Personal Injury Law Firm PPC Strategy With a Fractional CMO

Remember how competitive it felt when applying to law school? Practicing law, especially in the personal injury space, feels just as competitive. To find clients and potential cases, digital marketing is the answer.

One of the most effective ways to obtain new leads is pay-per-click advertising. Pay-per-click advertising is a popular and effective digital marketing method that personal injury firms use to attract new clients and increase business visibility. A fractional law firm CMO is the ideal person to plan and create powerful, budget-friendly PPC campaigns for your firm.

Before we get into how to create a personal injury law firm PPC strategy with a fractional CMO, here’s Jason with quick facts on personal injury law firm marketing.

What Is an FCMO?

A fractional chief marketing officer or FCMO is a part-time C-level marketing executive hired to lead and oversee a company’s marketing initiatives. Because fractional CMOs have experience working for various companies in multiple fields, their wide skill set makes them ideal to help drive growth and profitability. 

Their expertise covers multiple marketing areas, such as:

• Pay-per-click advertising
• Brand management
• Market research
• Competitor analysis
• Search engine optimization
• Website design and development
• Marketing compliance

What Is a PPC Strategy?

PPC or pay-per-click advertising is a form of paid advertising that involves paying a certain amount whenever someone clicks on your ads. It’s an easy and reliable way to boost traffic to your website and gain new customers at a relatively low cost.

A PPC strategy is a detailed plan outlining your pay-per-click advertising plans, including how to track success. A PPC strategy can also include content marketing, site optimization, and SEO (check out our SEO guide for injury attorneys). A holistic digital marketing strategy has the best chance of boosting visibility and conversion rates.

How Do You Create a Marketing Strategy for a Law Firm: PPC

With the right planning and tactics, pay-per-click advertising can be a game changer for law firms. Below are helpful tips for executing a personal injury law firm PPC strategy with a fractional CMO.

1. Establish Goals

Your FCMO can help you see the bigger picture by setting goals and finding concrete ways to achieve them. These goals are also helpful for tracking campaign results, objectively measuring success, and improving performance.

The best way to approach this is by setting SMART goals. SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

For example, it’s not enough to say that your goal is to gain more clients; it’s more beneficial to set specific numbers or targets. To set SMART goals, ask questions like:

• Exactly how many clients do we want to gain? By how much?
• When do we want to reach this target?
• What specific methods will we use to gain these clients?

Since your firm specializes in personal injury law, it’s also helpful to create goals based on case type, whether it’s car accidents or slip and fall cases. This allows you to create case-specific ads and target people looking for legal services in these cases.

2. Set a Budget

A solid PPC strategy is dependent on effective budget allocation. These are key to having a maximum return on investment and reducing waste. Work with your FCMO to set financial goals and analyze your current budget to determine your targeted ROI.

It’s also crucial to determine your ideal cost-per-click. The CPC varies depending on many factors; you don’t want to set an amount that is too high. To help with this, you can use the Google Keyword Planner to get an idea of the average costs of relevant keywords.

3. Research Keywords

One of the most important PPC (and also SEO techniques for injury lawyers) is to conduct keyword research. PPC ads rely heavily on targeting the right keywords, which can be done with a strong keyword research strategy.

Use keyword research tools like Google Ads Keyword Planner to research and analyze potential keywords. This allows you to find high-intent keywords as well as analyze your competitors’ keywords. Other tools, like Ahrefs or Moz, can prove handy on this. 

It’s also important to narrow down your keywords into long-tail and local keywords. If your firm is based in Chicago, your ads are more likely to appear if someone searches for “personal injury firm in Chicago” or “car accident lawyer near me” rather than simply “personal injury firm.” It’s also easier to rank for hyper-specific long-tail keywords. 

Curious about SEO in personal injury? Here’s Jason reporting:

4. Write PPC Ad Copy

Ad copy can make or break your PPC campaign. You only have a few words to win potential clients over, so it’s important to make them count!

When writing copy for your PPC ad, mention what makes your firm stand out from others. Highlight your firm’s unique selling proposition and how you can make a difference in your client’s lives. Support this with a call-to-action such as “Call Us Now,” “Book An Appointment,” or “Schedule a Free Consultation.”

There are multiple ways to express your firm’s unique selling points, so it’d also be helpful to conduct A/B testing to see which copy generates more results. Tip: Don’t forget to incorporate the relevant keywords found in the keyword research process.

• Additional Resource: Find out about content marketing for personal injury law firms from a fractional CMO here.

