There’s a reason people think twice before buying the cheapest mattress, eating the cheapest sushi, or hiring the cheapest contractor. They assume something’s missing. The same goes for legal services. If your main value proposition is that you’re the cheapest in town, you’re attracting price-sensitive clients—and you’re boxing yourself into a business model that’s hard to grow and even harder to sustain.

Here’s why underpricing doesn’t help your practice in the long run—and what to focus on instead.

Price Shoppers Are the Least Loyal Clients

When people hire a lawyer based on price alone, they’re not looking for value. They’re looking for a bargain. That mindset doesn’t usually lead to smooth working relationships. These clients are more likely to:

  • Question your bill every time
  • Push back on retainers
  • Disappear when someone else offers a lower quote

That constant churn kills momentum. You spend more time trying to win clients than doing actual legal work. Even if you’re busy, it’s not productive busy. It’s treadmill busy.

Discounting Signals Doubt (Even If You Don’t Mean It That Way)

Most consumers don’t fully understand the difference between one lawyer and the next. They assume price reflects quality, at least to some degree. When you lead with a low rate, you’re not just undercutting your competitors—you’re giving potential clients a reason to second-guess whether you’re actually worth hiring.

Instead of building confidence, you’re opening the door to more questions:
Why is this so much cheaper than the other quotes I got?
What am I missing here?

It’s harder to build trust when the first impression is confusion.

Low Rates Limit Your Growth Options

Let’s say you charge $150/hour and you’re booked solid. You’re still stuck at a revenue ceiling unless you raise prices or work more hours. And if you’re undercharging, chances are your margins are already thin.

That makes it harder to:

  • Hire help
  • Invest in marketing
  • Pay yourself fairly
  • Take time off

You end up stuck doing everything because you can’t afford to delegate. And as your calendar fills with low-value clients, you have less room for better ones.

You Don’t Need to Be the Cheapest to Get Hired

What most clients want is clarity. They want to know what they’re getting, how much it will cost, and whether they can trust you. If you focus on being clear, confident, and helpful from the first contact, price becomes a smaller part of the decision.

Clear processes, responsive communication, and real availability matter more than being $50 cheaper than the next person.

Charging More Forces You to Offer More (In a Good Way)

Raising your rates can feel uncomfortable. But it also pushes you to tighten up your intake, improve your service, and focus on delivering value that matches your pricing.

You might:

  • Streamline your consultation process
  • Develop clearer engagement letters
  • Be more selective about which clients you take on

All of that leads to better work, happier clients, and more referrals. You don’t have to be perfect—you just have to show up like someone who knows the value of their time.

When to Compete on Price (Rarely)

There are a few situations where competing on price can work—but it has to be intentional:

  • You’re building a high-volume practice with systemized workflows
  • You’re offering flat-fee services for predictable, low-risk matters
  • You’re doing limited-scope work where the deliverables are clear

Even then, your price shouldn’t be low. It should be efficient. There’s a difference.

You’re Not Walmart—and That’s a Good Thing

There will always be someone willing to go lower. Chasing the bottom doesn’t win you more trust, better reviews, or more fulfilling work. It just burns you out faster.

If you’re delivering real value, your pricing should reflect that. You don’t need to be the most expensive lawyer in town. But you also don’t need to apologize for charging more than the bare minimum.

Your website had 2,000 visitors last month. Cool. But how many of those turned into calls? And how many of those calls became paying clients?

Too many lawyers are told to track things like impressions, reach, likes, and clicks. Those numbers look impressive, but they don’t tell you much. At least not about whether your marketing is actually doing its job.

The truth is, most of those so-called KPIs are just noise. If you want a clearer picture of how your marketing is performing—and where to make improvements—you need to dig into what really matters.

Here are five metrics that are actually worth paying attention to.

1. Cost Per Lead (CPL)

This is the average amount you spend to generate one inquiry—whether that’s a phone call, form submission, or direct email.

Why it matters: CPL tells you how efficient your marketing is. If you’re spending $1,000 per month on Google Ads and only getting five leads, that’s $200 per lead. You can now ask: is that sustainable for your practice area? Could that budget be better spent elsewhere?

