Your Law Firm Says Its Website Is “Fine.” The Results Say Otherwise.
- Julie Fisher
- 6 days ago
- 8 min read
Why Digital Marketing + Marketing Leadership Get Law Firms Better Cases —
Not Just Rankings or Leads
TL;DR – Quick Summary
Most law firms say their website is “fine” because it looks good and ranks, but the results tell another story. The real issue is not bad marketing. It is misalignment between digital efforts, intake, operations, and data. Agencies execute tasks, but they cannot lead the full picture inside the firm. Without marketing leadership, even strong digital work underperforms and the wrong cases keep coming in. Fractional CMO support fixes the structure behind the marketing so your website, content, SEO, intake, and vendors all work together to bring in better cases, not just more traffic.
I’m going to start with something every law firm has said to me almost word for word — and if you’re a partner reading this, there’s a good chance you’ve said it too.
It always begins with the same confident line:
“We love our website. It’s working just fine. It lands on page one. The agency handles it.”
They say it with certainty. With pride. With the tone that suggests, “We’ve checked this box. we’re good.”
And then… without fail… here comes the part that tells me exactly where the real problem is:
“But we’re not getting the kind of cases we want.”
“We should be doing at least 50 percent more work.”
“We need more leads — the right ones.”
“Something just isn’t adding up.”
That is the moment I know there’s an issue — because they think the website is working, but the outcomes tell a completely different story.
And yes, I know what’s going sideways.
A short assessment of the site, the messaging, the intake process, the data, and the agency’s activity is all it takes to see the misalignment: the digital marketing agency is operating in a silo, the content doesn’t match the firm’s real focus, intake and marketing are not speaking the same language, reporting is unreliable, and no one is leading the structure that ties all the moving parts together.
The website may look good. It may even rank.But marketing is failing behind it.And the complacency surrounding that “page-one comfort blanket” hides deeper cracks that disrupt everything else.
This blog explains why this keeps happening — and what law firms can do to finally fix the disconnect between visibility and performance.
Good Marketing Fails When No One Leads It
Here’s the truth most firms never hear:
Marketing rarely fails because the marketing is bad. It fails because it has no leadership behind it.
"Marketing doesn’t live in isolation. It touches intake, operations, the client experience, referrals, decision-making, your CRM, your brand voice, and the expectations of every attorney in the firm. When one of those pieces is off, the entire machine underperforms."
Not once have I walked into a law firm where the website, intake, content, SEO, data, and operations were naturally aligned. Even firms with strong agencies and internal teams still struggle with operational gaps that quietly drag results down.
Good marketing does not work without structure.And agencies cannot thrive without leadership.
Many partners are shocked when I tell them agencies actually prefer working with someone like me — a
Fractional CMO who provides direction, strategy, timelines, intake alignment, and a clear understanding of what the firm really wants. When no one owns the marketing infrastructure internally, agencies produce activity… not progress. And the firm is left wondering why the numbers don’t match the expectations.
The DIY Marketer Problem (and Why It’s Not Your Fault)
Every law firm has at least one attorney who becomes the unofficial DIY marketer. This person means well, cares about the firm, and truly wants things done correctly. But attorneys are trained to write for legal audiences, not the general public. They revise clear messaging into dense legal explanations. They adjust branding based on personal preference rather than strategic need. They slow approvals because the content feels “not legal enough.” They shift direction based on instinct, not data.
It’s not malicious — it’s habit.
Attorneys should absolutely contribute accuracy and expertise. But they should not steer the marketing voice or messaging strategy.
When that line blurs, your marketing begins to break down slowly, quietly, and in ways that are hard to see until the results dry up.
Solo Attorneys: Everything Depends on You — Which Is Exactly the Problem
Solo attorneys carry the full weight of their firm. They answer intake calls, serve clients, manage operations, and attempt to do “some marketing” in between. It’s not that their marketing is bad — it’s inconsistent because they’re stretched too thin.
Websites get updated when possible. Social posts get created when inspiration hits. Brand messaging changes with every new idea. Intake is reactive instead of structured. Referrals are accidental, not intentional.
Solos don’t need to do more. They need the right foundation and relief from trying to do everything alone.
Once alignment is introduced — clear messaging, consistent intake, accountable reporting, and simple systems — solos finally feel their marketing stabilize. Not as a project, but as a sustainable part of the business.
Small Law Firms: The Appearance of Marketing Isn’t the Same as Performance
Small firms often think their marketing is “in place” because they see activity. They have vendors. They have content. They have someone posting. They have data coming in. But inside, things are scattered.
Different people touch different pieces. No one owns the full picture. Intake varies depending on who answers the phone. Referrals come in but aren’t tracked or segmented. Branding shifts across materials. Messaging changes depending on who approves it. Agencies operate independently because no one gives them unified direction.
Small law firms don’t need more activity. They need one leader who sees the whole ecosystem and aligns every part.
Case Study: When a Law Firm Thinks Its Marketing Is Fine — Until They See the Truth
This two-attorney Elder Law firm had a full digital marketing contract: a website, monthly blogs, social posts tied to those blogs, and a PPC program. On paper, it looked like everything was in great shape. The agency assured them the system was “running smoothly,” and the attorney believed it.
But once I stepped in, I saw the real story.
The agency was still blogging on practice areas the firm hadn’t touched in years. Their SEO had slipped because the content didn’t match the actual services they provided. Social posts were generic recaps of those same irrelevant blogs — bland, impersonal, and disconnected from the firm’s true expertise. The PPC program was eating budget with high-cost keywords, inflated CTRs, and absolutely no reporting. The lawyer had no idea what their cost per lead or cost per case was.
