So What Even Is Geofencing or Geolocation Marketing?

When you Google geofencing the definition that appears is “the use of GPS or RFID technology to create a virtual boundary, enabling software to trigger a response when a mobile device enters or leaves a particular area.” Basically, it’s the ability to target your ads to users who enter a specific “fenced” geographic location to push relevant information when and where they may be looking for it and at any time in between. Not only will this strategy pull in new leads if you understand what you’re doing, but it will also bring in quality leads with intent to convert. Later in this post, I’ll list some key tips to optimizing this type of campaign.

What Can Geofencing Do for My Firm?

When you’re setting up your Google and Facebook Display campaigns, you no longer just have to input the city you’re looking to target. The market is already saturated with other law firms, and you’ll be paying top dollar to get your ads to show up, much less be the top result. The first step is to examine your demographics and target audience. Then, find specific neighborhoods or landmarks and really zero in on your exact customer. You know that intersection where there are always a lot of car accidents and the auto repair shop that services those wrecks? That’s an area you should target. Know of any physical therapy clinics or chiropractors? Bingo. If you’re an attorney that specializes in estate planning, look for higher-income areas like fine dining venues or country clubs and golf courses. Go where your customers are.

Why cast a wide net in a large pond when you cast a small one where the fish are biting?

15 Quick Tips to Get You Started

1. Get to know your audience and demographics. Without this, you’re toast.
2. Plan and prioritize your KPIs and performance metrics, then build your campaign from there.
3. Exclude locations where you know your target customer won’t be.
4. Target specific events within the town or city. Morris Bart does a great job of this by sponsoring Lil’ WeezyAna Fest in New Orleans.
5. Bigger “fences” don’t always mean better. Keep a 4-5 minute travel radius from your desired location.
6. Make sure the CTA is location-specific so that your customer understands the relevance of your ad and isn’t utterly annoyed by your brand.
7. Timing is key. Try to have your ads show at relevant times for your customer, though this is obviously different for everyone.
8. Use the data you receive from these campaigns to constantly improve them. What’s that quote that mentions insanity and doing the same thing over and over again?
9. The message in the ad should prompt immediate action and usher the user to take the next step.
10. Consider population density in the areas you’re targeting.
11. Targeting your competition is a very good idea
12. Use location-specific landing pages. Once again, these ads must be relevant.
13. Use location-specific keywords, and even use slang!
14. Set location-based bid adjustments so you don’t break the bank.
15. Enable extensions in your ads for easy calling and emailing. People love convenience.

The Future Is Here

Hyper-targeting potential customers based on niche locations is the next big thing, and utilizing these features in your campaigns is easier than ever. Billboards may still have some value, but it’s more effective to post virtual billboards inside of a customer’s smart-phone or computer at a much lower price than traditional advertising or even PPC campaigns. Geofencing is still relatively new, which means you can stay ahead of the curve.

Which Steps Should You Take Next?

Get the ball rolling! It’s time to optimize your ads to target your key demographic. Need some help? No worries. We have an expert team of online marketers to get your campaigns up and running to gain new clients. Are you unsure of who you should be targeting or do you need to figure out which metrics matter to your business? We’ve got you covered. Request a proposal with Search Influence today.

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Spin and point

“Reputation is an outcome, but it is also a valuable, strategic asset,” says Andrew Griffin.

By cornering your social media game and online presence, you’ll be able to aptly manage your law firm’s online reputation and mold its online “personality” to set the stage for a reliable and effective firm in the eyes of future clients. The next five steps are vital to shaping your brand and ushering new clients through your virtual door.

Step 1: Ask for Reviews

When consumers are beginning their search for a law firm, they turn to the internet to do some digging. 65 percent of consumers claim to be swayed by the reviews they find on your firm, and a single negative review can drive away 22 percent of potential clients. Ouch.

So How Do We Combat the Bad Publicity?

Set up a system and a strategy to make it as easy as possible for your clients to leave you reviews (see Step 2). By flooding your Google My Business listing with bright and positive client reviews, you push the negative commenters further from the line of sight and cement your standing as a reputable firm. Asking for reviews may seem a little tricky, but the key is to ask at the optimal time, like right after you’ve won a case for a client.

You might be asking why I’m mentioning Google reviews? Google has been proven to be the most frequently used review platform when customers search for attorneys. It’s the most popular search engine, so it makes sense that it would beat out other platforms. You really can’t beat convenience.  After Google, the most popular review platforms are Facebook, Yelp, then Avvo. This doesn’t mean you should ignore these sites, but asking your clients to leave their praise on Google is more important.

Step 2: Find a Place to Filter All of Your Reviews in One Place

My biggest piece of advice is to stay organized. If your law firm has multiple locations, this is even more important when managing your online reputation. Between Google, Facebook, Yelp, and Avvo, you’ll have a hard time bouncing from platform to platform, putting out fires, and responding to client praise. BirdEye is a great way to consolidate your online reviews and respond to them in kind.

Bonus Perk

BirdEye keeps your law firm’s contact and business information accurate across all review channels, and it also makes it easy to ask your clients for reviews by putting all of the tools right in their lap. As mentioned before, you really can’t beat convenience.

Step 3: Respond to EVERY Review Within 24 Hours

This is where BirdEye really comes in handy with managing your law firm’s reviews. The internet has given the world many wonderful things, but it also introduced an element of chaos. And when I say chaos, I mean a scathing online review about your firm (that may or may not be valid) that’s posted in public where your potential clients can see it.

Fear not—you’ll be OK. It’s time for you to find your zen and craft an empathetic and professional reply that acknowledges the trouble the reviewer faced, offers an avenue to make it right, and then thanks them for their feedback. At the end of the day, these reviews can actually be very helpful in letting you know how to improve your business and pinpoint some issues that may be happening more often than you’d like.  

Bonus Perk

You have now positioned yourself in the public eye as a firm that’s genuinely interested and concerned about all of your clients, not just the happy ones.

Step 4: Start a Blog

Content. Content. Content.

Position your law firm as a thought leader in your areas of practice and write content that speaks directly to your potential clients and, just as importantly, to Google. Creating more content for your site that’s relevant to what your potential clients are searching for directly translates into where you rank for relevant search results. There are other factors that affect your rankings, but content is among the most important.

Let’s say a potential client, we’ll call him Gary, was in a wreck last week. The driver who hit him was uninsured. Gary is at a loss about what legal action he should take and doesn’t know if he even has a case. To answer his questions, he turns to Google and asks for some advice. If you’re a personal injury attorney, you could craft a blog that explains Gary’s rights and a step-by-step guide to finding the help he needs to file a lawsuit to cover the damages. So when Gary searches for clarification, your blog could be the first one to pop up, which prompts him to click onto your website and potentially become a paying customer.

Consider the types of cases that generate the most revenue for your firm, research how consumers search for information about those practice areas, and craft your content strategy around the information you find!

Step 5: Hire a Marketing Firm

As cliché as it may sound, you have better things to be working on than creating a marketing strategy, monitoring your social engagement, and writing blog posts in your spare time on the weekends. Save yourself some time and energy and talk to one of our strategists about building a bulletproof strategy on managing your online reputation and drawing up a game plan to solidify your online presence. With several teams dedicated to each aspect of digital marketing, Search Influence has all hands on deck to craft the perfect strategy to make your positive online reviews more visible and create relevant blog topics that will have potential clients knocking on your digital doorstep. Start a conversation with one of our experts today.

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