It also lets you compare marketing channels. Maybe social ads are generating leads at $40 each while SEO traffic brings in leads at $10 each. Knowing your CPL helps you allocate smarter.

2. Lead-to-Consult Ratio

This is the percentage of leads that actually book a consult.

Why it matters: A low ratio means your intake process isn’t working—or you’re attracting unqualified leads. Either way, something’s broken.

Start by checking how many leads go unanswered or unreturned. Then look at your intake forms. Are they asking for too much too soon? Are people confused about what happens next?

You can also use this metric to test new strategies. For example, does sending a confirmation email with your photo or a short video increase bookings? If the ratio improves, you’ve got something worth keeping.

3. Consult-to-Client Ratio

Of the people who meet with you, how many actually hire you?

Why it matters: If this number is low, it could be a pricing issue, a messaging issue, or a trust issue. It might also mean you’re not following up enough.

This is where intake scripts and post-consult workflows can make a difference. Are you setting expectations clearly? Are you giving potential clients something tangible to review after the meeting? Are you reaching out again within 48 hours?

You don’t need to close everyone. But if you’re only converting 1 in 5 consults, it’s worth reviewing how those consults are run.

4. Revenue Per Lead

This one ties everything together. Take the total revenue generated over a time period and divide it by the number of leads during that same period.

Why it matters: It’s easy to think more leads always means more revenue. But if your average revenue per lead is going down, you might be targeting the wrong audience—or pricing your services too low.

This metric gives you a more realistic sense of ROI. Ten high-quality leads that each bring in $5,000 are better than 50 leads that go nowhere.

5. Lead Source Attribution

Where are your leads actually coming from—and which sources lead to the most paying clients?

Why it matters: Many lawyers assume Google is doing all the heavy lifting, when referrals or direct traffic might be doing just as much. Without attribution, you could be throwing money at the wrong channels.

Set up basic tracking in Google Analytics and use call tracking numbers when possible. Ask every lead how they found you, even if you think you already know. Then tie those answers to actual cases retained—not just raw inquiries.

The goal isn’t to guess. It’s to know.

Stop Measuring the Wrong Stuff

If your marketing report is full of traffic numbers, social likes, or click-through rates, it’s time to ask what those numbers actually mean. Are they helping you make decisions? Or are they just padding the report?

The five metrics above may not look as flashy, but they’re tied directly to revenue. They show you what’s working, what’s wasting your time, and where you can improve.

Most people don’t want to hire a lawyer. They want to solve a stressful, unfamiliar problem—and a lawyer happens to be the tool they need to do that. So when someone finally reaches out to your firm, the smallest details in that first impression tend to carry a lot more weight than lawyers think.

This has nothing to do with wearing a suit or having the nicest website on the block. It’s about the things clients notice—consciously or not—that signal whether you’re someone they want to trust, call back, and pay.

And if you don’t think your first impression matters, take a look at your bounce rate, no-show rate, or ghosting rate after an initial consult. That’s where it shows up.

Here’s what clients are picking up on before you even know their name.

Your Phone Process Feels Cold

You may think having a real human answer the phone is enough. But if that person sounds rushed, confused, or like they’ve never spoken to another human before, that’s the client’s first impression of your firm.

Clients want to feel heard. They don’t want to be immediately asked, “What’s this about?” or told “The lawyer’s not available” without a next step.

This doesn’t mean you need to train your intake team like therapists. It just means you need a clear process—one that makes people feel like they called the right place. A warm greeting, a calm tone, and a clear explanation of what happens next go a long way.

Your Website Is Working Against You

You can have the prettiest website in the state, but if it’s slow, confusing, or lacking clear information, clients will bounce.

They’re not looking for every detail about your background. They’re scanning for signs that you work with people like them, that you’re responsive, and that it’s easy to take the next step.

Here’s what matters most in those first 15 seconds:

  • Page loads quickly (especially on mobile)
  • Practice area is clear (no vague phrases like “full-service law firm”)
  • Office location and contact info are easy to find
  • Clear, inviting call to action (not just “Contact Us”)

Also: real photos beat stock photos. And don’t bury your intake form behind three clicks.

