A clear and strong law firm marketing plan is needed to grow your law firm in the present time. Good marketing isn’t random. It’s a strategy built around what your target clients want, what your firm offers, and gives you an advantage over what your competition is doing.
This article offers a checklist for a guide you can follow step by step to build a marketing plan for your law firm. It focuses on digital marketing, SEO, PPC, social media, and remarketing.
Want to skip the trial-and-error and get expert help? Schedule a consultation with Exults and let us build a marketing plan tailored to your firm.
What Is a Lawyer Marketing Plan?
A lawyer marketing plan is a roadmap. It shows what your firm will do to find more clients, and how you’ll use digital tools to grow. It should include visiting your website, advertising, content, social media, content impressions, follow-ups, tracking, and more.
A good marketing plan for a law firm answers:
- Who are your ideal clients? Demographic profile
- How will clients find you and interact with your law firm?
- What digital channels will you use to reach prospective clients?
- How will you measure success? KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)
Why You Need a Marketing Plan for Lawyers?
Before you build the plan, you need to understand why it matters. A law firm marketing plan helps you:
- Spend the marketing budget as planned and wisely
- Stay consistent in messaging and branding
- Target and attract the right kinds of cases and audience
- Measure results and adjust what’s not working
- Grow sustainably, not by reacting to trends
Many law firms that treat marketing like a core business function see more predictable growth.
Key Elements of a High-Impact Law Firm Marketing Plan
Here’s the checklist of what your marketing plan for lawyers should include. Each item helps ensure your strategy covers the right ground.
1. Define Goals & Objectives
- What do you want to achieve? For example, more calls, more case leads, more referrals, better conversion rate, or better online visibility.
- Make goals SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound.
- Prioritize: maybe you want to double qualified leads in 6 months, or improve organic traffic by 25%.
2. Know Your Audience & Positioning
- Create client personas. Who hires your firm? What are their problems? What searches do they do?
- Understand markets and competition. What are other competitor firms doing in your local market or practice area?
- Decide what makes your firm unique. What’s your “why” or your promise to clients?
3. Digital Foundation: Website, Branding & Tech Setup
- Make sure your website is fast, mobile-friendly, secure (HTTPS), and easy to use on mobile devices.
- Clear branding: logo, colors, photos, tone of voice.
- Essential pages such as homepage, about the firm, lawyer and staff pages, practice area pages (or services), contact page, FAQs page, results, and blog page.
- Set up tools: Google Analytics, Google Search Console, tools for PPC, email, and social media.
4. SEO Strategy (Search Engine Optimization)
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the backbone of any law firm marketing plan. When potential clients search for “injury lawyer near me” or “workers compensation law firm,” you want your firm to appear at the top of the results. SEO ensures that happens by improving your visibility in search engines.
Local SEO for Lawyers
Local SEO is critical because most people hire attorneys close to where they live. A strong local marketing plan for a law firm should include:
- Google Business Profile (GBP): Keep your profile updated with services, office hours, photos, and posts. This helps your firm show up in Google Maps.
- Reviews: Ask satisfied clients to leave reviews. Positive reviews improve ranking and build trust.
- Citations: Make sure your firm’s name, address, and phone number are consistent across directories like Google Maps, Avvo, Justia, and Yelp.
Content SEO
Search engines reward high-quality, relevant content. Your firm should build:
- Practice area pages: Each service should have its own page (car accident injury, maritime accident, workers compensation injury, etc.).
- Blog posts: Cover common client questions like “How long do I have to file a claim in Florida (Firm location)?”
- FAQs: Add question-and-answer sections directly to service pages to capture long-tail keywords.
- Schema markup: Use structured data to help search engines understand your law firm service areas, locations, and reviews.
Technical SEO
Your website’s performance also matters. Google ranks sites higher when they’re:
- Mobile-friendly: Most legal searches happen on phones / mobile devices
- Fast-loading: A slow site makes visitors leave before they contact you
- Secure: Always use HTTPS for client trust and SEO.
- Crawlable: Make sure your site is indexed properly with no broken links or duplicate content.
5. PPC & Paid Advertising
Pay-Per-Click advertising (PPC) is one of the fastest ways to generate leads for your firm. It ensures your ads show up when someone searches for terms like “car accident lawyer in Miami” or “hit by a car consultation.”
Why PPC Matters in a Law Firm Marketing Plan
Legal keywords are among the most competitive and expensive in digital advertising. Some injury keywords can cost over $100 per click. Without a smart plan, you can waste your budget quickly.
Building Effective Campaigns
- Keyword research: Focus on high-intent searches like “car accident injury lawyer” instead of broad, low-funnel, non-descript keywords like “lawyer.”
- Negative keywords: Block irrelevant searches (e.g., “defense” or “free”) so you don’t pay for unqualified clicks and leads.
- Geo-targeting: Limit ads to your city or region so you don’t waste clicks outside your location’s area.
- Ad copy: Use clear, client-focused language. Example: “Injured? Speak with a Miami lawyer today.”
