The Ad Fail Fix: What Every Law Firm Gets Wrong About Law Firm Advertising Strategy

Join Patrick Carver and Camila Parodi, Director of Advertising at Constellation Marketing, as they break down the exact system used in Law Firm Advertising Strategy 2025 to lower ad costs, improve lead quality, and maximize ROI for 85+ law firms across the country, focusing specifically on the law firm advertising strategy 2025.

Discover what’s changed in how people search, why most ads aren’t working, and how to fix it—fast. Whether you’re DIY or working with an agency, this episode gives you practical tools to clean up your ad strategy and get real results.

Main takeaways:

1. Optimize for Signed Clients, Not Form Fills
   Most ad campaigns focus on generating leads—but not all leads become clients. Tracking actual signed clients allows law firms to cut wasted spend and target prospects who convert.
2. Treat Advertising Like a System, Not One-Off Campaigns
   Successful firms use integrated systems that track the customer journey from click to client. Every touchpoint—from keywords to intake—is aligned for ROI
3. Use Real Insights, Not Just Platform Data
   Platform metrics are just one part of the puzzle. Law firms must combine them with call tracking, intake notes, and client feedback to get a full picture of ad performance.

Transcription:

00:00:06:23 – 00:00:58:15
Patrick Carver
Thank you for joining us. Really pleased to have you and really excited about this topic. If you don’t know me. I’m Patrick Carver and I started Constellation Marketing, so we’ve been at it for about ten years now. We work with over 85 law firms, really proud to say we have a 98.7% retention rate with our clients and we’re dedicated to helping law firms grow, grow their return on investment, does so we talked last month about AI and a big shift that’s that’s happening with search results and kind of how how law firms are going to be impacted by this and a key component that’s going to stay largely the same through that transformation is going

00:00:58:15 – 00:01:18:00
Patrick Carver
to be the importance of advertising. We feel like, you know, SEO to some degree is a little bit of an unknown coming up and we’re not totally sure how that’s all going to play out with tools like chat activity or are they going to, you know, how how is that going to translate to organic traffic for law firms?

00:01:18:02 – 00:01:45:27
Patrick Carver
We have our ideas and strategies with it, but we’re also we have a big, heavy focus on advertising as well. And so I’m really excited to have this conversation today. And I’m really excited to be able to introduce everyone to, you know, you if you’re a client, then she’s had a big impact on your on your ad campaigns and your success with us.

00:01:45:29 – 00:02:17:08
Patrick Carver
And we’re super privileged to have her join our team a number of months ago. And so I’m talking about Kamila Parity, who is our director of advertising, and she’s going to be leading the the chat today. And just before we began, what, you know, a couple of reasons why you should listen to what Kamila is saying. But, you know, Kamil has some really interesting and valuable experience.

00:02:17:08 – 00:02:47:27
Patrick Carver
She used to be a director of marketing and advertising at a another law firm marketing agency. We were able to recruit her away from being in charge of a direct or an advertising department at another agency, and we’re super thankful to have her. And, you know, since she’s been working with us, really seeing some amazing tangible results as far as like lower lead costs, a variety of mechanisms that made our operation run better.

00:02:47:27 – 00:03:13:22
Patrick Carver
But what I like as well and kind of the focus of this effort, her talk today is additional things that can be done to reduce the cost and just get better overall lead quality from advertising. Because what we have seen over the past five years, you know, ad costs are going up. And so people are seeing more and more on ad costs and not necessarily getting that return on investment.

00:03:13:22 – 00:03:33:08
Patrick Carver
So Camilla’s unlocked a few things that have really kind of turned that on its head. So I’ll I’ll pause there, but really excited to have Camilla. And I think everybody’s going to get a ton of value from her, from her call today. So, Camilla, take it away.

00:03:33:10 – 00:03:58:21
Camila Parodi
Thanks so much. That was a great intro. All right. Welcome, everyone. I’m Camilla, as Patrick mentioned, director of advertising here at Constellation. And I’m super thrilled to have you all here. Today’s session is called the 2025 ad Sales six. That’s exactly what we’re going to be doing today. Break down why most law firm ads aren’t working right now and show you what our clients are doing differently to generate real r y and growth.

00:03:58:24 – 00:04:20:29
Camila Parodi
So if you’re frustrated, skeptical, or just tired of wasting money on digital marketing, you’re in the right place. So a little bit about me and Patrick already did a great job introducing me. I’m going to give a little bit more insights. I’ve been in the digital marketing field for just about a decade now. I’ve been working with Constellation as director of advertising since January of this year.

00:04:21:01 – 00:04:45:13
Camila Parodi
It’s been fantastic here and now I work with dozens of law firms across the country alongside my team, and our focus is very simple Help law firms grow their business with targeted, efficient advertising. So we focus on lowering costs per lead, improving league quality and scaling what’s actually working. So not just running ads, but making sure those ads support real, sustainable growth.

00:04:45:16 – 00:05:10:16
Camila Parodi
So today I’m going to be walking you through what’s driving results in 2025, what’s changed in the way people search and how to stop wasting budget on strategies that just aren’t keeping up anymore? Patrick Harty went over a little bit about Constellation, but let me give you a little bit more insights. There are two where a marketing agency that works exclusively with law firms from silos to larger practices, and we’re all about performance.

00:05:10:16 – 00:05:33:11
Camila Parodi
There’s no vanity metrics with us, no fluff, just strategies that actually grow your business. And that 98.7% retention rate that you see there. That’s not just some stat that we throw around. It means our clients stay with us because they’re seeing real results and they’re happy with us. So far, we’ve helped generate over $50 million in revenue for firms through highly targeted high ROIC digital marketing strategies.

00:05:33:11 – 00:05:56:17
Camila Parodi
And we’re currently working with, as Patrick mentioned, more than 85 law firms across the country. So bottom line here, nothing that I’m sharing with you today is theory. It all comes straight from what we’ve learned in the field, working with firms just like yours. And I’m super excited to walk you through it. So let’s start here. This is the moment a lot of our conversations with law firm owners begins.