Your Intake Form Is a Chore

Nobody likes filling out forms. And if someone is anxious, angry, or overwhelmed, a clunky intake form is the last thing they want to deal with.

If you ask for everything upfront—date of birth, opposing party info, how they heard about you, etc.—you’re asking a cold lead to do way too much too soon.

Make the form short. Collect just enough to get the ball rolling. You can gather the rest later if they book a consult. The goal here is momentum, not completeness.

Your Email Tone Feels Robotic

Lawyers often think being “professional” means sounding stiff. Clients don’t read it that way. They read it as cold or impersonal.

Whether it’s an automated response or a follow-up to a phone call, your emails should sound like a person wrote them. Acknowledge their situation. Keep your sentences short. Use their name. Sign off like a human.

It doesn’t take much effort to come across as approachable. And it makes you more memorable—especially if the client is talking to multiple firms.

You’re Forgetting That They’re Scared

Not scared of you—scared of what this legal situation could mean. Whether it’s money, family, business, or reputation, something important is on the line. That fear colors everything they see and hear from you.

So if you seem distracted during the consult, or if your front desk cuts them off mid-sentence, they won’t chalk it up to a busy day. They’ll assume it’s always like this. And they’ll look elsewhere.

It’s not about coddling. It’s about awareness. Your energy matters.

First Impressions Aren’t Just for Clients

The way you show up at the first touchpoint tells the client what kind of relationship they’re in for. If that first impression feels cold, chaotic, or like they’re just another task on your list, they’ll keep looking.

But if it feels calm, clear, and intentional? You’re probably already ahead of the competition.

Every law firm has experienced this scenario: a potential client reaches out, asks for information, maybe even completes a consultation… but they’re simply not ready to hire a lawyer yet.

This happens all the time! Yet many law firms let these opportunities slip away because they stop communicating after the initial interaction.

I get it. You’re busy, and it can feel inefficient to focus on people who aren’t ready to move forward today. But this mindset overlooks a huge reality: many of these prospects will need a lawyer eventually, and whether they choose you depends on what you do in the meantime.

Let’s break down how to nurture these “not yet” prospects effectively.

Why Law Firms Often Lose These Future Clients

When there’s no follow-up, no consistent communication, and no ongoing value being delivered, prospects forget about you. Literally.

We’ve seen countless examples of people who consulted with a lawyer months earlier but ended up hiring someone entirely new simply because they couldn’t remember the firm’s name.

And if they don’t remember you, they go back to Google, ask a friend, or pick the next website they come across.

That’s preventable.

The Solution: Build a Nurture System That Works Automatically

You need a marketing system designed to nurture leads at scale, without relying on manual follow-up.

Here are a few of the simplest and most effective tools:

Email Newsletters

A monthly or weekly newsletter keeps you in front of prospects who aren’t ready yet. This builds familiarity, trust, and credibility over time, the key ingredients that eventually turn a “maybe later” into a “yes.”

Email Drip Campaigns

Automated sequences that educate and provide value ensure that every new lead receives consistent communication, whether they hire today or a year from now.

Blog Content + Email Distribution

Publishing educational blog content and then pushing it out through your email list gives prospects multiple touchpoints with your expertise.

Social Media Content

Even if you don’t tell prospects to follow you, many will check your social media on their own. Regular posting ensures your brand appears active, trustworthy, and knowledgeable.

Across all these channels, the goal is the same: stay top of mind.

Top of Mind Awareness = More Clients

You’ve heard the phrase before, and it’s true: success comes down to consistent, ongoing visibility.

A significant portion of the people who aren’t ready today will be ready in the future. Your job is to make sure that when that moment comes, you’re the firm they remember.

If you fade from their awareness, even briefly, you leave the door open for another firm to step in.

Keep Prospects in Your Ecosystem

Every single lead, hot, warm, or lukewarm, should remain inside your marketing ecosystem. Your website, blogs, social media videos, email newsletters, and automated sequences all serve as touchpoints that keep prospects connected to your brand.

