Find Personal Injury Clients

How to find personal injury clients? If you are a personal injury law firm, then you have likely researched the most effective way to answer this question.

And the answer to this question has changed dramatically over the past 15 years. The best way to find personal injury clients 20 years ago was rather limited, and lacked in the all-important targeting component.

The Digital Age Has Evened the Playing Field

The digital age has revolutionized the way in which law firms are able to find clients. It has leveled the playing field in great ways. 

In the old days, only the largest firms had the marketing budget required to build a substantial client base. It took a minimum threshold to move the needle, and even the minimum was a very heavy budget. 

With today’s marketing platforms and the power of micro-targeting, small and medium-sized firms can now swim in these deep waters. 

However, a vast majority of firms are still using antiquated methods and processes to acquire clients. And burning through their marketing budget to boot. A small fraction of small and mid-size law firms are taking full advantage of all the powerhouse tools in today’s digital toolbox.

The Single Biggest Change Born from the Digital Age

The single factor that the digital age has most changed how to find legal clients comes down to one thing: Targeting.

With TV advertising, or traditional print ads, you are targeting to a broad and non-specific audience. 

So each time your ad appears, whether it is on TV or in print, a very small fraction of people have any interest in the ad. And 99%+ of the audience seeing the ad have no need for that service, and are likely taking a potty break as soon as it presents on TV.

With today’s targeting options and improved technology, you have the ability to micro target your ideal client. It has been a true game changer. And most importantly, it has enabled small and medium-sized firms to compete with the giants in a given market.

It is well-known in TV advertising that running ads for a month has little to no effect. As we’ll get to later, TV advertising is about branding, and branding requires repetition. So it takes six months bare minimum just to get a little traction. 

With today’s legal lead generation, the world is your oyster to find your ideal prospect in your targeted geo market. It enables you to find personal injury clients fast!

Best Ways in 2022 to Find Personal Injury Clients

Google Ads

Google Ads is a pay-per-click platform. What does this mean?

This means that you pay Google $1,000, for example, and you want your ad to show in google search when the user/prospect searches “car accident attorney Dallas TX.” So when someone searches that in google (called a query), your firm’s ad will show in the search results. 

However, you only get charged when someone clicks the ad. Hence the term “pay-per-click.” And if that click costs $200, then you now have $800 in your ad account and you just paid Google $200. That’s how it works. And if your ad shows a lot with no clicks, now it impacts your quality score which increases your cost. It gets complicated.

Google ads is very targeted because you are meeting someone’s intentional search for a service. So when you pay Google to run an ad for your targeted service, in this case personal injury, they will only serve that ad to someone who has searched that exact keyword that you specify. 

And you tell Google three (primary) things:

1. The keywords you want to target (and variations of those keywords).
2. The location where you want the ads to show.
3. The days and times you want the ads to show.

Now this sounds simple, but it is a very complex platform. It is essential to be an expert on the platform to make the most efficient use of the ad spend.

Ways to Blow Ad Spend With Google Ads

We see law firms every day throwing away ad spend with an ineffective use of keywords and geo targeting. On a weekly basis we see law firms running ads in a certain location. We then contact the firm only to find out their service area is very specific, and two states away from where the ad is running.

This is the result of sloppy campaign management, or the advertising company is just trying to generate leads, regardless of the quality and alignment (lead criteria). They just want to include in their monthly report that they generated X number of leads, even though X times 40% actually meet their lead criteria.

Many attorneys think that running Google Ads (what used to be called Adwords) is too expensive and ineffective. And to some extent they are right. If the campaign is poorly managed or has sloppy targeting and ineffective keywords, it can cost a small fortune with very little in the way of results.

However, if it is run effectively with an experience team, there is an absolute strong return on investment for that attorney or firm. Many large and experienced law firms that have a strong team managing campaigns have been running ads for years. 

If the conversion rate percentages and return on spend were not there, these ads would not be running for years and years. The proof is in the proverbial pudding.

And the sister platform to Google Ads is YouTube, and YouTube is also a very effective platform to find clients needing an injury attorney.

Facebook and Instagram Marketing

Facebook is another platform that is used to find personal injury clients. And much like Google Ads, it has a somewhat tarnished reputation that is often the result of ineffective management of the ad account.

When these campaigns are run properly with an experienced team, there will be a strong return on the ad spend. Again, it requires competent, experienced, and effective management of the campaign. And years of testing.

Facebook marketing is different from Google ads, because it is more impulse than intent. With Google ads someone searches for a service or need that they have in that moment, and Google then delivers ad based on that need. So it is intentional.

However, with Facebook it is more impulsive than intentional.

Someone is scrolling their Facebook feed and sees an ad that connects with them in some way. They then click the ad to learn more. So they are not intentionally searching for a service, but they find a service that captures their interest.

And in this case the ad serves a need that they have, even though they were not trying to fix in that moment. And although it’s a different psychological means of connecting with the prospect, the results can be every bit as effective. Once again, it comes down to the experience and expertise of the team managing these ads.

And the factor that has most changed (and improved) Facebook marketing in the last few years is Facebook’s pixel. It has become very clever in its ability to seek out and find the prospect that meets your criteria for “ideal client.”