00:05:56:20 – 00:06:16:11
Camila Parodi
So you’re seeing your leads are getting more expensive, The quality is dropping, interest frustrated, you’re frustrated. So you’re working. If you’re working with an agency, you naturally go to your team and you ask the question, What’s going on? The answers you get may sound something like that’s just how the market is right now. It’s a seasonal dip. Google’s been making changes.

00:06:16:11 – 00:06:35:14
Camila Parodi
We’re still gathering data. And while those things might be true on the surface, what’s often missing is actual insight. So there’s no context, There’s new data, there’s no plan of action. You’re left to piece together the why on your own, and that’s simply not your job. So out of curiosity, if you’ve heard any of those lines before, go ahead and drop a message in the chat.

00:06:35:14 – 00:07:07:25
Camila Parodi
I’d love to get a sense of how many of you have been in that boat before or currently are. Don’t be shy now. So in my experience, just to kind of share a little bit about where I’ve come from, I’ve worked with different industries and this is not specific to the legal field either. Like everyone is hearing this from different agencies.

00:07:07:27 – 00:07:28:02
Camila Parodi
And the thing is, it’s to be fair, the market does shift, right? The competition is getting tighter and Google does update its algorithm. These are all see, there are sorry, there are seasonal slowdowns, but if the conversation stops there, if your agency isn’t walking you through what they’re seeing in your data and what steps they’re taking in response, that’s where the problem starts.

00:07:28:05 – 00:07:50:06
Camila Parodi
It’s not strategic anymore. It’s more of a reactive thing, right? So here’s the thing. Google is constantly changing the way it shows ads. The way decide to see is what even beyond Google, the way people themselves search, everything’s always changing. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But if your marketing team isn’t keeping up with those changes and that’s where the problems can start.

00:07:50:08 – 00:08:10:17
Camila Parodi
So when the market shifts, we don’t just blame Google and wait, right? We dig in. We ask, are people searching differently? Are our competitors doing something new? Is your ad copy still hitting the mark? And then we make adjustments quickly, right? Because just like the law, you can’t win cases using a generic strategy and you can’t win leads using last year’s marketing playbook either.

00:08:10:19 – 00:08:33:17
Camila Parodi
So now that we’re getting into the heart of things, I invite you all to take a moment and settle in. If you can silence your phone, maybe close at any of the tabs or distractions. This next part is where we start connecting the dots between what you’re spending and what you’re actually getting back. I give you a couple more seconds.

00:08:33:19 – 00:08:52:20
Camila Parodi
All right. Let’s move on to the next slide. So my goal here is to make this practical. I’m going to walk you through the patterns that we’re seeing, campaigns that are thriving versus the ones that come to us and our bleeding budget. So first, we’ll break down wire ads might not be converting even if you’re getting clicks of traffic, because visibility doesn’t always equal results.

00:08:52:20 – 00:09:16:28
Camila Parodi
Right? Then I’ll walk you through the exact system that we use. That’s how law firms grow by 300% or more without needing to triple their budget. I’ll also share real case studies. There’s no guarantee metrics there either. We’re big success stories, but actual numbers and lessons from firms just like yours. And finally, I’ll give you a simple 30 day roadmap you can use to clean up what’s not working and start moving in the right direction pretty much immediately.

00:09:17:01 – 00:09:39:07
Camila Parodi
So the goal here is for you to leave the session with clarity, not just on what’s broken, but on what to do about it and to make it even easier. After this presentation, we will be sharing a Google Ads budget planner with you. It’s going to help you break down your numbers, forecasts or why and understand exactly what kind of results are current or planned budget can realistically generate.

00:09:39:09 – 00:10:06:00
Camila Parodi
All right, let’s get into it. So let’s pause here. This is a reality for many law firms. In 2025, click costs are climbing. League quality is getting harder to maintain, and competition is everywhere and not just from other firms. For from DIY platforms. Legal content creators. I generated legal advice. We’ve come to see that most firms think that when their ads start underperforming, they either need to spend more or just wait it out.

00:10:06:03 – 00:10:26:20
Camila Parodi
Right? But if your system isn’t built to adopt more, budget just leaks faster. So a smart system doesn’t mean fancy tools or gimmicks. It means, you know, what’s happening at each individual step from how you structure your campaigns to hire. Keywords align with user intent to how leads are tracked and followed up on. So think of it this way.

00:10:26:20 – 00:10:43:06
Camila Parodi
Think of your ad strategy like a legal case. If you had weak evidence, no documentation, no case theory, you’d never win. Right? The same applies here. Your ad system is to be built on solid fundamentals, which are, you know, what your leads cost, you know which ones are worth keeping and you know where the drop offs are happening.

00:10:43:08 – 00:11:10:20
Camila Parodi
And that’s what separates firms. We’re scaling in this climate from the ones who are burning through their budget without anything to show for it. So let’s take a closer look at the conversion rates, a very important piece of the puzzle. According to recent data, average conversion rates across the legal industry have dropped from 7.4 to 6.3%. And that might not sound like a huge drop at first, but even small declines like this can have a huge impact on your bottom line.

00:11:10:23 – 00:11:27:05
Camila Parodi
Lower conversion rates means that even if you’re getting the same number of leads, fewer of the fewer of them are turning into clients. So you’re paying more not just for leads, but for leads that don’t really convert as well. And this is a big sign of the landscape as a whole is changing and that marketing strategies need to evolve accordingly.

00:11:27:08 – 00:11:54:07
Camila Parodi
It’s not just about driving traffic anymore, it’s about attracting the right traffic and ensuring that your funnel converts it efficiently. The second statistic hits one of the biggest frustrations law firms face today. Nearly half of firms say their top challenge is getting leads that don’t turn into clients waste time or clog up the intake process. And this problem often gets overlooked because it’s easier to focus on volume, more leads, right, than on lead quality.

00:11:54:09 – 00:12:23:06
Camila Parodi
But if those leads aren’t qualified, your marketing budget isn’t working as hard as it should. It’s a clear sign that the way that firms have traditionally run ads just isn’t cutting it anymore. And that’s why improving sleep quality is just as important as managing costs. Both have to be part of the smarter marketing system. And lastly, this is one of the biggest headaches lots of firms are facing, and it’s not really knowing which marketing efforts are actually bringing in new clients.

