Obtaining new clients is vital for most law firms. One nuance of law firm advertising that many overlook is tracking where their clients generally come from in any locale. For example, knowing the zip codes where a law firm’s clients come from is becoming increasingly important with online advertising.
While targeting ads to certain zip codes makes sense for many law firms, most law firms and marketing agencies are not even thinking about this online marketing strategy. Instead, most marketing companies run law firm ads broadly to entire cities, states, counties, or metropolitan areas.
Why Do Zip Codes Matter?
Many might ask why knowing the zip codes where the clients come from matters. The reality is with online advertising, law firms often have a choice of how they target their online advertisements geographically.
Take law firms that are in large cities or metropolitan areas for example. A law firm could target its Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, or other paid ads in an metropolitan area (often referred to as a DMA) or entire cities, counties, or states. However, if a law firm targets its online ads this broadly, running them could quickly become very expensive. The expense could rise to the point where the obtained cases might not generate enough revenue when considering the cost.
On the other hand, if a law firm tracks where most of the zip codes where their clients come from, the law firm could instead target their ads in those zip codes only. By taking the ads in those zip codes online, the cost of running these ads could become more manageable. The ads will also likely reach individuals who are more likely to become clients.
What Zip Codes Should A Law Firm Run Their Advertisements In?
If a law firm decides to target zip codes, it is important to have a good strategy to know what zip codes to target. There are many different ways to go about this. There may not be one right or wrong way to do this.
However, targeting the zip where your office is located and the zip codes immediately around the office might make sense. For some law firms, it might be wise to target zip codes where the individuals there can afford your law firms’ services. It also might be worthwhile looking at the zip codes or prior clients and then targeting the zip codes where most prior clients were located.
What Zip Codes Does A Law Firm Not Want Their Ads Running In?
Conversely, a law firm might not want to blacklist certain codes so that their ads are not showing up in those locations. Zip codes might be too far from your law firm’s office location. It might be zip codes where prior clients have not generally come from. It could also be zip codes where the individuals are not likely to afford your fees. Regardless of the thought process, most online advertising platforms allow a law firm to select the zip codes where their ads do not appear.
Think About Zip Code Targeting Today
The reality is targeting online advertising by zip codes is becoming increasingly important. If this is not something your law firm is carefully considering and contemplating with your online advertising, it is likely a big mistake. Many marketing companies that run online advertising for law firms are not thinking about this or discussing it with their clients. Thus, it can be vital for most law firms to begin the discussion with whoever is managing their online advertising if they are not running them internally.
If you have any thoughts, feel free to share them below.