Digital Advertising for Law Firms and the Third Party Cookie Crumble

For the past 25 years, one of the big promises of digital advertising for law firms, was the tracking cookie, the ability to follow potential clients and leads across the web, from social to apps to everything in between.

Well, due to consumer pressure from the marketplace, privacy concerns, and anti-trust legislation, third-party tracking tech and it’s “cookies” are going the way of the Dodo, but that data, and the ability to gather and create solid legal marketing campaigns with it, is never going extinct!

You get the idea…

As leads fracture to platform specific, walled-in gardens, going forward, successful legal marketers will sharpen the skills of traditional advertising, while meeting the demands of measuring and converting on the platforms that drive the most cases and leads.

Let’s discuss some of the new changes to digital advertising, how law firm marketers are adjusting, and how to get the most out of online campaigns in a cookie-less world.

The Third-Party Tracking Cookie Party is Canceled

Digital marketers have long relied on third-party tracking cookies to follow consumers online. Almost every ad tech and martech platform uses cookies for display advertising, targeting, retargeting; and now, that’s all changing.

From the GDPR, to the California Consumer Privacy Act, to smart cookie-blocking technology that comes standard with Firefox and Apple products, the third party tracking cookie party is being cancelled on many fronts.

In some ways, this is a good thing for performance-minded marketers, forcing innovation and exploring new technologies to develop a law firm’s book of business online, while balancing profit and privacy.

But guess what?

The digital advertising campaigns available to law firms on Google Ads, including new additions to the ecosystem like Local Services Ads, continue to drive business.

And so, while there are alternatives to digital advertising on Google, through PPC or SEM, it’s hard to miss their share of market, so it makes sense to dive into the cookie crumbs hitting Google Ads first.

How Google Ads Is Changing for Law Firm Marketers

Google Ads is limiting/halting access to information such as search term reports. Whether it’s by design to push users into automating more portions of their campaigns (and thereby relying on Google’s tools and algorithms to manage ads), or in response to privacy concerns, the days of robust datasets and user tracking are coming to an end.

• – Note for clarification, according to Google ,”A search term is the exact word or set of words a customer enters when searching on Google.com or one of our Search Network sites. A keyword is the word or set of words that Google advertisers create for a given ad group to target your ads to customers.”

Third party cookies will begin to get phased out, and user data will continue the trend of being restricted/removed.

Google is already working to block 3rd party trackers in Chrome and is touting “more transparency and control” in this blog post by VP of Ads Privacy and Safety.

Also from Google’s own playbook:

“This forward thinking group of marketers has:

• Redefined what it means to have strong, direct relationships with their users. They recognize the growing importance of first-party data, making sure they have solutions in place to collect it responsibly from customers, as well as clear privacy policies that offer people transparency and control.
• Found ways to reach their audiences and measure results when signals are limited.”

The writing on the wall could be any clearer; digital marketers will not be able to track and segment advertising the way they can now. But the necessity of Analytics and utilizing a law firm’s owned data, and strategizing “best-in-class” search engine marketing campaigns on Google that deliver clicks, plus clients, will be of evergreen importance.

How Digital Advertising for Law Firms Can Work Without Cookies

There isn’t an expected decline in advertising dollars with the tracking cookie industry crumbling, but rather a reallocation and shifting of budgets.

• Paid ads will continue on platforms like Facebook and Google, along with the targeting options digital marketers have gotten used to.Digital advertising strategies are going to have to rely on more site-specific specialists, or a strong advertising agency that works with law firms specifically, to ensure campaigns are performing properly.
• Contextual targeting will become more common, which is placing ads on content-specific sites and articles, rather than tracking user behavior all over the internet.The good news is that conversion rates tend to favor contextual targeting over hyper-targeted ad placements.
• Content marketing, and other opportunities to gather first party data will also become increasing relevant tactics law firms will use in a cookie-less world. Newsletters, video series, and other audience generating content, are good places to start.

And yet, with all the changes to the digital marketplace, traditional advertising principles and skills will prove more cost effective and conversion focused in a cookie-less world.

Solid copy writing and conversion optimization techniques work alongside the targeting available, which is key to designing successful legal SEM campaigns, and strategies, for law firms.

Set benchmarks and run A/B tests to continually discover and refine what works best.

Reviewing patterns of search behavior, rather than individual search terms – may have to split into bigger buckets such as branded vs non-branded.

Gathering First Party Marketing Data in Your Law Firm

A key ingredient to successful digital advertising for law firms without third party tracking data, is a deep understanding of your own law firm’s client base, and a keen awareness on the desired category audience you’d like to expand into.

Via client surveys and other intelligence gathering avenues, fill client personas out as best you can, and not just the typical demographics things like age, gender, income, but social media sites they prefer and platforms the interact with most, because the big guys (Google) aren’t going to make it easy for you anymore.

As third-party data disappears, first-party data on your clients will become even more important to capture.

Call Tracking, CRM, and Data-Driven Legal Marketing

Call Tracking & lead review allow you to score calls and get granular with your lead-tracking.

With tools like CallRail, Call Tracking Metrics, and a case management system, like Needles, or Casepeer, or Clio, you can generate better performing, first-party data driven marketing campaigns.

With a strong connection to the firm’s pipeline, using a reliable dashboard here can generate reports that track both sales and marketing.

Start doing your own research and compiling your own data from your CRM. Use the information you collect to create compelling ads that speak to your audience using the language and affinities that they share, and put them in places where your potential clients will be. Set benchmarks, A/B test to determine effectiveness.

In Conclusion

Digital advertising will always remain a critical brand-building tool, especially for service industries like law firms. Third party data has been an interesting experiment, and really no more divergent than traditional advertising audience analysis methods.

But the marketplace and legal community have spoken out, and thankfully, being on the right side of this means a better yield for advertising budgets in contextual targeting, a higher demand for first party data and the content that goes along with driving awareness, and a digital marketing strategy

Have questions or are interested in improving your law firm’s social media marketing, Get In Touch,  Subscribe to our Newsletter, and catch up with the LAWsome podcast!

The post Digital Advertising for Law Firms and the Third Party Cookie Crumble appeared first on .

from https://www.consultwebs.com/blog/digital-advertising-for-law-firms-and-the-third-party-cookie-crumble/
via https://www.consultwebs.com

Social Media for Law Firms: The Basics

Choosing to develop your law firm’s book of business through social media marketing can be a decision, fraught with variables.

Do you bandwagon on the latest platform? How does organic traffic, differ from paid?

Is it possible to track social media ROI?

Should you keep paying your partner’s kid to do, whatever it is they do on the law firm’s Twitter account….