00:12:23:09 – 00:12:46:01
Camila Parodi
In fact, 68% of firms can’t say for sure which ad campaign or channel even brought in their last nine client. Why is that? Because today clients don’t just see one ad and call you immediately. They might see your Google ad, they might visit your website afterwards, check your socials and ask a friend, Go into a competitor’s website, read reviews, and then a couple of weeks later they give you a call.

00:12:46:04 – 00:13:05:11
Camila Parodi
So with all those steps involved, if you don’t have a good tracking setup like call tracking or intake questions that capture where clients heard about you, it becomes really tough to pinpoint what actually made the difference. And without clear attribution, you’re basically guessing what’s working and what’s not, which makes it very hard to spend your marketing dollars wisely.

00:13:05:13 – 00:13:26:08
Camila Parodi
That’s it. Tracking the full customer journey is becoming increasingly difficult with new privacy laws and cookie restrictions limiting the data that we can collect. But even with these challenges, it’s critical to track as much as we can within these limits. Combining what data you do have with smart intake processes to get the clearest picture possible, the better your tracking, the better you can optimize.

00:13:26:11 – 00:13:51:03
Camila Parodi
So investing in strategies that truly get in those clients. Now let’s talk about what’s actually working right now and what we’ve seen make the biggest difference for firms. First of all, optimized for science clients and not for form fills. A lot of campaigns are focused on generating leads, typically forms of missions, but not all those leaves turn into clients.

00:13:51:06 – 00:14:17:28
Camila Parodi
So optimized for assigned clients means looking beyond just capturing contact info. You want to focus on the actions that truly impact your bottom line and move the needle. How many of those leads actually retain you? Right. This shift helps allocate budget more efficiently, targeting the types of prospects that become paying clients. In the end, the way that we do this is we have clients leave notes on lead quality directly in what can work, which is the call tracking platform that we use and that is connected to Google ads.

00:14:17:29 – 00:14:40:01
Camila Parodi
So this helps us track which leads are qualified so we can focus budget on campaigns that bring in paying clients that are similar in profile to those that have turned into clients. Secondly, track outcomes and not just clicks clicks show interest, but they don’t guarantee business. So tracking outcomes means connecting the dots from that initial click through the intake process to the final client.

00:14:40:01 – 00:15:02:16
Camila Parodi
Client. This requires integrating your ad data with intake and tracking system so you can see what ads lead to actual revenue and not just web traffic. This is tied to the previous point where clients help us make sense of what leads convert. But this step focuses on tracking back to the specific ad that converted itself. So we use tools to track calls and forms submissions so we know which ads.

00:15:02:16 – 00:15:38:12
Camila Parodi
Let’s find clients. By focusing on the last ad they interacted with, we can then calculate why accurately and improve their campaigns based on that. Then third, use platform data and real insights. Platforms like Google ads get valuable data, but they don’t tell the full story. Intake teams have the firsthand knowledge about lead quality and client fit, so combining platform metrics with insights from your call tracking platforms and your intake process gives a fuller picture allowing you or your agency if you work with with one to find to an ad for better targeting and messaging, for example.

00:15:38:12 – 00:15:59:18
Camila Parodi
So we analyze platform data like which keywords and ads get clicks and combine that information with what your intake team hears on calls, right? Listening to calls, it’s call recordings also helps us understand lead quality so we can adjust targeting an ad copy to reach better prospects in that way as well. The number four is treating ads like systems and not just one off campaigns.

00:15:59:18 – 00:16:18:19
Camila Parodi
And this part is big. Think of your ads like a supply chain. Every part of specs. The next. So a strong Google ad campaign doesn’t just get clicks, it raises awareness and starts a process. So just like what I was mentioning a little bit ago, often someone clicks your ad but doesn’t call immediately. So first click on the ad.

00:16:18:19 – 00:16:42:22
Camila Parodi
A few days later, they google your firm by name, then they click organic listing and that’s when they finally reach out. So from your perspective, they may look like SEO, quote unquote one, but without that initial paid ad, that lead might have never found you to begin with. So campaigns, keywords, landing pages, follow ups, all that intake process, even they all have to work together as a system continuously monitored and optimized as an entity and not just as isolated.

00:16:42:22 – 00:17:08:28
Camila Parodi
One off efforts. Excuse me. Then fifth, you test less and you learn more through structured, meaningful experimentation, randomly testing every new idea is wasteful in time and money. So instead focus on fewer tests that are actually planned with clear hypotheses. Structure testing lets you learn why something works or it does, and so you can scale winners and losers much more efficiently.

00:17:09:00 – 00:17:29:11
Camila Parodi
So as an example, instead of creating five completely random ads and hope one sticks, start with a clear question. For example, just highlighting our free consultation increased lead volume compared to emphasizing or 20 plus years of experience. So you create two versions of the ad. One focuses on the free consultation, the other focuses on the 20 plus years of experience.

00:17:29:18 – 00:17:48:18
Camila Parodi
So you run both ads for a set period in tandem and you compare which ad gets more clicks, which gets more consultations, and which produces better quality leads. And based on that clear focus testing, you can learn exactly what messaging resonates the best. Once you have that figured out, you can then scale the winning ad and try something else.

00:17:48:20 – 00:18:13:18
Camila Parodi
Maybe you want to try a different selling point or maybe a different headline style. And then six you focus on fewer better leads, not on vanity value volume. It’s very tempting to chase high lead volume, but if those leads don’t converge, you’re really just burning budget and creating extra work for your team. So prioritizing quality over quantity is sometimes the way to go is typically the way to go.

00:18:13:18 – 00:18:20:15
Camila Parodi
Actually, fewer leads that turn into clients are far more valuable than a flood of unqualified conduct.

00:18:20:18 – 00:19:16:09
Camila Parodi
Let me pause there. Does anyone have any questions on anything that I’ve spoken about so far? Go ahead, Samantha. How would you deal with an attorney that loves experimental testing versus data? It’s hard to argue with facts. I think like if they’re hard sack on doing experimental, just, you know, out of gut feeling, I suppose. I guess let them do it, but then also let them know my I foresee this and this happening based on data that I’ve seen in other campaigns before.

