10 Law Firm PPC Tips To Reduce Monthly Spend

What can a law firm do to reduce their monthly advertising spend on platforms like Google, Avvo, and SuperLawyers? 

To help you reduce your monthly advertising spending, we asked marketing professionals and business leaders this question for their insights. From digging into ROI and concrete conversions to using different match types, there are several ways to reduce your monthly advertising overhead. 

Here are ten law firm PPC tips to reduce monthly spending:

• Dig Into ROI and Concrete Conversions
• Leverage Ad Extensions
• Assess Cost-Per-Acquisition
• Conduct More Organic Outreach
• Track Advertising With a CRM
• Zero in on a Budget for Client Acquisition
• Target, Target, Target!
• Pay for CPA Rather Than CPC
• Update Your Negative Keywords List Regularly
• Use Different Match Types

Dig Into ROI and Concrete Conversions

To reduce monthly advertising spend, dig into the analytics of which platforms are driving the most eventual conversions and sales and prioritize spend on the ones with the best ROI. You can do this by setting up conversion tracking in Google Analytics to track where website visitors came from and if they completed a form, called a number, or otherwise reached out to engage your firm. That way you can go beyond soft metrics like visits and engagement and really compare how many visitors from each paid platform turned into bonafide leads. If you want to dig deeper into each platform, you can prioritize spend on what keywords or campaigns drove the most conversions while testing out new ones and keeping those that perform best.

Colton De Vos, Resolute Technology Solutions

Leverage Ad Extensions

What if there was a way to make your PPC ads more clickable without investing additional funds? Enter Ad Extensions. Ad Extensions allow you to add extra details to your PPC ads to encourage viewers to take action. There are different types to choose from including call extensions and ones that highlight important links on your site. So find the one that makes sense for your firm and add it to your next campaign.

Claire Routh, Markitors

Assess Cost-Per-Acquisition

Above all, a law firm needs to assess whether the cost-per-acquisition is worth having a strong presence on sites like Avvo and SuperLawyers. If they determine it is still worth their while, then look to reduce costs with other avenues, like Google. A firm may find it is easier and cheaper to convert visitors into clients from a free social media page or blog. Testimonials from clients on social media platforms may even achieve the same results as Avvo or SuperLaywers.

Court Will, Will & Will

Conduct More Organic Outreach

A law firm can look into doing more organic outreach. We usually recommend working on SEO because it isn’t advertising with a consistent spend. I compare it to building a house and the more you build the foundation over time the less you might have to spend on advertising. So content creation (e.g. blogs, podcasts and social) can help to reduce advertising spend.

Gresham Harkless Jr., Blue Media

Track Advertising With a CRM

Law firms should track all of their advertising sources using customer relationship management (CRM) software.  Every lead that contacts the law firm should be tracked in the CRM, even if it is not a lead that develops into a retained client.  The advertising source that attracted the lead to the law firm should be noted in the CRM.  Over time, by running reports generated by the CRM, law firms can see what sources of advertising are working for the firm and make future advertising decisions based on the information gathered by the CRM.

Tate Meagher, Meagher Law Office, PLLC

Zero in on a Budget for Client Acquisition

Rather than allocating your entire marketing budget to different metrics and outcomes, zero in on the one that truly matters for your organization. For most law firms, this will be the cost of acquiring new clients. Once you have this, you can then pull back from other campaigns that don’t aim to serve this goal, regardless of the platform you’re using.

Riley Beam, Douglas R. Beam, P.A.

Target, Target, Target!

The trick to minimizing your ad spend on Google and other legal advertising services is to target your market! You’ll want to choose to market to smaller geographic regions – think towns and specific city suburbs over states and larger areas. Google allows you to target highly-specific segments, so you can choose to advertise to people with lifestyles or preferences that match your legal offerings. Another great way to save is to stop advertising 24/7 — limit your ads to run only during business hours to maximize your conversions and minimize your spending.

Minesh J Patel, The Patel Firm

Pay for CPA Rather Than CPC

The easiest way to reduce advertising spend on a channel such as Google Ads is to have a Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) rather than a Cost Per Click (CPC) billing model. When you set up your Google Ads account to pay by the click, you’re running the risk of bots and competitors clicking on your ads, which add up fast considering how expensive most of your keywords are.

Paying for leads instead of clicks means that you only pay when someone lands on your website and completes a certain action, such as filling out a form or clicking a phone number to call your office. This is a bit more complicated to set up, but it’s worth it considering you’ll no longer be paying for spam clicks.

Claire Westbrook, LSAT Prep Hero

Update Your Negative Keywords List Regularly

To keep your PPC ad cost low, you should be reviewing your search terms on at least a monthly basis, if not bi-weekly. You want to see which legal terms and keywords are creating successful leads, and which are a waste of your time and money. Add those that aren’t working to the negative keyword list in Google’s Keyword planner so that your potential clients can find you without wasting your marketing budget!

David Aylor, David Aylor Law Offices

Use Different Match Types

If you’re targeting general terms, law-related search terms and phrases can be prohibitively expensive. Google Ads uses keyword match types to determine when your ad appears based on what people search. A “broad match” could be used to reach a large audience, while an “exact match” could be used to target a specific set of potential customers. There are two things that can happen when you use different match types: your relevancy would increase and your PPC costs decrease.

Kathryn Smithson, PathSocial