This ongoing visibility does two important things:

  1. Ensures they remember you when they’re ready
  2. Helps move them toward readiness more quickly by reinforcing trust and demonstrating expertise

When you continue to show up consistently, you don’t just avoid losing prospects; you actively nurture them into future clients.

The Long Game Pays Off

Nurturing isn’t complicated, and it doesn’t require chasing leads. It requires consistent content and communication that keeps your firm present in the minds of those who aren’t ready today but will be tomorrow.

With the right system in place, you’ll capture more of those future opportunities and stop losing clients simply because they forgot who they talked to.

Click here if you’d like our help making it happen!

You didn’t change anything. Same ads. Same audience. Same budget. But your cost per lead just went up—again.

It’s frustrating, especially when marketing already feels like a guessing game. But rising CPL (cost per lead) doesn’t always mean your ads are broken. Sometimes, it’s a signal to adjust how you’re using the data, how you’re managing your funnel, or how you’re defining what a “good lead” even is.

Let’s break down what’s going on—and what to do about it.

First, Don’t Panic

Digital ad costs fluctuate. Competitors enter the market, search volume drops, or platforms roll out updates that affect who sees what. A higher CPL for a week or even a month isn’t always a trend—it might just be noise.

Look at your CPL over a longer timeframe—90 days or more. And if you’re only looking at a platform-level report, make sure it’s pulling from a big enough sample size. Ten leads isn’t a pattern. It’s a blip.

Re-Evaluate What You’re Tracking

Sometimes, the issue isn’t that your CPL went up—it’s that your definition of a “lead” is too narrow or too vague.

Are you only counting form fills? What about phone calls? Live chats? People who clicked your ad and then called the number on your homepage?

Get clear about what actually counts as a lead. Then check to make sure your tracking is capturing all of them. If your cost “per lead” doubled, but your actual calls and consults didn’t drop, you may have a reporting issue, not a lead gen issue.

Audit Your Landing Pages

If traffic is holding steady but conversions are down, your landing page might be the problem. Look at:

  • Page speed on mobile
  • How easy it is to scan (short paragraphs, clear headings, real testimonials)
  • Whether the CTA stands out
  • Whether your intake form is too long or confusing
  • Whether your copy matches what the ad promised

Small tweaks to a page—especially on mobile—can often bring a CPL back down without touching the ad itself.

Watch the Lead Quality

Some firms chase lower CPL like it’s a high score. But cheap leads aren’t always good leads. You want to track cost per qualified lead—the ones that actually turn into revenue.

If your CPL is up but your average case value is also higher, that’s not necessarily a bad trade. A $150 lead is fine if it brings in a $5,000 case. But a $30 lead that never books a consult is just money wasted.

Ask yourself: Are these leads harder to close than they used to be? Are they the wrong practice area? Are they falling off after the first touchpoint? Don’t just blame the ad. Zoom out.

Revisit Your Offer

Your ad might be targeting the right people, but if your offer doesn’t feel valuable—or worse, feels identical to every other firm—they’re going to scroll past it.

Test small changes like:

  • Swapping “Free Consultation” for “15-Minute Strategy Call”
  • Using a client quote in your ad copy
  • Creating a downloadable guide for colder audiences

Better offers don’t always mean discounts or giveaways. They just need to make someone feel like the next step is worth their time.

Adjust Your Audience

Ad platforms are constantly shifting how they segment audiences. What worked last year—or even last month—might not be working now.

Try:

  • Narrowing your geo-targeting (especially if you’ve recently expanded your radius)
  • Testing lookalike audiences based on high-quality clients
  • Excluding audiences who have already converted

Also consider layering in retargeting to keep warm leads in your orbit without paying full price to reach them again.

Don’t Sleep on Organic Marketing

If your paid leads are getting expensive, use that as motivation to build your longer-term assets. A stronger email list, better blog content, and a more visible Google Business Profile can all ease the pressure on your paid funnel.

Paid ads should amplify your best stuff—not be your only strategy.

Rising CPL Doesn’t Mean You’re Failing

It might mean you’ve outgrown your current strategy. Or it might just be a sign that your lead quality and conversion process need attention.