Recognizing that effective legal marketing strategy achieves both short term and long term business objectives, your law firm’s social media must be focused on essentially two things; growing awareness of your brand, and generating leads/clients.

Let’s cover the basics of social media marketing for law firms, learn why you should partake, how you can grow your total addressable audience, and how you can track all this back to actual revenue.

Why should your law firm be on social media?

Marketing your law firm via social media is not a new idea, and it remains one of the easiest ways to establish an online presence.

According to the American Bar Association 2020 Websites and Marketing Survey, lawyers are overwhelmingly on social media, but see varying results of success in regards to generating business.

In our own research and interviews with lawyers that use social media marketing to great effect, we’ve discovered a theme of pairing content with a way to track and measure effectiveness across a campaign, while appreciating the nuances of social media as a community building platform.

So the question becomes, how to grow your law firm’s online audience through social media, and where?

Best social media platforms for lawyers

You’d like to know exactly which social media platforms and advertising ecosystems your law firm needs to be on, right?

You’re nervous you have to start lip-syncing and dancing and we totally get it; we won’t desert you.

The truth to an effective law firm social media strategy, isn’t to go “where the eyeballs are,” but rather research your own client database, their demographics and media preferences, to discover where you’re most likely to generate client relationships that mirror the one’s you’ve already initiated.

Download this FREE Client Experience Survey

After a simple but comprehensive client experience survey, like above, you may discover your most valuable clientele prefer Instagram to Facebook, that you don’t have to TikTok but SnapChat, or that clients prefer email marketing and listen to the radio.

You’ll never know the best place to look for new clients, unless you know where your current ones came from.

How can I grow awareness for my law firm on social media?

Extracting value and ROI from social media has eluded most law firms, not because of lack of content marketing, but of lack of marketing strategy.

Referring again to that 2020 ABA Marketing Survey, out of a possible 5, lawyers marked their ability to measure marketing effectiveness, at a 2.9.

We can also refer to our own empirical (Twitter poll) data to show another side of the argument….

Again, the ABA Survey shows lawyers are struggling to measure marketing. Well, maybe that’s because they aren’t really measuring it?

Law firms produce immeasurable amounts of organic posts, with no promotional budgets or straight selling ads to be seen, and wonder why they never see results on social media.

Legal marketers have to appreciate the difference between brand building vs sales activation, when it comes to social media marketing.

If you need sales on Monday, no amount of organic content on social media is going to get you there. However, without a long term plan to build an audience, particularly through content marketing, short term sales alone won’t be enough to grow your business.

As discussed in our Legal Marketing Nutrition Guide, most legal marketing budgets are solely focused on, and measured by, short-term sales uplifts.

While smaller advertising campaigns create spikes in revenue (indeed they appear successful at the moment), brand-building marketing activities, which can ensure the long-term sales growth of the law firm, are typically ignored.

Prioritize ad budgets to produce great content that’s focused, not only on lead generation, but also aligned with a consistent brand strategy aimed to win online market share.

There is a compelling argument in favor of content marketing which the 2020 ABA Law Firm Marketing Survey unearthed, in this case for video and blogging in particular.

Only 5% of respondents maintained a legal topic blog, and just 3% of respondents produced their own videos for marketing purposes.

So there is a huge market opportunity for lawyers to make good content, both written and visual; so what kind of content do you make?

Ed Herman of the law firm of Brown and Crouppen, has worked with a production studio for the past few years to create the hilarious, and Emmy Award winning, “Ed Versus” video series.

The ability to leverage such entertaining content into an addressable audience through social media for a lawyer, is nothing short of marketing majesty, but the truth is, he had help building this empire, and if you’re looking for award-winning results, you’ll need help too.

One of the most important aspects to having a solid marketing partnership woth a social media vendor you can trust, is creating campaigns that are attached to measurable goals and metrics you can understand.

How can I measure ROI for my law firm’s social media?

Although it’s easier to just determine whether your firm is turning a profit, it is important to put the work into figuring out which marketing dollars are contributing to that profit (and if money is being wasted on certain campaigns).

Start by separating your marketing campaigns by medium: television, online, social media, etc. And track results from your various online marketing e’fforts, using something like this ROI Calculator.

For example, you may be allocating a certain portion of your budget to offline efforts, or pay-per-click or specific social media campaigns. When you can manage and analyze these individual campaigns to determine whether they are producing quality leads, then you can adjust investments and better allocate spend.

Some of the tools we use to track leads include:

• Call-tracking software that ties unique phone numbers to specific marketing campaigns
• Google Analytics UTM parameters in URLs that identify which campaigns are driving tra‹ffic
• Live chat services in which leads can be tied back to individual online campaigns
• Specially designed and marketed webpages with unique contact forms for tracking submissions
• Special content that requires a prospective client’s contact information in order to download (think ebooks, calculators, etc.)
• Audience behavior analysis software (helps reach potential clients)

In Conclusion

Regardless of firm size or budget, the basics for an effective social media strategy for your law firm must include great content, long and short term marketing goals you can measure, and a plan to cultivate relationships with audiences on platforms that are more likely to turn connections into cases.

Have questions or are interested in improving your law firm’s social media marketing, Get In Touch, Subscribe to our Newsletter, and catch the latest episode of the LAWsome podcast!

The post Social Media for Law Firms: The Basics appeared first on .

from https://www.consultwebs.com/blog/social-media-for-law-firms-the-basics/
via https://www.consultwebs.com

Closing The Gap In Your Legal Marketing (On-Demand Webinar)

There is typically a gap between what we want our legal marketing to be, and what that marketing actually is in the world.

Our advertising aspirations VS our experienced realities.

Thankfully, our on-demand webinar, “Closing The Gap In Your Legal Marketing” has got you covered!

Join Tanner Jones, VP of Business Development, as he explores the disconnect between legal marketing reality, and dreams, and how lawyers can close the gap between the two, by understanding three main topics; Measurement, Investment, and Confidence.

By the end of this webinar you’ll be able to…

• Gather proper business development measurements at your law firm,
• Balance legal marketing budgets between Growth & Sales, and
• Engineer a law firm confident marketing strategy based on solid investments you can measure!

WATCH NOW!

Have questions or are interested in closing the gap in your law firm’s marketing, Get In Touch, Subscribe to our Newsletter, and catch the latest episode of the LAWsome podcast!

 

 

 

The post Closing The Gap In Your Legal Marketing (On-Demand Webinar) appeared first on .

from https://www.consultwebs.com/blog/closing-the-gap-in-your-legal-marketing-on-demand-webinar/
via https://www.consultwebs.com

How To Measure Your Law Firm’s Market Share

Law firm owners looking to market their practice online have many hurdles to jump, in order to generate more leads and gain market share against competing firms.

