PI Lawyer Marketing: What Works in 2025

Personal injury is the most competitive legal marketing vertical in America. The average cost-per-click for “car accident lawyer” exceeds $200 in major markets. Mass tort lead costs run $300-800+. And it’s getting worse every year.

This guide covers what actually works for PI marketing in 2025. Not theory, but the channels, strategies, and economics that drive real client acquisition.

The Current State of PI Marketing

The Problem: Search Dependency

Most PI firms are over-indexed on bottom-funnel marketing:

• Google Ads (PPC)
• Local Service Ads (LSA)
• SEO

These channels capture existing demand: people already searching for a lawyer. That’s valuable. But there’s a ceiling: only so many people are searching today, and every competitor is fighting for them.

Metric	2020	2023	2025	Trend
Avg PI CPC (major markets)	$120	$175	$225+	↑ 15-20%/year
LSA cost per lead	$150	$225	$350+	↑ Rising
Firms competing for “car accident lawyer”	High	Higher	Saturated	↑ Always

You’re paying more each year to fight for the same pool of searchers.

The Shift: Demand Creation

Smart firms are rebalancing:

Old model: 80% search/SEO, 20% everything else

New model: 50% demand capture (search), 50% demand creation (TV, CTV, awareness)

Demand creation means reaching people before they need a lawyer, building brand recognition so when something happens, they think of you first.

This isn’t soft “brand awareness” marketing. It’s strategic positioning that makes every other channel work better.

Marketing Channels for PI Firms

Tier 1: Foundation Channels

Google Ads (PPC)

• Role: Capture high-intent searchers
• Cost: $150-400+ CPC for PI terms
• Pros: Immediate leads, high intent
• Cons: Expensive, competitive, ceiling-limited
• Verdict: Necessary, but not sufficient

Local Service Ads (LSA)

• Role: Capture “near me” and local searches
• Cost: Pay per lead, $200-500+
• Pros: Top of results, Google-verified
• Cons: Limited control, rising costs
• Verdict: Must-have for local visibility

SEO

• Role: Long-term organic visibility
• Cost: $5-15K/month ongoing
• Pros: Compounding returns, “free” traffic
• Cons: Slow (12-24 months), requires patience
• Verdict: Essential for long-term, not short-term

Tier 2: Awareness Channels

CTV (Connected TV)

• Role: Awareness, brand building, demand creation
• Cost: $20-50K+/month
• Pros: Targeting, measurement, big screen impact
• Cons: Not immediate leads, requires search protection
• Verdict: Best awareness channel for most firms

Broadcast TV

• Role: Mass awareness, market saturation
• Cost: $50K+/month minimum in most markets
• Pros: Massive reach, credibility
• Cons: Waste, poor measurement, high minimums
• Verdict: Still works for established firms with budget

Radio

• Role: Frequency and local presence
• Cost: Varies widely
• Pros: Lower cost than TV, repetition
• Cons: Declining listenership, background medium
• Verdict: Supplementary, not primary

Tier 3: Supplementary Channels

Social Media Ads

• Role: Retargeting, engagement, younger demos
• Pros: Precise targeting, lower CPMs
• Cons: Low intent, scroll-past behavior
• Verdict: Good for retargeting, weak for cold prospecting

Billboards/OOH

• Role: Local visibility, brand presence
• Pros: Constant exposure in market
• Cons: No targeting, no measurement
• Verdict: Location-dependent

Direct Mail

• Role: Targeted outreach (especially mass tort)
• Pros: Can target specific lists
• Cons: Response rates declining
• Verdict: Situational

Referral Marketing

• Role: Highest-quality leads
• Pros: Pre-qualified, trust transfer
• Cons: Hard to scale, relationship-dependent
• Verdict: Always valuable, always cultivate

The Full-Funnel Approach

Why Single-Channel Fails

If you only run Google Ads:

• You’re fighting every competitor for limited searches
• Costs rise every year
• No brand building
• Competitors with awareness can bid on your terms

If you only run TV:

• You create demand but don’t capture it
• Searchers find competitors when they look for you
• No direct response mechanism
• ROI is unclear

How Channels Work Together

Each stage depends on the others. Awareness without capture leaks leads to competitors. Capture without awareness means fighting for expensive, limited searches.

Budget Allocation Framework

For most PI firms, a balanced allocation:

Channel	Budget %	Role
CTV/TV	35-45%	Awareness, demand creation
Google Ads (branded)	10-15%	Capture CTV-generated demand
Google Ads (generic)	15-25%	Capture existing demand
LSA	10-15%	Local capture
SEO	10-15%	Long-term organic
Retargeting	5-10%	Reinforcement

Adjust based on your situation:

• New firm, no brand: More search, less awareness (for now)
• Established firm, plateau: More awareness, already have search
• Competitive market: Must have awareness to differentiate

Intake: Where Marketing Meets Cases

Marketing Delivers Leads. Intake Converts Them.

The best marketing in the world fails if intake is broken:

Speed to lead: Responding in under 5 minutes increases conversion 8x compared to 30 minutes.

Persistence: 7+ contact attempts reaches 83% of leads. Most firms give up after 2-3.

Qualification: Efficient qualification protects attorney time while capturing good cases.

After-hours: Leads don’t stop at 5 PM. Neither should intake.

Intake Metrics to Track

Metric	Target
Speed to first contact	< 5 minutes
Contact rate	70%+
Lead-to-consultation rate	30-50%
Consultation-to-sign rate	40-60%
After-hours capture rate	Should match business hours

Marketing + Intake Alignment

Your marketing and intake should feel like one experience:

• Ad promises “free consultation” → Intake offers free consultation
• Ad shows specific attorney → That attorney is available
• Ad uses phone number → That number is answered immediately
• Website messaging → Intake scripting matches

Disconnect between marketing and intake kills conversions.

