Today, we often hear the concept of ‘diversifying,’ but what does that mean in marketing?

Diversifying marketing strategies is the new power tool of many law firms. These firms are the ones currently dominating the digital landscape while their competitors are struggling behind them.

There are many reasons why law firms are boosting their marketing investments, including:

• More internal pressure to generate revenue
• Corporate counsel reducing the number of firms they work with
• Pressure from other law firms that use marketing

However, despite the many winning firms experiencing success through a diversified marketing approach, some law firms are still skeptical.

Some might even wonder: if diversifying marketing investment is effective, then why are some firms still not leveraging it?

Let us share with you the common questions, best insights, and proof of data that law firms are all searching for…

Being Informed Is Your Law Firm’s Best Tool for Staying on Top of the Competition

So, to enlighten firms who are still weighing their thoughts about expanding their marketing efforts, we asked Austin Zsedely and Carolin Knight, digital marketing managers at Consultwebs, a top Marketing agency for law firms. 

What are the common misconceptions or hesitations law firms have when considering expanding their digital marketing investments?

“Based on my experience and observations, these concerns can stem from a lack of familiarity with digital marketing strategies. Some even have negative experiences from previous investments or are apprehensive about losses in ROI. While other firms are just accustomed to traditional marketing methods, such as print advertising and sticking to referrals. These methods are still valuable, but neglecting the power of digital reach can cause firms to miss out on a vast potential client base.” 

– Austin Zsedely, Digital Marketing Manager at Consultwebs

“One of the biggest hesitations I see with my clients is the worry that the investment won’t pay off. This is where tracking ROI becomes more important; matching actual cases back to leads generated from digital marketing efforts allows us to calculate the firm’s ROI from all investments they have with Consultwebs. Hard data affords us the ability to make educated decisions, rather than making decisions based on ‘hunches.’” 

– Carolin Knight, Digital Marketing Manager at Consultwebs

The Hard Facts

Now, we’ve gone over why law firms innovate through different digital assets and why firms shouldn’t stay stuck in static strategy.

But is there proof that marketing works for law firms? 

100%

Let’s look at the hard facts.

To provide you with the best and most accurate result, we compared and contrasted 200+ law firms partnered with Consultwebs that: 

1. Remain stagnant with their digital investments
2. Actively diversify their digital investments

But before diving in, let’s clear out what digital investments and expanded marketing strategy mean.

Law firms that: 

1. Remain stagnant with their digital investments: The law firm invests in 1 type of digital marketing campaign, e.g., a legal web design. These firms continue to use the same type of investment in hopes of achieving greater results.
2. Actively diversifying their digital investments: The law firm invests in more than 1 type of digital marketing campaign to achieve greater results. These firms are not ‘putting all the eggs in one basket’

The Results of Firms With Diversified Digital Campaigns Versus Firms That Remain in 1 Strategy

1. The unique visitors for firms expanding their digital campaigns are higher

While unique visitors may go unnoticed, this is a critical indicator of a law firm’s reach and growth. In this case, firms that expand with 1+ digital campaigns see over 2X the number of site visitors.  

2. The cost per lead for firms with fewer digital campaigns is higher

As you can see, the firms that remain stagnant with their campaigns end up paying a higher cost per lead than those that choose to upgrade.

3. The firms with a greater number of digital campaigns have increased conversions

The firms leaping towards digital marketing campaign expansion eventually reach success. You can see that the firms with 1+ campaigns see their conversion rate increase by ≈32% over time.

4. The firms with a more significant number of digital campaigns have more leads

Here’s how conversion rates translate to lead acquisition.

By far, the firms expanding their investments take the most leads. Eventually, the firms diversifying their digital campaigns increase their number of leads by 192%, which is over 3X compared to those with the same strategies.

Now, let’s analyze the difference between upgrading to 1 digital campaign and upgrading to 2+ digital campaigns.

Let’s start with…

The Results of Firms Upgrading to 1 Digital Campaign

1. The conversion rate for firms with 1 digital campaign increases.

By upgrading to PPC services or increasing reach through Local Services Ads, firms see over a 100% increase in conversion rates.

2. The cost per lead for firms with 1 digital campaign decreases.

All law firms investing in at least 1 campaign expansion eventually see their costs decrease by ≈50% – whether that be SEO for law firms, social media, or others.

3. The leads acquisition for firms with 1 digital campaign increases.

Businesses investing in marketing aim for a common goal: get more leads!

Leads indicate interest and an opportunity for law firms to turn them into cases. 