The problem is, most lawyers don’t know the competitive benchmarks, like market share, that could help them make smarter decisions building their book of business.

The experts at Consultwebs, in conjunction with the latest marketing research, have compiled an easy set of instructions for lawyers & legal marketers, to use free online tools to get an approximation of their law firm’s market share, and engineer a “best-in-class” law firm SEO strategy. Let’s go!

Share of Search as a Leading Indicator of Market Share

First off, here is a definition of market share – “the portion of a market controlled by a particular company or product.”

As an example, here is a diagram, showing the market share percentages of the top supermarkets in the US.

So, how can we discover competitor’s market share if we don’t have full visibility into their financials?

Enter Google Trends.

Suffice it to say, that Google is one of the most powerful search engines in the world, and one of the things that makes it so powerful, is it’s an intention discovery tool.

People go on Google, and search for things they have heard about, and are interested to learn more, or take action on.

What’s so exciting, is that the latest research in marketing science has found a fairly reliable way to use Google Trends as a ‘leading indicator’ of market share.

Every year, the IPA, International Practitioners of Advertising in the UK, host a marketing conference on effectiveness, and one of this year’s lighting rod moments, came from Les Binet, at the 2020 EffWorks Global Conference.

By simply using Google Trends, and cross-referencing an abundance of actual revenue and sales data for 3 major verticals, Binet discovered share of search, and share of market, were correlated.

Digital advertisers have utilized search engine marketing, and intent, for as the internet has been around.

It’s why you see ads pop-up for a product or service, almost as soon as you search for it.

But Binet discovered patterns and a symbiotic relationship in search that hinted towards a relationship towards market share, and more excitingly, a potential way to forecast growth.

A brand’s market share impacts its share of search, because people are, most likely, searching for information on something in their possession (if you own an iPhone, you’re more likely to ask questions about it).

And when a brand has a high share of search, Binet’s research indicates that it’s about to grow.

Don’t believe us? Go read all this for yourself → https://www.contagious.com/news-and-views/share-of-search-the-new-most-important-metric-for-brands-google

So, how can you use this information to help your law firm measure market share?

Establish Your Law Firm’s Competition Via Keywords

The most important step to establishing share of search metrics for your law firm, is gathering the correct competitive set.

We used SEM Rush, an online visibility management platform, to identify the top common keywords for personal injury digital advertising and search marketing in a given location.

For this blog, we chose Minneapolis; here are the top searched terms.

If we total all the Search Volumes together, we get a sense of the average monthly volume of searches happening for these terms.

Here are the URLs with the most share of search for the associated keywords, and their share of the estimated traffic.

Once you’ve identified the top keywords for your practice area, established the search volumes per term, and properly labeled the big fish in the pond, you can start to see patterns emerge.

It seems like FindLaw is eating up a bunch of the traffic, but when you break down the URLs by keywords, even further patterns emerge…

It’s clear to see that certain firms are focusing on certain terms, while some are pushing for clicks across all terms.

What’s most exciting about this type of legal marketing research, is you can get a sense of the market share and competitors, but also a glimpse into their SEO strategies.

These graphs can help you identify the “low-hanging-fruit” opportunities for your SEO strategy to compete for share of search.

The key aspect to this, is that SEO & keywords are the main action point for a law firm to gain traction in online search engines, and thusly play an essential role in raising brand prominence and capturing market share.

Now, to measure the market share…

Establish Your Law Firm’s Share of Search Using Google Trends

Take the top ranking legal advertisers for your target keyword terms, and enter their brand names into Google Trends.

This is where the magic can happen.

In this example, it’s clear to see the dominant brand is Knutson+Casey. FindLaw, while ranking for top keyword searches, is not the dominant brand name in Minneapolis.

What’s so funny, is if you spell out the law firm’s name, without that ‘+’ the entire landscape changes.

The takeaway from this example is to make sure your marketing copy and SEO work, reflect the exact brand phrases people use in search engines to find you.

This very simple Share of Search marketing research exercise will help you get an approximation of your law firm’s market share, properly identify your competitors, and get a sense of the size of the search hill, and who is currently king.

So, what next?

Make Sense, Get Strategic, Gain Market Share

The point of this analysis is to answer the question, “how can I market my law firm smarter, to more potential clients, and measure & gain market share from competitors?”

By using SEM Rush, Google Trends, and a list of simple keywords, you can understand your true competitors and their approach to search, discover the size and your portion of the local market share, and identify the keywords and SEO tactics that can help you market your law firm, more confidently.

Have questions or are interested in a Law Firm Market Share Analysis for your city or state, or want more legal marketing info, Get In Touch, Subscribe to our Newsletter, and catch the latest episode of the LAWsome podcast!

The post How To Measure Your Law Firm’s Market Share appeared first on .

from https://www.consultwebs.com/blog/how-to-measure-your-law-firms-market-share/
via https://www.consultwebs.com

Reallocating Legal Advertising Budgets During Election Blackout

Not sure if you’ve heard, but there’s an election coming up in our country, and with it, a slew of political ads for local and national candidates all over the media, in what’s referred to in the media planning industry, as a ‘media blackout.’

Besides encouraging folks to vote, the legal marketing team at Consultwebs, would like to get the message out to TV advertising law firms, that you can take steps to ‘election proof’ your advertising campaigns, and find ways to avoid losses, resulting from your TV campaigns being preempted by political ads.

Let’s first take a look at the loss and costs associated with a media blackout, and then we’ll offer a few alternative marketing tactics any law firm can employ, to maintain marketshare, and even increase leads.

How will the 2020 election disrupt my law firms advertising spend?

Most law firms who advertise on TV can expect to have 5-25% of their TV spots preempted by political ads during this election cycle.

Once this happens, advertisers have a choice to run a ‘make-good’ or get a refund. Problem is, make-goods aren’t always available fast enough.

• Example:Law Firm A
  $50k per month TV budget
  25 cases per month, signed from TV intakes
  Average fees per case: $14,000
  Potential Revenue: $350,000
  20% reduction in air time = 20% reduction in cases = $70,000 reduction in fees
  

What are you going to do to mitigate the potential loss?

Invest your marketing dollars elsewhere, and feel confident in doing so.

According to the marketing researchers and analysts at WARC, in their whitepaper, “Anatomy of Advertising Effectiveness,” TV spend maintains the highest ROI for brands that can afford it, but Radio, and Online Video, have just as good as returns.

Since TV is almost guaranteed a bust during this election cycle, lawyers can feel confident reallocating their ad budgets towards the following marketing practices.

