Three Creative Ways to Use Google Ads

Most law firms are wasting money on Google Ads.

“Personal injury” is one of the most competitive business categories in Google Ads, and personal injury keywords can cost anywhere from $20 to $500 per click. Recently, I spoke to a marketing agency that claimed to be the biggest advertiser for law firms. Their sales team told me that they don’t recommend Google Ads for law firms who can’t spend $20k or more per month!

And everyone should be wary of Google Ads after Google admitted they inflated keyword costs to meet revenue goals.

My recent guidance is that law firms should avoid traditional Google Ads campaigns unless they have a budget that approaches “limitless.”

However, I was reminded by Andy Stickle at the GLM Summit that there are still creative ways we can use Google Ads and get clients.

When I returned from the Summit, I brainstormed a few ideas for law firms that use Google Ads. Below are my three favorite creative Google Ads strategies.

1. Target an Underserved Rural Location with Tailored Content – It’s a shame so many personal injury law firms overlook rural markets. Generally, there’s less competition and lower costs when you advertise in rural markets. People traveling on rural highways also travel at higher speeds, translating to more catastrophic damages.
   
   You can dominate a major interstate highway by targeting the underserved counties in your state. Google Ads’ location targeting enables us to serve ads to people “in, or recently in” targeted locations, so you can show ads to someone who frequently travels a major highway.
   
   You could also create content specific to that geographic region. For example, you could create a short video titled “Accidents on Missouri Highway 63 – What You Need to Know.”
2. Promote a YouTube Limited Series – This puts a fresh spin on the classic webinar format. Using Google Ads (which is fully integrated with YouTube Ads), you can show ads to people who have searched using selected keywords, visited certain websites, or simply fall within your targeted location(s).
   
   Creating a limited series can help you frame your offer in a new way. Unlike traditional webinars, a limited series suggests scarcity and also frames the content as something easily digested over many sittings. You can gatekeep the content with a landing page, or you can make the videos public on your website or YouTube page. Either way, your content will get viewed and your audience will grow!
3. Serving Ads to Audience Categories – Google has made traditional keyword targeting very difficult. It used to be simple to target specific key phrases (and only those key phrases), but now everything is trending to broad match. However, Google Ads has another type of ad targeting that works fairly well, particularly since Google has data on practically everyone.
   
   Using a combination of user behavior, demographic targeting, website activity, and keywords, you can serve search or display ads to niche groups. Not all law firms will find their desired targeting options available in Google Ads. But if you can define your target client by income level, location, interests, or online activity, then you can find them using Google Ads.

In my time as a fractional CMO, I have not seen many personal injury PPC campaigns that generate a positive return. However, there is one company in particular that is doing a great job, and I’d be happy to pass along the name if you reply to this email or schedule a meeting through my website!