Don’t get caught in the trap of constantly trying to “fix” an ad that’s doing its job. Sometimes, the better move is to tweak what happens after the click—or redefine what a good lead looks like.

You’ve probably had this happen: You check out a product online and then see ads for it everywhere for the next week. That’s retargeting. It works for e-commerce. But does it work for legal services?

Law firms are in a different category—longer buying cycles, higher stakes, and more emotion involved. So before you sink money into another ad campaign, let’s talk about whether retargeting ads still have value for small firm marketing.

What Retargeting Actually Is

Retargeting (or remarketing) means showing ads to people who’ve already visited your site but didn’t take action. Think of it as a second chance to stay top of mind.

These ads can show up on social media, in banner placements across the web, or even in YouTube pre-rolls. The goal is to remind someone, “Hey, we’re still here if you need us.”

It’s not about converting someone who’s never heard of you. It’s about following up with people who already showed interest.

The Case For Retargeting

Retargeting can work when:

  • You get a decent amount of web traffic each month
  • Your cases have longer decision cycles (like estate planning, business law, or family law)
  • You’re running other lead-gen ads that bring cold traffic to your site
  • You’re using good creative (not just your logo and a generic message)

When done right, retargeting helps keep your firm visible while a potential client is still deciding what to do. That visibility builds trust—and trust leads to action.

The Case Against Retargeting

Retargeting won’t save a weak funnel. If your website is confusing, your messaging is flat, or you’re barely getting traffic, retargeting won’t fix that. It’ll just waste money reminding people of a website they already ignored.

It’s also gotten less effective in recent years due to privacy changes (like Apple’s iOS updates and cookie restrictions). Some people won’t see your retargeting ads at all. Others will ignore them out of habit.

That doesn’t mean retargeting is dead. It just means you have to be a lot more intentional about when and how you use it.

How to Use Retargeting the Right Way

  1. Layer It In, Don’t Lead With It
    Retargeting works best when paired with a larger ad strategy. Run awareness or lead-gen ads first, then use retargeting to reinforce those messages.
  2. Update Your Creative Regularly
    Showing someone the same ad 15 times won’t help. Refresh your creative every 4–6 weeks. Use different angles: testimonials, FAQs, or a reminder that you offer free consults.
  3. Exclude Existing Clients
    Nothing feels sloppier than getting hit with a “Contact Us Today” ad after you’ve already hired the firm. Make sure you exclude converted leads or page views that indicate someone has already taken action.
  4. Set Frequency Caps
    You don’t want to stalk people around the internet. Cap your ad frequency to avoid fatigue and irritation.
  5. Use Retargeting for Specific Offers
    If you’re promoting a CLE for realtors or a downloadable estate planning guide, retargeting can be a good way to get second looks on something specific—not just your brand in general.

When It’s Probably Not Worth It

Skip retargeting if:

  • You get fewer than 500 visitors per month
  • You aren’t running other digital ads
  • Your content doesn’t give people a reason to come back
  • You don’t have the budget to create multiple ad variations

In those cases, you’re better off improving your website, running search ads, or sending better emails.

So… Is It Worth It?

For most solo and small firms, retargeting should be a supporting tactic—not the star of the show. It can nudge someone back to your site, but it won’t do the heavy lifting of convincing them to contact you.

Focus first on building traffic, improving your offer, and making your site easy to trust. Then, if you’ve got enough volume, use retargeting to remind people why they stopped by in the first place.

You type a legal question into Google. Instead of the usual links, a big block of AI-generated text appears at the top of the page with a full summary and sources. It’s fast. It looks helpful. And if you’re a law firm trying to get traffic from search? It might feel like a problem.

This is Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) and it’s changing the way people find information online.

Here’s what solo and small firm attorneys need to know.

What Is SGE?

SGE is Google’s latest move toward AI-driven search. When it’s on, users don’t just see a list of websites, they get a generated answer to their query at the top of the page, often before the organic results appear.

The answers are pulled from multiple sources across the web. Sometimes those sources are cited. Sometimes not.