Digital:

• Online Video (YouTube) – The power of video doesn’t have to end with your TV spend. Whether curating new content for your channel, or finding ways to repurpose your TV ads, pivoting towards online videos is an easy switch.
• Social media marketing – Continuing on the theme of video, if your law firm has funny and engaging content, like a video series similar to Ed Herman’s and Emmy-award winning “Ed Versus.”
• Search Engine Marketing – The landscape of local search marketing has changed so much in the last few months, it can be hard to keep up. Regardless of the changes, re-alloacting some of your election TV ghost dollars, into fortifying your local SEO, can lead to quick results, and with continued maintenance, guaranteed long term success.

Mass Media:

• Radio ads – Radio is still a powerful driver of cases for local law firms and a great way to stay connected to your community. Law firms with TV ads can take the scripts used for their TV spots, and adapt them for radio. Sample your intake staff to see which station they listen to, and make inquiries on rate cards.
• Spotify Ads – Once you have a few radio ads, makes sense to puch them out where you can, so Spotify is a logical choice.

Content Marketing:

• Branded podcast – Another way to invest in content that will attract an audience to your law firm, is a branded sound experience, similar to the Sawaya Law Firm’s “Colorado Vibe”, a 10 episode, Colorado sound experience, that lets you hear the sounds, listen to the locations, and discover the frequencies and folk that define the “Colorado Vibe.”

Interested to learn how we can help improve your law firm’s marketing?

We are here to help take your law firm marketing, beyond the campaign. Get in touch with us for a quote, Sign up for the Consultwebs newsletter, follow us on social media, and subscribe to the LAWsome Podcast.

The post Reallocating Legal Advertising Budgets During Election Blackout appeared first on .

from https://www.consultwebs.com/blog/reallocating-legal-advertising-budgets-during-election-blackout/
via https://www.consultwebs.com

Best of the Best Attorney Advertisements – 2020

When it comes to attorney marketing in today’s cluttered media environment, what does it take to stand out, and bring the right kind of attention, and intention, to a law firm?

Some legal marketing experts will say “hammers,” or “strong arms” are the only way to break through to potential clients, while others will say that good lawyering and earning a reputation for being, “trusted,” and “reliable,” is the true path.

Well, based on over 20 years of legal marketing expertise, we say, hammers or not, the law firms that embrace their brand, create memorable marketing assets, and bring those campaigns to broad audiences, are the ones that tend to take the most marketshare.

The reality is, most lawyers do not advertise their services. Whether that’s because of the reputation of advertising lawyers, or because they feel marketing might cheapen their services, attorneys remain leery of developing business through advertising.

Perhaps, the reason more lawyers don’t advertise, is because they don’t know about, the best of the best?

Well, cue the drumroll and pop the popcorn, for the 2020 edition of Best of the Best Attorney Advertisements!

Mike Morse

Michigan based personal injury attorney, Mike Morse, has had a string of memorable, engaging TV commercials run in Detroit, often featuring funny and familiar situations.

When COVID hit, while most law firms were shying away from market spend, Morse pivoted into Lone Ranger-mode with his Masked Lawyer ad, and the results couldn’t have been more stellar.

Ed Versus

Brown & Crouppen, a legacy personal injury firm based out of Missouri, has maintained a strong advertising presence on TV in the St. Louis area for over 30 years.

As digital media began to rise in prominence, and video services like YouTube were penetrating into legal marketers TV budgets, one of the partners of the firm, Ed Herman, decided to branch off into content marketing for the law firm, creating a YouTube video series, entitled, “Ed Versus”

We’ve had Ed on our podcast, featured his stuff extensively, and his video about living in quarantine is hilarious, relatable, and a fine example as to why this law firm gets EMMY AWARDS for it’s content marketing efforts. Multiple, many Emmys. It’s a real thing. Deal with that ceiling!

Richard Schwartz

The Mississippi based personal injury law firm of Richard Schwartz, is another heavy advertising presence in their market, and have a track record of corny and catchy Superbowl spots that they’ve run for the past several years.

So, suffice it to say, the firm’s Superbowl spot for the “big game” in 2020, wasn’t their first rodeo. Accessing the power of pop culture memory, jingles, and (do we see a little Riverdance?) top-shelf music video stylings, this Old Town Road parody is fantastic!

Darryl Issacs

The strongly branded form of “Kentucky Justice” wielded by personal injury attorney Darryl Issacs, has been a Superbowl staple on TV sets all over the state for years.

The memorable branded asset game is strong with this law firm, and their 2020 TV spot, was definitely a force to be reckoned with.

Maloney-Lyons

Alabama has it’s fair share of lawyers marketing and advertising to potential clients across the state, but this “Godfather of PI Law” spot, created by the Mobile-based personal injury firm of Maloney & Lyons, takes a shot at the insurance companies in over-the-top mobster fashion.

The ad definitely generated some controversy, both legally, with the appropriation of all those well-known trademarks & icons, and in the public domain, with some (including me) finding the gratuitous violence a tad excessive.

The spot was a gamble, that created a massive wave of awareness for the firm, and at the end of the day, cut through the media landscape with something memorable. at the end of this shootout, we’ll take the cannoli!

IN CONCLUSION

No matter the marketing medium, be it online or off, law firms that choose to advertise their firms need to have strategic goals and partnerships with agencies they can trust to deliver the results they’re desiring from their investments. Consultwebs has been exclusively helping law firms create marketing strategies that incorporate traditional and digital media since 1999.

If you’re interested in video advertising or marketing for your law firm, get in touch with us today to see how we can help.

The post Best of the Best Attorney Advertisements – 2020 appeared first on .

from https://www.consultwebs.com/blog/best-of-the-best-attorney-advertisements-2020/
via https://www.consultwebs.com

Google Local Service Ads For Law Firms

In the changing landscape of digital marketing, it can be difficult to stay on top of the latest offerings, understand what they are, how to get them and how they can work with your law firm’s marketing strategies – or not.

The latest from Google is Local Service Ads (LSAs). These are not the same as traditional Google Ads – in fact they aren’t associated with Google Ads at all, other than showing above the search ads on search results.

Let’s take a look at what they are, what they aren’t and what lawyers need to know about this exciting new opportunity to generate more leads for your law firm.

What Are Google Local Service Ads?

The Local Services unit is shown at the top of Google Search results when people search for the services you offer in your area. Potential customers can click or tap on your ad to either call you or send you a message request (US only).

When a user clicks on a listing it will take them to a page like this:

They can also schedule a booking with you directly through your ad. Booking is only available for businesses backed by the Google Guarantee and through one of the affiliate providers such as HouseCallPro and ServiceTitan.

When a customer reaches out, you’ll get an email and notification from the Local Services Ads app. From this point on, the lead is yours to turn into a customer.