The average of over 200+ law firms expanding to an SEO service sees over 333% increase in lead acquisition. Moreover, these law firms that diversify to Agile Digital Advertising services with Consultwebs see a 355% boost in leads.

See more here:

This is exactly why law firms must adapt and expand their digital marketing investments beyond traditional methods!

Honoring what worked before is plausible, but expanding into more avenues of success is necessary if your goal is to succeed.

“Firms that diversify their marketing investments are much more successful in bringing in quality cases, we see this time and time again. Furthermore, firms that diversify beyond just digital see even more success. In the current legal landscape, you need to make sure you are visible to your potential clients online and offline if you want to win.” – Carolin Knight, Digital Marketing Manager at Consultwebs

The Results of Firms Investing in 2+ Digital Campaigns

1. The conversion rate for firms with 2+ digital campaigns increases the most!

Law firms expanding to 2+ digital campaigns, e.g., mixing SEO with PPC, see an even more incredible combined boost in conversion rates. Using different campaigns in harmony secures your law firm’s short-term and long-term sales activation.

2. The cost per lead for firms with 2+ digital campaigns decreases the most.

You can see that the firms that do not expand at all end up paying a higher cost per lead. While the firms that decide to put money into their future with 2+ campaigns eventually see over 9X savings (186% decrease in costs), over the ones that remained stagnant.

3. The lead acquisition for firms with 2+ digital campaigns increases the most.

Lastly, firms investing in 1+ digital marketing expansion see an increase, which is good, but great results start for those investing their capital into 2+ marketing campaigns.

With a significant increase in case acquisitions of 1,724%, these trailblazers in law and marketing are taking home the most money! Which is 3X the number of cases compared to those with 1 expansion, and over 18X compared to those not diversifying their investments.

Don’t Rely Your Success on a Single Plan

Law firms investing their money in various strategies are seeing incredible results because of one common blueprint — they have plans from A to Z.

These winning firms have already discovered that although experience is the best teacher, learning from other firms’ achievements and mistakes is a smarter way to uncover strategies. 

Knowing what produces results and causes other businesses to fail can help you outline what move to make next.

See what legal professionals have to say about Consultwebs and succeeding:

“We saw a marked increase in the cases we were getting from the web. I like to get at least 6-times my return, so if I spend a dollar, I want to make six. But with Consultwebs, we were constantly doing between twelve and fifteen dollars for every dollar we spent. 

I think Consultwebs is just really good, honest people, and that’s what I like to deal with. If I have a concern, I can pick up the phone and call them, and they’re very attentive, and that’s what I want. If someone were thinking about hiring Consultwebs, I would tell them, ‘Do it now, do not put it off because you’re costing yourself money.’” – Ken Hardison, Hardison and Cochran

Now, it’s your turn. Are you interested in testing your law firm’s marketing performance? Contact Us today to learn more.

The post Higher Marketing ROI Through Digital Diversity appeared first on Consultwebs.

Find out how one of our criminal defense firms is doing after partnering with Consultwebs.

Here are some highlights: 

• In the first year, the firm increased leads by 74%
• They secure some of the top keywords in Las Vegas
• They reduced their cost per conversion by 31% and increased the conversion rate by 232%

The legal sector is one of the most competitive industries, which is why many law firms invest time and money into digital efforts that boost traffic to their websites, increase leads and eventually boost their bottom line results.

To survive and, most importantly, thrive, firms need to “fish where the fish are,” and today that is online. Statistics show:

• 96% of people looking for legal services and advice begin their search online. 

To fish where the fish are, firms are turning towards digital efforts like SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Digital Advertising services like PPC (Pay-Per-Click) and LSA (Local Services Ads).

To showcase such efforts’ effects on a micro level, we’ll be covering the case of a law firm that partnered with us, Consultwebs. To protect the firm’s identity, we’ll refer to them as ‘the firm’ throughout this case study. Here’s a little backstory for the firm:

The firm is based in Las Vegas, Nevada, and focuses on criminal defense. For over a decade, they’ve been helping residents and out-of-state visitors facing criminal charges in Las Vegas. This includes charges related but not limited to:

• Sex crimes
• Domestic battery
• DUI
• Weapon crimes
• Record sealing
• Drug crimes

The firm has handled a wide range of complex cases and continues to enjoy a successful track record. Like most, if not all, firms, they continuously venture into new ways to extend a helping hand to the prospects that need their legal services and advice. To paint the picture a little more clearly, we’ll consider the firm’s past, present, and future.

How are they doing? Let’s find out…

The Firm’s Turning Point

Before delving into the details of the firm’s current progress, it’s informative to take a step back.

