By leveraging conversion tracking, firms can get deeper insights into the actions each ad is driving.
Generating quality leads via marketing is critical for attorneys to gain clients and ultimately generate revenue for their firm. Yet, over half (54%) of law firms lack an annual marketing budget – which is why it’s mission critical to invest in the tactics that generate the highest ROI.
According to recent research, 85% of potential clients prefer using Google as their primary source for research when looking for a lawyer. Pay-per-click (PPC) is where an advertiser places their ad on a platform – typically a search engine like Google – that appears when a search matches a particular keyword chosen by the advertiser. Advertisers secure these keywords through bids and then pay every time there is a click on the ad.
And firms trying to increase their top-of-funnel lead volume often rely on PPC advertising to get their ads in front of prospective clients. However, marketing your law firm through PPC ads can be tricky as legal search terms are some of the most competitive (and expensive) keywords being bid on.
However, law firms that use PPC advertising will find that, if they invest the time, there are many strategies they can adopt to maximize their ad budget. So to maximize those marketing dollars and ensure firms are getting the biggest bang for their buck, here are three tactics to boost your PPC strategy’s ROI:
Tactic 1: Implement Effective Keywords
The legal industry has some of the highest cost per clicks (CPC) – with the average cost coming in at $6.75. So, it can be easy for law firms to burn through monthly ad budgets with little new business to show for it. It’s important for a firm to take the time to determine the most effective keywords that will actually convert. With the majority of new prospects starting their hunt for a lawyer through Google searches, not bidding on your most effective keywords is essentially handing prospective clients to your competitors.
To ensure you are reaching the right audience, try to make your keywords as specific to your business as possible. Less competition from competing companies results equals less competitive bids overall. Incorporating voice search into your plan is another great tactic to make your keywords stand out. While we often shorten phrases when we type – like “good business lawyer near me” – when we speak, it might sound more like “who is the best business lawyer in my area.” Test these options against each other when bidding on your keywords.
Tactic 2: Track your ad’s success
Uplevel your PPC advertising with conversion tracking.
Measuring the ROI of your marketing is the only way to understand how your spending is working to grow your firm and PPC advertising is no exception. To effectively nurture leads, firms need to know how the ad budget is contributing to marketing goals and bottom line.
Many law firms attempt to do this by using Google Analytics to gain insights. However, it’s important to realize that Google Analytics stops at the ad click, meaning it doesn’t help you get closer to understanding lead quality and ROI coming from your PPC ads.
By leveraging conversion tracking, firms can get deeper insights into the actions each ad is driving, which enables them to more accurately invest in what works. Using Google Ads, you can set up and monitor key actions like how many calls are coming in when a person clicks on one of your PPC ads or downloads an eBook on a PPC landing page.
Tactic 3: Gain insight into potential customers
Equally valuable to monitoring ads is monitoring potential customers’ interactions with that ad.
Enter: visitor-level tracking. This tactic assigns a unique phone number to each individual who visits your website after an online search. Their activity is tracked as they move across the website, offering data surrounding when they visited, what landing pages they interacted with, and what type of services they are looking for.
With this information, firms gain valuable insight into precisely what the caller needs, which can then help create a customized experience the very first time they call. And it ultimately allows firms to see at an individual level what marketing campaigns are working, or not working, to drive new clients.
Conclusion: From keyword research and budgets to ad copy and landing pages, there are many areas that can be improved to make your PPC campaigns more successful. But without tracking them, lawyers won’t have any way of knowing what is actually driving clients to their firm and what isn’t. Gaining insight into what tactics work will help optimize your marketing spend and – ultimately – your lead generation.
To learn more about effectively implementing PPC campaigns at your law firm, check out this Content Hub from CallRail.
Join the conversation!