00:19:16:11 – 00:19:29:16
Camila Parodi
And if you’re able to prove your own kind of hypothesis on what’s going to happen, that attorney might be a little bit more willing to follow your lead, if that makes sense.

00:19:29:19 – 00:19:56:08
Patrick Carver
And just just one additional quick thought here is that I think what you can do as well in a situation like this is have an experimental budget, right. Just through, you know, having some discussion around, hey, we have our proven winners. That should be an allocation of 80%, 90% of the budget. But then in this other more experimental budget, like Go wild, do you come up with crazy ideas?

00:19:56:08 – 00:20:12:27
Patrick Carver
Because that goes, you know, some of those can absolutely turn into winners. And so, you know, I think it’s just a matter of like, you know, you want to have that balance between innovation, but not too much to where it’s chaos.

00:20:12:29 – 00:20:31:13
Camila Parodi
Agree there. Thank you, Patrick. I think it may be in addition to that experimental part, just make sure everything is tracked properly so that it doesn’t go into like that crazy feel that Patrick is mentioning. Because when you go into this in an innovative kind of area, it can go crazy very quickly, especially when they’re when they get excited.

00:20:31:15 – 00:21:09:11
Camila Parodi
So I think tracking and just having hypotheses, hypotheses rather well laid out is going to be like your best shot at striking that balance. All right, then. If we have no other questions, I will continue. Okay. So how many of you are tracking this journey right now? Just before we kind of deep, deeper, just want to kind of check in and see go ahead and drop in a quick yes or no in the chat or even let me know how you’re measuring success right now.

00:21:09:13 – 00:21:52:25
Camila Parodi
Again, this is crucial because without the visibility of, you know, what’s going on throughout that journey, it’s really very difficult to know why your eyes are converting or why are they not perfect. Yes, that’s a good question. Patrick, What tools are we using? Well, I actually have the answer to that I’ll get into in just a second. Okay.

00:21:52:25 – 00:22:14:13
Camila Parodi
It looks like no more answers are coming in. Yeah. So tracking the journey is super important. I will say that with privacy laws getting tighter, it is definitely harder to track the full customer journey. But that doesn’t mean that we throw in the towel, right? It’s still very important to gather as much info as we can while staying within the rules so we actually know what’s working and what’s not.

00:22:14:15 – 00:22:34:13
Camila Parodi
And honestly, one of the best ways to fill in the blanks is by leaning on your intake team because they’re hearing firsthand what leads are good and which ones aren’t. So their feedback is bold for closing those gaps. But yeah, now that we’ve talked about these challenges, it’s time to shift gears and introduce a clear framework that can help you address these issues systematically.

00:22:34:15 – 00:22:52:12
Camila Parodi
So before we jump into the details, I want to give you a big picture of how we build successful campaigns that actually last. We call this framework that ad success stack because it’s very much like building blocks. Every step depends on the one before it. If one piece is missing or weak, the whole thing can fall apart pretty easily.

00:22:52:12 – 00:23:12:03
Camila Parodi
But when it’s all working together, you get results that keep getting better over time like a well-oiled machine. Right? So let’s walk through each of these steps. First of all, we have our eye tracking so the very first and most important step is to make sure a tracking is set up. And that focus focuses on their own real business outcomes, not just clicks or impressions.

00:23:12:06 – 00:23:37:15
Camila Parodi
You want to know how many people actually call your office, fill out a form or book a consultation, and ultimately sign a contract. Those are the actions that impact your revenue and your bottom line, right? Without this kind of tracking, you’re basically spending money without really knowing what’s working. It’s very much like throwing darts blindfolded. So setting this up correctly gives you a clear window into your campaigns health so you can make smart decisions instead of guessing.

00:23:37:17 – 00:23:59:22
Camila Parodi
Then the next bit or the next blog is offline conversion data. It’s about connecting the dots from your online ads to what happens offline. Just knowing someone clicks isn’t really enough. You need to track if they called your office date on the phone or book to consultation. We used to question tools like what converts they can record calls and provide metrics like call duration.

00:23:59:26 – 00:24:22:27
Camila Parodi
So in addition to that, feedback from our clients intake team helps us understand lead quality firsthand as well. So feeding this offline data back into platforms like Google ads and Meta lets our algorithms learn what a good lead looks like for your firm. By feeding the algorithm this data, it starts creating an ideal user profile, so to speak, and starts to show the ads to users with a similar profile.

00:24:23:00 – 00:24:45:16
Camila Parodi
Like, Let’s face it, Google and Facebook know everything about that complaint, even if they refuse to admit it. But that basically means that spoon feeding the algorithms who we want to attract more of is only going to work in our favor. Basically, your app has shown the people who are most likely likely to become paying clients, improving your life and saving you money as you go.

00:24:45:18 – 00:25:04:28
Camila Parodi
Third block is quality lead filtering. Generating a bunch of leads doesn’t help if most of them aren’t qualified or they don’t convert. And that’s why quality lead filtering is critical. Using call tracking combined with call recordings, we listen to actual conversations despite patterns. Like if many colors are asking about services you don’t offer or they just hang up quickly.

00:25:05:01 – 00:25:26:12
Camila Parodi
This insight allows us to make precise adjustments to campaigns to reduce wasted spend and attract better leads. At the same time, not all clients want us listening to their phone calls, so if the call recordings aren’t available, feedback from their intake team is still very helpful. It can take a little bit longer to identify and fix issues, but we’ll take what we can get.

00:25:26:14 – 00:25:49:27
Camila Parodi
Having dry call insights speeds up optimization. It saves money and helps keep your campaigns focused on the right prospects. The fourth block is conversion driven ad strategy. Your ads need to connect with people based on their mindset and emotions at the moment that they’re searching. For instance, someone searching for DUI help late at night, their stress, and, you know, they need immediate reassurance.

00:25:50:04 – 00:26:12:18
Camila Parodi
So ad saying available 24 seven or call now for same day help are very powerful for them. On the other hand, someone interested in estate planning, they’re thinking about the future and they want to feel secure. So ads focusing on protect your family’s future or trusted estate planning attorney resonate better with them. And similarly, P-I prospects often want to know you’ll fight aggressively for their case or family law.

