You wouldn’t hire a divorce attorney to handle a murder trial, so why would you hire a generic marketing agency to handle legal advertising? Effective and legally compliant law firm marketing requires more than just making pretty ads. It demands extensive knowledge of how people choose their lawyers, on top of maintaining legal compliance and alignment with the ethics lawyers are required to follow. If you hire the wrong agency, you’ll lose out on leads and your reputation might suffer.
Here’s why your marketing partner needs experience in the legal industry.
Legal marketing specialists know the rules
There are a host of misleading claims that can get you in trouble. Phrases like “best lawyer in [city] or “we guarantee results” are catchy ways to bring in leads, but they violate advertising rules in most states. A legal-savvy marketing agency will keep your advertising messages compliant while selling your services effectively.
Then there are the disclaimers. Experienced and knowledgeable legal marketers know where disclaimers are required and how to publish testimonials legally. Since lawyers aren’t allowed to directly solicit business, it’s crucial to make sure ad campaigns don’t cross that line.
Since laws vary by state, effective legal marketing teams know what’s allowed and where. If they have any questions, they’ll have their own attorneys to ask for definitive answers.
A generalist marketing firm won’t know the rules, and that could be a big problem. A good portion of disciplinary actions stem from ethical violations in marketing. Having a marketing team that knows legal ethics is just as important as one that can generate leads.
Legal marketers keep content compliant
Whether it’s your blog posts, landing pages for paid ads, or the ads themselves, all content needs to be compliant and accurate. A generalist might use terminology incorrectly or misstate the law.
Legal marketing teams know how people choose legal counsel
Finding a lawyer isn’t like shopping for shoes. People who need an attorney are emotional, fearful, and have a lot at stake. People facing serious charges, stressful lawsuits, and custody battles aren’t just casually looking for help. They’re often desperate. They’re looking for a lawyer with a track record of getting results with social proof that they can relate to. Generating leads requires ethically addressing that fear and urgency while instilling a sense of hope.
Legal marketers have a long and short game
Most generic marketing companies push one strategy over all others, whether it’s search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, or paid ads. Legal marketing pros know that industry-specific content strategies require multiple angles. SEO is a long game, while pay-per-click (PPC) ads are a short game. Both are required to generate long-term streams of qualified leads.
When it comes to law firm SEO, ranking takes more than keywords and good content. You need local citations, listings in various legal directories, and schema markup that generalists rarely bother with. It takes niche expertise to rank in the legal field.
Legal marketing pros know the competition
The legal industry is fiercely competitive. Advertising platforms are crowded and expensive. Generic marketing firms don’t stand a chance of getting results. PPC alone is a high-stakes game; someone without experience in the legal industry will blow the ad budget fast. Google Ads can cost $100+ per click; your keywords need to be dialed in, or you’ll waste money on irrelevant clicks.
Competition is both local and national, but an experienced legal marketing team will know which way to play your ads. More than one-third of people begin looking for a lawyer online, and if you want to capture your share of these leads, you need to be visible where they’re searching. If you can’t compete with national law firms, you’ll need a legal marketing team that specializes in local SEO.
Legal advertising agencies know what works
Law firms need a variety of marketing techniques, including SEO, call tracking, list building, and paid ads. Marketing firms that specialize in the legal industry know exactly what works and how to implement it within any law firm’s marketing strategy. If you hire a generalist, they’ll spend your money trying to learn the industry. Hiring a specialist means getting better results with less risk.
Don’t settle for a marketing generalist
Your law firm’s success depends on visibility, trust, and a digital presence that turns leads into clients. That takes more than building a basic funnel and using pretty templates. You need a team that speaks your language and knows the legal requirements for advertising in your industry. Don’t just hire anyone. Hire legal marketing experts. The wrong team won’t just waste your budget – they’ll cost you cases.