- Landing pages: Direct traffic to tailored pages with a call-to-action, not just your homepage.
PPC + Remarketing Combo
One of the most effective strategies is pairing PPC with remarketing. If someone clicks an ad but doesn’t contact you, remarketing ensures they see your law firm again across the web.
Want to maximize every ad dollar? Exults can manage your PPC campaigns for maximum ROI (Return on Investment).
6. Social Media & Content
Social media is often overlooked in a marketing plan for lawyers, but it can build credibility, consistency, top-of-mind awareness, and attract clients when used correctly.
Choosing Platforms
- Facebook: Ideal for consumer-facing practices like injury or work injury.
- Instagram & TikTok: Great for building awareness and trust through short, helpful videos.
- X/Twitter: Signals activity to search engines and has a niche social audience and demographic.
- YouTube: Video content in either short-form or long videos (explainer videos, “what to do if…” guides).
- LinkedIn: Best for B2B (Business-to-Business) practices (injury law, workers’ compensation law). Helps connect with professionals, lawyer friends, medical centers, medical professionals, and referral sources.
Paid vs. Organic Social Media
- Posting on Social Feeds: Build authority by sharing client success stories, legal tips, community involvement, and website content updates like new blogs or news to checkout onsite. Be sure to invest in creative asset development of content that your audience would like to engage with
- Paid ads: Target audiences by location, demographics, or interests. For example, promoting car accident assistance to adults over 40 in your area.
Tips for Success
- Use video: Even short 30-second explainers perform well.
- Stay consistent: Post daily, weekly, or biweekly, not sporadically.
- Be authentic: Share your firm’s voice, not just legal jargon.
- Track metrics: Look at engagement, leads from social, and referral traffic to your site.
7. Remarketing & Nurture Campaigns
Most website visitors don’t contact a law firm on their first visit. That’s why remarketing and nurturing are vital parts of any lawyer marketing plan.
Remarketing Ads
These ads target people who’ve visited your website but didn’t convert. You can show them:
- Instagram
- Facebook
- X/Twitter
- And other platforms
Social ads on Facebook and Instagram are served through the Meta Ads platform and advertising network.
Remarketing keeps your firm top-of-mind until they’re ready to call.
Email Nurturing
Not every potential client hires a lawyer immediately. With email, you can:
- Send a welcome series after a consultation request
- Provide educational resources (e.g., “What to expect in a car accident case”)
- Follow up with past clients for referrals or repeat services (seemingly many law firm clients are repeat or referrals, and can be 5% to 20% of a law firm’s routine intake)
Why It Matters
Law is a high-trust industry. Remarketing and nurturing help build that trust over time. Firms that use these tactics often see higher conversion rates at lower costs.
8. Budgeting & Resource Plan
- Decide how much you can spend monthly and annually on marketing. Allocate across SEO, PPC, content, and social. Analyze previous data to identify any seasonal trends of when the intake you want to see has previously been most likely to convert, for example, Summer or Fall.
- Assign roles: Who writes content, who monitors PPC, who updates SEO, who posts social. Internal or via agency?
- Tools and tech costs: Website hosting, CRM, email marketing tools, ad spend, call tracking, and many others.
9. Timeline & Action Plan
- Build a roadmap: Which tasks to do first (e.g., website fix, SEO basics), versus what can come later (content calendar, advanced PPC).
- Set milestones: Monthly and quarterly.
- Include review points: When you’ll check metrics and adjust.
10. Tracking, Analytics & KPIs
- Define KPIs (Key Performance Indicators): Examples include number of leads, cost per lead, case type, conversion rate, organic traffic, and keyword rankings.
- Set up tools: Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, PPC dashboards, SEO tools.
- Regular reporting: Monthly and quarterly reviews.
- Use data to refine: Stop or adjust what doesn’t work; scale what does.
How Exults Helps Implement Your Law Firm Marketing Plan?
Building a law firm marketing plan is one thing. Executing it in a way that delivers measurable results is another. Many firms try to manage SEO, PPC, social media, and remarketing on their own but end up with inconsistent efforts, wasted spend, and little growth.
At Exults, we don’t just create strategies, we help law firms put them into action and refine them over time. Here’s how we support your firm at every stage of your marketing plan:
SEO: Get Found by the Right Clients
Search visibility can make or break a law firm. Our team handles every layer of SEO:
- Keyword research focused on practice areas and local searches.
- On-page optimization for service pages, blogs, and FAQs.
- Technical SEO to fix speed, indexing, and mobile usability.
- Local SEO management, including Google Business Profile optimization and review strategies.
This ensures your firm shows up when potential clients search for the services you offer in your city or region.
PPC: Drive High-Intent Leads
Exults creates and manages PPC campaigns that deliver qualified leads while controlling costs. We:
- Build campaigns targeting high-intent keywords.
- Use geo-targeting to reach clients only in your local area.
- Develop optimized landing pages that convert.
- Run A/B tests and track ROI so every dollar spent is spent efficiently.