00:26:12:18 – 00:26:37:22
Camila Parodi
Clients might be seeking compassionate guidance, right? So tailoring your messaging like this makes your ad stand out. It makes it feel relevant. And advice for conversions. And lastly, platform prioritization and regular optimization. This one is all about focusing budgets and efforts on the right places and keeping the campaigns in top shape. We usually start with Google Search because that’s where people have the highest intent.

00:26:37:24 – 00:27:09:12
Camila Parodi
They’re actively searching for legal services and after a client have a strong Google search campaign, we add retargeting, for example, on platforms and campaign types like Facebook and Google performance match things of that nature. These campaigns help bring back visitors who didn’t convert right away, but it’s never set it and forget it either way. Like we regularly check performance tests, new ideas, tweak bids, adjust budgets, you know, refresh ads, do everything that we can to make sure that everything is running smoothly and you make it competitive in a constantly changing market.

00:27:09:14 – 00:27:41:23
Camila Parodi
So the way I like to think of it is like tending to a garden. Ongoing care keeps things going strong before I move on to the next one. Do we have any questions here? King Doesn’t look like it. Good. Okay, then let’s go on to the next slide. I want you to take a moment and really think about your current marketing setup and drop me a quick line if you like.

00:27:41:25 – 00:28:17:06
Camila Parodi
What’s working, what’s not? What do you feel like you’re losing control or missing clarity? Is it maybe the tracking or maybe it’s a lead? Quality is maybe a bigger picture thing. Like, do you feel like you’re marketing is a one big entity or is it separate silos working on their own? So far, lead quality is hard to control for local service ads.

00:28:17:09 – 00:28:45:02
Camila Parodi
That is true. That is true for LSA. The one thing I think that has made a difference maybe two things. One is keeping the profile updated. So with any new certifications, awards, you know, any of the things that we can add into the business to the attorney profiles, that’s always very helpful to keep updated. And then the other piece is making sure reviews are consistently getting submitted.

00:28:45:04 – 00:29:18:27
Camila Parodi
A third thing, actually, and if the phone calls aren’t getting picked up, LSA will slaps on the hand for that. They’re going to penalize us for not picking up the phone calls. I’ve seen that happen as well. You’re right. Then I will move on to the next one. Yeah. So the thing with any of these tracking issues and kind of like these big picture issues, everything is solvable.

00:29:18:29 – 00:29:43:15
Camila Parodi
And I want to show you how. So I’m going to show you three different clients that we’ve had progress and improve over the course of this year using this very framework. So let’s start here. These are just quick highlights, but they do show what’s possible when everything we’ve talked about kind of comes together right? So this bankruptcy client, for instance, they were already doing pretty well with their local services ads.

00:29:43:17 – 00:30:04:06
Camila Parodi
So we focus on the small improvements that I just mentioned right now. We can have their attorney profiles by adding details like education and awards and stuff which boost their credibility. Also added photos of the team in the office to help build trust. People like to see faces, right, And it makes the firm more recognizable to potential clients.

00:30:04:08 – 00:30:24:21
Camila Parodi
It was basically just a combination of those things and making sure the reviews are consistently flowing in these steps. Help them maintain a strong lead flow and achieve a consistent ten X or Y over the last three months now, which is a big jump from the five X or Y that they were seeing in previous months. So it’s just a great example of how small optimizations can also have a really big impact.

00:30:24:24 – 00:30:46:19
Camila Parodi
In addition to that, separately, we’re also running a meta ads test for this point right now, targeting people basically affected by student and federal loan rejections. So far, with 350 bucks spend, the campaign has generated about 29 leads at a cost of like 11 and $12, which is a very, very promising start. So, you know, more on that to come.

00:30:46:19 – 00:31:14:01
Camila Parodi
But, you know, this test does complement their their LSA and gives us another avenue to reach higher intent prospects. This second one is an estate planning client. And basically these guys, they had a whole bunch of stuff going on. But first we removed low performing keywords and shifted their budget toward high intensity search terms. They were actually bringing in the quality leads, right?

00:31:14:02 – 00:31:44:21
Camila Parodi
They had a little bit of a mess going on there when I started in January. But then we also enhance their local ads by adding better photos, enabling messaging options and stuff, just more things to build trust and allow it allow prospects to more easily get in touch with them. And at the same time, there were some tracking issues that needed to get addressed because the Google ads and the what converts platform, they weren’t connected properly, so it wasn’t like fully flowing, if that makes sense.

00:31:44:24 – 00:32:09:08
Camila Parodi
But all these kind of changes that took place, they all came together and the result is we know we cut their cost per lead in half from about 132 to 66 and their revenue doubled in the same time frame. So this is the average over the last six months as compared to the previous six months. And they’re still improving to this day, like we’re still seeing the trend going upward.

00:32:09:08 – 00:32:36:01
Camila Parodi
So another solid example of how targeted optimization is combined with good data and client insights can also make a really big difference. And then this last client is a family law client and they saw a great success with local services that they were running both PPC and LSA, but we ended up prioritizing their LSA because the data just showed clearly showed strong performance and better quality there.

00:32:36:03 – 00:32:56:24
Camila Parodi
So again, we did run targeted search campaigns for niche areas like men’s divorce services using specific keywords and demographics to try to capture those leads. But that search campaign just never really delivered the results we were hoping for. So instead of sticking with what wasn’t working, we pause the campaign and shift the focus to testing better ads for those specific missions.

00:32:56:27 – 00:33:16:27
Camila Parodi
And again, those are the early results right now are looking very promising. But this also highlights an important principle in marketing. We should always be testing, but also be ready to recognize when something isn’t working and pivot quickly to the next best opportunity. And that’s going to change. It’s going to be different from one client to the other and from one circumstance to the other.

00:33:16:29 – 00:33:36:20
Camila Parodi
In this case, we did try multiple different optimizations to the keywords to come to targeting, just different, you know, ad copies, everything. But it still wasn’t generating the traction that we were wanting to see. So we pivoted. Yeah. So knowing when to test the test was I want to pause the test and try a new approach is just as critical.

