No Objections Here! Legal Services Ad Ideas for Local Advertisers

How Law Firms Spend Ad Dollars

Currently, one-third of potential clients start their attorney search online. Understanding that this is the pathway to attract customers, 65% of firms spend most of their marketing dollars on digital tactics. Within that category, they use social media marketing, display ads, SEM (search engine marketing) and video ads.

How they launch those efforts can be disjointed. They may do some internally and use an agency for others. You can offer this under one proposal for a truly integrated multimedia campaign while including linear spots, which can provide lift to digital initiatives. 

As you make your pitch to legal organizations, here are some ideas that can set you apart.

Four Legal Services Ad Ideas

These ideas could be the inspiration you need to close the deal.

Branded Videos for OTT/CTV

If law firms want to attract new clients who may not engage with traditional TV, they can find opportunities in OTT and CTV ads. With this approach, you can target by geography, demographics and past behavior. With the third option, retargeting is possible for those who visited the website but didn’t convert. 

These videos can be specific to their practice areas, such as speeding tickets or personal injury. Another option is to present the firm’s story to build trust. There are several ways to do this. For example, they could include a testimonial from a previous client. Another option is to highlight the firm’s awards and recognitions.

SEM Ads That Answer Questions

Most people looking for legal help start with a question about their predicament. They are looking for credible information about local laws or jurisdictions. Attorneys, of course, know the answers. You could recommend an SEM campaign where the ad features the question. If users click, they can reach a landing page with the response and additional insights. 

Questions should be simple and refer to what a searcher would query at the beginning of their search. These ads could provide much better click-through rates (CTRs) and conversions than just ads with lots of keywords.

Retargeting Display Ads to Re-Engage

People who visit legal websites aren’t always ready to request a consultation; they may be vetting the options or looking for information regarding their legal dilemma. Deploying a retargeting display ad campaign means users may continue to see ads for your customer’s firm. The display ads could be specific depending on what pages the person visited. 

For example, someone seeking information on speeding tickets could see ads that focus on people needing assistance with this. Your advertiser will see the best results when the person arrives on a dedicated landing page when they click. 

Social Media Ads That Target Based on Profiles

Unlike SEM, social media ads allow your advertisers to target specific users, not keywords. These platforms enable you to create an audience based on demographics, interests, preferences and other attributes. This ad format works, with 35% of law firms gaining new clients from it per an American Bar Association survey.

Here are some ideas:

• Hypertarget a specific audience group that may need legal help by job title, geographic area, age, educational level or relationship status. An example would be divorce attorney ads targeting women in a city who have a relationship status of separation.
• Lookalike social media ad campaigns can be an excellent tactic. This means you build out a campaign that targets people similar to the firm’s existing clients.
• Using video in any type of social media ad can improve results, and it can be the same as the ones used for OTT and CTV. In this way, firms are reusing content in multiple channels to get a better return.