You know what you want: more leads, more paying clients, and more revenue.

You even know some of the strategies you’ll use to achieve that.

But who do you partner with to get you there?

Which legal marketing firm can help you direct your strategy, growth and success?

Below are the tips you need to choose the right digital marketing agency to achieve your marketing goals.

We’ll cover:

• The goals that need defining before you get started;
• The background checks that need to be made;
• The key questions that need asking;
• The information needed to evaluate an agency’s suitability; and
• The proof you need to seek.

Let’s get started.

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1. Establish your marketing targets, goals & priorities

Before you can assess whether a digital marketing agency measures up, you need to determine exactly what you expect them to measure up to.

That means defining your target audience and your key marketing goals.

All marketing begins with getting specific with who you’re targeting. Then determining the goals associated with your campaigns.

Here are a few examples:

Active marketing goals (which have a direct influence on revenue):

• How many new leads are you targeting in the next month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months?
• How many new clients are you targeting in the next month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months?
• What increase in revenue do you expect in the next month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months?

Passive marketing goals (which have a more indirect influence):

• How much do you expect to expand your reach with your target audience?
• How do you want to develop your brand perception over the next 6-12 months?
• What content will you release to establish more authority and credibility?

A good marketing strategy works on both active and passive marketing goals to build sustainable growth for the future.

Bear in mind also that no digital marketing agency in the world can help you increase sales and grow if you don’t have the in-house capabilities to convert the flow of leads that come your way.

Make sure that you have an effective back-end system for processing leads and converting to paying clients – or your return on investment will fall flat.

At Inbound Law Marketing…

We start our campaigns with a free strategy session to collect information associated with your target audience, campaign goals and top priorities.

We then organize the information into a cohesive strategy with a workback schedule, demographic targeting, service recommendation, budget and timeline.

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2. Establish whether they have a track record of success with law firms

The single most important question you’ll ask of any digital marketing agency you’re considering working with is:

What experience do you have of delivering marketing results for law firms?

There is a tendency to think that marketing is marketing. But law firms operate under some fairly unique restrictions.

Find an agency that specifically understands law firm marketing requirements and has a proven track record in the sector.

Make sure they are familiar with concepts such as:

• What are the website best practices for law firms?
• What are the ideal keywords to target with an SEO campaign?
• How should an Adwords campaign be structured to generate the highest performance?
• Where can we quickly acquire backlinks for a legal SEO campaign?
• What are the main legal directories?
• and so on…

Also, ensure that your agency is up-to-date with current best practice. Digital marketing is an ever-evolving field.

If people from the agency contribute to legal marketing blogs, publish content regularly, or speak on the subject, these are all good signs.

At Inbound Law Marketing…

We not only do we encourage you to view the results we achieve for law firms across North America; we’re happy to share the secrets of what works by contributing posts to industry blog sites, as well as regularly updating our own blog.

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3. Establish whether they have the capacity to meet your goals

Another of the first things you’ll want to know about your digital marketing agency is whether they can help you meet your goals.

That will take some homework and some probing.

Some of the key questions you’ll need to ask here include:

• Do they have the capacity to look after your law firm – as well as all their other clients?
• What level of personalized service can they provide?
• Do they have the expertise in all the marketing areas you need – SEO? PPC? Landing pages? Website development? Email marketing?
• How do their claims measure up? Are they over-promising (this should be an instant red flag).

At Inbound Law Marketing…

Our team offers a wide range of digital marketing services specifically designed to provide comprehensive marketing assistance for law firms. Highly specialized and knowledgeable in the field, we’re not to be confused with the many ‘generalist’ marketing agencies out there.

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4. Check their work processes & reporting procedures

Providing the agency is capable of delivering what you need, how exactly do they work? How will it work with you on a day-to-day basis? Are you compatible?

Some of the key considerations here include:

• What specific steps will they take in strategies for lead generation, content creation, SEO, PPC campaigns etc.?
• Will you be able to meet them face to face if necessary – in person or by video?
• After the initial meetings to establish your needs, what level of contact do you have with the agency?
• Will you have a dedicated account manager, through whom you can channel questions and ideas?
• Can they work effectively with your in-house people? Maybe you have a marketing person who needs to interact with the agency regularly – how will this work?
• How do they help you track performance, analyze results, and report back to you?

All these factors need establishing early on in the process so that you know what to expect from your digital marketing agency.