00:33:36:20 – 00:33:59:24
Camila Parodi
Is running the test in the first place because it saves time, it saves money and it helps find what truly drives growth the fastest. Yeah. So with that in mind, let’s shift gears again and talk about how you can turn how you can start making meaningful changes right away. So I’m going to walk you through a simple three day plan designed to help you clean up what’s not working and begin moving in the right direction.

00:33:59:27 – 00:34:34:08
Camila Parodi
Before I go into this, do we have any questions or questions? And if any questions pop up randomly, feel free to drop them in the chat. I’ll come back to them at the end of the presentation. Okay. So if you’re running ads and you’re not sure what’s working or what to do next, this is a five step plan that you can use to pretty much immediately start improving your results.

00:34:34:10 – 00:34:59:14
Camila Parodi
And this is very, pretty much the same one that I implemented on a lot of these clients when they came on board. And we’ve seen great results with it. And the good thing about this is that you don’t need to rebuild everything. It’s just making sure that the foundation is solid. So first of all, and the most important step here is set up that a basic conversion tracking, if you’re not tracking phone calls or forms of missions, you’re essentially flying blind.

00:34:59:16 – 00:35:21:21
Camila Parodi
You may know that you’re spending money, but you don’t know which channels are actually bringing in real conversions. So we’re using what converts, but you can use any other call tracking platform that you that you’d like better. It won’t always tell you the exact ad someone clicked, but it does show you the source like Google ads, meta, organic, direct, you know, wherever your clicks came from, where your leads came from, sorry.

00:35:21:24 – 00:35:42:14
Camila Parodi
And whether that lead turned into a real conversation. But even more importantly, it tells you which calls are worth paying attention to. A four second hang up isn’t really valuable, but a two minute call where someone asks about pricing or box of consultation. That’s gold, right? That’s marketing gold. This is the kind of insight that’s the difference between spending on ads and in what works.

00:35:42:17 – 00:36:02:25
Camila Parodi
Step two is auditing your lead sources. Once you have conversion tracking in place and you’ve started collecting some data, your next step is to look at where your leads are actually coming from, not just where your ad clicks are happening. Are you concerned? Coming from General Search, it’s like divorce lawyer near me, or are they mostly people trying to typing in your firm’s name directly?

00:36:02:28 – 00:36:24:09
Camila Parodi
If most of your conversions are from branded searches, that likely means people already knew about you before clicking your ad. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But it does tell us that the ads might be capturing existing demand and not creating new opportunities. Knowing the difference there helps you decide whether you want to double down on those branded trips or shift strategy to reach more cold prospects.

00:36:24:11 – 00:36:52:02
Camila Parodi
Excuse me. Third step Identify and pause. High costs, irrelevant search terms. Now that you’re tracking conversions and seeing where the leads are coming from, take a look at the search terms. These are the exact phrases that people type in to Google before clicking onto your ad in your Google ads dashboard. You can search, you can sort your search terms by cost and then basically filter out the ones that are generating a bunch of clicks but are not converting.

00:36:52:05 – 00:37:09:03
Camila Parodi
So you’re going to want to look at the ones I’ve spent a lot of budget but haven’t let any real consults or sign clients and you’ll very likely find terms like free legal advice or how to sue my neighbor or, you know, even just the word attorney. And these are often too broad or too vague to bring in any qualified leads.

00:37:09:06 – 00:37:26:25
Camila Parodi
So if you notice any search firms that are spending money but never leads it consultants or new clients, those need to be filtered out. And that might mean telling Google to stop showing your ads when someone uses certain words like free or pro-bono, because they’re just not a good fit for your firm. Right. And the goal is the goal here is simple.

00:37:27:00 – 00:37:46:09
Camila Parodi
We want to keep your ads in front of people who are ready and able to hire you, not just anyone searching for legal advice. Step four is we want to refresh one or two ad variations, and this step is about making your ads more relevant, more human, by using the same language your clients use when they call or come in for a console.

00:37:46:12 – 00:38:06:12
Camila Parodi
Think back to your intake conversations. What phrases do you hear again and again? Maybe it’s I’m scared to lose my kids or I’ve never been arrested before or I don’t know what happens next when we use that same language in your ads, something powerful happens. People feel like you get them. The ad doesn’t sound generic anymore. It sounds like a lawyer who understands what they’re going through.

00:38:06:14 – 00:38:32:19
Camila Parodi
And that’s often difference between someone schooling past and someone clicking to contact you. You don’t need to rewrite everything. Just start with one or two ad variations. Try replacing vague headlines like get legal help with something more specific like protect your parenting rights or talk to a defense lawyer. Today. It’s a small shift, but it speaks directly to the problem your client is trying to solve, and that creates connection, which ultimately leads to action.

00:38:32:21 – 00:38:51:25
Camila Parodi
And then finally, step five is reviewing a few intake calls. And that may seem kind of simple, kind of basic, but it is one of the most revealing. Go back and listen to your latest 3 to 5 intake calls from people who found you through your ads. You don’t need to analyze every single second, but just listen with one question in mind.

00:38:51:25 – 00:39:12:02
Camila Parodi
Are these the kind of clients I want to be paying for? Ask yourself, were they looking for the exact service that you offer, like custody help instead of immigration or something? Were they in your area? Did they sound ready to hire or were they just browsing for free advice? For example, if you keep hearing callers from out of state, your location targeting might be too broad.

00:39:12:04 – 00:39:27:09
Camila Parodi
Or if people are confused about what kind of law your practice, your ad copy probably needs to be a little bit clearer. The patterns start to stand out pretty quickly and once you do identify them, it becomes much easier to tweak your ad so you’re attracting more of the right cases and wasting less time on the wrong ones.

00:39:27:11 – 00:39:59:13
Camila Parodi
And you don’t have to overhaul everything. Just doing these five steps, you know, when it comes to the whole kind of plan. But you had of most firms and it gives you back control over the sorry over your marketing. And here to make it even easier, we’ve created a budget planner specifically designed for law firms. This tool is going to help you map out your monthly budget, your estimate, your expected leads and clients, and forecast your potential growth all based on your own numbers.