Right now, SGE is still in testing. It hasn’t rolled out to everyone. But it’s clearly where search is headed.

What This Means for Your Website Traffic

If you rely on organic search to bring in leads, SGE could cut into your traffic, especially for blogs and FAQs.

Why? Because SGE gives users a complete answer right on the results page. That means fewer clicks to your site, even if your content helped generate the answer.

This doesn’t mean blogging is pointless. But it does mean you’ll need to rethink what kind of content is actually driving people to contact you, not just visit your website.

Your Website Still Matters, But the Role Is Shifting

People may not need to visit your site to get a quick answer. But that’s not the same thing as hiring a lawyer.

Your site’s main job should be building trust and showing that you’re real, experienced, and approachable. That means:

  • Clear service pages
  • Strong bios
  • Good reviews
  • Client-centered messaging
  • Easy ways to contact you

SGE doesn’t replace that. It just shifts where in the process someone might visit your site. You’re no longer the first stop. They’ve already read a summary. You’re the next stop, once they’ve decided they need help from an actual attorney.

Content Still Matters, But Strategy Matters More

Publishing blog posts isn’t just about ranking anymore. It’s about supporting a long-term marketing strategy.

That includes:

  • Reinforcing your credibility for referral traffic
  • Filling out your email newsletter
  • Supporting social media content
  • Answering client questions before they ask
  • Giving people a reason to stay on your site longer

You don’t need to churn out SEO-driven articles hoping to land on page one. Focus on writing content that gives prospective clients confidence in your approach. It’s still useful. It’s just not the whole game anymore.

Where AI Can’t Compete

SGE is good at summarizing public information. It’s not great at:

  • Understanding nuance in local laws
  • Offering practical next steps for someone’s real problem
  • Building a relationship

That’s where you win.

Instead of trying to rank for every question, focus on content that helps real people make real decisions. Explain what a consult looks like. Share the risks of doing nothing. Break down what clients often misunderstand about your area of law.

Google’s AI doesn’t know how you run your firm. It can’t tell someone how you work with clients. But your website can.

Don’t Panic. Adjust.

SGE isn’t the end of legal marketing. But it is a sign that search behavior is shifting again. It’s no longer enough to hope someone Googles a question and lands on your blog.

Your job is to make sure that once they realize they need help, you’re the one they trust.

That comes from being consistent, showing up across multiple channels (including Google Business, YouTube, and social), and making your site easy to engage with.

Automation makes a lot of things easier, but it doesn’t make everything better.

The appeal is obvious: fewer manual tasks, more efficiency, better consistency. And for solo and small firm owners, automation can save hours a week. But there’s a point where it stops being helpful and starts eroding the trust you’re trying to build.

Some marketing tasks are meant to be streamlined. Others still need a human touch. Knowing the difference is what separates sustainable marketing from sloppy shortcuts.

Here’s where to draw the line.

1. Personal Follow-Up Messages

Automated email sequences can help with general lead nurturing. But once someone reaches out to you directly, whether they fill out your contact form, reply to a newsletter, or DM you on social media, they should get a real response.

Don’t hand off that moment to a bot.

People can tell when they’re being brushed off with a generic “Thanks for reaching out, we’ll be in touch.” If someone expresses interest, curiosity, or concern, they deserve a human reply. Not later. Now.

This is especially important for referrals. If someone says, “Hey, I was told to call you,” and your first response is canned? You’ve already lost ground.

2. Your Online Reviews and Testimonials

Some platforms make it easy to auto-request reviews after a case closes. That’s fine if the ask is genuine and personal.

But if you’re copying and pasting the same dry language into every follow-up, you’re going to get fewer responses, and the ones you get won’t be that helpful.

Reviews work best when the person writing them feels like they’re doing you a favor. That’s hard to pull off with cold automation.

The same goes for replying to reviews. Never automate your responses. A simple “Thanks!” is better than a long, obviously scripted blurb. People want to see that you care, not that you outsourced your appreciation.

3. Your Social Media Comments and DMs

Automated replies to social messages are almost always a bad look.

