According to Forbes, digital marketing will overtake television ads in 2017 for the first time ever. Even so, commercials are still one of the most popular forms of marketing due to the fact that so many consumers still watch TV. Recent data compiled by Total Audience Report shows that Millennials watch 22 hours of TV per week, while older generations watch even more. Adults aged 50-64, the sweet spot for most Social Security disability firms, watch a staggering 43 hours of TV every week. This equals about 6 hours of TV every day.
TV commercials often seem like they’re the most successful form of marketing for many attorneys because their firms receive many phone inquires from TV ads. But does this mean commercials are actually your most profitable form of marketing? Unless you accurately evaluate your cost per case, or amount of marketing budget to sign one new client, you may be sending thousands of advertising dollars to ineffective campaigns.
How Much Do Commercials Cost?
According to Chron, airing a TV ad will set your firm back quite a bit. If you’re airing your firm’s commercial on a local TV spot, you can expect to pay $200 at minimum for one 30-second spot, but you could pay up to $1,500 for a commercial on a popular local channel, such as on one of Los Angeles’ or NYC’s more popular news stations.
If your firm spends $1,000 to produce a 30-second commercial, and airs it twice per day on a mid-sized local station at $700 per spot, you’ll need to pay a grand total of $43,000 for your commercial over one month. Is this a good deal? Or did you waste nearly $50,000? It’ll all depend on how many inquiries you receive, and your firm’s area of law.
Cost Per Case From TV and Potential Returns
If you get 10 potential claimants calling your firm every day after seeing your commercial, you’ll have 300 inquires over the month, but not every case will be pursuable of course. Because it’s impossible to target a commercial to your ideal audience, you’ll likely receive a lot of calls from viewers who don’t have a case, or who are confused about your area of law. Still, it’s not unreasonable to assume that you could sign 25 interested parties as new clients. This hypothetical situation would give your firm a cost per case of $1,720.
Spending $1,720 for a new mesothelioma claimant is likely a great deal, but for case types like Social Security disability, spending $43,000 on a month’s worth of commercials is wildly unprofitable unless you’re able to get hundreds of potential claimants inquiring about your services every week. If you do get the volume you’re looking for, you’ll also need a large staff on hand to field incoming phone calls. A solo practitioner or smaller firm is likely ill equipped to handle hundreds of new inquires per week.
Lead Generation and Cost Per Case
Commercials are certainly a viable option for thousands of firms across the country who have a large marketing budget and a prepared intake staff to vet callers. They’re also great because with TV commercials, you’re not hounding a potential claimant. Your callers were proactive enough to reach out to you first. But there may be other marketing channels that are even more profitable.
Lead generation is a great alternative to TV commercials because the costs are usually significantly lower. Not only do you eliminate any startup costs, but you can also guarantee that you’ll be paying for contact information of potential claimants. A risk with TV commercials and any other form of “traditional” marketing is that you could air your ad and nobody would inquire about your legal services. Our Social Security disability clients usually see an average cost per case of just $250-$350.
eGenerationMarketing currently offers Social Security disability, personal injury, workers’ compensation, and employment law leads. If your firm would like to learn more about our availability in your area, give us a call today at 617.800.0089.
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/much-television-advertising-really-cost-58718.html
http://www.marketingcharts.com/television/are-young-people-watching-less-tv-24817/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brandonkatz/2016/09/14/digital-ad-spending-will-surpass-tv-spending-for-the-first-time-in-u-s-history/#236f02104207