A fractional CMO for your law firm. More signed cases, tracked from the first call to the signed fee agreement.
Most firms can tell you cost per lead. Few can tell you what a signed case cost last month. We find that number, fix the intake and tracking behind it, and run your marketing to it every week, inside your state bar's rules. We helped one firm grow from 1 location to 7, and it is still growing.
Pages for each practice area we market.
Each practice area makes money differently. A contingency injury case, a flat-fee DWI and an estate plan need different budgets, intake scripts and follow-up, so each one has its own page.
Where law firm marketing loses signed cases.
We grade every firm on seven dimensions, from which matters you chase to who answers the phone at 9 p.m. In most firms the biggest losses sit in intake and tracking. More ad budget can't cover either.
- Problem 01Marketing strategy
You advertise twelve practice areas, so none of them gets enough budget.
Spread $20,000 a month across twelve practice areas and each one gets about $1,650. That rarely wins anything in a competitive market. Pick the two or three with the best fee per case and fund them properly. Add the next one when those are working.
Marketing strategy for law firms - Problem 02Marketing data
Google, intake and accounting each report a different number.
Google says 140 leads. Intake logged 95. Accounting shows 18 new retainers. When three numbers disagree, partners argue about channels and cut the wrong one. Pick one source of truth: signed cases by source, pulled from case management.
- Problem 03Funnel friction and CRO
Calls after 6 p.m. go to voicemail.
People get arrested, hurt and served papers at night. A caller who hits voicemail at 7 p.m. dials the next firm on the list. You paid for that call, and someone else signed it. Every call needs a live answer, at every hour.
- Problem 04Marketing process
Every new office or practice area launch starts from zero.
Pages, ads and intake scripts get rebuilt from memory each time. Launches drag for months and repeat the last round's mistakes. Write the launch playbook once: pages, ads, scripts, tracking and review requests. Then each new office runs from the checklist.
- Problem 05Marketing team
Three people touch marketing, and none of them owns signed cases.
The coordinator posts. The agency runs ads. A partner approves copy when there's time. When cases dip, everyone points somewhere else. One person has to own the number and hold every vendor to a scorecard.
In-house, agency or fractional CMO for a law firm - Problem 06Marketing technology
Call tracking, intake and case management don't share data.
Each system holds one piece of the story. Until they connect, you can't follow a caller from the first click to the signed fee agreement. That connection is the first thing we build.
- Problem 07Marketing communication
The monthly report shows rankings and clicks instead of cases.
Ask your agency what a signed case cost last month. If the answer takes a week, nobody is managing to it. A useful report fits on one page: cases signed, cost per case, and the next three moves.
How we run the Marketing Impact OS inside a law firm.
The same four steps run every week. Each one is set to your practice areas, your counties and your state bar's advertising rules.
- 01
Weeks 1 and 2
Inspect
We pull a year of signed cases by source and practice area. We listen to intake calls and call your firm after hours. We review your Google Ads, Local Services Ads, SEO, directories and referral sources.
The dashboard shows what each source cost and what it signed. You see the gap between leads received and fee agreements signed.
What you getA dashboard of signed cases and cost per signed case by source, practice area and month.
Marketing Impact OSPersonal injury firmInspectMarketing attributionLast 90 days vs the 90 beforeAd spend$89,560+12%Signed cases53+8%Cost per signed case$1,690+4%Est. fees$546,500+9%Source Spend Leads Signed Est. fees Cost per case Google Ads $45,000 300 18 $180,000 $2,500 Local Services Ads $14,160 120 12 $114,000 $1,180 SEO $12,000 140 10 $105,000 $1,200 Referrals $0 40 9 $121,500 $0 Meta $18,400 210 4 $26,000 $4,600 Total $89,560 810 53 $546,500 $1,690 - 02
Weeks 3 and 4
Ideate
We price each fix in signed cases and rank the list. The fix that signs the most cases goes first.
Usually that means fewer practice areas pushed harder, faster intake, and budget moved to the matters with the best fee per case. Each move shows the gain we expect from it.
What you getA ranked plan of fixes, each priced in the signed cases we expect it to add.
