The bail bonds industry, like many others, is constantly changing. As lead generating sources like Facebook and Google ads have become restricted for the bail industry, these companies have had to find other methods of advertising that generate as many or more leads than traditional sources.
Despite being banned from marketing across the two highest traffic PPC platforms – Facebook and Google – there are still a lot of great ways to advertise bail companies, both digitally and physically, in order to generate a good volume of leads to help the business thrive.
Now more than ever, bail companies depend on a steady stream of leads from digital channels, which provide infinite opportunities to share your brand.
Find out more about generating leads by creating conversions from visitors to your site or creating connections with other bondsmen by reading more below.
Marketing a Bondsman Online
When it comes to digital marketing, the cornerstone of a successful business is a well designed website that converts. Not only does that mean creating a functional, fast, and visually appealing website, it also means getting your brand in front of the right audience through the use of site optimization and lead generation. Creating conversions is all about the forms and contacting people on the site, together with great focus on call campaigns.
Some things to focus on when trying to generate more digital leads from your Bail Bonds marketing strategy are:
Website Design
Due to the immediacy of the need for bail bonds, having a simple and easy to understand website is crucial for conversions. When it comes to bail bonds it’s all about being there and ready to provide your service.
A good bail bond website design should contain:
- Conversion Based Website Design – It’s not enough to just bring traffic to your site, you need those leads to convert into paying customers. Your website needs to effortlessly facilitate this conversion process.
- A Clear NAP Section – The biggest mistake you can make as a business is making it difficult for clients to get in touch with you. Bail bondsmen serve a client base with an immediate need; if those leads can’t easily connect with your brand, they’ll likely go somewhere else.
- CTAs – Having Call To Actions on your site pushes visitors to contact you and helps the lead generation and conversions.
- Clear And Concise Branding and Content – Don’t stuff a lot of content and branding on your bail bonds site; instead, go for clarity as most of these visitors won’t go through digesting your content.
- Visual Infographics – Since most of the customers in need of bail bonds are fast moving, adding infographics to your Bail Bonds Website Design to explain more complicated ideas ideas will help you get your message across to this spectrum of the audience.
- Modern Design – Modern designs tend to provide a lot of clarity and ease of use for the searcher. This can make all the content on your site, including CTAs and NAP section, easier to digest.
Having a fast loading website with no redirects and easy to read code is another SEO factor that gets taken into account in the ranking of various pages on the SERPs. Pairing this with a Mobile Responsive Website will have your bail website poised to capture more leads.
Search Marketing
The most vital marketing method for bail bonds lead generation is using search engines to advertise your website. There are several ways to approach SEO for bail bonds companies, whether you are interested in generating more local or organic leads.
Organic Listings
For bail bondsmen, SEO is one of the best ways to get in front of your target audience. Targeting specific phrases and optimizing your website for these terms will help in creating a focused and efficient strategy for easy conversions. SEO is a long term goal for most businesses, as it can take longer to achieve a good lead flow when compared to options like PPC. It requires researching keywords and adapting to the constant change of the rules regarding optimization, so understanding the time factor on this aspect of advertising is important.
Local SEO
This kind of SEO requires optimizing the website with relevant content and proper usage of broader and narrower keywords related to bail bonds together with local modifiers. Try using diverse keywords with conversational writing styles. Optimizing subpages is a good idea too, especially if your business has multiple locations. Getting high rankings on the front page of the SERPs is important for Bail Bonds as most of the leads circulate on the first page of the SERPs. Local optimization requires a GMB Account or other local listing accounts, which will help get those rankings and offers easier access to users who want to add reviews, resulting in an improved marketing campaign.
Authoritative Backlinks
Growing the brand digitally requires setting and growing the brand’s authority. Backlinks are an important ranking factor that Google looks at when picking sites to put on its front page. Links from reputable sources, such as news providers, are a big plus as google deems such sites very authoritative. Another powerful backlink strategy is to get listed in bail bonds directories across the web – industry specific directories that often highlight the top companies in various states or major cities. The more organic profiles and quality backlinks you are able to acquire, the more chances you’ll have to generate additional leads or rank highly for key search terms.
PPC Marketing
While companies like Google and Facebook no longer allow PPC marketing for bail bonds services, many bondsmen were already relying more heavily on SEO to bring in leads. But being banned from these tech giants hasn’t completely prevented bail companies from using PPC as a lead generation tool.
Going for Bing or Yahoo PPC will yield impressive results, as Bing and its partners own 30% of the market share in the US. PPC is by far the quickest way to rank on the first page of the SERPs, which is important due to the immediacy of the bail bond service, and functions in an auction system where ads show up based on the amount paid per click. The more you pay, the higher your ad will rank. In many cases, cost per click will be reasonably low due to the underutilized nature of these types of ads streams. This method gives more control over visitors and CPC, and yields faster results.