Initially, they had at least 3 websites that were up and running, which unfortunately were hacked. Soon after, they opted for Avvo, another online marketplace for legal services. During a one-to-one interview with the partners of the firm, they said, “We actually started to develop a website with Avvo, but they were not quite hands-on about the whole thing, and we were looking for more expertise and a company that we believe would be able to move quickly, so that we could be more hands-off with it [the digital marketing].” 

At this point, their website was down and had been down for a while, both partners were barely making ends meet, and in order to maintain their staff’s paychecks, they were even skipping their own salaries. 

Although they were in deep waters, with their prior experience in Internet advertising in mind, they said, “We did go in knowing, based on our prior success with Internet advertising, that it would be successful and knowing it takes the right company to get us the results, which is why we were fumbling around a little bit.”

The partners knew of others using Consultwebs, “We did know another attorney was using Consultwebs and had just switched over probably within a year of us signing up with Consultwebs. He is pretty savvy when it comes to that [digital advertising], so we were looking at what Consultwebs had already done for him. We knew the quality was there.”

Ultimately, they opted to partner with Consultwebs. As the partner says:

On The Crest of The Digital Wave

The firm is currently investing in SEO, PPC, and LSA. Let’s take a look at the firm’s current status:

Growing traffic and users

With the help of legal SEO, the firm’s website is gaining traction. Although one may argue that traffic doesn’t equal the bottom line, in a highly complex and interconnected service such as digital marketing, the collective attribution does propel the firm forward.

hen done right, SEO can pay off. However, firms opting to invest in it should arm themselves with patience and trust that the bottom line results will eventually reflect those efforts. Research shows that every industry has a different time to break even in SEO efforts, and as a rule of thumb, legal services need to nurture their investment a solid 14 months before breaking even:

The partner notes that the firm was well-prepared for this: “In that first year, we were told ‘you guys have to be patient, this takes time to develop, and there is a process here.’ So while the first year was uncomfortable, we did see some return within a short period of time once the website was up and running.”

In this case, the firm effectively gained traffic and users, which means more visibility. In a recent year-to-year comparison, the number of users increased by 61.98%. Check it out:

In the most recent 2-year comparison, the firm’s organic growth is also apparent:

Over time, more visibility and traffic means a higher likelihood of nurturing those users into leads and eventually turning them into cases.

And that’s not all!

Securing The Top Keywords Based On Their Client’s Search Intent

For a criminal defense firm, SEO efforts must be combined with the right keyword strategy.

Think of keywords as the bridge between what users are searching for and the content you’re providing, and these words must match the user’s search intent. In this case, the firm is securing some of the top keywords related to their industry, including:

• Nevada weed law
• Weed legal in las vegas
• Vegas recreational weed
• Open carry nevada
• Gun laws in las vegas

While these are just examples, the firm continues to secure a vast number of other top keywords related to their prospect’s search intent:

Propelling Forward With The Help of Digital Advertising

For this criminal defense firm, it doesn’t stop there! They’re also leveraging off profitable digital advertising efforts.

When investing in PPC efforts, one of the essential aspects is decreasing the cost per conversion while maximizing the conversion rate. In this case, the firm has:

• Reduced the cost per conversion by 31% when comparing the same month in year-to-year growth.
• Increased the conversion rate by 232% when comparing the same month in year-to-year growth.

They’re also investing in LSAs, and it’s also paying off. Recently, LSAs have become one of the most sought-after digital advertising services, especially for service-based businesses such as law. Here’s how it’s paying off for this criminal defense firm:

1. Leads increase:
   • In the first year of investing with Consultwebs, the firm saw its leads increase by 74%
2. Cases Increase:
   • When comparing the initial firm’s caseload to the caseload growth by month 11, the firm saw an incredible increase of 800%
3. Cost per case decrease:
   • When comparing the initial investment, by month 11, the firm saw a remarkable cost per case decrease of 87%

The Firm’s Future Plans and Aspirations

Believing that there is always room for improvement, this criminal defense firm isn’t stopping here!

With a secure website, digital ads running, and SEO efforts in place, the firm is considering the possibility of expanding its reach by covering other locations and areas of law. 

As the partners originally stated, based on their Internet advertising experience, they did strongly believe that they could be profitable with the help of the right legal marketing company. The numbers speak for themselves; they’ve generated over $1 million in revenue, and now, they believe the best is yet to come.

Although no two firms are alike, one thing is certain: you can have a solid and reliable team by your side. Find out how Consultwebs can help you get the results your firm has been looking for.

Let’s talk

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