Yes, platforms like Facebook and Instagram make it easy to auto-respond to DMs. And it might feel efficient to drop an instant “Thanks for reaching out! We’ll get back to you soon.” But most people interpret it as robotic, especially if they asked a question.

If someone comments on your post, engage like a real person. If they message you, reply like a real person.

This isn’t just about being polite. It’s also a signal to the algorithm. The more you engage directly, the more visibility your future posts will get.

4. Your Thought Leadership

You don’t have to write every blog or newsletter yourself. But what you do put out under your name should sound like you and reflect what you actually believe.

If your content is 100% AI-generated, templated, or ghostwritten without review, it shows.

Thought leadership works when it builds trust. That means people need to feel like they’re hearing from you, not some anonymous content farm. Even if you use a ghostwriter or an AI tool to draft posts, make sure the final version has your tone, your insight, and your approval.

5. Client Relationship Touchpoints

Birthdays. Holidays. Check-ins. Thank-you notes. These are the touches that build real loyalty.

Automating them can save time, but it often misses the mark. A generic holiday email or a templated “Happy birthday!” message doesn’t mean much if it feels like it came from a spreadsheet.

If you really want these things to count, keep them personal, even if that means sending fewer of them. A handwritten thank-you to a great client is going to get remembered. A mass-blasted e-card won’t.

Automation Works Best When It’s Invisible

The goal is to make your marketing feel personal, even when it’s not always 100% manual. Use automation to handle background tasks: scheduling posts, sending reminder emails, and segmenting your audience. That’s what it’s good for.

But when it comes to actual communication with real people, especially your leads and clients, show up like a human being. It doesn’t take much more time. And it builds real trust.

If you’ve ever asked a client how they found you and they said “Google,” there’s a good chance that’s only part of the story.

Maybe they saw your name in a Facebook group a month ago. Then they read one of your blogs. Then they checked your reviews. Then they searched for you on Google. That final search gets the credit, but it’s not the whole picture.

That’s attribution. Figuring out which piece of your marketing led to a new client.

It sounds simple. It’s not.

And if you’re running a small firm, you’ve probably run into this frustration before. You invest in different tools, spend money on ads, write newsletters, and try to stay active on social. Then someone becomes a client and shrugs when you ask how they heard about you.

The good news: you don’t need perfect data. But you do need to care enough to track what you can and act on it.

First, Let Go of the Idea That One Thing Caused the Lead

People rarely hire a lawyer because of one thing. Legal services take trust, time, and repetition. One blog post might help. A strong review might help more. But it’s usually a combination of several things.

That’s why single-source attribution (giving all the credit to the last click or last touch) doesn’t tell the whole story. You might think your Google ads aren’t working because no one says “I clicked your ad,” but those ads may have helped reinforce your credibility during their research.

Why It’s So Hard to Track

A few reasons:

  • People forget. Most clients aren’t tracking their own buyer journey. They don’t remember every touchpoint.
  • Attribution tools are limited. Unless you have a custom-built marketing stack (which most small firms don’t), you’re stuck with basic analytics.
  • Cross-device behavior matters. Someone might read your newsletter on their phone, then look you up on their laptop, then call from their work computer.
  • Dark social is real. That’s a term marketers use for stuff you can’t track—like a friend texting your name, a Slack recommendation, or a Facebook message.

This doesn’t mean you give up. It means you stop chasing perfect attribution and focus on useful patterns.

So, What Can You Track?

You can still gather helpful insights without turning your firm into a tech lab. Here are a few low-lift options:

  • Ask better intake questions. Instead of “How did you hear about us?” ask “What made you decide to reach out today?” That opens the door to more useful answers.
  • Look at overall trends. If your referral numbers are steady but web leads are up, that tells you something.
  • Track your channels. Use tools like UTM codes in links so you know which email, ad, or post someone clicked.
  • Review call logs. If you use a call tracking tool, you may be able to connect phone inquiries with specific marketing efforts.
  • Check engagement. Look at what people are clicking in your newsletters or where they spend time on your website.

Again, none of this is perfect. But over time, you’ll start to see what consistently contributes to growth.