5. Write and Optimize Personal Injury Landing Pages

Part of having an effective PPC strategy is having your ads direct users to useful and relevant pages, such as landing pages. Landing pages are the first point of contact for potential clients who click on your ads, so these must be well-written and optimized.

A landing page should introduce your firm clearly and concisely. Use this time to communicate your firm’s specialties and services and what the client can expect. Acknowledge the client’s pain points and show how you can help them with their unique cases.

Make your contact details or call to action buttons compelling and make appointment scheduling easy. It’d also be helpful to include success stories and testimonials from previous clients to increase trustworthiness and credibility.

Don’t forget to optimize your landing page for mobile devices. Whether at home or on the move, people use phones and tablets more than computers. Mobile-first indexing is a must-have for your site.

6. Look IntoGeotargeting

Geotargeting is great for maximizing the impact of your PPC ads in your local area. If you want to target and convert clients in your area, you’ll have a better chance of doing so through geotargeting.

An FCMO segments your target audience into key demographics, which narrows down your target and helps you create personalized campaigns. You can also use tools like Google Trends and Google Ads’ targeting features to find clients with the highest potential for conversion.

Include locations that you DON’T want to target to prevent your ad from appearing before people outside your target audience. Otherwise, if someone outside your target audience clicks on your ad, that’s an additional cost to pay.

7. Use Ad Extensions and Local Search Features

In an industry as competitive as legal, any additional information that can help clients find your firm sooner is an asset. This is where ad extensions and local search features come in handy.

Ad extensions and local search features provide users with extra information like contact details, specialized services, and business location to boost click-through and conversion rates.

People tend not to scroll too far down when Googling. You’ll want your firm to show up first (for PPC and SEO). 

8. Track and Adjust

One of the most crucial parts of PPC ads is regularly monitoring the results. Seeing how your ads are performing is key to seeing if you reached your set goals and KPIs and if your ads reached the right people.

An FCMO for law firms uses Google Analytics to see objective information on how well or poorly your ads performed. This gives you data-driven insights on what you need to improve or adjust for future campaigns.

When tracking your PPC ads, take note of these important metrics that give a clear overview of your campaign:

• Quality score
• Click-through rate
• Conversion rate
• Cost per conversion
• Wasted spend

FAQs About Personal Injury Law Firm PPC Strategy to a Fractional CMO

Let’s answer some commonly asked questions about PPC and FCMOs.

Who Hires Fractional CMOs?

Any organization that wants to improve its marketing efforts can hire a fractional CMO, regardless of industry. FCMOs are adaptable to any scenario and help companies achieve incredible success without full-time commitment.

How Much Should You Pay a Fractional CMO?

The rate of a fractional CMO varies depending on many things, like the hourly rate of your candidate, the business’s current financial situation, and marketing goals. In general, you could expect to pay between $200 and $400 an hour, which is much less than the full-time CMO’s $170k a year.

How Much Should a Law Firm Spend on Google Ads?

The amount to spend on Google Ads depends on various factors, such as the size of the firm, marketing goals, etc. Depending on these factors, a law firm could spend anywhere from $500-$100,000 per month on Google ads.

What Is the Average Google Ads CPC?

The average Google Ads cost per click can also vary. In some cases, it’s less than $1 but can get higher.

How Do I Bid on Keywords?

Keyword bidding takes place on Google Ads and involves placing either a manual bid (you set your own cost-per-click) or an automated bid by Google.

This also involves bidding on ad space, either on Google’s search results or on an external site that’s part of Google’s Ad Network. Bidding on the right keywords means your ads appear for those specific keywords.

Should I Bid on Branded Keywords?

Yes, it’s advantageous to bid on branded keywords. This is how you can get your brand's name on both the organic and paid search results, leading to higher conversion rates and brand awareness. There’s also less competition for branded keywords over non-branded ones. 

What Else Should I Add to My PPC Strategy?

Other digital marketing methods like site optimization, social media marketing, and SEO for personal injury lawyers lead to more clients and conversions when utilized properly. It’s best to include these as part of your PPC strategy.

Create a Personal Injury Law Firm PPC Strategy With a Fractional CMO

Pay-per-click advertising is an effective method that helps you find the highest-quality clients in specific locations. With the help of a fractional law firm CMO and the right PPC tips, you can make a huge difference in brand visibility and online traffic.

Digital Authority Partners is the place to go for expert marketing advice. We connect you with the best fractional CMOs and digital-first CMO consultants to grow your business and bring in the clients that you deserve.

Contact us today to get started!