Efficiency in Digital Marketing: Make Every Dollar Count

Business Strategy & Development, Digital Marketing, Paid Search (PPC), SEO

Google will still crawl your site.
Google will still rank you.
Google will still send you emails about structured data errors.

And Google will use all that beautiful information to generate AI answers.

But Google will not send you traffic.
That time is done.

— Cyrus (@CyrusShepard) May 4, 2025

As you can imagine, this tweet sparked a bit of conversation in the Postali offices. Shepard is a very well-regarded SEO consultant, speaker, and thought-leader. It’s a powerful statement from a trusted source with enough real-world evidence to save it from being dismissed as alarmist or (only) hyperbole.

Now, let’s be clear upfront. Despite headlines and headwinds, digital marketing for law firms, including SEO, is perhaps more business-critical than ever.

But the rapid changes both in technology and buyer behaviors are significant. Legal marketers and advertising agencies alike are being forced to get smarter, faster, and, key to today’s post, more efficient than ever before to remain competitive.

But let’s also be clear-eyed about Cyrus’ tweet and the experiences that inspired it. In June of last year, Rand Fishkin, once of Moz notoriety, and founder of Sparktoro, published this study of changing user behavior in Google Search. Notice:

• Nearly 60% of searches were Zero-Click; the search ended.
• Another ~13% went to a Google-owned property. (YouTube, Maps, Images, etc.)
• Just 1% of clicks went to Paid Ads

If only 29.3% of first searches result in an organic click, that’s a clear narrowing pathway through what once was called “The Gateway to the Internet”. New studies continue to indicate that the expansion of AIOs and other SERP features is only constricting the flow of users from Google Search to organically listed websites.

What About Google Ads for Law Firms?

The most immediate and simplest rebuttal to Shepard’s claim is, “Ads, of course”. And that’s correct. Google’s primary source of revenue is delivering traffic (and leads) to paying advertisers. 

There has also been a significant migration of marketing dollars to PPC and LSA (as a percentage of the total marketing budgets), as evidenced by Alphabet’s Q1 earnings. Despite significant discord, they were up 12.1% year-over-year, surpassing $90 billion in the first three months of 2025. 

But at their heart, both the PPC and LSA systems are auctions, so attorneys in markets large and small see Cost Per Click (CPC) and Cost Per Lead (CPL) increase among the migration. Downstream pressure continues to increase in kind.

We’ve written recently about the requirements for successful digital marketing for law firms during these rapid changes. One of those is diversification: in marketing channels, as well as in reviews and reputation management, and the agility to manage both the data and platforms. 

Here, we’d like to discuss another requirement for navigating the new digital era: Ruthless Efficiency.

Data-First Digital Marketing

Too often, efficiency is a broad directive that says, “Do more. Get more. With less”. Just as frequently, that incentivizes decisions that create near-term savings but long-term deficiencies that can be difficult to overcome.

Instead, let us highlight a few key areas primed for testing and often ripe for optimization. By no means an exhaustive list, this should serve as a starting point for internal initiatives or conversations with your marketing agency.  

Pay Per Click

For all of its challenges, PPC remains among the most effective outlets to reach potential new clients at their time of need. It is also the single most dynamic digital marketing channel for attorneys, offering myriad ways to modify delivery across bidding, targeting, and messaging. Conversely, leaving these elements unattended can lead to wasted ad spend.

You should be looking for opportunities, or to your agency for insights regarding, results-based modifications regularly, including but not limited to:

• A/B Testing Ad Copy Headlines, Body, and Extensions
• Location, Device, and Audience Segmentation Testing
• Buildout of Negative Keyword lists
• Landing page performance and optimization opportunities

Retargeting

Retargeting is one of the most effective ways to capture lost leads and maintain brand awareness. Simply put, retargeting displays ads to people who have previously visited your website or interacted with your brand, encouraging them to return and convert. Studies show that even basic, display ad retargeting in addition to search can improve conversion rates by as much as 43%.