PPC is even better when your website is optimized for mobile, as the ad suggestions on mobile show only three results, compared to desktop, which has eight. And because mobile search exceeded desktop search, going for PPC on mobile will result in an easier advantage over others.
Another new method being introduced to the marketplace which could be beneficial for bail bond agents is Pay Per Call. This was introduced by the Bail Bonds Network. You only pay for the calls you receive. This is also easy to track and, similarly to PPC, allows targeted states or counties for easier reach of the desired audience.
In the case of any ads or PPC management, Call Only campaigns may be the most ideal due to the immediate nature of the bail bonds industry. Usually, the search is mostly done on mobile, so Call Only campaigns are a good way to advertise your bail bonds business and get quick easy conversions.
Optimized Targeting
Most bondsmen function as local entities. This makes local SEO and GBP optimization hyper important for the industry. Targeting your local area and surrounding neighborhoods directly can help to avoid less relevant traffic. In local SEO, this means optimizing your Google Business Profile to include the various neighborhoods you service from your location, along with creating geo optimized location pages and supporting content within your site.
For ads, avoid placing ads in areas with low lead generating potential. Have the intent of the customer in mind when optimizing your ads content and graphics.
Video & Media
A good way to increase conversion rates is communicating sympathy and letting people know that everyone may find themselves in need of bail bond services, through video commercials. These are excellent for ROI as they can be used for years. Remember to use a strong CTA at the end of the video. Video commercials increase conversion rates.
Reputation Management
Since bail businesses are mostly local, managing your reputation and attending to immediate needs is crucial for better ranking on the SERPs. Most people check reviews and star ratings on the page, and since this service helps people get out of jail and reunites them with their loved ones, most of the feedback will be positive. The better the reviews the more online reputation for your business. It’s no secret that Google weighs reviews as a ranking factor for local businesses; a low review score might mean potential clients are passing over your business in local search, even if you’re ranked in the top 3 on maps.
While many of the aspects of SEO will lead to a more credible and trusted presence for your brand online, all of that can be overshadowed by a lack of good reputation management. Not only does your bonds business need a process for asking previous clients for positive reviews, you need to make sure that your reviews are responded to, especially the bad ones.
Physical Marketing Ideas For Bondsmen
Although the best way to go about advertising your bail bond business is digital marketing, traditional mediums still have some value left. And when the idea is to advertise local bail bond businesses, going for some traditional marketing mediums and building relations with other bail bond services or sponsoring various events will help in increasing your online reputation too.
Some of the best ways to advertise bail bonds in traditional mediums are:
Sponsorships
Sponsoring teams, organizations, or events provides excellent exposure for any business. This requires identifying what to sponsor and what fits your target market. Choose a broader audience to get exposed to or sponsor smaller organizations to reach smaller but more qualified audiences. This method is a great way to develop long term relationships easier.
Billboard Exposure
This might be a very expensive advertising method and usually works best in premium highway settings. Even though it reaches a broad audience, you can’t really control or specifically target the traffic.
Local Group Connections
Establishing connections with relevant local groups guarantees more reach to the desired audience. You can build relationships with various local groups like:
- Bail Bond Associations – Great for building relationships with other bondsmen and industry leaders who could send you leads if they get calls from areas they don’t serve.
- Local Lawyers – Having a good connection with local lawyers is another smart way to generate leads. As attorneys are looking to help their clients get out of a tight spot, your bonds agents could be the first they call.
- Jails and County Websites – In some places jail and county websites list bail bond information.
In any way a bondsman chooses to market their business for lead generation, the most important thing is speed. When an individual is arrested, they or their family members will look for the quickest solution to post bail and get back to their lives. In many cases, this could mean calling the first bondsman they come across. By being a top rated bondsman and by being listed on more niche and local sources, you increase your chances of being that first call.
Client Retention
In most cases, you’re probably hoping you don’t have clients that come back over and over again. After all, that means your clients are repeatedly getting in trouble with the law. But that doesn’t mean that you should ignore client retention altogether.
What this means is that your bail bonds business needs to focus on becoming an industry authority; a go-to source when it comes to learning about legal proceedings, finding a local attorney, or even just tips to help keep your clients out of trouble. By providing content that touches on common questions or issues with your industry, or by providing resources to other local entities like courts and attorneys, you set yourself up to be the place that someone turns to if they are in trouble again, or need a bond for a friend or family member.
Above all, don’t stick to just one marketing tactic to generate leads for your bail bonds business. Marketing your bail bonds agency will require you to take a more complex approach. Combining SEO and PPC can net you some quick leads while building a foundation for long term growth and success. While focusing on your brand authority and client retention may make you a well known and well respected source for both your industry and your local area.
At Local Brand Advisor, we know that your bail bonds company needs more than a traditional approach. We’ve been working with bondsmen for years, helping them to develop winning strategies that dominate their local space and increase the long term value of their businesses. If you want to grow your local reach and generate more leads than ever before, it’s time to connect with our team.
