Today’s cultural landscape continues to change in the US and the demand to have legal services for non-English speaking communities is growing. Immigration and naturalization firms come to mind, of course, but legal practices working in any area of law will potentially have non-English speaking clients seeking their expertise.
How can attorneys and their practices tap into this client-base and provide them with the legal services they require?
Let’s take a look at 4 ways attorneys can extend their services to non-English speaking clients:
- Local Advertising
The first step is to advertise your legal expertise on all local platforms. Radio and television commercials, billboards, magazines, and newspaper ads should all be considered in your advertising budget. This content should be developed in your target clients’ language. Make sure to protect your professional reputation by letting language experts assist you with your advertising efforts rather than simply using a bilingual coworker.
- Participate in the Community
Be creative. Publicity for community service is always good, and here’s your chance to make direct contact with your target clients. Multicultural groups regularly organize events. Your city’s official website and basic internet searches will help you locate and tap into city events to help you get in touch with your community. Find a way to help out with the event! Sponsoring the event or finding ways to volunteer is the perfect way to let non-English speaking communities know that you are genuinely interested in their lives and the things that matter to them.
- Effective Internet Presence
It’s important to have a personalized and mobile-friendly website that showcases relevant information about you and your firm. It’s equally important to have a website with content in your target language so that non-English speakers feel comfortable using your services. Language experts will have the knowledge to help you build multilingual sites that capture the attention of your target audience. Non-English speakers have a significant presence online and therefore often look for information in their own languages. . This makes it important to find ways to engage these community members and make them feel confident that you’re prepared to handle their case.
- Consider a Blog
If you already work with a few non-English speakers who all speak a common language and a bilingual coworker in your office can dedicate the time, consider starting a blog dedicated to that target audience, written in their language, with topics relevant to their lives. If they commonly struggle with immigration documents or have trouble getting employed due to a language barrier, write blog articles that address these concerns. People appreciate being able to easily access information that answers their most common questions and concerns. A bilingual coworker is ideal to write this type of blog because this person is familiar with your law firm, the types of cases you work with and the issues facing that audience. This type of casual blog doesn’t require a professional language expert, but does require the coworker to be a native speaker of the language and to be familiar with your firm and its cases.
These four steps should not be overwhelming and can make all of the difference in the world when extending your professional services to a larger audience. Merit and expertise will speak for themselves during your profession, but exposure to non-native English speakers is not guaranteed without effort.
Do you have experience marketing to non-English speaking clients in the legal industry? Let us know your thoughts on the best way to reach these clients in the comments!
