Speaker 1: 0:05

Let's talk about law firm ads that don't look like ads. Welcome to Legal Marketing 101. I'm Toby Rosen. And what if I told you that your best performing ad, your best performing campaign, the ad in it didn't have to look like an ad at all? I'm sure you guys know this, but studies show that 74% of people dislike ads. That feel intrusive, and I made that stat up. But here's the thing you thought it was true, because we're all annoyed by these ads and whether or not it's 70% or if it's 80% or if it's 40%, we still have an edge when we do something that's different than our competition.

Speaker 1: 0:41

So often we are competing in these saturated markets where traditional ads and when I say traditional, I'm including things like Google ads and Facebook and all that kind of stuff but these saturated markets, the traditional stuff, tends to sort of fail when it comes to standing out. Let's face it. Look, most people scroll right past the ads on Google and right past the ads on Instagram without a second thought. Why? Because traditional salesy ads trigger resistance. When consumers sense that they're being sold to, they're instinctively putting up walls, and this is not a surprise to us, and this is not really a surprise to us, but it then turns out that the best performing ads are the ones that don't really feel like ads. They're the ones that feel organic and suck somebody in.

Speaker 1: 1:29

Think about the last time that you encountered an ad online. If it looked really polished or had a heavy sales pitch, chances are you tuned it out, unless it was exactly what you needed at the exact right time, and you might've even felt kind of annoyed by this intruding in your process of scrolling through Instagram. This is what we call ad fatigue. This is a marketing term that we use to help understand when people are just tired of looking at ads, and the reality is that ad fatigue is a major hurdle, not only for marketers, but for law firms that are trying to stand out. So let's consider an alternative. We're scrolling through our feed and we come across this short video where a lawyer is explaining the steps to protect a small business from a lawsuit. The tone's friendly, the advice is practical and there's no obvious pitch, just valuable information. What happens? We pause, we watch, we maybe click, follow or share or comment or something. That's what the power of an ad that doesn't look like an ad really is. People are drawn to this authenticity. You are too, you know it. Ads that feel genuine and helpful are much less likely to trigger that resistance because they're resonating not only with what the audience may need at that really specific time, but they actually want answers to their questions or solutions to their problems. When our content aligns with their needs, without trying to sell them something, it becomes a lot easier to build a connection. And we constantly talk about connection. But building trust is really the cornerstone of effective marketing for law firms.

Speaker 1: 3:03

Legal services almost always carry a high emotional and financial cost, so potential clients need to really feel confident in their choice. Traditional ads with flashy slogans, hard sells CTAs these days. In certain scenarios these can make people actually kind of skeptical. But these non-ad ads that integrate, it's a completely different approach. Instead of shouting, hire us, we're the best law firm in town, we have leather chairs and mahogany-bound books and our apartment smells of Ron Burr, whatever it is, these ads focus on providing the value first. Instead of doing that hire us thing, we're focusing on providing value first.

Speaker 1: 3:44

So imagine a video series where you're answering common legal questions what should I do if I'm served with divorce papers? How can I protect my intellectual property as a startup owner by positioning yourself as the resource you demonstrate your expertise while also showing you care about helping people, whether they hire you or not. So something like a 60-second video answering a frequently asked legal question can do wonders. Not only does it showcase your knowledge and make you more personable, but it's humanizing your entire firm. People aren't just seeing the lawyer. They're seeing the someone that's approachable and relatable and is a mom or a dad, or a brother or a sister or whatever it is. Over time, these small interactions, they build up trust and they make it much more likely that these viewers will remember you and turn to your firm when they need legal assistance, and when ads prioritize this value over hard selling. We're starting to blur this line between content and marketing.

Speaker 1: 4:40

This approach really capitalizes on curiosity rather than interruption. Audiences feel empowered and not pressured to engage and take action, and that's really the key difference. The bottom line is that ads that don't look like ads tap into what people truly want Authenticity, relatability and answers. They allow law firms and anyone in the legal marketing space to stand out by being more than just a service that you can call. You become a trusted guide.

Speaker 1: 5:08

Now let's talk about the characteristics of these ads. What actually sets an ad apart from everything else that's competing for attention, when it doesn't feel like an ad. That's what really sets it apart. These types of content and this type of ad itself blends into the content audiences are naturally engaging with. This provides value, creates that connection, builds that trust, and so let's break down these key characteristics. First is educational content. One of the simplest ways to create an ad that doesn't feel like an ad is to just educate your audience. Think about the questions that your clients are frequently asking what should I do after a car accident? How do I know if I needed a will or a trust? What do I do if I've been served with divorce papers? Turning these questions into short videos or blog posts or infographics provides real value while showcasing your expertise. A one-minute video explaining what to do after a workplace injury can be informative without even pitching your services at all. You could do it subtly, but you don't really have to. This positions you as a resource, a helpful resource, rather than just the next law firm on the block that's advertising its services.

Speaker 1: 6:15

Element two is storytelling, and this takes a lot of different forms on different platforms, but we're going to talk about some of the easy ones because, look, people connect with stories way more than they connect with statistics or slogans or even pictures of cute kittens. Sharing real client success stories, while, of course, still respecting client confidentiality and respecting state guidelines, it can have a really powerful impact. So, instead of saying we've helped hundreds of families navigate custody disputes, we can share a story that's either personalized, if we have it, or more generalized. Let's share a story about a single mother who successfully secured custody with your guidance. This brings your services to life in a way that resonates emotionally and, ultimately, we're building content that can be reused over and over on different platforms.