Social Media: Build Authenticity, Authority and Trust
We help law firms establish a consistent, credible presence on social platforms. Our services include:
- Content creation for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
- Paid ad campaigns to reach targeted demographics.
- Social engagement strategies that build trust with potential clients.
Remarketing & Email Nurturing: Stay Top of Mind
Not every visitor converts right away. Exults builds remarketing campaigns and email sequences that keep your firm in front of prospects until they’re ready to act. From display ads to drip email campaigns, we ensure no lead or opportunity slips away.
Analytics & AIO: Make Data Work for You
With advanced analytics and AIO (AI Optimization), Exults monitors performance across all channels, identifies what’s working, and adapts campaigns in real time. You get clear, transparent reporting that shows exactly how your marketing plan is driving growth.
Checklist: Best Law Firm Marketing Plan (Summary)
Here’s a condensed version you can print or use in a planning meeting:
| Law Firm Marketing Plan – Checklist |
Marking |
| Define goals Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART) |
☐ |
| Build client personas |
☐ |
| Competitive research |
☐ |
| Budget & roles assigned |
☐ |
| Timeline with milestones |
☐ |
| Design/optimize website |
☐ |
| Keyword research |
☐ |
| On-page + technical SEO fixes |
☐ |
| Local listings & reviews setup, audit, and/or optimization |
☐ |
| Content plan (blog posts/guides/FAQs) |
☐ |
| PPC campaign + remarketing setup |
☐ |
| Social media schedule & content |
☐ |
| Email marketing/nurture sequences |
☐ |
| KPIs & analytics tools set up |
☐ |
Final Tips for an Effective Law Firm Marketing Plan
While building your marketing plan for your law firm, make sure you address these areas:
- Budget – Allocate your budget where and when it counts: Focus more energy and resources on what has had a track record of marketing success.
- Awareness of Demographics and Users: Many of the people you are targeting will be on the move and making decisions on their mobile phones, making sure you are communicating the right message to your prospects at the right time and on the right platforms.
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Have the proper tools and desired quantitative measurements in place to measure your marketing. Utilize an effective CRM and specific attributes you are looking to measure – leads, case type, case sign-ups, and how they heard about you. Also, establish an effective follow-up protocol to close prospects that don’t close on the first touch, most leads will take a multi-touch effort to get as a retained client/case.
- Update content: Make sure your content is intentional and current with your law firm’s goals to attract your target clients.
- Local Bar Compliance: Make an effort to be aware that you are applying best practices when it comes to keeping your law firm marketing compliant by keeping your messaging within guidelines or seeking approval where needed.
Why a Checklist Works?
The best marketing plan for a law firm isn’t built overnight. It takes planning, execution, and refinement. A checklist makes the process less overwhelming by breaking it down into manageable steps. In addition, a full law firm marketing plan is more than just SEO or running ads. It’s combining many pieces, such as the website, content, PPC, social media, remarketing, and doing them well over time.
When you follow a lawyer marketing plan, you give your firm the best chance to succeed online. You’ll build a marketing plan for your law firm that’s clear, actionable, and results-focused.
Exults works with law firms every day to implement their marketing plan. We don’t just help you build a marketing plan, we help you execute it so you see measurable results.
Contact Exults now for a strategy session and turn that checklist into growth.
FAQs: Law Firm Marketing Plans
- How long does it take to see results from a law firm marketing plan?
It depends on the mix of strategies. SEO may take 3 to 6 months to show strong results, while PPC campaigns can generate leads within days. Consistency is key, and firms that stick with their plan typically see steady growth over time.
- What budget should I set aside for a law firm marketing plan?
Budgets vary depending on firm size, location, and goals. Many firms allocate 10%–20%+ of revenue to marketing. For digital channels like SEO and PPC, a starting range of $8,000–$25,000 per month is common for small to mid-sized firms just getting started.
- Can traditional marketing still be part of a lawyer’s marketing plan?
Yes, but it works best when paired with digital. Referrals, networking, and local sponsorships can still drive business, but digital marketing provides measurable results and consistent lead generation that traditional methods can’t match alone.
- How do I know if my current law firm marketing plan is working?
Look at clear metrics such as number of leads, cost per lead, conversion rate, website traffic, and ROI. If you’re spending money but can’t track results, it’s time to adjust your plan or partner with a law firm marketing agency like Exults.
- Should every attorney in the firm be involved in marketing?
Not every lawyer has to run campaigns, but attorneys play a role in building the brand. Writing blog posts, sharing content on LinkedIn, or asking clients for reviews are easy ways lawyers can support the firm’s marketing plan.
- How often should a law firm marketing plan be updated?
Review your plan quarterly and adjust annually. Marketing trends, competition, and Google algorithms change. Regular reviews ensure your strategy stays effective and aligned with your business goals.
- Is it better to handle a law firm marketing plan in-house or hire an agency?
It depends on your resources. Small firms often lack the time or expertise for SEO, PPC, and analytics. Partnering with a digital marketing agency like Exults gives you access to specialists across every digital channel, saving time and improving results.
Drive Cases Today
