It is no longer enough to just be a great law firm and expect clients via word of mouth or referrals at the courthouse. You need to create a digital marketing strategy for your law firm. You have to build a presence on online channels where your prospects are searching for firms.

But which marketing channels should your law firm focus on? How to create an effective law firm marketing strategy? And should you hire a legal marketing agency, or go a DIY route? We’ll answer all of these questions, and then some in today’s post on legal marketing statistics. Let’s begin with an overview.

Related reading: Future of Legal Marketing

Law firm marketing statistics overview

Here are some general stats to inform your law firm’s marketing strategy.

1. 83% of legal firms hire external marketing firms to do their marketing work. (CallRail)

2. Most legal firms think that social media platforms are both the best way to market themselves. But ironically, it’s the most underperforming channel. (CallRail)

3. 71% of firms say they are “somewhat” to “very” involved in their marketing efforts and strategy. (CallRail)

4. 45% of legal firms spend money on remarketing to follow up with leads that didn’t become customers, and they consider this a good way to use their marketing budget. (CallRail)

Note: If you’re contemplating paid marketing, you can consider our law firm PPC services.

5. 91% of firms say that they deal with the same clients multiple times. (CallRail)

6. 95% of firms agree that since the marketing is non-billable the spending risk is perceived to be greater. And, as such, it is very important to use their marketing budget effectively. (CallRail)

7. Most legal firms agree that email is the best way to get in touch with unconverted leads. (CallRail)

8. What do law firms think about the importance of client intake software?

98% of legal firms say that intake software helps them make better decisions about marketing.
65% of legal firms say that Intake software helps them close more clients.
79% of legal firms say that Intake software helps them use their time more efficiently while getting new clients. (CallRail)

9. 46% of clients of legal firms report making their initial contact by phone. (CallRail)

10. The biggest online marketing strategy for law firms is website optimization. (CallRail)

If you’re facing a similar issue, why not hire our law firm SEO experts?

Budget stats on law firm marketing

How much does the average law firm spend on marketing? How do law firms reach out to prospective clients? Let’s find out in this section.

1. Here’s a general breakdown of the law firm marketing budget across channels:

Internet marketing channels account for 28% of a law firm’s marketing budget.
Law firms spend 19% of their marketing expenditure on print and billboard ads.
TV advertising accounts for 17% of law firms’ marketing budgets.
16% of law firms’ marketing budgets go to networking.
14% of law firms’ marketing budgets go to podcast/radio commercials and 10% to other initiatives. (CallRail)

2. On average, legal firms invest 49% of their yearly budget on marketing. (CallRail)

3. As compared to the previous year, 49% of firms had increased their marketing budget, while 15% decreased it, based on a 2018 survey. (ALM Intelligence 2018)

4. 66% of legal firms want to spend more on their websites in the future. (CallRail)

If you’re one of these firms and are short of time, you’ll be glad to know that we offer website design services for law firms.

5. Here’s what the allocation of the budget for law firms looks like on various aspects of digital marketing. (CallRail)

In our experience, SEO remains one of the most lucrative channels for attorneys.

7. The top 200 law firms in the US have an average marketing budget of $2,354,946 based on a 2018 survey. (ALM Intelligence 2018)

8. 48% of legal firms want to increase the amount of money they spend on online marketing through popular channels. (CallRail)

9. On average, a company will devote 49% of its marketing budget to remarketing. (CallRail)

Social media marketing for law firms statistics

For us, social media remains a controversial marketing medium for attorneys. But let’s look at what the numbers say.

1. 84% of law firms generate leads through organic social media traffic. (CallRail)

2. The respondents of a 2021 survey indicated that the content creation for social media marketing for their law firm had the following split:

38% of content was created by the marketing staff.
21% was done by outside consultants.
11% each was done by office managers and firm technology staff. (American Bar Association)

3. About 27% of lawyers say that their firms have blogs. (American Bar Association)

A legal blog could be a great source of leads for your firm as well.

4. Four out of ten lawyers say that they market themselves on LinkedIn. (American Bar Association)

5. 17% of law firms said that they did not outsource their digital marketing.

(CallRail)

6. 33% of law firms generate leads through online review sites, like Yelp. (CallRail)

No wonder reviews are super important for a firm’s local SEO.