00:39:59:15 – 00:40:21:12
Camila Parodi
It’s fairly easy to use. You only plug in three different numbers. You plug in your target, spend your conversion rates and your average client value, and it does the rest for you. The goal here is to give you some clarity and confidence about what to expect when you start doing ads or when you start making adjustments to your ads so you can set realistic budgets and start tracking performance more effectively.

00:40:21:15 – 00:40:42:22
Camila Parodi
I won’t walk through life today, but you will receive the planner in your email after this presentation and it includes a tab with detailed instructions on how to use it. But if you come across any hiccups, of course you’re always welcome to to reach out to us as well. All right, before I move any further, any questions here?

00:40:42:25 – 00:41:25:13
Camila Parodi
And it’s a lot. So if any questions come up, feel free to take them in. Okay. Looks like new questions. All right. Okay, then. That was pretty much it. If what I have covered today has you thinking, Yeah, we really need to rethink how we’re running ads. But you’re unsure where to start or what to do next. Luckily, we offer a complimentary strategy sessions tailored specially for firms wanting to want to see more from their ad spend a I’ll let Patrick explain a little bit more what these strategy sessions entail, but QR codes are in there.

00:41:25:18 – 00:41:38:21
Camila Parodi
There are links in the chat as well for you to click. If you ever do want to book a strategy call, if you found this presentation helpful lover review and then you have the contact information right there as well.

00:41:38:23 – 00:42:16:13
Patrick Carver
Okay, wonderful. Let me get a big round of applause for Camilla. I you know, even myself as someone who’s been in this space for a long time, like, still learned stuff from from her presentation and just a couple of key points I wanted to kind of re highlight. Number one, you know, there’s so much information out there and there’s so many people competing for the spotlight, and then you’re probably getting pitches all the time from different marketing agencies.

00:42:16:13 – 00:42:44:18
Patrick Carver
And what I kind of irks me when I’m out there hearing these is that, you know, somebody is coming in and promising that like next new thing, right? That one thing that’s going to be the the clear cut option for you to accelerate your business and get, you know, get all the results you ever want. And I think what I would say there is that it’s it’s it’s definitely more of a process.

00:42:44:18 – 00:43:04:14
Patrick Carver
Right. And I think it’s a lot of little things that go into real success. And I think what Camilla really nailed well in this discussion is that, you know, when you’re you’re working with a marketing agency, you don’t want to bank on just one one special shiny tool that they’re doing or, you know, one one kind of hack.

00:43:04:21 – 00:43:27:23
Patrick Carver
Right. And I think what what she’s talking about, what we’ve always preached with our SEO and everything else, is like, you know, we make mistakes. We all we learn at the same time as everybody else. But what you can bank on with us is that we have this iterative process to test things and stay on top of trends so that we keep testing and figuring out what’s working.

00:43:27:26 – 00:43:55:15
Patrick Carver
And that’s really, I think, what you’re, you know, what you’re buying into. If you if you work with us, is that you have a committed team who’s actually out there testing these ideas on the front lines and being good stewards, fiduciary of your capital as you try to grow, grow your business. So there’s a couple of more questions for for Camilla as well in here, if you want to get into that for sure.

00:43:55:17 – 00:44:21:05
Camila Parodi
Okay. So I’m seeing which do you think is better PPC versus say that is a deep question and that will depend on a lot of factors. So let’s say I for more general queries. So if people are looking for a general like service, you know, services in general, so like they’re looking for estate planning or whatever, and that’s how they’re like looking for the actual service closes do very, very well.

00:44:21:08 – 00:44:44:25
Camila Parodi
PPC, I tend to prefer it when it comes to more niche, I guess, areas. So if they’re looking for a specific adoption types of cases or maybe they’re looking for specific immigration, you know, maybe they’re only looking for deportation cases or they’re looking for specifically, you know, family related immigration cases like fiance visas or, you know, whatever the case may be.

00:44:44:28 – 00:45:03:29
Camila Parodi
A lot of it depends, too, on whether they have a good standing on DBP, like if they have a bunch of reviews, if they’re competitive, if they have a lot of reviews and they are competitive in that in that kind of like sense, LSA is going to do very well for them. So I guess it’s like more it depends.

00:45:03:29 – 00:45:06:03
Camila Parodi
It’s a more of a depends question.

00:45:06:06 – 00:45:34:14
Patrick Carver
So I hope that what we see as well is that it totally depends on market and practice area as well in terms of value, because we, you know, we do this with a bunch of different types of law firms and our basic formula is we want to test both, right? Like we want to test LSA and PPC because as you know, coming up pointed out, you know, she’s proactively looking at where are you getting the best value, right?

00:45:34:16 – 00:45:59:19
Patrick Carver
All of these services or platforms are not equal. And so if you’re getting, you know, $50 leads in one place and $10 leads in the other, but the $50 leads are actually the only ones turning the cases. You know, put more money into that. Right. And so what we have seen is by doing that, we start to get some really clear understandings of what is the most valuable area for us to leverage and put more money into.

00:45:59:19 – 00:46:22:28
Patrick Carver
And so we’ve seen, you know, in like one example is criminal doesn’t really do well in, let’s say for the most part, I would say that’s the best, probably because of the value in terms of how much money you’re spending on a lead there compared to pay per click, which is just become exorbitantly expensive. So yeah, and then I think there was maybe maybe one more.

00:46:23:00 – 00:46:45:06
Camila Parodi
Yeah, there was a do specific practice areas requires as a specific budget. Yeah, I would say yes. Pie is like you mentioned incredibly expensive. Like clicks can go up to $1,000, seen $900 clicks. And it’s just one of those things where if you want these campaigns to convert, you have to have a competitive budget to really run with it.

00:46:45:09 – 00:47:13:05
Camila Parodi
So It’ll depend a lot on your area too, as well as your practice area. But in the budget planner sheet that we’re sharing with you guys, there are benchmarks to what the minimums should be for Each of these practice areas is more like on a nationwide basis. But we’re happy to, you know, get in touch as well. Or, you know, if you can talk with us, we’re happy to make an analysis and see what the ideal budget would be for your practice areas.

