I am regularly asked by solicitors whether they should undertake Facebook Advertising or Google Ads Advertising. I thought it was time to answer that once and for all in my law firm marketing blog.
First, it is important to note the position that I come at this from.
I am a marketing man through and through. I study what works and why, and when it comes to marketing for solicitors, this is especially important.
Most solicitors, quite rightly so, are not interested in ‘brand building’. No business should be unless they have millions of pounds to spend on it, because it is impossible to achieve without this sort of budget.
So solicitors, as do I, like to spend money on marketing and then see it generate a return on investment for them in terms of new client instructions.
The best way of doing this is to appear in front of people looking for solicitors AT THE PRECISE MOMENT IN TIME that they are looking for their services.
So how can you do this?
First, does facebook do this? When you advertise on facebook you can ask your advertisements to be displayed to people in certain locations, with certain jobs and in a certain age demographic, but you cannot ask to appear in front of them when they are actively looking for a solicitor. It has no way of knowing when they are doing this.
Turning to Google Ads, can they do any better? Can they make your advertisement appear in front of someone at the precise moment in time that they are looking for a solicitor or legal service provider?
How do Google Ads work? You ask your advertisement to be shown to people who type in certain words and are in a set geographic location. For example, if you provide probate services, you would ask Google to display your advertisements to anyone entering “probate solicitor” in your geographic area. You know the person is looking for a solicitor, your advertisement appears, they click on it, land on your website and call you. You have the chance of winning a new client.
Contrast this with facebook where your advertisement appears in front of hundreds of people, 99% of whom have absolutely no interest in finding a probate solicitor at that moment in time. Whilst they are looking at pictures of their friends latest holiday or a dog doing cute tricks, your facebook advertisement telling them to choose you as their Probate Solicitor pops up. They don’t want or need your services but they may still click on your advertisement out of interest, costing you money but giving you zero chances of attracting a new client.
When it comes to promoting legal services online, Google Ads wins, every time.
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