The Census Bureau counted 165,491 offices of lawyers with paid employees in its County Business Patterns for 2023. Plenty of them want the same clients you do. A strategy list helps only if it says what each move costs the firm in attention, so every idea below ends with what it needs from you.
Advertising for Law Firms is an independent referral service, not a marketing agency. When you send the form, your details go to an independent marketing agency that prepares any proposal and does any work. Nothing on this site is legal advice.
Before picking strategies
Start from two facts about the firm: the practice areas that pay the bills and the counties where clients live. Every strategy here plugs into that pair. The full channel plan sits on the law firm marketing page; this list is the working version a partner can mark up in a meeting.
Complete the firm’s Google profile, and each lawyer’s
Google ranks local results mainly on relevance, distance and popularity, and it says a better local ranking cannot be bought. Use the firm’s real name, the real office address and the areas you serve. Google treats lawyers as individual practitioners, so each public-facing lawyer can have a profile alongside the firm’s. What it needs from the firm: the exact firm name, hours, categories and a lawyer to confirm each detail. More in law firm local SEO.
Give every practice area its own page
A page that answers one kind of client well beats one page listing twelve services. Google’s spam policies warn against pages made to funnel visitors from many cities to one place, so each page needs real content. What it needs from the firm: an hour with a lawyer per practice area to explain how matters usually start. That is the core of law firm SEO.
Make the contact path short and private
A visitor should find a way to reach the firm from any page without hunting. Keep the first form to name, contact details and the type of matter, never the story of the case. What it needs from the firm: a decision on who answers web inquiries and what the form asks. See law firm website design.
Run search ads on a budget the firm controls
Google Ads lets you change your average daily budget at any time, and location settings can include people who are in or show interest in your area. Start narrow, on one practice area. What it needs from the firm: a budget ceiling, the areas you serve and a lawyer to approve ad text. The law firm PPC guide covers the auction.
Try Local Services Ads where your category exists
Local Services Ads charge for leads, not clicks, and lawyer categories such as personal injury require state bar license checks for each lawyer in the firm. Google says that if you regularly fail to answer calls or messages, your ad ranking may be affected. What it needs from the firm: license details, owner identity checks and someone who picks up.
Ask every client for an honest review
Google’s Maps policy bars offering anything in exchange for reviews and bars asking only happy clients. The FTC’s rule on consumer reviews bars rewards tied to a positive review. So ask everyone, offer nothing. What it needs from the firm: a short message that goes out when a matter closes, sent the same way every time.
Answer the questions clients ask before they hire
Some of the strongest law firm marketing ideas are plain articles: what happens at a first meeting, what papers to bring, how a type of matter usually moves. Google says its systems aim to favor helpful content made for people. What it needs from the firm: a list of questions the front desk hears every week.
Post on social media with outreach rules in mind
Social channels are good at showing who the lawyers are. Direct outreach is where solicitation rules bite, so the plan should set what staff may and may not send. What it needs from the firm: a lawyer who sets those limits. More in social media for lawyers.
Check your state’s rules
Ads, review requests, social messages and anything paid to a lead source all fall under your state’s lawyer advertising rules. Those rules differ by state, so ask your state bar before a new channel launches. Your firm decides what runs.
Put outdoor and TV behind search
Among the bigger law firm advertising ideas, a billboard or TV spot makes people remember a name, and then they search for it. If search results show nothing useful under that name, the spend leaks. What it needs from the firm: the responsible lawyer’s name and contact line in each ad where the state requires it, and filing time where a state reviews ads. See lawyer billboards.
Measure intake, not just traffic
Marketing ends at the moment a prospect reaches a person. Track which channel each inquiry came from and what happened next. What it needs from the firm: an intake log the agency can see, kept by whoever answers the phone.
Strategies to skip
- Buying links. Google’s spam policies name buying or selling links for ranking purposes.
- Paying a source that recommends you. Colorado’s comment to Rule 7.2 says a lawyer must not pay a lead generator that creates a reasonable impression it is recommending the lawyer. Read lawyer leads first.
- Keyword stuffing. Pages filled with repeated phrases are a named spam tactic.
Want these strategies sorted into a plan for your firm’s practice areas? Describe the firm in a few lines and an independent agency can reply with a written plan.
This list is marketing guidance, not legal advice. The rules behind each strategy are summarized in lawyer advertising rules. When you want the list turned into a schedule, send the proposal form.
Questions firms ask
Which law firm marketing strategy should come first?
Usually the Google profile and the website, because every other channel sends people to them. Search ads and Local Services Ads work better once those two are in order.
Do small firms need every strategy on this list?
No. A solo lawyer with one practice area might run three of them well. Pick the ones the firm has time to support.
How much of a lawyer’s time does marketing take?
It depends on the channels. Each one needs a lawyer to approve what runs, and practice-area pages need a lawyer to explain the work. The agency handles the rest.
Can a firm offer clients something for a review?
Google’s Maps policy bars incentives for reviews, so for Google the safe habit is to ask every client and offer nothing. Questions about your state’s rules go to your state bar.