00:47:13:07 – 00:47:44:17
Patrick Carver
And what I typically will advise customers coming in is that give us this relatively small budget to begin with and then we can always scale up, right? Because the beginning really what we’re trying to do is build some of that that data pipeline into Google that Kamil talked about with adding conversion data and stuff like that. Because really what we’re we’re trying to create with Google is a relationship where they understand exactly who are ideal, who your ideal clients are.

00:47:44:17 – 00:48:07:11
Patrick Carver
Right. And the more we’re able to do that, the better quality of the leads, the lower the cost per lead. And so we don’t need $20,000 month one to start to figure that out, right? We can have a relatively smaller budget to test some of these and really see how it shakes out in your market, because even within practice, market to market can be a little bit different.

00:48:07:11 – 00:48:26:02
Patrick Carver
And so I know you probably heard our favorite phrases. It depends, but it really does. And that’s I think that’s part of what separates us from other other folks out there who are just going to be more of a set and forget type of of situation. We really want to be on your side and, you know, be the advocate for for the attorney.

00:48:26:02 – 00:48:54:09
Patrick Carver
So small budget. All right. Define a small budget. So I think you know, we typically would say depending on the practice area. So it’s a it’s a very low cost per lead. So I would say what immigration is maybe the lowest cost per lead, would you say? Yeah, maybe. I think so. So, you know, I would say a thousand bucks.

00:48:54:09 – 00:49:23:12
Patrick Carver
I mean we’ve we’ve done lower but like it’s, it’s not really that productive for our clients because what we we want to the way I kind of gotten down to this or the formula that I use is like, you know, if you estimate that your conversion rate of qualified leads rate of people who are, you know, in the market for an attorney is, let’s say 10% or maybe if you’re if you’re good ten or 20 or 30%, right.

00:49:23:14 – 00:49:42:09
Patrick Carver
So if you get ten of those leads, you’re going to convert. One is the you know, is the idea the benchmark, Right. Any anything more on top of that would be great. How much money do you need to get to those ten leads? Right. And if your leads are $20 a lead, then you you have more wiggle room.

00:49:42:09 – 00:50:19:06
Patrick Carver
Right. But if you’re doing personal injury where a single lead could cost $500, could cost $1,000, you’re going to need much more, much more ad budget there. But what I would say is, even if you do have a smaller budget, I would say it’s more important and correct me if I’m wrong or add your your own point on this, Kamila, is that doing it for a couple like at least 60 days is is going to be very important because when you’re you know, we were talking a little bit earlier about experimental verse.

00:50:19:08 – 00:50:53:29
Patrick Carver
You know a budget and kind of differing opinions on that within a a law firm. I’ll tell you what really I’ve seen detract from performance is the the overeager attorney who want who goes in and starts clicking buttons. Right. And every time that happens, it’s effectively starting the engine over within Google. And so you need a little bit of uninterrupted time where you’re serving ads, you’re giving it that conversion feedback, and then it starts to create this ideal customer profile in its in its metadata.

00:50:54:01 – 00:51:23:22
Patrick Carver
And so I think, you know, you will get some insight, you know, within 30 days. But I think really when you get to that like 60 or 90 day mark is really when you start to really see those numbers go down in a positive way and stabilize in the lead, quality really picks up because you’re giving it enough of the conversion data that it’s going to help make more informed decisions when it’s, you know, putting your basically putting your money out there.

00:51:23:24 – 00:51:46:29
Patrick Carver
Yeah. All right. I’ll take it. Cool. Well, happy to answer any more questions. We could stick around for a minute, but if you know, if there’s anything in particular that you know that you’re interested in learning, whether it’s, you know, ads specific to Google or, you know, you’ve heard something at a conference and want us to weigh in, happy to do that as well.

00:51:47:02 – 00:52:17:16
Patrick Carver
And just a couple of ways to connect with us if you want to hear more. So with a we’ve got some links in the in the chat right now. We have some past webinars and different stuff that you can you can connect with. And if you book a strategy, call very low, low pressure where we’re not a high, high pressure type of group and we would love to, you know, with ads, if you give us access to your account just at a viewer level, we can actually go in and audit it.

00:52:17:16 – 00:52:45:00
Patrick Carver
And often what we see when we do that is that, you know, there’s at least 50% or more of the budget is being wasted on bad clicks. And what we call bad clicks are clicks that are just completely irrelevant, that are not going to be don’t have a reasonable chance of becoming a qualified lead. So that’s your pro-bono is your freeze your cheap, your, you know, other practice areas, different things like that.

00:52:45:05 – 00:53:12:22
Patrick Carver
And if those mechanisms are put in and really not just put in but also manage on a week to week basis by putting more of those negatives in, you can burn through your your capital so fast. So that’s an easy win that we can highlight for you. And, and also just talk strategy about maybe what you know, what you’re doing, what could be done a little bit better or some of the other things that we’re seeing a lot of success with across, you know, a big, big group of clients.

00:53:12:22 – 00:53:36:24
Patrick Carver
So I think I’ll I’ll leave it there. Looks like we’ve we’ve wrapped up questions, but just wanted to again, thank you so much for joining this webinar. We’ll be back next month as well. So last month I talked about the biggest shift in how AI is is really transforming how people are searching and what that means for visibility for law firms.

00:53:36:27 – 00:54:02:16
Patrick Carver
This next month in August, we’re going to talk about ten things that you should be doing right now to make your law firm AI ready. So this is going to put you miles ahead of your competition who are still in the mindset of doing yesterday’s strategies. And we’re actually on the, you know, the frontier of finding ways to get you found in these A.I. search tools and how to maximize what you’re doing right now.

00:54:02:16 – 00:54:22:11
Patrick Carver
So and it’s everybody can do it. You don’t have to be we’re not going to gatekeeping you know put a lot of the the good info behind the wall. Even if you’re not working with us you can implement a lot of this right now and get a ton of value So I’ll leave it there and if anyone has any questions Patrick at go Constellation dot com.

00:54:22:14 – 00:54:34:27
Patrick Carver
Also you can go to our website anytime go constellation dot com and we’d love to hear from you. So thank you. I hope everybody has something very fun for this weekend and I think that’s it. So thank you.