Over the last few years, digital marketing has become an integral part of running a successful personal injury law firm. But what is digital marketing, you ask? Google it…just kidding! Digital marketing is basically any marketing you do over the internet (including mobile devices and apps); e.g., this blog post is digital marketing…how meta! See? It’s everywhere! That’s why, over the next few weeks, we’ll introduce you to the different components of digital marketing for personal injury firms and help you navigate them—so you can gain prospective clients, increase website traffic, lap the competition, and more. We’ve already brought you up to speed on social media and email marketing; now, let’s continue with search advertising for personal injury law firms.
We don’t need to tell you the importance of search engines. Google is the first place you go to find a dentist, the reason you grab your phone when you’re looking for good dim sum, and (probably) the reason you ended up here…it’s also where your potential clients type in “personal injury lawyer” when looking for someone like you. That’s why it’s not good enough to simply know what search results are; you also need to understand how search results work. It shouldn’t shock you to know that Google isn’t just a search engine—it’s a digital marketing channel, a paid advertising platform, and an extremely effective method of pay-per-click (PPC) marketing that can help you reach your target audience with precision and ease.
Sure, PPC advertising sounds self-explanatory (duh…you pay per click) but running a successful PPC marketing campaign takes more effort…effective paid search campaigns require know-how, so you can generate more clicks, more leads, and more clients. But don’t worry…we won’t make you search for answers—here are a few ways that you can turn your search campaigns into tangible results:
Key in on the right keywords
Not to oversimplify things, but picking the right keywords is the key to your PPC campaigns’ success. When people search for the keywords you’ve chosen, they then get served your ad (among their regular search results). Keywords can be very generic (“help”) or very specific (“large personal injury law firm in Tribeca specializing in Citi Bike accidents involving hot coffee”)—you need to think about who your target audience is and what search terms they are using. Or you don’t have to think at all. Google’s Keyword Planner is a key tool for search ad campaigns. It will tell you what terms are most relevant to your personal injury firm, and then you can decide whether they’re in your budget (more on that later…).
Search advertising for personal injury law firms allows you to reach not just an audience, but your audience. Using the right keywords is vital because it means that, when potential customers search for the keywords you’ve chosen (e.g. “personal injury lawyer”), they see your PPC ad. To get the best results, you need to think about who your target audience is and what terms they might type in. These can be incredibly specific (e.g. “looking for a car accident lawyer specializing in Citi Bike crashes involving phone calls”), or much broader. We recommend using the Google Adwords Keyword Planner tool, which will tell you what search terms are most relevant for you. You should also execute a split test first and trial different filters to see what works well for your firm.
Zero in on the right targets
Unlike archery, where most of us are just aiming wildly and hoping to hit something, Google allows you to hit your bullseye each and every time. With PPC ads, you’re able to reach, not just an audience, but your audience. And you can get as hyper-specific as you want—narrow your audience down to a square block or broaden to an entire continent…and choose from a bunch of other useful filters (e.g., age, gender, search device, etc.) to get qualified leads. There are a lot of options; in the beginning you may just want to keep it simple using limited filters. Another great idea to execute is a split test; you test different filters to see what’s working better. Google can also do the targeting for you, but it’s usually better to focus on manual targeting seeing as you know your client base best.
Bid on the right budget
Google keywords work on a bidding system—think of it like an art auction: the more value a keyword brings (leads, new clients, etc.), the more people are going to be willing to pay for it. For example, if you’re a Queens PI attorney specializing in car accidents, then the keyword “queens car accident lawyer” is like your Mona Lisa—but it’s also the Mona Lisa for every other car accident attorney in Queens…so you’ll have to pay more to come up at the top of those search results. In car terms, Ferrari’s get a lot of attention, but they also cost a lot—so you have to balance your objectives. If you’re looking for conversions (when someone interacts with your ad and takes an action that you’ve defined as valuable to your business, such as phoning your business), Google’s Target Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) automatically bids for you when it thinks conversions are more likely. However, if you’re focused on impressions (the number of times your ad is shown on a search result page), Manual CPC might be a more cost-conscious option that gives you more control. Either way, Google lets you set a monthly spend cap…so play around with your budget and see how your conversion rates/impressions change.
Analyze and make it right
Just like your leads are searching for lawyers, you should be searching for analytics on your campaign’s effectiveness—that means evaluating and re-evaluating key performance indicators like clicks, conversion rates, impressions, click-through rates, and more. Pay particular attention to your Quality Score, which measures the quality of your ads, keywords, and landing pages based on things like expected click-through rates, ad relevance, and landing page experience…if your score is good, then you may get better prices and ad placements. And don’t forget the other half of this equation: this isn’t a static process, especially at the beginning you’ll have to continually readjust based on your analytics—test out different ad copy, keywords, targets, location limits, calls to action, landing pages, etc.…then stick with whatever’s giving you high ROI and low costs.
Speaking of high ROI and low costs, sign up for a free demo of CloudLex®—our all-in-one cloud-based solution for all your personal injury needs…so you can stop searching for more efficiency and start making your firm’s productivity click.
