The Ultimate Guide To Small Law Firm Marketing in Australia

Client acquisition is key to the growth of every law practice and one cannot avoid the fact that a law firm is still a business. Thus, it is very important to grow your brand and have a marketing budget for long term growth.

This article is not a comprehensive marketing strategy, however, it does aim to explain components of law firm marketing which you may consider to use in your own marketing plan. Legal marketing is complex and usually not executed well. Firms that invest in the right marketing efforts will have good profitability and thus goodwill in their law firm.

The following content will help you demystify marketing (specifically digital marketing) for your practice.

The Importance Of Goals

To create any marketing strategy, you will need the have goals. You need to know:

• Target Leads Per Month
• Target Cost Per Lead
• Target Sales Per Month
• Target Cost Per Sale

We cover all that with our calculators. Have a look:

Without setting goals, there is no baseline to measure off and you will not be certain whether your objectives are achievable.

The Need For Metrics

In order to make these goals accountable, metrics need to be monitored. If you look at the calculator above, there are some metrics already present, such as Click-Through-Rate (CTR), Cost-Per-Click (CPC) and Cost Per Lead. Sometimes these metrics are described differently depending on the platform, but they are sometimes synonymous.

Digital marketing agencies will have a very good understanding of metrics, however, be careful. Non-marketers who have a poor understanding of these metrics and unscrupulous marketers that cherry-pick the best information can easily deceive you as to the actual performance of your campaigns.

The Major Channels Of Digital Marketing For Law Firms

There are five types of online marketing channels for law firms. Your options are much wider than Google Ads and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). These major channels are:

• Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
• Social Media Marketing (SMM)
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
• YouTube Ads
• LinkedIn Outreach

Understanding Search Engine Marketing For Law Firms (Google Ads)

Search Engine Marketing is a staple for any law firm. The largest provider of search engine marketing is Google Ads, which functions on keywords. In Australia, Bing holds only a 3% market share in the Search Engine Marketing space, which makes Google a virtual monopoly here in Australia. If you are after display ads on a website network, Google is also who you will have to go with.

Google Ads is like “Instant SEO” giving you top positions for what would normally be very hard to achieve by SEO. Nearly all lawyers will benefit from effective Google Ads.

To run a successful Google Ads campaign, you will require a very strong and high converting website, otherwise your campaigns will become either too expensive or totally ineffective.

For lawyers, the Cost-Per-Click (CPC) can be very high and thus affect the profitability of your campaigns. In the example above, the CPC can be over $25 per click! It is for this reason we encourage lawyers to diversify their Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns to multiple channels where applicable.

Nevertheless, most law firms benefit from Google Ads, as the platform can handle both litigious and transactional services, unlike on social media. Google Ads is useful for urgent matters because of the active nature of this audience.

Success Factors For Google Ads

In order to succeed in Google Ads, you must have the following:

• Keyword Research
• Good Copywriting
• Fantastic Landing Pages
• Extensions
• Diligent Management

Keyword Research

Proper keyword research is the foundation of all Google Ads campaigns. Keywords are the main targeting mechanism of Google Ads, so make sure that you set yourself up for success. Without doing research, forecasting and projections first, you will never know whether your goals are feasible or achievable.

Good Copywriting

Writing great text ads on the SERP is very important for Google Ads success. If the ad copy is irrelevant or unclear, it will not achieve a high Quality Score from Google. If this is the case, it will also fail to attract the clients you actually want to see the ad.

Fantastic Landing Pages

Contrary to common belief, a landing page does not have to mean a “funnel style sales” page. The literal meaning of a landing page, is to be the first page a visitor lands. Therefore, any page on a website can be considered a landing page.

Your landing page experience for a visitor must be fantastic, as it is the gateway to getting the visitor to become a customer. It is where you make the page visitor take your desired action and cause a conversion event.

Extensions

Extensions are enhancements to text ads that can do for example:

• Sitelink extension – Highlight the different key pages of your website
• Callout extension – Highlight other features of your website
• Location extension – Highlight your physical location

Having extensions on your ads improves their overall Quality Score and helps you rank higher on the SERP.

