How Law Firms Can Market Smarter: Insights From BluShark Digital Founder and Price Benowitz Partner, Seth Price, Esq.

Seth Price shows legal marketers and firm owners how to outsmart, not outspend, the competition

Disclaimer: The opinions represented here are those of the individual and do not necessarily represent those of their current or former employer.

Seth Price, Esq. has walked both sides of the legal marketing world as a practicing attorney and as the founder of a leading digital agency. After building Price Benowitz from the ground up, he turned the in-house marketing engine that fueled that growth into BluShark Digital, now serving over 300 law firms nationwide. His journey gives him a unique perspective on what it really takes to grow a legal practice in a competitive market. In a recent conversation with Tap In Digital, Seth shared his playbook, from scaling operations and building a brand to finding overlooked marketing opportunities and embracing AI.

Watch the full interview below, or read on for five actionable takeaways every legal marketer should know.

Key Takeaways

1. Stop waiting for perfect conditions and establish a strong online presence now. Most clients start their search online, so continuously publish useful content to ensure your firm is visible when it matters.
   

2. Delegate tasks and trust your team instead of micromanaging every detail. Scaling up requires accepting that others will handle work differently – and sometimes imperfectly – so you can focus on high-level growth.
   

3. Invest in brand-building efforts with clear goals and metrics, not just for vanity. Use data to guide branding and supplement it with SEO and other direct-response marketing to ensure every dollar spent brings you closer to new cases.
   

4. Identify less saturated niches and markets where your firm can compete cost-effectively. Allocate your budget to the opportunities with the best return, rather than blindly pouring money into overpriced keywords or media.
   

5. Adopt AI tools to streamline operations and marketing while maintaining oversight and quality. Even as AI changes search results, a strong local SEO presence and solid reputation will keep bringing in clients.

1. Don’t Overthink Content
   

Many attorneys are naturally skeptical about online marketing, but Seth Price’s experience proves that a strong digital strategy is essential for growth. The key is to publish high-quality information consistently, even if it’s not Pulitzer-winning prose, rather than obsessing so much over perfection that nothing ever goes live. As Seth puts it, the content “doesn't have to be Shakespeare or Clarence Darrow,” it just needs to be unique, locally relevant, and tuned for what potential clients are searching for.

“There are things that as a marketer, I get, which is that content has to be high quality… But if you sit there and you overthink each piece of content to the point where you don't put anything online, it really is going to stymie your ability to grow. The thing that I try to counsel people on is that we're not doing [content] for our health… It doesn't have to be Shakespeare… It's got to be something that the Google algorithm likes, that the consumer can find, and very often, lawyers get in their own way.”

One solo attorney in Georgia discovered just how powerful online visibility can be: He went from being buried on page 13 of Google results to dominating the first page for his practice area after a concerted SEO and content effort. By regularly publishing informative articles (even starting a blog series answering common client questions) and leveraging tactics like optimized Google My Business listings and backlinks, he ensured that when local clients searched for his services, they found him. That kind of dramatic climb in search rankings translates directly into more calls and cases.

Want to maximize your law firm’s online presence without the guesswork? Tap In Digital can help your marketing team use data-driven attribution and analysis to turn every marketing dollar into more cases. Get started today.

2. Delegation is Key to Scaling Your Firm

   
   

Many lawyers struggle with delegating, whether it’s writing website content, managing marketing campaigns, or handling client work, because they fear no one else will do it as well as they can. Seth acknowledges this instinct but warns that being a perfectionist solo operator will keep your firm “very lonely [and] small.” Seth’s mentor phrased it best: At any given moment, someone in a growing business is probably making a mistake – and that’s okay, because it means the business owner isn’t trying to do it all alone.

“If you did everything yourself, you'd have a very lonely, small agency (or firm)… People who are too much of a control freak throttle [their growth]. If you want to scale, you do have to be willing to let go… One of my mentors – there's a 50-lawyer shop in the southern part of the country – says at any given time, somebody within my walls is screwing something up. And you know what? I'm okay with it. Because if you're not [okay with that], you're never gonna be able to build the business.”

Law firm owners who delegate effectively often see their firms thrive. They still set the vision and standards, but they build a team they can trust and processes that ensure quality. By letting others take ownership of pieces of the work (and yes, occasionally stumble and learn), you create the only environment in which your practice can grow beyond what you alone can accomplish.

3. Brand Building vs. Direct ROI – Finding the Right Balance

How much should law firms invest in brand-building activities like TV ads, billboards, sponsorships, and name recognition, versus performance-oriented marketing like SEO, pay-per-click ads, and direct outreach? Seth’s take is nuanced. He argues that brand does matter: A strong brand can make a firm the go-to name that prospective clients recall in a moment of need. However, branding campaigns can also be a money pit if done without strategy. The bottom line is to invest in branding carefully and strategically, and never use “brand” as an excuse for marketing that isn’t producing results.