Cross-platform retargeting can dramatically improve reach and efficiency. Consider retargeting across Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and even programmatic ad networks to cover your full funnel.

Additionally, audience segmentation is crucial. Group visitors based on the specific pages they visited, the depth of their interaction, or the intent signals they provided. For example, someone who visited a practice area page for “Family Office Services” should be treated differently from someone who read a blog post about “intestate succession”.

Search Engine Optimization

It may not feel “buzzy” among the current flood of AI-hype, but a proper, deep focus on the fundamentals of SEO can be a critical wedge against competitors. In particular, foundational Technical SEO significantly correlates with the emerging best practices for AI search visibility and helps maintain local SEO and map share. You should remain attuned to:

• Site Architecture, including the hierarchical structure of your site and newly published content
• Site Speed and Core Web Vitals, which you can test here, both for UX (User Experience) and for Google’s crawlers
• Continuing to publish truly helpful content that both anticipates the questions of potential new clients and answers them thoroughly
• A strong law firm brand that proves unique value and can be leveraged for off-site SEO in the form of citations, backlinks, and PR

Conversion Rate Optimization

CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) is about making the most of the users and traffic you worked so hard to earn, converting more visitors into qualified leads. This starts with landing page design — clear, benefit-oriented headlines, strong calls to action, and trust signals like client testimonials, bar affiliations, and industry awards. However, effective CRO does not end with design and brand.

Form testing is another critical component. Multi-step forms, mobile-optimized elements, and reduced friction can significantly boost form completion rates. Consider pre-filling known fields and removing unnecessary steps to improve conversion rates.

Behavioral analytics tools like heatmaps and click tracking can reveal precisely where users are getting stuck or losing interest. Use this data to make informed design adjustments and remove conversion bottlenecks.

Finally, A/B testing is essential. Even small changes to button text, image placement, or form fields can significantly impact overall conversion rates.

Intake Efficiency

It has been said, but cannot be repeated enough; Year after year, the Clio Legal Trends report shows that lack of response is the most significant gap between law firms’ current state and their goals.

This year, 48% of law firms failed to answer or call back phone inquiries, and 67% never replied to email inquiries.

If you’re confident that you and your staff are responsive, the next step is to look into call tracking and recording for coaching opportunities. Where allowable by law and agreed to by the client, at Postali, we use CallRail both for digital marketing performance tracking and call recording.

In auditing calls from prospective new clients, you should be asking:

• Are calls disconnected?
• Are calls misrouted?
• Could phone service be extended (e.g., overnight answering or rollover service if all lines are busy)?
• Where do prospects “drop off” in our process?
• Where is there room for improvement in client-facing communication?
• And ultimately, is our process effective?

Additionally, if you do not currently have a chat function on your site, we strongly recommend you institute one immediately. It may be a chatbot or one with a human attendant. But in the current marketplace, prospective clients expect it as an option. You’re likely missing out on opportunities without it.

If you do have chat functionality, whether bot or human, you can evaluate its efficiency in a similar way to your phone intakes:

• What technical errors?
• Are there scripting errors?
• Where do prospects “drop off” in our process?
• Where is there room for improvement in client-facing communication?
• And ultimately, is our process effective?

Budgeting Efficiencies

Running efficient campaigns means making data-driven decisions, not relying on annual plans, past performance, or “general feel”.

As we’ve shared previously, agility is also crucial. Be prepared to shift spend based on live performance, reducing underperforming channels, and doubling down on those delivering quality leads. Real-time dashboards, like those Postali provides to our clients, offer the required transparency for truly agile decision-making.

Diverse, Efficient Digital Marketing by Postali

Efficient law firm marketing is about more than just cutting costs — it’s about maximizing the impact of every dollar. By diversifying your channels, optimizing your resource allocation, and refining your intake processes, you can position your firm for sustained growth, even in a rapidly changing digital landscape.

If your current strategy feels inefficient or unfocused, it might be time for a more tailored approach. Postali’s team of legal marketing specialists can help you build a more innovative, more efficient digital strategy that drives real results.