General consumers get ~20-40 promotional emails a day, whereas professionals and business owners get upwards of 70. You know exactly the ones we’re talking about. Odds are, you delete most of them without reading or opening them. Though you may see them as useless junk, marketers track these diligently. 

For instance in 2023, a “birthday email” had a conversion rate of 0.72%. What happens when someone visits a website, puts something in their cart, and then leaves? These people often get reminder emails, and these had a conversion rate of 2.56% in 2023. 

Now that you have a general idea of the conversion rates, it’s important to highlight that one type of email is significantly more successful than others. “Back in stock” emails had a conversion rate of 5.84%. 

Sure, law firms don’t sell out of services and have to restock, so they’ll likely never send this type of email. However, the principles behind the back-in-stock email apply to legal marketing, even if your focus is to stay top of mind and drive referrals. 

Create Urgency Around Real Opportunities

The best ecommerce emails often create a sense of scarcity—limited stock, flash sales, or expiring discounts. While law firms aren’t selling physical products, you can still introduce urgency by pointing out real deadlines or time-sensitive issues. For example, you might alert clients to upcoming changes in legislation or court filing deadlines. You can also create a sense of exclusivity by offering limited slots for free consultations, webinars, or other time-bound services.

It’s not about manufacturing pressure—it’s about helping your audience take action when timing matters. When clients feel like they’re being informed instead of sold to, they’re more likely to stay engaged.

Build Anticipation by Offering Consistent Value

One reason back-in-stock emails work is that people are waiting for them. That sense of anticipation can also be built into your legal email strategy. Readers look forward to your emails when your firm consistently provides helpful, practical content.

You can build this anticipation by creating multi-part content series or teasing upcoming resources. For example, an estate planning attorney might offer a three-part email series on updating wills, or a business lawyer might share exclusive commentary on a new regulation. When readers expect value, they keep opening your emails and will be more likely to think of your firm when someone needs legal help.

Lead with Useful, Shareable Content

The most effective emails don’t always sell, they inform. Product review emails convert well because they offer insights, not just promotions. In legal marketing, this translates to emails that answer common questions, explain recent legal changes, or provide actionable tips.

When your content is genuinely helpful, your audience is more likely to forward it to others, bookmark it, or follow up with questions. That helps you stay top-of-mind and increases the likelihood of referrals. Don’t underestimate the power of consistency—regular, helpful emails reinforce your firm’s credibility over time.

Let Us Handle Your Email Marketing 

Your email newsletter is one of the simplest and most effective tools for staying connected to your audience, growing your referral network, and positioning your firm as a reliable source of information. Schedule a Discovery Call with Spotlight Marketing + Branding —we’ll help you build a strategy that keeps your audience engaged and your firm top-of-mind.

People often tend to view marketing as a checklist. There are professional marketers who do the same thing as well. It’s an easy trap to fall into, especially if you are diligent enough to set aside time each quarter to map out a marketing strategy. On these plans, people list various initiatives, such as newsletters, events, and social media ads. 

All these tactics will remain disconnected (and the results may even be underwhelming) if you don’t have a cohesive system tying it all together. Regardless of whether you hire an agency or run your marketing in-house, keep the concept of connectedness in mind as you develop a marketing plan. 

Content & Ads Should Work Together 

Think of content as the foundation of your marketing plan. You don’t write blogs or social media posts to “convert.” That’s what paid ads, landing pages, and drip campaigns are for. But if that’s the case, then what’s the point of all this content then?

Content is part of a long-term strategy. Blogs, organic social media posts (unpaid), and videos demonstrate to your audience that you have something valuable to say. Each of these tools works toward establishing credibility. 

There’s a person out there actively looking for a lawyer they can trust, and you must show you are that person. Educational content brings the right prospect further along on the buying journey, and it also filters out the wrong ones. And because content lives on your website, it will work forever if you make it evergreen (timeless). 

How Content + Paid Ads Get You Clients 

Now, combine this with a paid ad on Facebook promoting one of the free guides on your website. (This type of content is commonly referred to as a lead magnet.) These ads are effective because they are purposeful and they give your content more reach. You can target a particular type of client to ensure that the right people see the content you’re creating. 

But here’s where things get interesting: content improves ads, and ads improve content. A well-written blog post doubles as an ad destination. You run an ad that offers value such as a checklist, a video, or a how-to article, and people click because they’re curious, not because they’re being sold. 

Ads validate your content strategy. Run two ad variations promoting different blog topics and see which performs better. Suddenly, you’re not guessing what your audience wants. You’re seeing it in real time. The data informs what content you create next. 