When I began addressing these issues, the attorney was shocked — not at me, but at how long these problems had gone unnoticed.
I reworked the content immediately.We talked through the PPC strategy, and she ultimately canceled the program.Shortly after, she began quietly searching for a new agency.
That same month, the existing agency started pushing back — hard. They questioned my motives, implied that I “didn’t get along” with their account manager, and tried to gaslight the situation rather than fix the issues.
She hired a new agency soon after, and I stepped into the leadership role that had been missing from the beginning. Working with the new account manager was a complete shift — collaborative, strategic, and focused on the firm’s real goals. Together, we rebuilt the content plan, fixed the SEO, managed the rebrand, and launched a site that truly reflected the firm’s work.
The results?
The new website consistently landed on page one. Organic leads skyrocketed — a more than 1000% increase.
Not because we “did more marketing,” but because we aligned the structure, corrected the gaps, and led the strategy.
Mid-Sized Law Firms: More Attorneys Means More Misalignment
Mid-sized firms look polished from the outside — robust websites, multiple vendors, internal staff, practice group pages, blogs, campaigns, events, and strong reputations. But inside, misalignment grows because of complexity.
More attorneys means more opinions.More practice areas means more messaging drift.More vendors means more silos.More approvals means more delays.More content means less consistency.More data means more contradictions.
I’ve walked into law firms where three different people believed they “owned” the marketing. None of them aligned and all of them working in different directions - believing they were doing an excellent job at it. Attorneys constantly rewrote content. Reporting contradicted what intake was seeing. SEO didn’t match practice priorities. Vendors executed tasks without knowing the strategy.
This kind of noise slows everything down — and destroys outcomes.
When mid-sized firms finally get one unified leader, one brand voice, one messaging strategy, one reporting system, and one marketing direction, their performance transforms almost overnight.
The Universal Reason Law Firm Marketing Fails
Every law firm that has ever hired me — whether one attorney or fifty — has struggled for the exact same reason:
"Marketing cannot succeed without alignment. It cannot stand alone - it requires the company of operations and a leader. Agencies agree. Having a marketing leader managing things delivers better results for them too."
You cannot separate intake from marketing. You cannot separate content from SEO. You cannot separate branding from operations. You cannot separate data from decision-making. You cannot separate agency output from leadership direction. You cannot separate visibility from performance.
Everything is connected.
When one-piece cracks, marketing fails quietly, slowly, and with a false sense of success until the firm finally admits:
“Something just isn’t adding up.”
The Fix: Structure First. Marketing Second.
Fractional CMO leadership isn’t about “doing more marketing.”It’s about building the structure that makes marketing work.
It ties together vendors, intake, content, SEO, reporting, referrals, brand messaging, operational realities, attorney expectations, and data accuracy.
Structure turns chaos into clarity.Clarity turns activity into performance.Performance turns into the right cases — consistently.
You don’t need another campaign. You need marketing leadership that aligns the system behind it.
Q&A: Fractional CMO Leadership for Law Firms
What does a Fractional CMO actually do for a law firm?
A Fractional CMO steps in as your outsourced marketing leader — the person who aligns your intake, digital marketing, content, referrals, operations, vendors, and reporting so everything works together. Instead of chasing tactics, they create the strategy and structure that drives better cases and measurable growth.
Why isn’t a digital agency enough for most law firms?
Because agencies execute tasks, not leadership. They don’t manage your intake, messaging, brand direction, priorities, practice focus, attorney feedback, or data accuracy. Without a marketing leader inside the firm tying everything together, even good agency work becomes disconnected — which is why results stall.
How does Fractional CMO leadership get law firms better cases, not just more leads?
By aligning your website content, SEO, intake workflows, digital marketing, and practice focus around the cases you actually want. It’s not about volume. It’s about direction. Leadership keeps everyone — including your agency — focused on attracting profitable, high-intent clients instead of generic traffic.
When is the right time for a law firm to hire a Fractional CMO?
When your firm says, “Our website is fine,” but your results say otherwise. If intake blames marketing, marketing blames intake, attorneys are DIY-editing content, or your agency is busy but your outcomes aren’t improving, it’s time. A Fractional CMO turns activity into performance — and performance into better cases.
2026 Belongs to Law Firms That Lead, Not Law Firms That “Look Busy”
The firms that win will not be the ones who post the most or spend the most.They will be the ones who stop relying on a good-looking website or page-one ranking as their indicator of success.
They will be the firms who understand that visibility is only step one.Performance — true performance — comes from alignment.
If your firm says, “Our website is fine,” but your results say otherwise, it’s time to rethink what “fine” actually means.
When you’re ready to replace guesswork with clarity and activity with growth, I’m here.
Book a free 30-minute intro meeting with me and let’s look at what’s really going on behind your marketing.
Julie Fisher lives in Beaumont and is the founder of Fisher Marketing Services LLC, a leading fractional CMO and marketing agency. Julie's agency focuses on law firm marketing leadership and related counseling, with a strong focus on marketing strategy and planning. She serves solo, small to mid-sized boutique law firms nationwide. Julie has over 30 years of B2B and B2C account management, business development, and marketing experience that includes over 7 years of in-house law firm marketing leadership. You can reach her at juliefisher@fisher-marketing.com or follow her on LinkedIn: Julie Fisher - Fractional law firm CMO.