015, compared to print and digital at +0.2%.
  • In case you missed it, Google really cares about mobile accessibility now. Google is recommending responsive design and penalizes those sites not optimized for mobile.

If these stats were not enough, Iadone shared just how serious The New York Times is taking mobile. From their editorial lead, Clifford Levy:

Every division in the company is looking at how they can shift more resources to mobile. We’re trying something in the newsroom as a whole: How can we think more about our journalism in the context of the device…

It makes sense for law firms to develop a “mobile first” strategy which would:

  • Recognize that mobile publishing is as important, if not more important, as publishing for non-mobile devices.
  • Recognize that simplicity in design, as opposed to heavy graphic design with features, is now more important for their publications.
  • Designing for social sharing in that social takes place more on mobile than non-mobile devices.
  • Publish all future publications on responsive design sites.
  • Transition with all due speed all existing publications to responsive design. Claiming no budget when you are spending your lawyer’s time creating content that will not be read by many people is simply dumb.

It’s not about what you think, how you consume content, and when you can fit mobile design into your schedule and budget, it’s about your audience of clients, prospective clients, referral sources and their influencers.

Do you care about them or not? Do you want to look professional or lame in their eyes?

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