Retargeting takes this a step further. Someone visits your site and reads your post on what to do after a car accident. That’s not the end, but rather the opening. With the right pixel in place, you can send the same person an ad a week later, such as a free consultation, a case study, or another article that delves deeper into the topic. That’s a conversation, not a cold pitch.

Adopt A Complete Marketing System 

If you have ever felt that your marketing plan lacks direction or is not generating a sufficient return, consider building a better system. One that gets you more of the right clients. Book a one-on-one discovery call with Spotlight Marketing + Branding to see if our content and paid ads strategies make sense for your firm. 

When it comes to Facebook ads, you could have the cleanest copy, the most eye-catching creative, and even a perfect funnel, and still fail. Why? Because it didn’t get in front of the right people. However, Facebook’s ad platform gives you a tremendous amount of autonomy over who sees your ads, and more importantly, the type of client you work with. 

Facebook is one of the most powerful platforms for reaching future clients, but it must be paired with a precise strategy. Let’s discuss how to choose the right audience for your ads. 

Leveraging Demographic-Based Audiences

One of the reasons Facebook is a fantastic advertising platform is its vast information and data. As a result, you can target individuals based on age, gender, income bracket (derived from behavior and zip code), and educational level. 

It’s easy and somewhat enticing to run a Facebook ad and select your target audience as you go, but this would be a mistake. This type of targeting is most effective when you already have a clear understanding of your client profile. Who are the individuals or organizations that require your services? For example, a family law firm targeting divorce cases does not need to reach everyone—their ads need to be seen by people who married, aged 30-50, living within a 15-mile radius of the law firm. 

Casting a wide net may be appealing, but this would be counterproductive. You don’t want to be everyone’s solution. Narrow down the type of people who would or will be looking for you, even if they don’t need your services yet. (You can nurture this relationship through newsletters, social media posts, informative blogs, and educational videos until they do.) The tighter your filters, the more relevant you will be. Relevance drives clicks and conversions, which in turn lowers your costs. 

Using List-Based Custom Audiences

It’s essential to note that you’re not entirely reliant on Facebook for data. You can build a custom audience with CRM exports, newsletter lists, email subscribers, past clients, and anyone else you have a connection with. Upload your lists into Facebook Ads Manager, and Meta will securely match the data to user profiles (using hashed data) to create a private audience tailored just for you.

Segment your list before you upload it. Create separate audiences for cold leads, warm leads, and past clients. You can retarget people who almost hired you. Re-engage your best clients. Promote a new service to people who opted in two years ago but haven’t interacted since. Your own data is often your most valuable.

What About Lookalike Audiences?

Your custom audience is an opportunity to build a wider one. Facebook’s Lookalike Audience feature finds people who resemble the ones in your original list. It’s pattern recognition at scale. You give Meta the blueprint, and it scans for similar profiles.

This is how you scale while ensuring your ads are still seen by the right people. You can start with a Lookalike Audience that’s 1% similar to your source list (this means the most precise match). As your budget and performance grow, you can gradually broaden to 2% or 3% to reach more users with slightly looser matching criteria.

The quality of your source list matters. If you upload a list of cold leads, your Lookalike will inherit that. But if you base it on actual clients? You’ll get more people who behave like actual clients. 

Retargeting Audiences

Sometimes, people click on your ad but don’t take any further action. Others will visit your website, leave, or watch a video, and stop it halfway through. People may mistakenly assume that these are lost leads. They aren’t; they’re warm leads. A warm lead is someone who has interacted with your content or firm in some way, but they haven’t yet become a client. They’re in a space where they may take another step toward booking a consultation, but they may need a nudge, i.e., retargeting. 

Retargeting captures warm leads by tracking digital behavior. It watches who’s interacted with your content and then follows up. This is accomplished in several ways: 

• Facebook Pixel or Meta Tag
• Engagement Tracking 
• Audience Building 
• Follow-Up Ads

You can set retargeting windows based on user behavior—last 30 days, 60 days, 90 days—and deliver fresh content based on what they’ve already seen. Maybe it’s a testimonial. Maybe it’s a short FAQ video. Perhaps it’s just a reminder about a cleaner CTA. If someone sees the same ad six times, it’s not “branding”—it’s noise. Keep the content fresh, relevant, and sequential. Treat retargeting like a conversation, not a billboard.

Ready for Smarter Ads?

Audience targeting isn’t a guessing game and shouldn’t be an afterthought. Spotlight Marketing & Branding helps law firms build ad campaigns that start with precision, not hope. Ready to stop wasting clicks? Contact us to determine if Facebook ads are the right fit for your firm.

Without question, Facebook ads can generate a steady stream of quality leads, but a few caveats go along with that. They are an incredibly effective tool for growth, but that’s not to say they are universally applicable to every marketing strategy. The only way to identify whether they are right for you is by asking yourself a few questions. These answers will also factor into your overall strategy—a fundamental prerequisite to not wasting your budget. 

