Running a successful law firm today requires a solid understanding of how to market your services effectively. Your marketing efforts must generate brand awareness and collect leads to convert into paying clients. In the past, this meant spending a lot of money on traditional marketing methods like print ads and television commercials, which took a lot of work to determine who was seeing your ad and whether it was having any impact. Digital marketing has changed the advertising landscape and provides law firms with a much more targeted and cost-effective way to reach potential clients. As the internet builds in popularity, becomes more integrated into our daily lives, and advances into new platforms like wearable technology, it’s important that law firms keep up with the latest trends in digital marketing to remain ahead of the competition and dominate their field.
What Is PPC Advertising for Law Firms?
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is one of the many digital marketing tools that law firms can use to reach new clients. PPC is a type of online digital advertising where you, the advertiser, pay a fee every time someone clicks on one of your ads. PPC advertising is a great way for law firms to get their name out there in the digital market and resonate. By bidding on certain keywords and phrases that match up with what potential clients may be searching for, your law firm can appear as a top result on the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Not only does this give your law firm more visibility, but it also helps to build essential trust and credibility with potential clients, as they are more likely to click on a result that appears first on the page.
Why Is PPC Marketing for Attorneys Important?
Attorneys operating a law firm are not excused from the demands of marketing their business. Many people still think that the field of law is immune to changes in technology and the way that consumers find and select services, but this is far from the truth. To stay competitive and attract new clients, law firms must now engage in digital marketing, which includes pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.
This is important because:
- PPC ads allow attorneys to target potential clients with laser precision. Gone are the old days when you spent an exorbitant amount of marketing money and had no idea if your message was reaching the right people. With PPC ads, firms can use specific keywords, key phrases, and demographic information to pay for ads that only target individuals who are most likely to need their services. This prevents wasting advertising money on people who are not in need of legal services.
- PPC ads are an effective way to build trust and credibility with potential clients. When an individual goes on the internet seeking a service or an answer to a question, the first result displayed by a search engine is naturally perceived to be the best result. Paid search ads take advantage of this by allowing law firms to appear as the first result, regardless of their organic ranking. This builds necessary trust and credibility with potential clients, as they are more likely to click on a result that appears at the top of the page as it appears to be more relevant and trustworthy.
The legal industry is becoming increasingly competitive. New law firms are opening across all geographies, making it harder for any firm to stand out. Law firms must now engage in the best digital marketing tactics that generate demand and ready-to-purchase leads to attract new clients and dominate their geography.
PPC Campaign Tactics for Lawyers
Pay-Per-Lead Advertising for Lawyers
When it comes to PPC advertising for lawyers, there are certain tactics that you can use to improve your chances of success.
Some of the best tactics for law firm PPC advertising include:
- Bidding on relevant keywords and key phrases: To appear as a top result on the SERP, you will need to bid on relevant keywords and key phrases that potential clients are likely to search for. Some examples of this in a legal context could be “divorce lawyer,” “DWI attorney,” or “personal injury lawyer” combined with the geographic location you serve. To stand out from the other law firms that might also provide the same services in your area, you will need to make sure that your ad is well-written and relevant to what the potential client is searching for. You can also bid on a competitor’s name as a keyword to try and steal their traffic. This specific tactic is common for smaller, less well-known businesses who are trying to bid against the big names in their industry to get a foothold in the market.
- Creating compelling ad copy: Your ad copy should be clear, concise, and persuasive to convince potential clients to click on your ad. As the human attention span continues to decrease, you have microseconds to make a good impression. Therefore, generic opening lines that don’t communicate what you do or how you can help solve the searcher’s problem until a few lines in are less likely to be successful.
- Targeting your ads to potential clients in your geographic area: By targeting your ads to potential clients in your geographic location, you are more likely to generate leads that are relevant to your law firm. It does not benefit you to generate leads from individuals who live across the country and would never be able to use your services. You can target your ads to people in a specific city, state, or zip code to ensure that your ads only reach people who would actually be able to use your services.
- Testing different ad campaigns: It is crucial to test various ad campaigns to see what works best for your law firm. This will help optimize your PPC campaigns and improve your chances of success. For example, you could test different ad copy, bidding strategies, or targeting options to see which one generates the most leads that convert into clients. After a few weeks, you can check in on your results and adjust your strategy accordingly. For example, if your ads have been served to people under the age of 18, you could exclude that age group from your targeting options to better target people that are old enough to actually need your services.
Lawyer Pay-Per-Click Campaigns
PPC advertising for attorneys open for new business can be a great way to generate leads and attract new clients. However, PPC campaigns require careful planning and execution to succeed.
The anatomy of the perfect PPC campaign for lawyers includes the following elements:
- Keyword research: To bid on the right keywords and keyphrases, you will need to do your research to find the ones most relevant to your law firm. This type of research can be done using tools like Google AdWords Keyword Planner or Moz Keyword Explorer that uncover high-traffic keywords that are related to your business and will serve you well in your PPC campaigns.
- Audience targeting: You will need to target your ads to potential clients in your geographic area in order to generate the most useful leads. High-level demographic information like age, gender, and location can be used as an initial filter to target your ads, while even more in-depth targeting options like interests, behaviors, and life events can narrow your audience even further.
- Ad copy: In the age of information overload, it is more important than ever to write ad copy that is clear and persuasive. The behavior you want these targets to take should be made obvious to them in the form of a call to action, and you should use language that speaks to the pain points or needs of your target audience that will make them want to take that action.
- Landing pages: Your landing page should be relevant to the ad and designed to convert visitors into leads. The copy on landing pages should extend the persuasive language that the original ad copy started with and include a form that allows visitors to easily submit their contact information.
- Call to action: Your call to action should be clear and concise in order to encourage potential clients to take the next step. This comes in many forms, such as “call us now,” “schedule a consultation,” or “learn more.”