7. 41% of law firms get some traffic as clients look them up on digital professional directories to avail of legal services. (CallRail)

8. 33% of law firms use Facebook on a daily basis for marketing, while 16% market themselves on Twitter. (American Bar Association)

9. Only 28% of respondents’ firms use video for marketing, including 19% of 2-9 lawyer firms, 18% of 10-49-lawyer firms, and 10% of soloists. (American Bar Association)

10. Of all law firms, 51% use Google Analytics, 45% use Facebook Insights, and 37% use Twitter Analytics to determine where they will spend their marketing budget. (CallRail)

Stats on other marketing strategies

11. 72% of law firms utilize client email alerts to market their firms, based on a 2021 marketing survey. (American Bar Association)

12. 41% of respondents’ law firms use email newsletters for marketing, a number which has risen since 2020 when only 26% of respondents’ firms did so, based on a 2021 survey. (American Bar Association)

13. 78% of all law firms say that they engage in paid search marketing, but 82% of these firms don’t think the ROI is worth it. (CallRail)

It also appears that law firms are not paying much attention to analytics data available to measure the efficacy of their online marketing activities:

14. Only 14% of respondents indicated that their firm works with an outside agency and gets regular reports on web analytics. Merely 21% indicated that they have an internal marketing team that has web analytics information and provides regular reports to the firm.

(American Bar Association)

15. Based on the above stat, it is then no wonder that on a scale of 1-5:

Respondents indicated their level of confidence in their firms’ marketing effectiveness at only a 3.
The largest law firms have the highest confidence level, at 3.4,
Solo firms have the lowest at 2.7. (American Bar Association)

Law firm website stats

Law firm websites are the most important digital asset for attorneys. Let’s take a look at a few stats around them:

1. In an AMA 2021 Marketing Survey:

Marketing staff did website management for 24% of law firms
Outside consultants managed websites for 21% of firms
For 13% of firms, one lawyer managed their site,
And for 12% of firms, it was done by firm administrators. (American Bar Association)

2. As per the same survey, the majority of law firm websites still appear to be used primarily as one-way communication tools.

6% of respondent websites offer live chat, including 9% of solo practitioners or firms with 2 to 9 attorneys, 6% of those with 10 to 49 attorneys, and 2% of those with 100 or more attorneys.
63% of websites with live chat use virtual receptionists, 11% use attorneys, and 5% use, in-house receptionists. 21% outsource live chat. (American Bar Association)

3. As per a 2021 marketing survey by American Bar Association:

Only 17% of respondents stated that consultations could be scheduled using their firm’s website. (American Bar Association)

4. Of all the legal firms that utilize blogs:

89% do so for client development,
59% do so because they like writing and outreach. (American Bar Association)

SEO stats on the legal industry

In addition to social media marketing, one of the ways legal firms can truly achieve their potential in terms of client conversion is SEO. We have covered law firm SEO statistics here in great detail. But let’s quickly look at a few quickly below.

1. The three-year ROI on SEO is a whopping 526% for the average law firm. (FirstPageSage)

2. An average law firm spends about $150,000 on SEO. (FirstPageSage)

3. On average, it takes 14 months for legal firms to recoup the costs they incur for SEO. (FirstPageSage)

4. A typical law firm sees an average of 21% increase in organic traffic by improving SEO. (FirstPageSage)

5. SEO was rated as the most effective channel for marketing and gaining clients by 79% of surveyed legal professionals in a law firm study by BrandMuscle in 2020. (BrandMuscle)

6. 85% of potential clients prefer to use Google as a primary source for research when looking for a lawyer, which makes SEO very important. (iLawyer Marketing)

7. 56% of legal firms outsource their SEO efforts to external marketing firms. (CallRail)

If you’re convinced about investing in search engine optimization, check out our guide on SEO for lawyers here.

Final thoughts

Whatever your practice area, digital marketing is important for your firm. Over the years, we’ve seen our clients increase their revenue many folds by investing in law firm marketing.

Hopefully, the legal marketing stats in this article give you a good idea of the direction of your firm’s marketing strategy.

The Current State of Legal Marketing: Statistics 2025