Dear Lawyer,
Can we talk? Can I tell you what I think of your ad on Google?
I need a divorce. I went to Google to find more information and to figure out what to do next.
I typed in “I need a divorce in Phoenix.” Your ad came up at the top of the search results.
It said “Family & Divorce Lawyers—Exclusively Family Attorneys.” Then it provided your website address and phone number.
It was an ad. It sat up there doing nothing. I glanced at it and moved on. It didn’t make me feel anything.
Your ad was part of the noise in my life. My life is a mess. I’m not paying attention to much of anything outside of my own problems, and your ad was much like the billboards I drive by on the way to work. It was invisible.
I’m worried about me, and your ad was about you. It didn’t register with me. My eyes saw it, but my brain didn’t.
I scanned down the page and found some information. I clicked ahead and did my research. I never went back to your ad.
I wish you had thought about me. I wish you had thought about my pain and my fears. I wish you had said something to me that made me feel something about you.
I don’t hate you. I’m not angry with you. I didn’t avoid your ad deliberately. I just didn’t feel anything. Feeling nothing means I didn’t click.
I just thought you should know.
Sincerely,
A prospective client
P.S. Maybe I would have clicked if you had taken the following steps:
- Thought about my state of mind when I showed up on that page,
- Considered what had happened right before I typed in that search,
- Spoken to me with words that told me you knew me,
- Used language that said you understood,
- Acknowledged my pain,
- Told me I was in the right place,
- Let me know I wasn’t alone,
- Helped me understand that things would be okay, or
- Made me feel special.
You don’t need to do all of that in one ad. However, you do need to do at least one thing that gains my attention and builds trust. You need me to click. I need you to speak to me—really to me—and not to everyone.