Diligent Management

Google Ads is a high maintenance ad platform and requires regular attendance and fine-tuning to achieve maximum results. Unlike social media, where there are less levers to push, there is a lot that can be manually done within Google Ads to achieve your desired outcomes.

Understanding Social Media Marketing For Law Firms (Facebook & LinkedIn Ads)

Social media is a passive medium, meaning that your audience is not deliberately looking for your services, whilst content marketing to gain leads can only get you so far. That’s why law firms typically need to run ads to ensure that they receive the leads they desire.

Social media ads, be it on Facebook or LinkedIn, usually lead to disappointing results. These platforms rely heavily on visual imagery to engage the viewer and unfortunately, most law firms don’t have the capacity to produce the high quality content that is needed.

This is where Marketlytics can become your social media specialist!

The passive nature of social media means that the strategy dictates the outcome and having quality content is the key to having success on the platform. Here is a graphic of the six audiences you can target on social media:

An example of how to target a “most aware” audience is to offer a discount or provide scarcity. Meanwhile, for a “unaware” audience, you would offer relevant news or stories. A comprehensive social media campaign is the preferred medium to use when targeting colder audiences who are less aware of who your are. These campaigns should target all six audiences within the awareness journey.

So what is the difference between Facebook and LinkedIn Ads?

Facebook uses interest and behaviour targeting to help serve ads to its audience, whilst LinkedIn uses job demographics to serve theirs. These of course are entirely different targeting mechanisms to Google Ads. This means that your legal firm will be able obtain cheaper, more cost effective campaigns with high yields.

You cannot generate litigious work on social media in general. The reason for this is that most litigious work is urgent, so they cannot wait for representation, they must be attended to immediately. There are exceptions, for example, personal injury, where you can target “Workers Compensation” interests and thus target litigants there.

Success Factors For Social Media Marketing

These are the components of successful social media marketing:

• Good targeting
• Good visuals
• Good copywriting
• Good offer

Good Targeting

Social media ads must be relevant. In order for an ad to be relevant, it must target an interested audience. This is the foundation of social media marketing, reaching a passive audience and make them interested in your offer

Good Visuals

Video is particularly effective when done correctly. Still images work as well, but need to be ingenious and attractive, which is sometimes harder to achieve than a good video. Good visuals can lower the cost of advertising.

Good Copywriting

Copywriting is still key here, but it need not be very long. Good copy engages and causes the reader to be absorbed. This helps improve click-through-rate (CTR) and gets cheaper clicks.

Good Offer

A good offer is very important. However, a common issue is going after the sale, instead of appealing to colder audiences. Sometimes the offer is just some relevant information.

Understanding Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) For Law Firms

SEO works when you rank for key terms. Firms spend a lot on money on SEO because it is, in the long term, the most cost effective way to ensure you get leads online. However, to stand out on search engines is sometimes out of reach financially for a small firm, as there are only 10 spots per page, making SEO extremely competitive for lawyers. The truth is, not everyone can win in the SEO game.

SEO is not only the top 10 search results, but the “map pack” and Google My Business Listings, which are what is called “local SEO“.

SEO is basically a manual manipulation of the content of a website and Google My Business Listing to allow you to rank for certain key terms higher on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).

SEO is the second channel that can handle both litigious and transactional issues.

Success Factors for SEO

These are the success factors for SEO:

• Document relevancy
• Backlinks
• Technical Factors

Document relevancy

You can only have a high ranking for a keyword if it is relevant. Document relevancy is this most important factor in SEO.

Backlinks

Having third party websites link to you, backlinks is the second most important factor for Google to decide whether to trust your content. The more relevant links you have, the better. However, not all links are going to benefit you and sometimes, malicious links can occur. SEO agencies can manage your backlink profile.

Technical factors

There are many relevant technical factors that relate to SEO. Some include speed, Schema and so on. Technical factors relate to the build of your website, and not all web developers are knowledgeable of or SEO complaint.

Understanding YouTube Ads For Law Firms

YouTube Ads is more or less uncharted territory for law firms. The idea of advertising on YouTube is not a common one but can work. YouTube has several targeting mechanisms, Affinity audiences are like Facebook interests, in-market audiences target audiences with more intent, and custom intent audiences are using the data from your Google Ads account.

You can also do channel and video targeting, which is more accurate than Facebook interests at times.