To ensure you continue to receive messages, respond to as many of them as you can (even if you decline to provide the requested service). If you regularly fail to answer calls or respond to messages, your ad ranking may be affected.

Google Guarantee vs Google Screened

Google Guarantee:

https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7549288?hl=en&ref_topic=622486
The Google Guarantee badge is available for businesses that pass a Google screening and qualification process through Google Local Services.

If you’re backed by the Google Guarantee, and your customers (that came to your business through Google) aren’t satisfied with work quality, Google may refund the amount paid for the service. The following are the upper limits of lifetime coverage for claims: United States: $2,000

We have confirmed with an LSA product team lead that the Google Guarantee Badge is NOT applicable to Law Firms. This was unknown at first, but because law firms are considered “professional services” who operate under a different payment structure than other services (example: electricians and plumbers), the lifetime guarantee/reimbursement of $2,000 does not apply to them. They are, however, still eligible for the Google Screened badges.

Google Screened:

https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9379692?hl=en&ref_topic=6224863
This helps build a trusted reputation online. All firms that have the Google Screened badge must pass a business-level background and a business-owner background check. Additionally, each professional in the business must pass a license check and the business overall must have a 3.0 star customer rating or higher. In some categories, each professional in the business must also pass a background check. These checks ensure consumers that the professionals they work with have been thoroughly vetted and provide them added peace of mind as they work with you.

Who It Covers:Only firms that provide professional services including Law, Financial Planning, and Real Estate are eligible for the Google Screened badge.

General Requirements:

• 3.0 star rating for reviews minimum
• Business-Level background check
• Business-Owner background check
• Each professional must pass a license check

Specific Requirements for Law Firms:

• Background check requirements:
  • Business check
  • Owner check
• Insurance requirements:
  • Malpractice insurance *
• License requirements:
  • State bar license checks for each lawyer in the firm

Example of an Immigration Lawyer’s Business Profile (clicking on an LSA ad): Law Office of Lindsey J. Harris

How “Targeting” works
This is not like Google Ads – you don’t have many options.According to Google, targeting is not by keyword, but by selected services you select for your profile. Google states: “Your ad will also be eligible to appear if someone searches for general categories related to your business.”

How Ad Ranking is Determined

The official guidance is,”All provider listings in the Local Services unit are displayed and ranked based on a number of factors that help Google match service providers to consumers.Factors that can affect your ranking within the Local Services unit include:

• Your review score and the number of reviews you receive
• Your responsiveness to customer inquiries and requests
• Your proximity to potential customers’ locations
• Your business hours
• Whether or not we’ve received serious or repeated complaints about your business

In addition to these ranking factors, Google will attempt to spread out the leads you receive over time. This is to prevent you from spending your entire budget early in the budget period. If your ad is generating leads more quickly than your budget can accommodate, you may see your ranking affected or your ad paused temporarily in order to more evenly spread out your leads.”

About Costs & Payment
You are charged for each lead you receive through your Local Services ad. Lead prices may vary depending on your location, the job type, and the type of lead, but each lead received will count towards your budget. You’ll never pay more for leads than your monthly max.

Updates & Latest Information

We will continue to make information available as it is shared with us, so be sure to  sign up for the Consultwebs newsletter, follow us on social media, and subscribe to the LAWsome Podcast.

The post Google Local Service Ads For Law Firms appeared first on .

from https://www.consultwebs.com/blog/google-local-service-ads-for-law-firms/
via https://www.consultwebs.com

Does Google Ads New Clickbait Policy Affect My Law Firm?

Google has rolled out yet another update to their Google Ads policies – a way to protect consumers from click-bait tactics often used by marketers that pressure consumers to take immediate action.

In their newest update, they are cracking down on advertisers who run “ads that use clickbait tactics or sensationalist text or imagery to drive traffic” and “as that use negative life events such as death, accidents, illness, arrests, or bankruptcy to induce fear, guilt, or other strong negative emotions to pressure the viewer to take immediate action.”

While this may seem to target specific advertisers (ahem, legal), this does not in any way aim to single out any one type of advertiser, but more so, is an extension of their current non-exhaustive policies to protect consumers from questionable marketing tactics.

Still, this has a lot of our legal clients (and others) questioning, “how does this affect me”?

In general, if you are using an agency partner to manage your Google Ads, you should be in great hands. Your agency will have the expertise and knowledge to know where the line stands with Google and will ensure that your ads are compliant.

This is especially true of agencies who hold Google Premier Partnership status (like Consultwebs), as ad compliance is also a requirement to be in good standing for partnership status.

In the case that ads are disapproved, your agency will work with Google’s technical teams to either fix the ads or re-submit for review if they truly are not in violation. This can happen with Google’s sometimes ambiguous rules that are often subject to more than one interpretation.

If you are running ads on your own or you just have questions about this new policy that are keeping you up at night, read on.

We’ve reached out to our friends at Google to see if they could help address some of the more common questions. Here’s what we know.

As a Law Firm, should I be concerned, and how can I prepare for the changes?

There is no need to be overly concerned. If your ads haven’t been in violation to date, then you are likely ok to proceed with the ads you have been using.

The important thing to note is that these are extensions of pre-existing policies that are now more specifically outlined.

The new policies do outline examples of what types of content will be in violation. Of which, you can see in detail here.

Essentially, you just need to avoid showing images of real-life negative events to induce fear/guilt and avoid using phrases that scares a user into taking immediate action or that are sensationalized such as “click here to find out”, or “you won’t believe what happened.”

How will I know if I am in violation of policies? 

If you are managing your own ads accounts, you will be notified through the Policy Manager in your account. All Google Ads policy violations can be appealed.

How do I appeal violations?

If you have reviewed the policy violation and disagree that your ads are in violation, here are the steps to appeal. Again, if you are running ads through an agency partner, this is already handled by them.

Here are the steps to appeal:

1. Go to the “Ads and extensions” page and find the ad or extension you want to fix
2. Hover over the ad or extension and click Edit.
3. Edit the ad or extension so that it complies with the policy.
4. Click Save. Your ad will be automatically reviewed again. Check the ad’s status in the “Ads and extensions” page for updates.

Here is how to check the appeal status:

1. 1. Click the tool icon in the upper right corner of your account.
   2. Under “Setup,” click Policy Manager.
   3. On the “Appeal history” tab, you’ll find details for all ads you’ve appealed.The “Status” column shows whether the appeal is still in progress or complete. The “Results” column shows the results of the appeal, including how many ads had their policy approval status updated after the review.

 

Is my Ads Account at risk of suspension?

If your account continues to violate policies, there is always a possibility that accounts can become suspended. This is true of any of Google Ads’ policies and is not specific to just this new update. For more information on when and why Google suspends accounts, check out this policy resource.

