Law Firm Advertising—Examples & Best Practices

The legal field is highly competitive. With more than 1.3 million lawyers in the United States (according to the American Bar Association), most firms need to invest in law firm advertising to differentiate themselves and reach potential clients. But where to start? 

In this article, we’ll explain how your firm can create a lawyer advertising strategy for generating business. We’ll also discuss:

• Common forms of legal advertising 
• How lawyers can leverage advertisements to generate more leads 
• Real life law firm advertising examples  

What is Law Firm Advertising? 

Law firm advertising is the process of paying to promote your firm’s brand and legal services. The goal is to reach targeted audiences and prompt potential clients to reach out to your firm. 

Common legal advertising examples include: 

• Online ads via platforms such as Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn
• Video ads created on YouTube that law firms can share on their website, social media, etc.  
• Print ads in physical publications, such as magazines
• TV ads in the form of commercials during television show breaks on cable and streaming services
• Radio ads from traditional radio or streaming services like Spotify 
• Billboard ads

Why is High-Quality Legal Advertising Important? 

In 2007, the average city dweller saw up to 5,000 ads per day, according to The New York Times. Many experts agree that the average person today could see as many as 10,000 ads per day, although there aren’t any official statistics for the current ad industry. 

Cut through the clutter and reach prospects by creating well-designed ad campaigns that capture attention.

High-quality ads may also promote your law firm’s brand and reputation. An engaging video ad, for example, can introduce your award-winning team members and showcase their unparalleled experience. Even if potential clients don’t contact you right away, you’ll plant a seed of awareness about your firm’s name and qualifications. 

Creating great law firm ad campaigns doesn’t mean that you have to spend tens of thousands of dollars every month advertising across every channel. Let’s discuss how to create a successful law firm advertisement strategy that meets your unique needs. Afterwards, we’ll share some eye-catching legal advertising examples for inspiration.

How to Get Started With Lawyer Advertising

Building an advertising plan from scratch involves four steps. 

1. Determine Your Target Audience 

Developing an ad campaign without identifying your audience is a fast route to failure. Define who you’re trying to connect with. If your law firm serves individuals (rather than businesses), gather the following information to create a profile of your ideal prospect. 

• Location
• Age
• Gender
• Language(s) spoken
• Education 
• Income 
• Biggest challenge(s) that you can address 

You may have multiple target audiences for each ad campaign, or your firm may need to craft a variety of ads to speak to various audiences. For example: Let’s say that a Seattle-based family law firm wants to connect with more prospects who may be interested in filing for divorce. Here’s what their target audience could look like: 

• Location: Seattle, Bellevue
• Age: 35 – 45 
• Gender: Female 
• Language spoken: English 
• Education: Bachelor’s degree
• Income: $50,000 – $70,000 per year 
• Biggest challenges that the firm can address: This prospect is considering divorce but is overwhelmed by the idea and unsure about how to proceed. The firm can explain what the divorce process involves, how much the typical divorce around Seattle costs, and how to take the first step.

2. Develop Your Budget

How much should you expect to spend on advertising? A report by the Legal Marketing Association and Bloomberg Law states that law firms spend an average of 6.7% of revenue on marketing. (Keep in mind that this number applies to total law firm marketing efforts, of which paid advertising is one element.) 

Your law firm’s ideal advertising budget depends on several factors, including: 

• Practice Group—Extremely competitive specialties, such as personal injury law, may require a larger advertising budget than others.
• Target Audience(s)—Some audiences are easier to convert than others. For example, if you’re an estate planning attorney, you may find that converting a well-educated, high-net-worth individual requires several touchpoints. You might have to run multiple, longer ad campaigns to convert prospects into clients. Therefore, your budget should be higher.
• Advertising Channel(s)—If your firm wants to advertise on (for example) prime-time television slots, you’ll most likely spend more than if you were to purchase print ad space in local magazines. Similarly, Google search ads can be among the most expensive advertising channels. Businesses, including law firms, must purchase these ads through a bidding system that sometimes drives up prices.
• Time Frame—The faster you need results, the more money you’ll probably have to spend.

