How to Choose a Legal Marketing Provider: 10 Checks

What should you look for in a legal marketing provider?

Look for four things: evidence, clarity, ownership and care. Evidence means past work and clients you can speak to, not just a list of logos. Google's guidance for hiring an SEO suggests asking for past work and success stories, asking what results you can expect and how soon, and asking previous clients whether the work was helpful and easy to work with. Clarity means the provider can explain each change and why it matters, without hiding behind jargon. Ownership means that the website, domain, analytics, advertising accounts and Google Business Profile are held in your firm's name, so you can leave without losing them. Care means that the supplier understands that your firm, not they, answers to the SRA for what is published. A supplier who treats regulatory checks as your problem alone is not a good fit for a law firm.

Ten checks before you sign

A scorecard turns a gut feeling into something your partners can discuss. Before you meet any supplier, agree the ten checks below and who will mark them. Ask two or three people to score separately, such as a partner, the practice manager and the COLP, then compare notes. Differences in scores are useful, because they show where people have different worries. Shortlist no more than three suppliers, so that each gets a proper hearing, and give them all the same brief and the same questions. Ask for the proposal in writing and ask them to explain the first 90 days in plain English. Do not let a polished pitch decide the matter: a clear explanation, checkable past work and honest answers about what they cannot promise are better signs than a confident presentation. Give each check a mark from one to five and compare your shortlist.

1. Relevant experience. Have they worked with regulated firms and your practice area? Ask what they changed for those clients and how they measured it.
2. Named people. Who will do the work? Ask to meet them, not just the sales contact.
3. A realistic plan. Does the proposal describe what happens in the first 90 days, and does it avoid fixed ranking promises?
4. Reporting. Will you see enquiries, calls and signed cases, or only clicks and positions?
5. Tracking set-up. Will calls and forms be tied to the source that produced them?
6. Ownership. Will you be the owner of the website, domain, analytics and ad accounts?
7. Access. Will they explain every change they make, and ask only for the access they need?
8. Regulatory process. Is there a sign-off step before ads, pages or reviews go live?
9. Contract terms. Is the notice period fair, and is the scope specific?
10. References. Can you speak to two or three current clients without the supplier on the call?

Take the scores to your partners and your COLP. A supplier who scores well on everything except regulatory care can still be a poor choice. Also look at fit. A supplier who is excellent for a high-volume consumer practice may be the wrong choice for a small private-client firm that wins most work through referrals, and the reverse is also true. Ask whether they would be comfortable if you spoke to a former client who left, as well as a current one. How they react tells you a good deal about how they work. Finally, look at the people: you will work with them for months, so you need to be able to ask simple questions and get plain answers.

Which red flags should make you walk away?

Google lists warning signs you can apply to any marketing supplier, not just SEO providers. Be careful with unsolicited emails offering services, claims of a special relationship with Google or a "priority submit" option, and vague or secretive explanations of the plan. No one can guarantee a number-one ranking, and a supplier who promises one should be avoided. Google also warns against link schemes and deceptive content that breaks its spam policies, because these can lower your site's presence or remove it from the index. Add law-specific red flags. Be wary of anyone who buys or writes reviews for you, because Google's policies prohibit incentivised and fake reviews and the CMA's guidance covers fake and concealed incentivised reviews. Be wary of lead sellers who cannot say how people were contacted. And be wary of any payment model that looks like a fee per lead or per client for personal injury work.

How do you check a supplier's regulatory awareness?

Ask for their process, not just reassurance. The SRA's warning notice on marketing to the public says firms must be able to show that clients introduced by lead generators were not obtained through cold calling or other unsolicited approaches. It says that a third party not being SRA-regulated is not an answer. It also says firms should obtain and review the third party's marketing material, check that referred clients were not acquired through misleading material, and carry out regular spot checks asking new clients how they were contacted. Use these points to shape your questions. Ask how the supplier gets consent for any contact details they pass on. Ask to see the ads, landing pages and scripts before they go live. Ask who signs off claims about price, speed and outcomes. If the supplier has no clear answer, that tells you something. This is general information, not legal advice, so involve your COLP.

How do you compare proposals fairly?

Put each proposal into the same table before you compare prices. The columns should be: what is built once, what is done each month, what is reported, who owns each asset, how long the contract runs and how to leave. Two proposals with the same headline fee can contain very different work. One may include content writing and technical fixes; the other may only include account management. Ask each supplier how they would judge success at 90 days and 12 months, and what they would do if results fell short. A good answer names numbers you can check, such as enquiries, answered calls and signed cases. A weak answer uses vague words like "visibility" and "engagement". Our guides on law firm marketing cost and cost per signed case will help you set the yardsticks.

What should the contract say?

Cover these points in writing:

• Ownership of the website, domain, analytics, ad accounts and Business Profile
• The scope of work and what counts as extra
• Regulatory sign-off before publication
• Reporting format and frequency
• Notice period and handover on exit
• A rule that no reviews are bought, written or incentivised on your behalf

Next step

If you would like an outside view of your current set-up before you choose a supplier, book a free audit. We are an operations partner for law firms, so we look at how enquiries are captured, answered and tracked, not just at the website.

You can also read about our law firm marketing services and how we help with lead generation.