Using Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and Local Service Ads (LSA) for Your Law Firm
Online paid advertising can be a confusing world to get stuck in. You don’t understand where your marketing budget should go, which ad tactic to use, and whether you are getting a good return on investment (ROI).
For the longest time now, pay-per-click (PPC) has been the primary way for law firms to advertise on Google. However, more recently, Google launched a new ad format for called Local Services Ads (LSAs). This new option recently became available for various area of law to use.
Knowing the difference between the two and following some best practices to ensure effective implementation of these strategies can help you achieve your attorney marketing goals.
Let’s have a look.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) vs. Local Service Ads (LSA)
In the pay-per-click model, you are supposed to pay for the advertising whenever someone clicks on your ad or when your ad is served to them as an “impression” based on key words you bid on. That payment has to be carried out even if the person may never contact you.
With local service advertising, you pay by the lead. That means that Google only charges you when the user reaches out to you via call or message. But, remember, you have to tell Google how much you’re willing to pay for a lead. A competitor could outbid you and earn higher placement of their LSA as a result.
With LSA, background checks are performed on all lawyers in the firm. Once your law firm is approved, Google then places your LSAs at the top of its search results.
LSAs show up first in Google. They appear at the very top of search results, moving your PPC further down.
Utilizing PPC and LSA for Your Law Firm
Create a Marketing Plan and Budget Before You Begin
Whether it is PPC or LSA, creating a marketing plan and planning a budget is of utmost importance.
Your marketing plan will help you outline an advertising strategy and how that strategy should be used to reach your target market. It would also include how the company will measure the effectiveness of their ad campaign.
Furthermore, your budget will define how many times your ad can show on Google SERP and how many clicks you end up getting.
Determining the budget you can spare depends on your law firm’s profit margin on cases and on your advertising choice.
For example, if you want to implement PPC for your law firm, you would need to assess what kind of keywords generate more clicks for you, and how much you need to bid on each of them.
Work with a Trusted Marketing Agency
Advertising is multifaceted. There are several different aspects involved, all of which should be kept track of in order to build a successful advertising campaign.
Here, a trusted advertising marketing agency can provide you with the knowledge and guidance you need. A good agency will help propel your brand on a goal-oriented, and ROI-driven path.
It is important that you work with an agency that has proven results to back their services instead of wasting your dollars on ad strategies that don’t work for you.
When you come to KM Business Solutions, that is exactly what you get: results!
We will help you find a team that would meet your specific needs, create campaigns that work within your budget, and place your website in front of your target audience. To determine your marketing needs, contact us today for a consultation.
Have a Compelling Landing Page and Call-to-action with Pay-per-click
Once the user clicks on your ad, they will be redirected to your landing page.
A landing page is a critical part of your advertising strategy. Instead of sending your users to your home page, you should direct them to the landing page.
Use this opportunity to take advantage of the interest your potential clients have already shown. Include content on your landing page that users resonate with.
Support your landing page with a call-to-action (CTA) at the end, such as “Book a Meeting” or “Call Us.”
Look for Measurable Results
Attention is scarce. With users bombarded with endless ads, how do you know your advertising efforts are working?
More now than ever, it has become important for businesses to carefully weigh their advertising options and measure the effectiveness of their marketing campaign.
In looking for measurable results, you should know your objectives and tie those objectives to the relevant metrics, the most important of which is determining your return on investment (ROI).
Knowing Your ROI
Once your ad campaign, either PPC or LSA, goes live, it is important to monitor its performance.
Surprisingly, 57% of marketers don’t measure their ROI. This should not be the case as your ROI can define the advertising path your law firm should take.
It will essentially let you know which ads are working and which aren’t. Plus, you will realize how to better optimize your ads to perform well and increase profitability from your ad expenditure.
Be sure to measure what your cost per click vs. cost per call vs. cost per hire is. Remember, a click is someone who clicks on your landing page. They may not necessarily convert to a call or hire. When setting a cost per click metric, be realistic in your goals. If you have 10 clicks, and your gross spend was $1,000, that’s $100 per click! Continuing going down your sales funnel, of those 10 clicks, how many called? 5? Guess what?! That’s a 50% conversion rate on your landing page, with a cost per call of $200. Of the 5 that called, how many turned into customers? And what was their case value? If only 1 hired, it means you had to spend $1,000 for that one hire. If that 1 hire has a case value of $2,000, that’s an ROI of 1. After paying for staff resources to do the work and the associated expenses, you’re not left with much profit. Make sure when you set your ROI metrics, you take into account what each lead source will have a goal for – remember, not all lead sources perform the same!
Stay at the Top of Search Results
To land more leads, you need to appear on top of search results. This includes fine-tuning your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy by creating quality content and bidding on the right keywords.
But what is going to help you gain further edge over the competition is by increasing your 5-star reviews. High-quality and positive reviews from actual consumers is going to increase your business’s search engine visibility.
You should also be responding to those reviews. This shows that you value your customers and their feedback, something that would improve your local ranking on Google.
Research Where Your Target Audience is
You can’t set up a successful PPC or LSA campaign if you don’t know who your target audience is and their demographics.
Take the time to research who your clients are, where they live, their pain points, and how much they make. Knowing this is key to creating the right ads and building the perfect marketing campaign.
You can figure out your clients’ demographics by collecting data through surveys, research, or even social media. In addition, analyze the competition in the area. Figure out how your competitors are targeting their audience and the strategies they are using.
Conclusion
Both pay-per-click (PPC) and local service advertising (LSA) come with varying aspects. What is similar about them, though, is the nitty gritty involved in implementing these campaigns properly for your particular law firm.
Following the checklist mentioned above would position your organization for success. As you move forward, learn and react so that you can reach new heights with your firm.