When I talk with PI firm owners, the first thing many say is, "We already have a marketing agency." Good. Keep them. This post is about the part of the job that usually sits between your agency and your intake team, and why nobody is fixing it.
What your agency was hired to do
Most PI firms pay an agency for one thing: getting injured people to find the firm. That can mean Google ads, search rankings, local listings or a mix.
That is real work, and a good agency does it well. Their report shows impressions, clicks, calls and cost per click. When those numbers look healthy, the agency did its job.
But look closely at where the report stops. It ends at the click, or at the moment the phone rings. It rarely shows what the person saw before deciding to call, or what happened on that call.
What happens after the click
I think about every PI firm in two parts. The front of the house is what an injured person sees before they call. The back of the house is what happens when they do.
Picture someone hurt in a crash, at 11pm, on a phone. They tap your ad. Now they are deciding:
- Does the Google profile say you are open right now?
- Are the reviews recent, and did anyone reply to them?
- Does the homepage show a real attorney, or a logo and stock photos?
- Is there a call button without scrolling?
- When they call, does a person answer, or a voicemail that mentions business hours?
Your agency may touch some of this. Often, nobody owns all of it. That gap is where the reasons injured people call someone else tend to live. I walked through the full late-night view in What Does an Injured Person See When They Find Your PI Firm at 11pm?
Agency vs front door: who covers what
This is how I would split the work. Your firm may draw the lines a little differently, and that is fine. What matters is that every row has an owner.
| The job | Ad or SEO agency | Front door partner |
|---|---|---|
| Getting injured people to find you | Yes: ads, keywords, rankings | No |
| Your phone answered at 11pm | Usually not | Checks it, flags what to fix |
| Call button visible on a phone | Sometimes | Checks it on every key page |
| Recent reviews near the top of your profile | Rarely | Builds a steady habit of asking |
| An attorney on video, explaining real questions | Rarely | Scripts, edits and posts it |
| Answers that Google and AI tools can find | Sometimes, through SEO | Adds plain answers and video |
| Report that ends at a signed client | Rarely | Asks every new client what made them call |
Read the table as two halves of one system. Your agency gets them to look. Your firm has to get them to call.
Why you do not need to fire anyone
Many PI lawyers have been burned by marketing. One lawyer in a PI group said he "burned through 6 figures in marketing" with nothing remarkable to show. So I understand why another agency pitch makes owners tense up.
This is not that pitch. Swapping agencies resets everything: new accounts, new learning, months of ramp. If your agency brings people to look at your firm, that is worth keeping.
The study we ran on 14 leading PI firms in Los Angeles and the Bay Area points the same way. 3 of 14 ran no Google ads this month and still lead their markets. Ad budget alone doesn't explain who wins. What the leaders share is the basics after the click: 14 of 14 say "Open 24 hours" on Google, and 9 of 14 have video on their homepage.
Same agency. Same ad budget. Different front door.
Where video fits
Video is a front of the house fix. Thirty seconds of an attorney explaining what to do after a crash tells a stranger you are a real person who knows this work. That can be the difference between "I'll keep looking" and "I'll call."
That is why I say video is the new billboard. It shows up on the phone in their hand, and unlike a billboard, it answers questions. Your agency can send people to that video. It just usually does not make it.
One more point: keep the videos and accounts in your firm's name. As one lawyer put it, when you pay a marketing company, you are paying to grow their brand. Whoever helps you should be building yours.
Checklist: what is nobody covering at your firm?
- Who owns what happens after the click, by name?
- When you call your own number at 11pm, does a person or a clear next step answer?
- On a phone, does your homepage show a real attorney and a call button without scrolling?
- Are your newest Google reviews recent, and has someone replied to them?
- Is there attorney video on your homepage and Google profile?
- Do you ask every new client "What made you call us?" and write it down?
- Are all videos and accounts in your firm's name?
- Has an attorney reviewed every ad and video against your state's advertising rules?
If you cannot name an owner for three or more of these, the gap is not your agency. It is the part no one was hired to do.
The takeaway
Keep your agency if it brings people to look at your firm. Then give someone the job of what happens next: what they see at 11pm on a phone, and who answers when they call. Fix the cracks before you build on it. If you want a starting point, look up your own firm tonight, on your phone, and call your own number.