Don’t Let Attribution Drive Your Whole Strategy

Some of your most valuable marketing won’t show a clear ROI on paper.

A podcast guest spot. A long-form blog. A workshop presentation. These might not get tracked clicks, but they can still build awareness, trust, and referrals.

If something helps people get to know you or trust you, it’s worth doing, even if it’s not easy to quantify.

At the same time, don’t ignore performance completely. Make room for both gut and data.

Focus on the Long Game

Attribution is helpful. But it’s not the goal. The goal is a consistent flow of qualified leads from a mix of sources.

Think about where your best clients tend to come from. What channels helped build that trust? What tools make your firm look credible? That’s where your marketing dollars and time should go.

Even if you don’t have a perfect tracking system, you’ll still benefit from paying attention.

You’ve probably seen your Google Business Profile before, but when’s the last time you actually did something with it?

For most law firms, it’s a “set it and forget it” item on the checklist. The profile got claimed, a few photos were added, and maybe someone asked a friend to leave a review. But that’s usually where the effort stops.

The problem is, most firms are doing the same thing. Which means if you want to stand out locally, you need to go a little further. Not with gimmicks or black-hat tactics, but with small, consistent moves that still matter in 2026.

Here are a few basic steps that still give you a real edge if you actually follow through.

1. Post Weekly. At Least.

Google lets you publish updates directly to your Business Profile. And they’re still showing those posts in search results.

Think of these as mini blog posts or social updates of 150–300 words. You can talk about FAQs, common legal myths, tips for new clients, or anything else relevant to your practice.

Posts expire after 7 days, which means consistency matters. Weekly updates show Google and potential clients that your profile is active and your business is paying attention.

Pro tip: Include a photo with every post. Even a simple graphic or office shot works.

2. Pick the Right Categories (Yes, Plural)

You probably selected “Lawyer” or something similar when you set up your profile. That’s fine, but there’s a drop-down of additional categories you can add. Use them.

If you focus on estate planning, criminal defense, or family law, include that. Google lets you set one primary category and multiple secondary ones. These help your profile show up for more specific searches.

Just don’t get carried away. Stick to categories that clearly apply to your actual services.

3. Add Services and Descriptions

There’s a section in your profile where you can list your services. It’s not just a throwaway feature. It actually adds keywords to your profile and helps Google match your business to related searches.

Add your practice areas here, along with short descriptions in clear language. Think about what your clients might search: “Wills and Trusts,” “DUI Defense,” “Divorce Consultations,” etc.

Keep it short. A sentence or two for each is plenty.

4. Get Reviews and Respond to Every One

Reviews are still one of the strongest signals for local SEO, and that hasn’t changed in 2026.

The key isn’t just getting reviews. It’s responding to them. Thank people by name (first name only), write a genuine reply, and avoid copying and pasting the same message every time.

You don’t need hundreds of reviews overnight. A steady flow of a few each month looks more real and has a bigger impact than a sudden spike.

5. Upload Photos Every Month

You don’t need a professional photographer. Google favors active profiles, and uploading photos regularly is part of that.

Take photos of your office, your team, signage, parking, or anything that helps potential clients feel familiar before they walk through the door.

Geotagging isn’t necessary. Just upload clean, real images that match your brand.

6. Use the Q&A Section to Your Advantage

There’s a little-known feature on your profile: people can ask questions, and you can answer them.

You don’t have to wait for someone else to get the ball rolling. You can seed this section yourself by using your personal account to post common questions you hear from potential clients, then answer them through your business profile.

This gives you another way to add helpful content and show that you’re accessible and responsive.

7. Monitor Your Insights, but Don’t Obsess

Google Business Profile gives you insights into how people find you and what actions they take. It’s worth a look every month or so, but don’t overthink it.

What matters more is staying active and visible. These hacks aren’t flashy, but they add up.

Don’t Let It Sit Idle

Your Google Business Profile is often the first thing people see when they search your name. If it looks neglected or outdated, it reflects poorly whether that’s fair or not.

The good news? Most firms aren’t doing much with it. Which means it doesn’t take much to get ahead. A few minutes a week go further than you think.