What is retargeting? By now, you’ve almost certainly seen it in action. You’re shopping for a pair of shoes, but decide to do a little more research before you buy. Before you know it, you’re seeing ads for those shoes all over the Internet.
Retargeting, or remarketing for lawyers is simply an advertising method that allows you to “follow people around” online and show them ads for your law firm after they’ve already interacted with your site or display ads. We all acknowledge that it’s a little creepy, but most people are becoming used to retargeting campaigns and expect them. More importantly, they work.
Why Lawyers Need To Invest in Retargeting Campaigns
Not everyone is ready to buy right away. If someone doesn’t convert after clicking on your ad or browsing your site, that doesn’t mean they won’t ever become a new client. What it does mean is that you need to follow up with them and provide more value in order to encourage them to convert.
If you feel uncomfortable about remarketing for lawyers or you just don’t see the value in it, here are some compelling reasons to make retargeting part of your marketing strategy:
Maintain a competitive edge
Today, there are more lawyers than ever, and prospective clients have choices. If you don’t put some money and effort into retargeting, you will lose clients to competitors who are using this powerful strategy.
Make the best use of your marketing dollars
You’re doing your firm a big disservice if you ignore retargeting. Showing additional ads to people who have already interacted with your site is cheaper than converting new leads and allows you to make the best use of your marketing dollars. Over time, you can make your cost-per-lead lower by converting leads you’ve warmed up with retargeting and stay in front of people for pennies on the dollar.
Get valuable data
Digital marketing is data-driven. To get that data, you need to do lots of testing and you need to be prepared to receive and use the data from people who visit your website. Remember, they’re interested in your services!
Eliminate “bad months”
Bad months just don’t exist when you use retargeting correctly. Even if you spend thousands of dollars and get no ROI one month, that doesn’t mean your firm wasted money. Instead, you can look at it as gaining a month of prospects you can retarget until they become clients.
Create lookalike audiences
Without data from people who interact with your site, you can’t create lookalike audiences, which are becoming more and more important in digital marketing for law firms. Essentially, after collecting data from the prospective clients who did and did not buy, you can create “lookalike audiences” for new ad campaigns that behave in similar ways to people who have already interacted with your ads or website.
Automate your follow-up
When it comes to marketing, the money is in the follow-up. You need to stay top-of-mind with prospective leads or they will forget about you. By following up with retargeting for lawyers, your firm will be there when a prospective lead realizes they’re ready to hire legal help.
Encourage site engagement
In general, traffic generated by your retargeting efforts will spend more time on your website that first contact traffic because they are revisiting your site and are clearly interested in hiring you. This not only improves conversion rates, but it also helps to lower your site’s bounce rate. This can help boost SEO results over time.
5 Steps To Effective Remarketing For Lawyers
As you can see, there are so many reasons to implement a focused retargeting strategy within your larger law firm marketing plan. To get started, follow these 5 simple steps.
1. Collect Remarketing Data
The first step in retargeting is to ensure that your site is set up properly to collect remarketing data. Every page on your site should have the following tags:
- A Facebook pixel
- A global site tag
- A Google Analytics tag
Adding these tags will allow you to track valuable audience data to be reused in your retargeting campaigns.
2. Create Value-Add, Relevant Ads
Once someone has interacted with your ads or your website but didn’t choose to buy right away, you can’t offer them the same thing over and over and expect to create a lead. Instead, you need to offer new value.
For example, instead of offering a free consultation in your retargeting ad, think about using a great blog from your website to entice returning visitors to click on your ad and read more. This is a great way to build trust and stay top-of-mind.
3. Implement Frequency Capping
It’s important to cap the number of times people on your remarketing lists are able to see your ads. If they see the same ad too many times, they’ll start to tune it out and you’ll be less likely to convert them.
To solve this problem, make a series of different ads and cap the number of times a person sees each ad at 3-4. Variety and added value can mean the difference between pestering and helping.
4. Always Tie Data to Results
You’re already collecting data on the people who view your ads and spend time on your website, so why wouldn’t you tie that data to your results? It’s important to track the value you’re getting from remarketing so that you continue to invest in this strategy. Tying data to results will also allow you to adjust your approach as needed.
5. Use Lookalike Audiences for New Leads
Lookalike audiences are key to generating new leads from your retargeting data. In fact, setting up lookalike audiences is the most valuable thing you can do with repurposed data collected from display ads and SEO. They allow you to get in front of bottom-of-funnel leads on Facebook and Google who are ready to buy by displaying your ads to people who are nearly identical to potential clients who are already clicking on your ads.
Remarketing for Lawyers — an Investment That Gets Better and Better
Retargeting campaigns can help you make the most of your marketing budget, especially if you continue to invest in them over time. At SMB Team, we believe in the power of this technique and have developed very effective systems for creating campaigns. To learn more and to get help with your firm’s remarketing strategy, contact us on our website for a free consultation or call us at (866) 747-1336.
