Numbers can be deceiving. Look no further than automobile fatalities in pandemic-ravaged 2020: The number of people who perished in crashes was down nationwide, primarily because fewer drivers were on the roads in the first place. Good news, right?
Well, not exactly: Because traffic volume was so low, the actual fatality rate (which is calculated as the number of deaths per 100 million miles driven) increased to levels not seen in more than a decade. Unfortunately, drivers tend to take more risks on deserted highways and empty streets; state highway patrols from Alabama to Wyoming frequently reported pulling people over for going well over 100 mph. When you limit your information to just the number of traffic fatalities and don't consider the context, you get an inaccurate picture of what's actually going on.
The same holds true for marketing — impressions and open rates are great metrics to highlight when evaluating a campaign, but what about sales and conversions? Aren't those the real numbers to pay attention to? We can get distracted by flashy snippets of data that don't tell the whole story. When you're experienced in fact-finding and building an argument, you understand that what looks good on paper may not translate to a winning verdict.
In that respect, personal injury attorneys and CMG Local Solutions are carbon copies of each other. We both use vast expertise in conjunction with best practices and proven research to draft the most compelling case possible.
Finding qualified clients is a challenge we also share. Marketing agencies like ours rely on businesses not being satisfied with their advertising spend and struggling to convert prospects into sales. Personal injury attorneys count on the personal tragedies of others to survive financially, and the pandemic certainly complicated the normal flow of cases and lawsuits.
Aside from fewer total car crashes (and the injuries they cause), you also have to deal with fewer instances of worker's compensation claims due to shuttered workplaces and factories. People may have decided against filing a personal injury claim due to courthouses also being closed for a while, and possibly because healthcare providers couldn't give the necessary treatment to alleviate (and prove) the injury in the first place.
Untying those knots will take time. For now, the best thing you can do is devise a strong personal injury law firm marketing plan that reaches those potential clients where they are and encourages them to act with compelling content.
Personal Injury Lawyer Marketing
Personal injury law firms don't need to start from scratch to get better returns on their marketing investment; they just need to focus on a few specific strategies that make the biggest gains. Here are some tactics that tend to work immediately and drive more folks down the sales funnel:
1. Use search engine optimization.
If you aren't exercising SEO by this point in your personal injury marketing strategy, now is the time to take the plunge. Because consumers use the internet to research pretty much every buying decision — from the best local taxidermy to the most qualified attorney — you must find a way to appear in search engine results. It's not enough to be on the list; almost every internet user sticks to the first page of results and doesn't bother scrolling too far down, so occupying one of those coveted top spots is a pressing priority. SEO is the tool that makes that happen. The higher you rank, the more clicks you generate — and the more business you secure.
2. Optimize the mobile website.
It's not enough to optimize your standard webpage for SEO; since the majority of internet searches happen on a mobile device (a trend that no doubt will continue to increase), you must have a site that converts to a mobile configuration. Is it compatible? You can always check your site's mobile readiness by visiting Google's Mobile Friendly Test tool, which will help you determine if your webpage is up to snuff. Last but not least, prioritize speed (Google has a free online test for this, too). Ultimately, you want lightning-fast load times (ideally within one second) so visitors don't get frustrated and flock to a competitor site.
3. Boost brand awareness.
In personal injury law, trust is paramount to success. As such, it's incredibly important to shape the narrative around your firm and craft messages that showcase how empathetic, hard-working and forthright you are (or aspire to be). You can elevate your brand in myriad ways, like telling interesting stories on social media or using banner ads on target ideal customers on websites your audience frequents. People prefer to do business with companies and service providers that they're familiar with (or at least have heard of). Deepen your brand's digital footprint and watch the results roll in.
A Personal Injury Marketing Success Story
The Law Offices of Richardson Richardson Boudreaux in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is one example of a personal injury firm that enlisted CMG Local Solutions to shore up its digital defense, so to speak. The successful practice is aggressive in its marketing efforts because of crowded competition, and it wanted to increase new monthly leads (and improve the quality of each lead) for personal injury cases. Our mission was to brand RRB Law as the premier law firm in the Tulsa market using innovative digital marketing for personal injury lawyers.
How did we accomplish this? By building a highly effective combination of digital marketing tactics around a foundation of SEM, social media, and broadcast television to reach monthly goals that we both set in regular face-to-face meetings. The results speak for themselves: RRB Law has seen a steady increase in overall monthly cases, as well as a noticeable increase in the quality of each lead. CMG Local Solutions campaigns are driving 64% of all website traffic, with a 75% increase in website conversions since implementing our Conversion Rate Optimization recommendations.
Would you like a similar outcome as you build a better personal injury marketing strategy? Connect with CMG Local Solutions today. We have irrefutable evidence that proves our status as the best legal marketing partner that money can buy.