Speaker 1: 7:03

But number three here is community involvement, because nothing says authentic like showing that your firm is a genuine part of the community, that you're in Ads that highlight your involvement in things like local events, sponsorships, charity work all of these subtly promote your brand while building a lot of goodwill. So if you say, volunteer at a local 5k charity run or go to work at a food drive with the team, create a video about it. You don't have to be self-congratulatory, but you can humanize your team a little bit and align your brand with these positive values. This is a win-win not only for you but for your community, you're doing good, while creating content that naturally resonates with viewers. Number four and this really sort of all runs together at a certain point, I think you'll agree is user-generated content.

Speaker 1: 7:52

User-generated content is the online marketing equivalent of word of mouth. And look, I don't need to tell you how powerful this is. Encourage your clients to share their experiences, whether it's a quick video testimonial, a Google review, a shout out on social media. These authentic endorsements carry way more weight than any paid ad, any piece of content we can create, because they come from real people. Once you have permission, repurpose this content into your campaigns. We talk about this all the time, but once you have it created, do something with it. So, if you have a ton of different reviews, post them on different social media platforms, or create a montage of the testimonials to put on your website or your YouTube channel, or even just highlight the text of it in a graphic that you can post on LinkedIn, by focusing on the education, the storytelling, the community and the user-generated content, which I may start referring to as UGC in a second.

Speaker 1: 8:46

Your ads are more than just marketing to as UGC in a second. Your ads are. They're more than just marketing. They are a reflection of you and your firm's values and they demonstrate your expertise over and over. When your audience sees you as approachable, trustworthy, genuine and honestly just human and really that you're invested in the needs of your audience and of your clients, the odds that they're going to engage not only with your content but with you and become clients I can't put numbers on this, but it's infinitely higher that this will happen. But it's not magic that this will happen, because creating these ads it does take a lot of strategy, it takes some creativity and you have to have this understanding of your audience. So let's break down how we can really get started with this and what we can do to craft these authentic, engaging stories that really resonate with potential clients.

Speaker 1: 9:37

Number one is to understand the audience. At the heart of every successful ad story-based or not is a clear understanding of who you're speaking to and where those people are. Legal services and really most things are just not one size fits all and the messaging and the ad itself needs to really reflect the unique concerns of your target audience. So you can start off by using Google Analytics, facebook Insights any of these data tools to gather information about your audience. What questions are they searching for? What topics are trending in your practice area? And once you have this data, start tailoring that content to address the specific pain points. We've talked about this in a few previous episodes, so you may already have this together. The really important thing here is to not just guess. Take the time to learn what keeps these clients up at night, whether it's concerns about their custody arrangement, the estate planning, workplace injury claims, a car accident, a truck accident. Aligning your content with the needs of the clients ensures that your ads provide real value right away. And once you've figured out where your audience is, too, we can actually figure out how to leverage the trends on the social media platforms that they're on. So this is constantly evolving, but staying up to date with the trends and staying a little bit ahead can give you a really significant edge.

Speaker 1: 10:56

So formats like day in the life ask me anything. These are really great for creating engaging, authentic content that's already in a format that your audience is going to understand. A day in the life or how a lawyer starts their morning video could showcase the human side of you and your firm An attorney that's prepping for court, the team brainstorming during a case review, or even lighthearted moments at the office in the break room, brainstorming during a case review, or even lighthearted moments at the office in the break room. These little snippets provide an inside look into your firm while making you a lot more relatable to potential clients. You could also do things like an ask me anything session. This could be on TikTok or on Instagram or on Facebook, and you can host a live Q&A answering questions like what should I do if I get injured at work? Not only does this showcase your expertise, but it fosters this direct interaction with your audience.

Speaker 1: 11:46

And finally, one of the most important things to really farming that engagement is to keep it visual. We live in a visually driven world. All of the videos have subtitles, they have flashy colors, they have nice thumbnails, and the quality of the visuals that we put out can make or break our advertising. Investing in things like professional photography, videography it is worth every penny and it ensures that your content looks polished and credible. But I will say this you don't have to hire a professional to do these things. You can do it on your iPhone. The key is to make sure it's well lit, the audio is crisp and clear and there's just nothing nonsense going on in the video. But you can do things like creating a behind-the-scenes video of the firm that shows how potential clients can go through the process of arriving there, going into their meeting room, everything that happens for when a client comes in the door. A short video about how the team prepares for a client's case could help demystify the legal process, make it feel more approachable and help the client understand what they're actually paying for.

Speaker 1: 12:48

But if you don't want to do this yourself and you just want it to be done, another great option is animated explainers. I'm not going to talk about this a lot. It's not something I bring up often, but it can work. Animations are great for breaking down complex legal processes anything from how to file a personal injury claim or the steps involved in estate planning and these can be shared across platforms repurposed for ads posted on blogs sent out with emails. But the key thing here is that we're focusing on visuals that are professional and engaging and elevating our brand to keep our audience's attention even longer. Now we'll be back with more on advertising and actually more on ads that look like ads very soon. But for today, that's it for Legal Marketing 101. Check out RosenAdvertisingcom for more. Thanks.