Budgets: What to Actually Spend

By Firm Size

Firm Size	Monthly Marketing Budget	Notes
Solo/small (1-5 attorneys)	$20-50K	Focus, don’t spread thin
Mid-size (5-20 attorneys)	$50-150K	Can run multiple channels
Large (20+ attorneys)	$150K-500K+	Full-funnel, multiple markets

By Market Size

DMA Size	Minimum Presence	Competitive Presence
Small (under 300K HH)	$15-25K	$30-50K
Mid (300K-800K)	$30-50K	$75-125K
Large (800K-2M)	$60-100K	$150-250K
Top 10	$100K+	$300K+

Budget Mistakes

Too spread out: $50K/month across 8 channels = mediocre everywhere

All search, no awareness: Paying increasingly more for the same pool

All awareness, no capture: Creating demand for competitors

No tracking: Spending without knowing what works

Measurement: What to Track

Lead Metrics

Volume: Total leads generated Cost per lead (CPL): Marketing spend ÷ leads Lead quality: What percentage become consultations? Source attribution: Which channels drive leads?

Case Metrics

Cost per case (CPA): Marketing spend ÷ signed cases Case value: Average fee per case ROI: Revenue ÷ marketing spend Payback period: Time from spend to revenue

The Metrics That Matter

CPL is easy to track but can mislead. A $500 lead that becomes a $50K case beats a $200 lead that doesn’t sign.

Focus on cost per signed case and case value by source. Some channels deliver expensive leads that convert well. Others deliver cheap leads that waste intake time.

Attribution Challenges

PI marketing has a multi-touch problem:

1. Client sees TV ad (week 1)
2. Sees billboard (week 2)
3. Gets in accident (week 3)
4. Searches firm name (week 3)
5. Clicks Google ad (week 3)
6. Visits website (week 3)
7. Calls next day (week 3)

Which channel gets credit?

Last-touch attribution gives Google all credit. But the TV ad started the journey.

Use multi-touch attribution or, at minimum, track “how did you hear about us?” alongside click data.

The Competitive Landscape

What Top Firms Do Differently

They invest in awareness: Not just search, but TV, CTV, community presence

They protect their brand: Bidding on their own name, monitoring competitors

They have intake systems: Speed, persistence, qualification, after-hours

They track everything: Source attribution, case value, ROI by channel

They think long-term: SEO, brand building, reputation. Not just this month’s leads

Competing Against Big Spenders

In every market, one or two firms dominate awareness: most billboards, most TV time, most recognizable name.

You can’t outspend them. But you can compete differently:

When to Compete, When to Differentiate

Competing head-on with the dominant firm is expensive. Sometimes the right move is:

• Different practice mix (they do car accidents, you do workers comp)
• Different geography (they own downtown, you own suburbs)
• Different positioning (they’re aggressive, you’re caring)

Marketing strategy starts with honest assessment of your competitive position.

Common Mistakes

Mistake 1: Chasing Cheap Leads

Cheap leads feel good. But quality matters more.

A $150 lead from a lead gen company might have been sold to 5 firms. A $400 lead from your own campaign is exclusive.

Calculate cost per signed case, not cost per lead.

Mistake 2: Ignoring Brand

“Brand” sounds soft. But it’s why Morgan & Morgan can charge more for leads and convert better.

Brand = the reason someone chooses you when they have options.

Invest in it.

Mistake 3: No Search Protection

Running TV or CTV without branded search coverage is malpractice.

You pay to generate awareness. Competitors bid on your name. They get the lead.

Always protect your brand terms.

Mistake 4: Expecting Instant Results

TV/CTV builds awareness over months, not days. SEO takes 12-24 months. Brand compounds over years.

If you need leads this week, buy them. But also build for next year.

Mistake 5: Set and Forget

Marketing requires ongoing attention:

• Creative gets stale
• Competitors adjust
• Platforms change
• Performance shifts

Monthly review at minimum. Weekly for active campaigns.

The Taqtics Approach

We focus on the awareness side of the equation:

CTV advertising: Targeted streaming TV that builds brand and creates demand

Creative production: Commercials that actually work, not templates

Search protection: Ensuring the demand we create converts to your cases, not competitors’

Attribution: Connected tracking from impression to signed case

We don’t do SEO (partner with Rocket Pilots for that). We don’t run your intake. We build the awareness engine that makes everything else work better.

Next Steps

References

1. American Tort Reform Association (ATRA). “Legal Services Advertising in the United States – 2020-2024.” March 2025. https://www.atra.org/white_paper/legal-services-ads-2020-2024/

2. ATRA. “Trial Lawyer Advertising Soars to $2.5 Billion.” March 2025. https://www.atra.org/2025/03/05/trial-lawyer-advertising-soars-to-2-5-billion/

3. Nielsen. “The Gauge: Streaming Peaks Again.” May 2025. https://www.nielsen.com/news-center/2025/the-gauge-streaming-peaks-again-drawing-from-successful-multiplatform-strategies/

4. eMarketer. “4 CTV Ad Spend Trends to Track in 2025.” December 2024. https://www.emarketer.com/content/4-ctv-ad-spend-trends-track-2025

5. IAB. “2025 Digital Video Ad Spend & Strategy Report.” April 2025. https://www.iab.com/insights/video-ad-spend-report-2025/

6. BIA Advisory Services. “Local TV Advertising Poised for Growth in 2025.” November 2024. https://www.bia.com/press-releases/local-tv-advertising-poised-for-growth-in-2025-led-by-legal-and-automotive-industries/