Most businesses just launch campaigns without defining their goals, knowing who their audience is, or quantifying what a lead is worth. Even more, there are different paid ads platforms that can generate leads for your firm. For example, Google ads capture prospective clients as they search for legal services, while Meta ads (Facebook, Instagram, etc) can reach people before they need you. By answering these three questions, you’ll better understand whether it’s time to incorporate them into your next marketing plan. 

1. What Services Are You Promoting?

Not every service is a good fit for Facebook advertising. Since Facebook operates on an interruptive marketing model, meaning users aren’t actively searching for legal help, the service you promote must catch attention and create urgency.

Legal services like estate planning, family law, and bankruptcy often perform well because they address issues people might not search for immediately but still need solutions. For example, someone who is thinking about divorce might not Google “best family lawyer” immediately, but a well-placed Facebook ad can prompt them to take action sooner.

On the other hand, business law and complex litigation can be more complicated to market on Facebook since business owners tend to seek referrals or use Google searches instead. (Facebook ads can still work for these service areas, but we did want to point out a scenario in which another strategy could be helpful.) If you’re running ads for a service that isn’t an obvious fit, you’ll need a compelling offer—such as a free guide, webinar, or limited-time consultation—to generate interest. Simply running an ad that says “Call for a Consultation” is not enough; the ad must give people a reason to act.

2. Who Are You Trying to Reach?

Facebook’s strength is its detailed audience targeting, but if you don’t define your ideal client, even the best ads will fall flat. Broad targeting wastes ad spending, while precise targeting improves lead quality. When crafting your audience, consider key factors like age, income level, location, and behaviors.

For example, an estate planning attorney may want to target homeowners aged 35+ with children, while a personal injury firm could focus on individuals recently engaged with auto insurance content. Facebook allows you to layer multiple targeting options to get as specific as possible. Here are a few effective ways to narrow your audience:

• Demographics: Target users by age, location, family status, or homeownership.
• Behavior & Interests: Focus on people interacting with legal content, insurance companies, or financial planning services.
• Recent Life Events: Facebook allows you to target people who have recently engaged, divorced, or moved to a new city, making it ideal for family law, estate planning, and relocation-focused firms.

Beyond cold targeting, Facebook allows custom and lookalike audiences to maximize conversions. Custom audiences let you retarget website visitors, past leads, and people who have engaged with your firm’s previous ads. Lookalike audiences help you reach new potential clients who share characteristics with your best existing clients. The more refined your targeting, the higher quality your leads will be.

3. What’s Your Budget and Target Cost Per Lead?

Facebook ads work best when you have a clear budget and cost expectations. Too many firms launch campaigns without defining what they can afford to spend per lead and client. Without this, it’s easy to burn through your budget without getting a return on investment.

Start by calculating your average case value and conversion rate. If a case is worth $5,000 and 20% of your leads become clients, you must keep your cost per lead within a profitable range. Depending on the practice area, Facebook ads for law firms typically cost $50 to $300 per lead and a cost per client acquisition of between $500 and $3,000. Monitoring these metrics will prevent overspending and help you fine-tune your campaigns for better ROI.

Here’s how to determine your ideal cost per acquisition (CPA):

• Know Your Average Case Value – If your average client is worth $5,000, that number should guide your ad spend. 
• Estimate Your Conversion Rate – If 10% of leads become paying clients, you must generate 10 leads to get one client. 
• Calculate Your Max CPA – If you wanted (for example) a 3:1 return on investment (ROI), your cost per client should not exceed one-third of your case value. For a $5,000 case, your max CPA would be $1,667 or less per client.

Ways to Improve Your CPA: 

• Use Lead Magnets. Offering something valuable (such as a free consultation or downloadable guide) can lower your cost per lead. 
• Improve Landing Pages: You’re wasting ad dollars if your website doesn’t convert visitors into leads. 
• Retargeting Campaigns: Re-engage people who clicked but didn’t contact you.

Tracking key performance metrics like click-through rate (CTR), cost per lead (CPL), and conversion rate ensures you’re not overspending without results. If your CPA is too high, adjust your ad copy, targeting, and landing page before giving up on Facebook ads altogether.

Is Facebook Advertising Right for You?

Facebook ads can be a powerful client acquisition tool if you have a service suited for Facebook, a well-defined audience, and a clear budget strategy. Without these elements, you risk wasting time and money. The most successful law firms on Facebook ads treat it as an ongoing strategy—constantly refining their audience, testing different creatives, and tracking results. 

Need help optimizing your Facebook ads? Spotlight Marketing & Branding can create and manage campaigns that deliver real results. Contact us today to get started!