The Importance of Integrating Paid Advertising Into Your Internet Marketing Program
Paid Advertising Is The Difference Maker
Getting people’s attention online is tough. Everyone has a website. Your best friend has a website. Your kids probably have one, too. And you can be sure that the law firm down the street has a website, telling prospective clients how they will help them resolve their legal issues, protect their rights or collect the most damages.
So how do you get people to visit your firm’s website and take the action you want? Effective digital marketing requires an SEO-optimized website and engaging content. But you need to get people to actually visit your site before you can hook them with your charms. One of the ways you can do this is through paid digital advertising.
What is Paid Digital Advertising?
Paid advertising online is also referred to as pay-per-click or PPC advertising. In this scenario, your firm pays a fee each time a user clicks on one of its ads. This is an additional way to generate leads for your business. The cost can vary depending on the competitiveness of the terms you choose to target as well as the platforms selected for your advertising campaign.
There is a common misconception that PPC advertising is expensive. Some keywords, like “attorney”, “injury” or “divorce” can be costly on certain networks. But using more strategic and targeted phrasing can generate quality leads and a positive return on your investment.
The Benefits of Using PPC Advertising
So, why are PPC ads a good idea? Here are a few reasons why your firm should consider integrating paid advertising into its digital marketing program.
- PPC Ads Produce Fast Results
There is nothing wrong with getting traffic from organic searches, in fact most SEO programs are designed to increase website traffic through organic searches. But it can take time to get results from a comprehensive SEO strategy. You can achieve fast and immediate results with paid ads, making it an excellent complementary tactic to your firm’s SEO efforts.
In 2019, Google was the world’s largest digital ad seller, with over 31% of the market or more than $103 billion in ad dollars. Facebook came in second at over $67 billion in ad spending and 65% of all social media ads.
- PPC Ads Helps You Generate Qualified Leads
Another benefit of paid ads is that they help small businesses bring in more qualified leads to their websites. A billboard, newspaper, or television ad aims to reach as large an audience as possible. But most people that are looking for a lawyer perform a targeted local search, such as “personal injury lawyer near me.”
With PPC ads, you are targeting geographically as well as towards the types of people who would be most interested in your services. This means that the traffic you drive to your website will be more likely to contact you for a consultation.
- PPC Ads Deliver Measurable Results
As with any type of digital marketing campaign, you need to be able to set benchmarks and measure your results. With PPC ad campaigns, you get in-depth analytics that enable you to measure every aspect of your campaign, including the number of clicks, your cost per click, and how many conversions you are getting from the clicks. This can help you optimize your marketing budget and improve your results over time.
- You Can Broadcast Your Message Across Multiple Platforms
It is not always easy to guess where your target audience is going to search for your services. Some are going to use Google, and others will turn to social media. Fortunately, you can advertise on both with PPC ads.
When you advertise with Google, you have the option of having your ads show up in search as well as in the Google Display Network on other websites. Further, nearly all social media platforms have some form of paid advertising that you can leverage:
- Snapchat
- YouTube
Types of PPC Campaigns for Law Firms
Not all legal PPC campaigns are the same. Depending on your specific goals and primary areas of practice, there are different ways to pay for advertising online:
Search Ads
This is one of the most common types of PPC advertising. Web searchers see paid ads with the label “Ad” at the top and bottom of the search engine results. The more you outbid others, the higher your ad will get placed. With this type of campaign, you log into Google AdWords or Bing Ads and set up your different campaigns to serve your ads for different phrases and target audiences.
Display Ads
Display ads are like purchasing space in the yellow pages, but a bit more fluid. With a display campaign, you can buy a spot on a website, or set up a campaign through AdWords. You can specify placement on websites that appeal to your market. These ads are useful for brand awareness, but the CTR is higher on other types of PPC ads.
Social Media Ads
Millions of Americans spend time on social media platforms. They connect with friends and family, network, and research businesses. You can create paid ads on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn to target users based on demographics or specific interests.
For example, you might create a campaign on Facebook that targets women in your area between the ages of 25 and 45 that join “single mothers” groups. If your firm focuses on business law, you can run paid ads on LinkedIn targeting people that have joined small business or entrepreneur groups.
Retargeting (Remarketing)
When a person has a troubling legal issue, they might struggle with where to turn for help. Maybe they have visited several attorney’s websites and still cannot make a decision. Enter paid retargeting ads.
If you have ever shopped for a product, say kayaks, and then saw ads for kayaks on every site you visited afterward, you have experienced retargeting ads. This tactic uses browser cookies to determine what consumers have recently searched for and then serves relevant ads on search engines, web sites, and social media platforms.
Contact Sundown Legal Marketing Today
Sundown Legal Marketing specializes in helping law firms maximize their potential. We start with a thorough review of your current online presence and then develop a comprehensive digital marketing plan that includes website optimization, video engagement, paid advertising and a robust content strategy. Contact us today for a free evaluation and to learn more about how we can help you take your firm’s marketing to the next level. Call us at (800) 864-1764 or reach us online at your convenience.
