The goal of digital advertising for law firms is to be visible at one of the most important instances in a prospective client’s journey: the moment they’re searching for a lawyer. Learn more about how digital advertising can help your law firm get more clients.
Why is Digital Advertising Important for Law Firms?
Digital advertising makes it easy for the clients you want to find you online. In basic terms, the more times your law firm’s name pops up online, the more likely it is that someone will decide that you’re trustworthy enough to contact about their case.
It’s not as simple as just buying lots of ad space, though: your online presence must fill a need that your prospective client has. Read on to find out how Kirkpatrick Creative can help your law firm’s digital advertising do just that.
The Benefits of Digital Advertising for Law Firms
Target Your Ideal Clients for Higher-Quality Leads
Unlike broad-reaching media such as television commercials and billboards, digital advertising allows you to spend money targeting only who you want to advertise to. For example, if your law firm specializes in social security disability, you could spend thousands of dollars (and hours!) shooting and editing TV commercials to air during your target demographic’s favorite shows…
…or, you could spend significantly less by seeking them out online and speaking directly to them—and only them.
That targeting power can go even further than simple demographics. With advanced methods of digital advertising for law firms, you can specify everything from the time of day your ads run to the mobile devices they show up on. (You might find that your digital ads really resonate with people who browse Facebook on their Android phones during their lunch breaks!)
To boil it down: targeting means you get exactly the leads you want—that is, high-quality leads. Spending your advertising budget only on the prospects that are most likely to become clients is a smart business move. That’s the power of targeted digital advertising for law firms!
The Brand Awareness You Need…At a Lower Price
TV is one of the best ways to get your law firm’s name out there—but it’s expensive. If you’re a smaller firm that can’t afford to shoot professional commercials and air them on your local stations, what can you do to increase brand awareness?
You need to be exactly where your clients are at the most crucial moment in their journey: when they need you.
While it’s impossible to predict with 100% accuracy what will make someone click on your ad, you can increase your chances by following a few basic guidelines:
- Use clear, consistent verbiage
- Provide trustworthy content (including no typos!) that answers questions
- Use mobile-friendly design (including click-to-call buttons)
- Include straightforward location info
Where digital advertising and brand awareness intersect, location is crucial. When people turn to the Internet to search for a lawyer near them, they’re already far along in their journey: they are no longer simply researching what they should do—they are now actively comparing attorneys in their area to find the best representative for their case. Your digital advertising must now stand out against the competition.
Keep in mind that the types of law in which your firm specializes will affect the ways your prospective clients search. For example, someone charged with a DUI will need a lawyer fairly quickly, but someone who is contemplating divorce will spend some time researching their options. When those “slower” prospects are finally ready to take the next step and call an attorney, they’re more likely to contact one they came across frequently during their research—a lawyer who provided helpful, trustworthy information.
Keep Your Messaging On Point, No Matter the Circumstances
Digital advertising is far more agile than other forms of advertising because it can be updated in a flash. For example, several of our clients wanted to update their advertising in light of the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We were able to accomplish those changes easily in our digital ads, but it was much more difficult to pivot to new messaging in traditional media like television and radio.
While instances like these are (thankfully) rare, this one taught a valuable lesson to our clients: digital advertising is much more flexible than other forms of advertising. And since crafting a message that actually speaks to the customer’s circumstances—rather than just blaring your information at them—is an essential component of effective, memorable advertising, it’s incredibly valuable to be able to update your ads as needed on the fly.
This flexibility is also helpful from a budgetary standpoint. A/B testing is a relatively cheap way to find out what kinds of ads work best with your prospective clients. (After all, running two slightly different digital ads is far more cost-effective than running two slightly different TV commercials!) Add to that the convenience of the real-time data available with digital advertising and you have the perfect way to discover what kinds of ads resonate with your ideal client.
Start Getting More Clients with Digital Advertising
When it comes to your law firm’s advertising budget, removing the guesswork is essential. There’s no quicker way to deplete your budget than making marketing decisions based on intuition rather than the facts.
At Kirkpatrick Creative, we rigorously test and measure the data we collect to refine your advertising down to a fine science. It’s what we call advertising engineered to work. Our years of experience performing advertising services for law firms have honed our knowledge of what attracts customers—and, more importantly, what doesn’t.
Ready to start advertising your law firm online and get more leads? Contact Kirkpatrick Creative today and let’s get started!