This allows for very interesting campaigns, such as selling wills to viewers of parenting channels and videos. It is a video search engine under the Google umbrella and the second most viewed online platform in the world, exceeding Facebook.

Success factors of YouTube Ads

These are the success factors of YouTube Ads:

• Good targeting
• Good visuals
• Good copywriting
• Good offer

Good Targeting

As with all digital marketing, the targeting is very important

Good Visuals

The content and quality of the video is very important. Content is king here, and the quality of the content is far more important than the quality of the production.

Good copywriting

Crafting the script of the video is key here, the content must be as compelling as possible

Good Offer

What lies beyond the ad is very important to determine its success

Understanding LinkedIn Outreach For Law Firms

LinkedIn Outreach is a real thing. Many digital marketers use LinkedIn Outreach, but many lawyers are not aware of its power in the digital age. The reason why lawyers spend so much time on LinkedIn in their personal profile is because it is an approach to improve personal brand and does result in business.

Imagine being able to find clients and referral partners by direct marketing. By simply adding someone as a connection and starting a conversation, you can turn someone into a client. That is the power of LinkedIn Outreach. It is a no ad, no spam way to grow your business.

However, there are very little agencies focused on LinkedIn Outreach. Despite this, we do not recommend using such agencies, because the wrong agent can have you permanently banned from LinkedIn from bad practices.

LinkedIn Outreach requires a special approach and framework to work. Reaching out to random people without a firm plan is a surefire way to fail.

Nevertheless, it opens interesting opportunities, such as lawyers marketing to general counsel or in-house counsel. Lawyer-to-Lawyer or B2B marketing makes this the strategy for success under these circumstances.

If you want to make money on LinkedIn, enrol for our training program here.

Success Factors For LinkedIn Outreach

These are the success factors of good LinkedIn Outreach:

• Good Headline
• Optimised Profile
• Good Website

Good Headline

The headline is what is first seen by your connection. A strong headline elicits curiosity and leads them to either accept on its face, or probe more.

Optimised Profile

An optimised profile includes relevant recommendations, a good summary and good features. This makes you attractive to the potential client or referral partner.

Good Website

Your potential clients and referral partners might check your website out to see legitimacy and credibility. Have this ready at a high standard to be seen favourably.

Why Choosing The Right Marketing Channel Is Key For A Law Firm

All these channels have different strengths and weaknesses, their targeting and nature is different. A pragmatic approach to legal marketing is to match the right tool for right purpose. Your marketing dollars are best spent on the most effective campaigns, rather than all channels. The marketing tool is only as good as its user, so take advantage of these channels in and appropriate manner to get clients you truly deserve.

The most profitable campaigns are not the most expensive, but with the most return-on-investment.

The Importance Of Tracking And Analytics

Digital marketing is what is called “data driven marketing”. However, in order for it to be “data driven”, the tracking of results and thus, analytics needs to be accurate. Therefore, installing tracking codes correctly and having accurate analytics is very important to understand campaigns and transparency.

A common complaint is that other sources of data do not match with Google Analytics. Despite our statement emphasising how important data is, most of these tools have degrees of error and different methods of measurement, causing discrepancy. Ad blockers are another culprit.

Nevertheless, the data collected by Google Analytics, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads and so on, needs to be tracked appropriately and as accurate as it can be to backend systems for digital marketing to be effective. This is still true.

As it happens, Marketlytics are experts in Analytics and tracking.

Understanding Supply And Demand Effects For Law Firm Marketing In Australia

We are based in Western Australia. This gives us a unique insight to supply and demand for certain legal services because Western Australia is neither a high density or low density State.

Our research and experience has led us to believe that there are some legal services, especially litigious services that cannot be targeted in a State with low density.

For example, in the areas of migration law, if you were to target “AAT Appeals” or “Character Submission”, you would be disappointed because in your Google Ads account, you only get those enquires through generic terms. Why?

It is simply the case of supply and demand, there are not enough litigants in Western Australia. No amount of money will fix this, the volume is not there!

Therefore, the solution would be to change channels, to something like Facebook, or increase the geographical reach.

Another thing to understand is that a focus on transactional work is still an effective way to get litigious work, because you would be the first point of contact. So in areas where the population is low, going on social media and getting a lot of transactional work is the best you can do.