Does this new policy affect just my Google Search Ads?

The policy states ‘it covers advertisements which use sensationalist or clickbait text or imagery which intend to drive traffic’, therefore we can assume that it is across all Google channels; search, display and video.

How will information be “flagged”; human checks or AI checks?

Unfortunately, this information is unknown or not able to be shared. It could be checked by either or. No matter how it is checked, the most important thing is to be mindful of the content and language you are using, to check your ad compliance regularly and to fix any ads that may be in violation of Google’s policies or to appeal ones that may incorrectly be marked as in violation.

And there you have it. The new policy explained in as much detail as is available. Google does not provide any more specifics than what is typically addressed on their policies as to avoid giving one agency advantage over another.

Ultimately, this is where marketers and ad agencies use their best judgment based on their interpretation of the policy as it is outlined. What has worked in the past will likely continue to work and that’s where the focus should be.

Happy Ads managing!

Want more advice on law firm marketing? Sign up for the Consultwebs newsletter, follow us on social media, and subscribe to the LAWsome Podcast.

Sources: 

 

July Policy Update: https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/9773289?hl=en

All Ads Policies: https://support.google.com/adspolicy/topic/1626336?hl=en&ref_topic=2996750,1308156, 

Misrepresentation Ad policy: https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/6020955?hl=en&ref_topic=1626336

Personalized Advertising Policy: https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/143465?hl=en&ref_topic=1626336

Inappropriate Content Policy: https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/6015406?hl=en&ref_topic=1626336

Google Ads Suspension Policy: https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/2375414?hl=en

 

The post Does Google Ads New Clickbait Policy Affect My Law Firm? appeared first on .

from https://www.consultwebs.com/blog/does-google-ads-new-clickbait-policy-affect-my-law-firm/
via https://www.consultwebs.com

Content Marketing for Family Law Firms

When it comes to successful business development for law firms, the area of practice and legal expertise has a lot to do with efficacy. We feel that, due to the nature of the relationships between the client base and lawyers, content marketing for family law firms is a sensible, strategic choice for developing business. Let’s dig in!

Different Practice Areas, Different Marketing Strategy

As outlined in our Legal Marketing Nutrition Guide, we believe effective marketing covers a spectrum of activity that both grows a law firm’s brand, and activates sales.

The balance of these two factors is strategically determined by the law firm’s business goals and current circumstances, but the tactics that execute the plan, are more defined by the practice area, client-type, and caseload.

Mass tort and class action lawyers work off volume, so the marketing strategy focuses  advertising initiatives that broadly increase awareness of specific actions.

Other practice areas like personal injury, or criminal defense, where having repeat business from clients isn’t exactly desired, strategies focus on branded campaigns that keep their services top of mind within the marketplace.

While every law firm, regardless of speciality, will require a general marketing mix of brand and sales to be successful in the long run, family law firms that focus on content marketing, may have a unique opportunity to leverage the relationships inherent in their area of practice.

Content Marketing; What is That Again?

Content marketing is something outside your service, that provides consistent value to a specific, potentially monetizable, audience.

What does, “value outside your service” mean?

This does not mean that content is unattached from the purpose of your law firm or the law, but it does mean that whatever you choose to make, has to have inherent value and be worth the time of your audience.

This feels simple, but content marketing has become so complexified that most marketers and business owners just throw a wad of cash at the idea, do something for two weeks, and then move on. Another example of Checklist Marketing.

Here are specific examples of content marketing initiatives; a valuable newsletter, book, podcast, or video series. Got it? Good.

A newsletter about torts, a podcast about how to divide an estate and assets, a video series about deposition tactics? Maybe for your in-house marketing, but not for content marketing.

Content marketing is about value and relationships, and that is exactly why it’s a perfect fit for family law firms.

Content Marketing and “The Funnel”

All of your activities within a marketplace, content, ads, and campaigns, go into influencing a potential client’s Awareness of your firm and your specialty, Consideration of your services as solutions to their problems, and then the Decision to actually pick up the phone and call you.

It’s very important to remember that certain marketing activities, yield certain results and responses, and are better suited for specific parts of the purchase funnel, to achieve specific goals.

Marketing content that pushes people to make choices and take advantage of opportunities NOW, should be relegated to the smaller Decision parts of the funnel where intent is higher. Direct response from marketing activities at the Decision part of the purchase funnel is the goal.

Marketing content that familiarizes a potential clientbase with your brand and it’s purpose needs to be far-reaching and able to fill up the Awareness portion of the funnel, where no one knows your law firm from Adam. Direct response from marketing activities existing at the Awareness part of the funnel, is not the goal.

And right in the middle of the Awareness and Decision, is the Consideration part of the marketing funnel – and this is where relationship-building content marketing initiatives, like podcasts or rich-content newsletters, can be so effective, particularly for family law.

Direct responses to content at the Decision part of the funnel, like podcasts or newsletters, can include subscription, engagement, and other metrics which can widen the way you measure your impact and forecast where leads may come from.

Content Marketing for Family Law Firms

We’ve featured several successful law firms that have used content marketing to their advantage, to establish relationships, keep their brand awareness, and to generate leads, on our LAWsome podcast.

In her interview, family lawyer and award-winning entrepreneur Erin Levine, talked about her alternative legal service, Hello Divorce, and how understanding her audience and leaning into the relationships through tech and content, helped her succeed. LISTEN -> https://www.thelawsomepodcast.com/podcast/ep-57-legal-marketing-in-splitsville/

IP lawyer Autumn Witt Boyd discusses the power of content marketing in her firm, and how she’s using podcasts to reach her target audience and create a relationship with them before they need her services – https://www.thelawsomepodcast.com/podcast/ep-60-content-marketing-for-law-firms/

Whether it’s a newsletter or a podcast or a video series, content marketing that establishes a relationship between you and an intended audience, can work across the entire marketing funnel, helping to drive awareness of your services, create a point of consideration by offering value, and potentially tipping the scale on a decision to retain your counsel.

Should You Launch a Podcast For Your Family Law Firm?

Look, we make podcasts. Award-winning ones that have actually achieved business goals. And it is tough work. If you are interested, we’ve written extensively about the process, here. But we believe the client/lawyer relationship and dynamic within a family law firm is a perfect setting for a podcast.

Your family law podcast is an experience that potential clients can subscribe to, that continually reminds them of your value, and can be introduced into their lives again & again. No webinar does this, no ad campaign does this.

However, the positive effects from content marketing, only happen with a consistent schedule and dependable production behind your podcast.