Marketing Impact OSPersonal injury firmIdeateThe plan, ranked by impactGains per month- 1Answer after-hours calls liveCalls after 6 pm go to voicemail today.+4 signed cases+$41,000 in fees
- 2Move $3,000 a month from Meta to LSALSA costs $1,180 per signed case. Meta costs $4,600.+2 signed cases+$21,000 in fees
- 3Cut Google Ads terms that never signGoogle Ads costs $2,500 per signed case.Save $2,500Same signed cases
- 4Ask every past client for a referralReferrals turn 9 of 40 leads into signed cases.+1 signed case+$10,000 in fees
If the plan holds+7 signed cases a month
- 1
- 03
From week 5, biggest fix first
Implement
Your team and ours build it: practice area pages, call tracking, intake scripts, rebuilt ads and review requests. Every item has an owner, a due week and a status.
The responsible attorney approves every ad and page under your state bar's rules before it runs.
What you getA work list with an owner, a due week and a status on every fix.
Marketing Impact OSPersonal injury firmImplementThe work2 of 4 done- Live answering after 6 pm and on weekendsIntake lead · Week 1Intake leadWeek 1Done
- Move $3,000 a month from Meta to LSAAgency · Week 1AgencyWeek 1Done
- Cut Google Ads terms that never signAgency · Week 3AgencyWeek 3In progress
- Referral ask at every closed matterCase managers · Week 6Case managersWeek 6Next
Monday check-in Every open task gets a status. A late one gets a new date and a reason.
- 04
Every week, with a review every 90 days
Iterate
Every week we read signed cases by source and practice area. We move budget to what signs and fix the weakest step.
Every 90 days Zachary compares the numbers to where you started and writes down the next decision. When the firm hits its case goal, we set the next one.
What you getA 90-day review of signed cases against your starting point, ending in the next decision.
Marketing Impact OSPersonal injury firmIterate90 days laterBefore → after- Cost per signed case$1,690$1,243−26%
- Signed cases5366+25%
- Ad spend$89,560$82,060−8%
Cost per signed case by monthZachary's reviewSigned cases went from 53 to 66 on $7,500 less spend. Cost per signed case fell from $1,690 to $1,243. Next: put $2,000 a month into SEO pages for your top two case types. SEO costs $1,200 per signed case.
The six numbers we report to your partners.
- Signed matters by practice area
- Cost per signed matter
- Lead-to-consult rate
- Consult-to-retainer rate
- Speed to first response
- Fees collected by marketing source
The right level of help for where you are.
Most firms start with the Marketing Impact Roadmap, a project of about four weeks that shows where signed cases leak and what to fix first. Firms with an agency and an intake team then move to the Fractional CMO Retainer, so someone senior owns results every week. Multi-office firms building an in-house team choose the Fractional Marketing Team.
Compare all fractional CMO servicesBrands we have worked with
- Meesha Moulton Law
- DWI Team
- Lemon Law Firm
- Nisar Law
The Marketing Impact OS for Law Firms
The Full Step-by-Step Guide to a Proven Case Acquisition System. Where signed cases come from, where a firm loses the ones it already paid for, and which fix to make first. The workbook comes with it.
What is in the book →The 2027 Marketing Impact Report for Law Firms →Frequently asked questions.
What does a fractional CMO for law firms do?
Owns the result instead of one channel. We decide which practice areas to grow, direct your agencies and budget, fix intake and tracking, and report signed cases by source to the partners on the cadence you set. Zachary Ellison and the team lead that work, with more than $500M in marketing spend managed across his career.
How is this different from hiring a legal marketing agency?
An agency runs channels like SEO or paid search. A CMO decides what those channels should do and holds each one to signed cases. Most firms keep their agency. We direct it and grade it on a scorecard every month.
How do you handle state bar advertising rules?
We build the rules into the work. Ads, pages and review requests avoid guarantees, unverifiable comparisons and implied results, and they carry the disclaimers your state requires. The bar holds the lawyer accountable, so the responsible attorney at your firm approves everything public before it runs.
How much does a fractional CMO cost for a law firm?
Pricing depends on scope: your practice areas, offices, ad spend and how much weekly leadership you need. We quote after the assessment call, once we have seen your numbers. Ongoing engagements are month to month with no setup fees. For law firms, the Roadmap runs as its own fixed project of about four weeks.
Which practice areas do you work with?
Personal injury, DWI and DUI defense, criminal defense, family law, estate planning, immigration, employment, lemon law, bankruptcy and business law. Each one earns its fees differently. So the first thing we ask is how a case in your practice turns into revenue.
Where to next.
Start with your free Marketing Impact score.
It takes a few minutes. You get a score from 1 to 5 on each of the seven dimensions of your marketing and see where to start. If you’d rather talk first, book a free 30-minute call.