Understanding Email Marketing For Law Firms

Email marketing is the glue of digital marketing. People think email marketing is dead, but the experience and research we have is that email marketing has never been more important. The issue becomes, how do you rise above the noise, and lead to that sale?

The answer is to be relevant and answer their specific questions. Creating value and raising the perception of your service is very important.

See our guide to email marketing for lawyers here.

Facilitating Good Reviews For Law Firms

Reviews and reputation of your law firm is crucial for long term success. We recommend regularly asking for reviews from clients who are able to, and to use reputation management software to filter out bad reviews. Here is our recommended software.

Must-Have Tools For Law Firms

These are the must-have software we recommend for every firm:

• Acuity Scheduling
• Zapier

Acuity Scheduling is one of the best online schedulers, managing diaries for multiple lawyers effectively if setup correctly.

Zapier is needed for advertising purposes on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Acuity Scheduling

Acuity Scheduling is a Squarespace company and product. You do not need a Squarespace website to use it, and you can integrate it with Google Analytics, Stripe and Zoom. It can coordinate more than one diary and can have quite complex setups. The ability to make private booking links and the links themselves leads to multiple “menus” you can create based on your specific needs.

Zapier

The only reason why a law firm needs to use this is mainly for online social media campaigns. You need to connect social media lead ads to this solution in order to connect it to your email marketing system. By doing so, you automate the “autoresponder” of your email campaigns and automatically send emails to your leads in an “email sequence”. However, if you were to run “funnel style” social media campaigns, usually Zapier isn’t required to automate things.

Other Tools

Other tools include Callrail for phone tracking and JotForm, TypeForm or similar for online surveys and forms.

When To Hire A Law Firm Marketing Agency?

When should you hire a law firm marketing agency? The answer is as soon as you have a budget. No matter what size firm you are, even if you are a sole practitioner, the strategies of an agency will help you expand. The right agency can tailor campaigns based on your current needs and stage of business. Having a reasonable budget of a few thousand as a minimum is helpful to kick start the process.

However, be careful who you pick as the wrong agency will flush that money down the toilet.

How Much Does Digital Marketing Cost?

Digital marketing for lawyers can cost from as low as just over a thousand dollars a month for SEO, to at least ten thousand dollars a month for a detailed Google Ads campaign in multiple practice areas.

The cost greatly depends on your requirements and objectives. An agency who can match your needs to design campaigns on multiple platforms is very advantageous. We are such an agency. The tactics we employ aim to be bang for buck.

Here is our guide on how much law firms in Australia spend on marketing.

Conclusion

There are quite a few options available for a small law firms. Most of the time the lower cost campaigns will be on social media. SEO is cost effective, but only after a long period and you cannot win all the time. Our clients enjoy the flexibility of using any of these major channels at their disposal, having custom tailored marketing strategies truly matched on their needs and stage of business. If you want a digital marketing agency niched to law firms, by a lawyer for lawyers, please consider Marketlytics.

We provide research, forecasts and projections for all advertising, giving you more certainty and the right budget for the desired outcome.

All discovery calls are confidential

What are the major channels for digital marketing for lawyers?

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or Google Ads, Social Media Marketing (SMM) or Facebook and LinkedIn Ads, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) on Google, YouTube Ads and LinkedIn Outreach

What is the importance of tracking and Analytics for lawyers?

Digital marketing is what is called “data driven marketing”. However, in order for it to be “data driven”, the tracking of results and thus, analytics needs to be accurate. Therefore, installing tracking codes correctly and having accurate analytics is very important to understand campaigns and transparency.

When to hire a digital marketing agency?

When should you hire a law firm marketing agency? The answer is as soon as you have a budget. No matter what size firm you are, even if you are a sole practitioner, the strategies of an agency will help you expand. The right agency can tailor campaigns based on your current needs and stage of business. Having a reasonable budget of a few thousand as a minimum is helpful to kick start the process.

However, be careful who you pick as the wrong agency will flush that money down the toilet.

How does population density affect digital marketing for lawyers?

Our research and experience has led us to believe that there are some legal services, especially litigious services that cannot be targeted in a State with low density.