Most marketing strategies are haphazard, intermittent, and text-based: a blog post here, a newsletter there. A branded podcast with Consultwebs commits your marketing to a schedule, regularly promotes your firm, and gives an actual voice to your brand.

Want to Learn More About Podcasting For Lawyers?

Contact Consultwebs today to discuss how we can help your firm take advantage of the opportunities podcasting presents for law firms. We would be glad to provide you with a free consultation and help you to understand the options available to you.

The post Content Marketing for Family Law Firms appeared first on .

from https://www.consultwebs.com/blog/content-marketing-for-family-law-firms/
via https://www.consultwebs.com

Digital Marketing for Law Firms: More Vendors, More Problems

When searching for vendors to handle your law firm’s digital marketing, it is smart to interview multiple companies. After all, you’ll want to look through their web design portfolio, talk about search engine optimization (SEO) strategies, discuss their track record for return on investment, and ask for references from other clients.

While shopping around, it can be tempting to piece together different services from different vendors. Whether you are piecemealing to save money or because you liked different parts of different vendors’ proposals, beware: This fragmented approach will cause costly cracks in your online marketing campaign.

Even when vendors pledge to work together, even when they have a good relationship, even when they have the best intentions for your campaign, the disconnect will inevitably show. And your bottom line will suffer.

Understanding the Interconnections Between Design, Development & SEO

Web design and SEO are often thought of as separate services, but to be effective, they should be considered a package deal. For law firms, the intent of a website is to bring in clients, so that should be the intent of the design. A beautiful website that doesn’t attract visitors and convert is a waste of money.

Designers should be closely consulting with SEO teams on user experience (UX), functionality, site structure, and paths to conversion. As a design moves into code, developers should also be working the SEO team to address factors that will affect the site’s rankings and conversions.

Common problems that pop up when SEO is not considered during the design and development phase include:

• Poor mobile usability
• Missing functionality
• Minimal focus on conversion
• Lack of site structure optimization
• Poor site speed
• Problems with image sizes
• Improper usage of header tags
• Incomplete NAP (name, address, phone) references
• Too small font sizes (yep, that can cause a ding to your SEO!)

These are all problems that may not be immediately noticeable by looking at a beautifully designed homepage, but they can leave your new site dead in the water when it comes to bringing in business.

More Vendors, Less Efficiency & Ultimately Money Wasted 

When an SEO team from one vendor works on a site that was designed by another vendor without optimization in mind, the team has to go back and play catch-up. They must fix site structures, create workarounds for problematic coding, and address problems of missing functionality. In some cases, this can mean additional money for recoding. In every case, it is work that could have been done before the site launched to ensure success out the gate.

In addition, if a problem arises with a site, your entire online marketing campaign can come to a screeching halt as you try to get to the bottom of what happened. (For example, changes from a design vendor can severely impact your SEO.) Once you identify a problem, you may see delays as the appropriate fixes are implemented by each vendor and intertwined issues are hashed out by representatives from different companies.

Save Time and Make Money with Consultwebs

At Consultwebs, our experienced web designers and developers work hand-in-hand with our search engine optimization experts to ensure your site is set up for success. You don’t have to worry about wasted time, duplicated efforts, or miscommunication. And as you are ready to expand, our creative social media team and paid advertising experts can step in to take your campaign to the next level.

This fully integrated approach has made us a leader in law firm web marketing for 20 years. Contact us today to discuss how we can start getting you more clients from the web.

 

The post Digital Marketing for Law Firms: More Vendors, More Problems appeared first on .

from https://www.consultwebs.com/blog/digital-marketing-for-law-firms-more-vendors-more-problems/
via https://www.consultwebs.com

How Lawyers Will Be Essential to COVID-19 Recovery

During the pandemic, “essential worker” has become a household term. Healthcare professionals, grocery store workers, delivery drivers, warehouse workers, and many others have played a crucial role in keeping the country moving forward even as the majority of people were ordered to stay at home.

In some states, lawyers have been deemed essential workers, even as many law firms have shifted to offering virtual consultations with clients and work-from-home set-ups for staff. As the U.S. slowly reopens, though, one thing is for sure: Lawyers will be essential for ensuring people’s rights are protected as the country emerges from this unprecedented crisis.

As legal marketing experts, we at Consultwebs expect to see a flood of people searching for terms related to budding COVID-19 cases. Here’s what has been emerging so far:

Workers’ Compensation and COVID-19

Whether a person has been going to work through this pandemic or is just starting back to work, the fear of getting COVID-19 from workplace exposure is high. Workers want to know their rights and what benefits they may be entitled to if they get sick through occupational exposure.

Employment/Labor Law and COVID-19

Although workers are supposed to have protections under the new Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and the Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA), some may run into challenges and need help understanding their rights. In addition, workers who feel their employers have not taken appropriate health and safety precautions, and those who face retaliation for speaking up, will need experienced advocates. With the potential for a flood of COVID-19 lawsuits, some lawmakers and employers are already pushing for federal liability protections, a move that many argue could make conditions less safe for workers.

Medical Malpractice and COVID-19

Healthcare workers across the country are rightfully being hailed as heroes during this stressful time. However, there will still be situations where mistakes are made, and patients will suffer due to medical negligence. Although some protections have been enacted to shield healthcare workers from liability at the federal and state level, patients will be counting on medical malpractice lawyers to help them understand their rights and fight for fair compensation.

Nursing Home Negligence and COVID-19

Due to their vulnerable populations, nursing homes were inevitably going to face tough challenges in protecting the people in their care. However, facilities that failed to take proper precautions and allowed outbreaks to spread uncontrollably will be held accountable. Expect families to turn to nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers for help demanding answers and justice.

Wrongful Death and COVID-19

Walmart, Carnival Corp., JBS USA (a major meat processing company), and nursing homes in Oregon and Texas are already facing wrongful death claims over COVID-19 fatalities. As families of workers and consumers who died start seeing news of these wrongful death cases, they will be reaching out to lawyers to get a better understanding of their own legal rights.

Car Accidents and Other Personal Injury Claims During COVID-19

Many news outlets have reported a decline in the rate of crashes as people chose to stay at home as much as possible during the pandemic. However, law enforcement has also noted an increase in speeding-related crashes, as reckless drivers test their limits on near-empty roads.

In addition, healthcare professionals have reported seeing less of the typical injury patients, perhaps because people are afraid to seek help due to coronavirus exposure. Non-COVID-19 patients are also being prioritized differently. As one report indicated: “Some of the standards of practice are changing right now, so even for injuries that might otherwise be a simple fix, they might now result in lifelong effects.” This could have a serious impact on victims of car accidents, slip and falls, and other accidents in terms of exacerbating losses suffered.

