Pay per click is form of advertising that is closely associated with Google, though you can see PPC ads on Facebook, Bing, and other places as well. Law firm ads on Google and other search engines is, in fact, one of the most popular forms of PPC for law firms, and something many of your competitors are doing to drive business.
PPC allows a law firm to bid for ad placement in a search engine’s sponsored links when someone searches on a keyword that is related to their firm’s areas of expertise. It is essentially a way to buy visits to your law firm website, rather than generating those visits organically.
The beauty of lawyer PPC is that a firm can display a targeted local ad at the precise instant that someone searches a term related to its practice. For example, in the case of local service ads for lawyers, if you are a lawyer specializing in wills, trusts and estates, and you bid on the keyword “elder law,” your ad might show up in the very top sponsored spot on the Google results page when someone searches for information regarding a senior suffering financial abuse in their local area.
Pay-per-click’s main goals are as follows:
Generate leads
Increase sales
Promote brand awareness
Here are six reasons why your law firm should invest in digital advertising as well as some tidbits for making the most of your efforts.
1. Target the correct audience
Clients – past, current and potential ones – are the foundation of any successful law firm. One of the main benefits of digital advertising for law firms is that you can fine-tune your parameters and find the ones you want.
Obviously, in the case of local service ads for lawyers, this will require some extra homework, as you will have to look at the data and see where they are coming from. The good news is that this data readily available. With people spending so much time online these days (the average person logs over 24 hours per week), you have access to a lot of information, from location to personal interests.
We recommend compiling all this information together and creating a buyer persona for your firm marketing efforts, so you can really get into your audience's shoes.
2. Greater flexibility than traditional law firm ads
Digital advertising is not bound to the same limitations as traditional advertising for lawyers (i.e., newspapers, yellow pages) at a fraction of the cost. One piece of content can be repurposed across a variety of platforms, keeping it fresh and engaging more of your legal audience.
It’s all about choice. A comprehensive lawyer digital advertising strategy allows you to deliver the full meal or break it down into small, digestible pieces for easier consumption. For example, you have a longer video from your partners discussing a timely, industry-relevant topic. This can be:
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Broken down into bit-size video clips.
Expanded upon in a blog post that clarifies key points without the legal jargon.
Turned into an infographic or PowerPoint presentation for a future webinar session.
The options are nearly endless ehen t comes to developing content for your law firm marketing strategy. And should surrounding circumstances change, you’re not locked into a particular design or message. You can easily pivot and make the necessary adjustments to keep your ad relevant.
3. Easier to track your ROI
Like any business, law firms need to justify their expenses. While brand awareness or impressions are important considerations, there still needs to be a way to track hard data like pipeline, revenue and profit.
With a law firm PPC strategy, these metrics come built in. You can easily check who clicked on your ads and who shared it as well as the sources of traffic. This enables you to see which platforms and tactics work best, before making the necessary adjustments as needed.
For more detailed insights, there are several online tools that will let you know where clients are coming from and what channels you should invest more in to increase your caseload. You'll be able to maximize your online marketing dollars without breaking a sweat.
4. Cost-effective (and scalable to your needs)
Depending on your needs, it is very easy to set a reasonable budget for your law firm PPC strategy and scale it to your immediate needs. The good thing is that you don’t need a lot of technical savvy to set these up. If you need to rework your strategy, you can suspend the campaign at any time.
While long-term strategies like search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing are effective, law firm ads on search engines will get you results much faster. This is perfect for smaller firms and allows them to level the playing field with larger legal practices.
5. Better reach and engagement of mobile users
Did you know that 58.5 per cent of online searches are mobile? Not only is your audience online most of the day, they’re using mobile devices, more so than desktops. From smartphone to smartwatches, law firm ads on search engines are one of the best tools for reaching your audience when they’re on the go.
This is particularly beneficial as it is much easier to convert a mobile search into a lead. If your audience is searching you up on the go with their smartphone, it's much more convenient for them to call and visit your law office; this is less likely when you're rooted to a desktop computer.
To take advantage of this mobile engagement, you’ll need to optimize your law firm's content, so that the experience is smooth on desktop and mobile.
6. Better local targeting than traditional avenues
When it comes to local advertising, law firms are known to use newspapers, billboards, yellow pages, as well as TV and radio spots to attract local clients to their legal practice.
In the online space, people are freely choosing to engage with your legal marketing. When they actually need legal services, they can conduct a search on Google, check out your law firm's website and social media presence, before reaching out using their preferred method.
Types of digital ads
Lawyers wanting to leverage an effective legal marketing strategy, have a variety of tools they can use:
1) Display ads. This is the most basic, affordable type of digital marketing for law fii]rms, with images and text. Banners, landing pages, popups or flash ads on a law firm website all fall under this category. Display ads not found on search engine result pages (SERPs).
2) Native advertising. Similar to display ads but more in line with a target audience’s online habits and history. There are four sub-types: in-feed, search ads, recommendation widget and promoted listings. Online legal directories such as Justia are a great place to use these as it gives your firm access to a broad audience to convert into leads.
3) Social media. 70 per cent of law firm marketing includes social media and for good reason. This digital marketing channel offers little to no cost of entry, with broad reach and audience targeting. Depending on your specific goals, you can use social media ads to build your brand, drive site traffic and increase leads.
Whatever avenue you choose, we recommend crafting a professional social media bio, posting tips and helpful legal articles on a regular basis as well as joining professional groups for the best results.
4) Search engine marketing. This is an all-encompassing term that covers pay-per-click (PPC) and SEO. With law firm PPC, your firm is only charged only when a link is clicked. In certain sectors, like the legal industry where there is a lot of competition, these can get expensive quickly.
SEO, on the other hand, is focused on improving your ranking in organic search results. To improve the visibility of your site, you need to have the right keywords, use strong links and share useful content. We recommend segmenting your audience and targeting your law firm's geographical area for local searches.
5) Video ads. These are short videos promoting a law firm or a specific legal service. These can appear as commercial-esque ads before video on a platform like YouTube or as a native/display ad. Wherever you choose to place them, you can easily track your results with built-in metrics.
6) Email marketing. This allows your firm to target those who opted into your email list: those who visited your website and agreed to a popup asking for their email. Many legal clients prefer this outreach method and the data reinforces its efficacy – email marketing generates $40 for every $1 spent.
Start by building a list of people who would be interested in the content you send out and then use email management software like MailChimp to effectively plan and automate your email campaigns.
Next steps
Digital advertising offers one of the first steps towards crafting a successful online presence for law firms and being found by search engines.
You can supplement your online marketing efforts by designing a unique law firm website for conversion, perfecting a SEO strategy, proactively managing your firm's online reputation and building out your brand on social media.
Ready to get started? As a law firm marketing agency, Law SEO Experts helps law firms with their digital advertising and online marketing needs. Reach out today to speak to our team of qualified law firm marketing experts, so you can focus on what matters – winning cases and running your law firm!