At Inbound Law Marketing…

We walk you through the process – from the free strategy session that gathers the information we need about your marketing priorities to presenting and enacting the key strategies that bring the results you’re after (all in detail and with transparency concerning budgets and timelines – no surprises!)

And your dedicated account manager will be on hand to answer questions and provide recommendations as required.

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5. Check contract conditions & fee structures

It’s unlikely that you will want to commit to lengthy contracts until you know the relationship is working.

Here are a few items to consider:

• What’s the minimum contract length for the agency’s services?
• Can you arrange a month-to-month agreement?
• How do you break the agreement if it’s not working?
• What KPIs are built into the agreement if any? Website rankings? Traffic volumes? Lead numbers?

Keeping a lid on marketing expenditure is also going to be a key consideration. Everyone has a budget in mind:

• Does the agency charge a monthly fee or an hourly rate?
• Do the fees remain the same each month?
• Is there a minimum fee?
• Is it easy to scale services up or down as required?
• If the agreed-upon results are not delivered, will you be out of pocket?

Establish precisely how the agency charges its fees so that there are no surprises. If fees seem low, there is probably a good reason.

At Inbound Law Marketing…

Long-term contracts are considered a thing of the past. You’ll never be asked to lock yourself into a long-term contract and our recommendation is don’t sign one with anyone!

Instead, we offer services on a month-to-month basis, with a 30-Day Moneyback Guarantee on our SEO and Google Adwords services. If you aren’t blown away, get in touch and we’ll refund our service fees (some restrictions apply).

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6. Request proof of results

Proof of results should extend beyond online reviews, ratings, testimonials, and case studies from the agency’s website.

They are marketers. They should know how to present information that makes them look good.

What you really need to see is:

• Actual numbers and statistics that support the types of results you’re seeking: new leads generated, website search rankings, return on investment in pay-per-click advertising, landing page conversions, etc.
• What results have they achieved for their own business? If their own website doesn’t rank well in Google how can you expect your own website to perform well under their guidance?

(See how we rank top in Google’s organic search results for our target term “best law firm website” below).

There’s nothing wrong with case studies and testimonials that support these facts and figures. But push for specific examples and verify claims they make.

Even better: contact existing or past clients for their open and honest feedback on the service they received from the agency.

Not only do we rank for some of the most competitive terms in the legal marketing industry, but we also have outstanding results for our clients in major markets across the USA and Canada. Check out our results page to see what we’ve achieved for our clients.

At Inbound Law Marketing…

If the case studies, written testimonials, and statistics don’t blow you away, we’ll even put you in touch with paying clients who will verify the results we have achieved for them.

Besides, you can see how we rank for our own keywords in Google (“best law firm websites“, “Google Adwords for lawyers“) – we can do the same for your law firm website.

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7. Start small and grow the partnership over time

You may be able to dip your feet in with your marketing agency to see how it goes before committing to a larger agreement.

Rather than handing over the “keys to the castle” immediately, start with a small campaign: a website audit with recommendations for improving your web presence, for instance.

Testing the agency like this should provide a feel for whether they understand your needs and give you a clearer idea of what they can deliver.

At Inbound Law Marketing…

You want to minimize risk. It’s understandable. It’s also why we offer our 30-Day Moneyback Guarantee on SEO and Google Adwords services.

We’re sure you’ll be more than satisfied with the results. If you’re not, we’ll refund our service fees (some restrictions apply).

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Now you’re ready to select the right digital marketing agency

Marketing your law firm effectively will require a multi-channel approach.

New leads and opportunities will potentially come from a combination of:

• Search Engine Optimization
• Website Design
• Landing Page Design
• Google Adwords
• Social Media
• Email Marketing

… and various other marketing channels.

Managing and updating a website, plus various other web presences, can get complicated and requires consistent and targeted action.

You’ll need to keep several plates spinning at the same time. And that’s not easy when you’re busy meeting clients and performing casework. Most lawyers simply don’t have the time nor technical marketing expertise to keep everything moving.

Outsourcing to a digital marketing agency sounds relatively easy but it’s also pretty easy to get stuck with an expensive, underperforming agency that fails to deliver what you need.

Now you know the main considerations for choosing the best possible partner to manage your marketing, you should arrive at a decision much easier.

Think of all the time you’ll free up to focus on the aspects of the business that only you can manage. Contact us to see how we can help you get started.