“If you're a referral-based [practice], you want a brand that resonates with the people who will refer you cases… If you are public-facing, say an injury lawyer, you want a trusted brand that somebody thinks of. [But] I think you have to be careful. The thing I love about search is that, to a certain extent, you can get pretty far without much focus on brand because search can bring you traffic at the time of need without it. Those with a recognizable brand will do better — when you’re faced with a bunch of [Google results], you’re like, ‘I know that one!’ But brand is often a euphemism for spending money that gets no ROI. It works; brand does work… But you just have to be careful that you're doing it strategically and it's not just the category you put things in when your marketing fails.”

Brand marketing can amplify direct marketing by keeping your firm in prospects’ minds, but law firms should also use call tracking, surveys, and data analysis to connect the dots from branding efforts to actual cases. Build your brand presence if it makes sense for your market, but do so with clear goals and analytics. A catchy jingle or sponsorship is not an end in itself; it’s a means to build trust that should ultimately result in more clients.

4. The “Moneyball” Approach: Find Underserved Markets

Not every law firm needs to battle it out in the most saturated metro areas or bid on the most expensive keywords, where a personal injury click can cost hundreds of dollars. Instead, Seth advises taking the “Moneyball” approach to marketing: finding keywords you can rank in Google local results at a lower cost, or those sub-specialties that big competitors have. The goal is to spend your marketing budget where you have a fighting chance to dominate, rather than pouring money into a losing battle.

“It doesn’t matter where you get the cases from… There are areas in the United States – if you're in a major metro in Florida, those places are saturated. The only way you’re going to be able to do this is to find locations, especially with local search, where you can put pins on the map for Google and get that search traffic at a cost-effective rate. For example, if you're in downtown Atlanta trying to start fresh in personal injury, not gonna happen. You're just gonna get crushed [by competition]. So the question is: Can you find some geography where you have a fighting chance?… It's about where you can spend money cost-effectively. There are times when, in PPC for example, it’s upside down. You’re essentially working for Google in certain markets. So you better be looking at something else creative, because if you just say ‘here’s my monthly Google PPC spend,’ you're going to be underwater.”

Law firms should analyze data to spot where the competition isn’t as fierce, maybe a nearby suburban county, a niche service, or an emerging platform, and then double down there. By capturing those overlooked opportunities, you can build a strong base that larger competitors might ignore. It’s marketing by analytics and ingenuity, rather than brute force spending. As Seth suggests, follow the data: know the search volumes, the cost per lead in each channel, and the demographics of your target areas, then allocate resources to the places with the best odds of winning.

5. Embracing AI Without Losing the Human Touch

   
   

Tools like ChatGPT have empowered firms to draft quicker and brainstorm ideas, but Seth is quick to caution that you can’t just copy-paste AI content and call it a day, especially in legal marketing, where accuracy and originality matter. Instead, his team leverages AI “in every which way we can” to add value, for example, to speed up compiling research or to generate rough content outlines that a human can then polish. He notes that after recent AI-driven changes to Google’s search, some of his clients did see a dip in raw website traffic. However, their actual case intakes didn’t drop, because when people are hiring a lawyer, they still tend to use the local search pack and make direct contact, rather than relying on a one-box AI answer.

“On the law firm side, we’re seeing [AI] infiltrate – we’re seeing greater efficiencies, whether it's baked into Gmail/Outlook or case management, or using third-party tools… All awesome, all rolling in the right direction. For a digital marketing agency, we’re seeing tools for research, link prospecting, content creation – not that we’re ripping stuff off ChatGPT (that’s a no-no) – but leveraging it every which way we can to bring better value, reduce costs for us, and get more for our clients. As for search, what’s fascinating is we did see a drop in traffic for a number of our clients. But when I called them and asked, How is your money? How are your cases? – it wasn't affecting those. It seems very similar to when rich snippets came out. It’s killing the news agencies because [AI] gives you an answer. But when you're looking to buy [a service], the local interface with reviews baked in has become a juggernaut… The Google Business Profile + SEO game is still paying dividends.”

In practice, forward-thinking firms are already harnessing AI as a force multiplier. A prime example is global law firm Allen & Overy, which recently rolled out an AI platform called “Harvey” to assist thousands of its lawyers in legal research and drafting. In just the first few months, A&O attorneys posed over 40,000 queries to the AI, accelerating tasks like contract analysis, all while human lawyers maintained final review to ensure accuracy. The firm reported “unmatched efficiency” in handling matters and is confident enough in the results to integrate AI across 43 offices. For smaller firms and marketing teams, AI tools can similarly automate the grunt work of marketing; for instance, using AI to generate a list of relevant blog topics, to quickly gather data on competitors, or to draft a rough newsletter that your team can then humanize.

Smarter Marketing Starts Here

Seth Price’s insights highlight the path forward for law firms ready to grow: invest in digital content, delegate to scale, balance branding with ROI, find untapped markets, and use AI strategically. Whether you're just starting or refining an existing strategy, applying these lessons can help your firm thrive in a competitive legal landscape.

If you're looking for expert digital marketing support, Seth's team at BluShark Digital specializes in helping law firms grow through smart SEO and local search strategies. And for data-driven attribution and marketing analysis, Tap In Digital is ready to help you turn insight into action. Contact us today.