Whether you’ve been practicing law for years or are relatively new, marketing is imperative for growing and sustaining your business. At its most basic, marketing is about getting your law firm or practice in front of people who can benefit it or benefit from it. How can you grow if your target audience doesn’t know you exist? Getting eyes on your business is crucial for many aspects of marketing, including:

• Building your brand
• Finding referral partners
• Generating leads

There are many options for business owners to spread awareness of their business. However, when most business owners think about ad placement, their mind goes to Google Pay Per Click (PPC). While this service and several others like it are extremely helpful and popular right now, it’s not the end-all. Putting all of your marketing dollars into this basket might be beneficial to a degree, but it likely won’t achieve the results you are looking for. As a solo practitioner or small law firm owner, you have to spend some time thinking outside the Google Pay Per Click box to get your name and business out there. 

Ideas for Unique Ad Placement

Although most thoughts around ad spend for lawyers focus on pay per click, there are many other reasons to consider local ad targeting. For instance, other methods might have a better ROI, get you in front of more potential clients, 

Consider placing an ad in:

• Industry association newsletters in your region or state
• Bar association publications to increase referrals
• NextDoor to reach specific neighborhoods
• Facebook and Instagram

You can also consider placing ads in local event promotions. Sponsoring ads in local theater shows, charity events, live events, and the like could put you in front of your target audience, depending on your practice area.

Considerations for Placing Other Ads

It’s essential to think strategically when placing other ads. You want to make sure that your ads will be effective and seen by the people you need them to be seen by. Some unique places will sound great for ad placement, but when you really sit down and think about them, they won’t make much sense for the audience you are attempting to reach. Ask yourself:

• Does your audience spend time here? For example, if you are a family law attorney, consider advertising in places families with kids frequent or in family or child publications. If you practice elder law, where can your potential clients find out about you? It’s likely not going to be on social media. 
• How will you measure ROI? For example, you may want to use a single phone number, URL, or contact email for these ads. This way, you can tell which potential clients or other people found you through these ads. Alternatively, you can also have your office staff ask people who call, email, or complete a contact form on your website where they learned about your services. These are both helpful ways to keep track of conversions and other potential benefits of your unique ad placements so that you can measure ROI. 

It’s not time to abandon PPC. Rather, think about the ways you can complement this form of advertising to increase your conversion rates and referrals. You might be surprised at the ROI you receive from using other forms of unique ad placement.

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