If you’re still not sure about the ideal ad budget for your firm, run an experiment. Simply choose a number that you’re comfortable spending for the first month or two. Then, review the results. If the return on investment (ROI) doesn’t fall within your acceptable range, adjust your ad budget and assess the impact. Much of marketing and advertising is trial and error, particularly when pursuing a new strategy.  

If you can’t afford to take a wait-and-see approach, consider reaching out to a legal marketing and advertising consultant for tailored budgeting guidance.  

3. Set Advertising Goals 

Establish performance goals for your law firm advertisement based on your budget and target audience. Each goal should feature four elements: 

• A number
• Desired action, such as incoming phone calls from potential clients or online client intake forms submitted
• A time frame  
• A way to measure progress toward the goal. If your firm creates a Facebook ad to generate more website traffic, for instance, brush up on how to use the Facebook ad dashboard. It will display the number of impressions (the number of times your ad is seen) and clicks produced by your campaign.  

For example, a personal injury firm may want to run a television ad that generates 50 phone calls from new prospects in one month. They will measure progress by asking all incoming phone calls where they heard about the firm, and calculate the total number of calls generated by the TV ad.

4. Implement Ads and Track Results 

Finally, launch your ad campaign and breathe a sigh of relief. Then, track ad performance to assess its success and brainstorm improvements for the future. The following questions can help your team debrief and plan better for the next advertisement. 

• How do the results compare to our original goals for this campaign? Did we achieve our objective(s)? 
• Did we stay within budget? Did we spend money effectively? 
• What did our team do correctly? How can we replicate these successes in the future? 
• What did our team do wrong? How can we avoid these pitfalls in the future? 
• Do we need to adjust the details of our target audience? Are we receiving leads that are a good fit for our firm? 

Law Firm Advertising Examples

Now that you know how to create an ad, let’s review some top-notch law firm advertising examples to strive for. 

Social Media Advertising 

Lawyer advertising sample: 

Source: Disruptive Advertising

What it does well: 

• Leverages an eye-catching image that aligns with the theme of the post: fatherhood and child custody
• Demonstrates value by stating that the reader can receive custody advice from expert lawyers with “real inside information” 
• Uses a call to action—”Learn more”—which likely leads to a client intake form on their website  

Tip: Interested in running ad campaigns on Twitter? Check out our guide, Twitter 101 for Lawyers, to learn best practices for building your brand. 

Print Advertising 

Lawyer advertising sample: 

Source: www.joetolley.com

What it does well: 

• Goes beyond the standard law firm ad featuring a group of lawyers in suits 
• Differentiates the firm to explain why they’re better than the competition
• Showcases the firm’s name prominently and provides contact information in case the reader wants to learn more (although this ad seems to aim for branding rather than lead generation) 
• Lists the firm’s practice areas in an easy-to-read, uncluttered way 

TV Advertising 

Lawyer advertising sample: 

What it does well: 

• Gets in front of a lot of prospects, as it’s a Super Bowl commercial 
• Tells a memorable story to embody the firm’s brand and values without pursuing the hard sell 
• Blends humor and compassion to engage the audience 
• Provides the firm’s name at the end 

Video Advertising 

Lawyer advertising sample: 

What it does well: 

• Lets the firm’s client tell their story, which other potential clients can relate to 
• Keeps it short (just 60 seconds) to retain attention 
• Provides contact information, along with the explanatory tagline “No fee unless you collect.” 
• Includes a call to action within the video description with the option to contact the firm via phone or website 

Tip: Make sure that your law firm website reflects your brand and expertise, particularly if you’re using video ads to promote more web traffic.

Start Advertising Your Law Firm

When you want to promote your law firm brand and generate more leads, lawyer advertising is the name of the game. But when you want to convert those leads into clients, you need MyCase. 

MyCase automates the lead management and client intake process to save time and increase engagement. We have everything you need to grow your business, including: 

• Customizable client intake forms that can embed into your firm’s website 
• Law firm client relationship management (CRM) software to funnel potential clients through the various stages of your lead pipeline. It can also provide insightful data, such as lead conversion rates and top referral sources. 
• eSignature software to securely receive signatures on documents, including retainers and agreements
• Billing and invoicing software to quickly create invoices and collect consultation fees 

See how much time you can save while developing new business. Get your 10-day free trial of MyCase today. 

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