Bankruptcy and COVID-19

Across the United States, businesses and consumers are struggling to find solutions to the crushing financial pressures caused by COVID-19. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) included provisions to provide some assistance to businesses and consumers who need to seek bankruptcy protections. Bankruptcy law firms are expected to see a surge in business as those who have been hardest hit financially seek to understand the best path forward.

Consumer Rights During COVID-19

It’s hard to believe that companies would try to take advantage of consumers during such a challenging time. But it’s bound to happen. Consumers will be faced with products touted as cures and preventive measures against the virus. Others will find the companies they have frequently purchased from, such as event ticket vendors and airlines, now refuse to give refunds, only credits. Across the country, states are being vigilant about squashing price gouging. Consumers who have been taken advantage of during this time will need legal guidance on how they can demand justice.

Premises Liability and COVID-19

Headlines have focused on the sickening and shocking conditions on cruise ships, where the virus has spread like wildfire and people are unsure of what legal actions they can take. As we move forward with reopening, people may find themselves to be victims of large outbreaks tied to specific businesses such as restaurants, bars, hotels, and gyms that failed to take proper precautions to protect visitors on their property.

Divorce, Child Custody, and Domestic Violence During COVID-19

Anyone who has been quarantining with a family knows what a pressure cooker this can be at times. Unfortunately, many family lawyers are predicting that cracks in marriages will turn into breaks, with both sides requiring legal help through divorce and child custody. In the worst situations, family lawyers may need to step in to help survivors of domestic violence understand their options for protecting themselves.

Business Interruption Insurance and COVID-19

Restaurants, bars, retail stores, and other businesses that were forced to shut down due to COVID-19 should be reviewing their insurance policies at this point to determine what their coverage includes. The smartest course of action will be to work with an attorney who knows how to interpret these policies and can take on insurance companies that are reluctant to make fair payouts.

Know Which COVID-19 Cases Your Firm Wants?

At Consultwebs, we get lawyers more cases from the web. In a time like this, we are seeing so many opportunities for savvy firms to take action, and we would love to help your firm bring in the cases that will shape the legal profession’s impact on this pandemic recovery.
Contact us today to set up a free consultation with a legal marketing expert.

The post How Lawyers Will Be Essential to COVID-19 Recovery appeared first on .

from https://www.consultwebs.com/blog/how-lawyers-will-be-essential-to-covid-19-recovery/
via https://www.consultwebs.com

COVID-19: Ad Credits and Cash Grants From Facebook

Many companies are taking steps to help out business in response to the COVID-19 pandemic – recently we covered the Google Ad credits – and now Facebook is stepping up as well.

According to this post from Facebook:

“We know that your business may be experiencing disruptions resulting from the global outbreak of COVID-19. We’ve heard that a little financial support can go a long way, so we are offering $100M in cash grants and ad credits to help during this challenging time.”

Is Facebook going to make those options available to law firms? We have been asked this with increasing frequency as of late, and fortunately two of our team members, Kenneth Harris and Matt Smyers, have created this video to give you the latest information on how this program may may affect your law firm’s digital advertising and cash-on-hand.

 

Matt: Good afternoon, everyone. This is Matt Smyers with Consultwebs. And I’m joined today by Ken Harris, he is our digital advertising director and we are going to be talking today about Facebook advertising and what Facebook has to offer in terms of free advertising, advertising credits in light of the COVID-19 crisis.

We’ve talked to you already about Google’s offerings, a lot of people have been asking questions about that, but some people may not be aware that Facebook is also rolling out a similar program that law firms are going to be able to hopefully take advantage of. So, Ken, tell us what you know so far about what Facebook is offering.

Ken: Sure thing. It’s not only ad credits but it’s also cash grants for small businesses. You can find all the information about what Facebook is offering on their website. We can post the link to that along with the video when we post it up on social media.

But essentially, what they’re offering is ad credits and cash grants for businesses who qualify. And there’s a list of criteria there. You have to be a for-profit company, have between 2 and 50 employees, you have to have been in business for over a year, have experienced challenges from COVID-19, and be in or near a location where Facebook operates.

And that last one’s really the caveat because there’s a pretty finite list in the United States in particular where Facebook has operating offices.

Matt: So, when you say it’s going to be advertising or a cash grant, so do we know at this point, I mean, are they offering it as just credit towards advertising or do we have any further detail on the financials of it?

Ken: What I know, and I’ve spoken directly with my contact at Facebook about this, is that it could be cash grant to keep the lights on and/or advertising credits. So, businesses who qualify could qualify for both.

Matt: Okay. Do we know…do you have to be a current or existing Facebook advertiser in order to qualify?

Ken: I don’t think so. That wasn’t in the list of criteria.

Matt: Do we have any idea, if it is an advertising credit, is it going to be limited to a particular type of advertising on Facebook or is it going to be, you know, can you apply that across the board?

Ken: Should be wide open as long as it’s promoting your small business.

Matt: Okay. So, you know, obviously, we’re talking about this from Consultwebs in the context of law firms and law firm marketing and, you know, can we assume that law firms will qualify for this?

Ken: I would assume as long as they meet the criteria listed that they are 100% eligible.

Matt: Anything else that comes to mind that we want to share with our clients that are in law firms around the country as it pertains to this or Facebook advertising in general during this crisis?

Ken: I think what you want to keep in mind with this is that the details are still not solidified. What Facebook knows for sure they’re posting on their website and you can sign up to receive updates via email on that page. You can also check the list of locations where qualifying businesses would be. And, in general, what you should be doing on social media during this crisis is if you’re operating, remind people that you’re operating.

A lot of law firms are reminding people, “Hey, we’re working remotely. We can still serve you from a contactless point of view.” You don’t have to expose yourself to this virus in order to get legal help.

Matt: Fantastic. Great advice. So, that’s what we know at this point, folks, in regards to the Facebook advertising credits that are going to be offered. Ken and his team is in constant communication with our representatives from Facebook. As soon as we know more, we’ll be sure to let everyone know. We’ll, obviously, be in communication with our clients. But beyond that, we’ll continue to post information on our website through our blog.

We’ll also be pushing out updates on both the Facebook and the Google advertising credits through our newsletter. So, subscribe to the newsletter and we’ll continue to push out information as we get it. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us directly. 

In the meantime, stay safe and thanks so much for joining us.

If you want to get the latest updates on Facebook Ad Credits and cash grants as well as other important legal marketing news, sign up for our newsletter and we will be sure to keep you informed and up-to-date with the information you need to keep your law firm marketing effective:

The post COVID-19: Ad Credits and Cash Grants From Facebook appeared first on .

from https://www.consultwebs.com/blog/covid-19-ad-credits-and-cash-grants-from-facebook/
via https://www.consultwebs.com