Comparison
Law Firm Marketing Agency Alternative: Legal-Only, Not an Agency That Also Runs Restaurants
Same six channels. One of us has only ever done them for law firms.
By Alexandra Tsotsos, Chief Operating OfficerLast updated
The alternative to a generalist agency is a team that only does legal. Same six channels, but every asset is checked against your state's advertising rules before it publishes, the price is published from $999 a month, and reporting is signed cases rather than impressions.
We benchmark a single-channel agency scope at $4,000–$10,000 a month, usually quoted rather than published. Our four plans carry a sticker price at each level, starting at $999 a month, with no setup fee on the first three.
Most firms don't have an agency problem. They have a specificity problem. A generalist agency adapts a playbook written for someone else, charges $4,000–$10,000 a month, and usually will not tell you the number until the third call. We publish ours from $999 a month, work only for law firms, and route every asset through your state's advertising rules before it publishes.
| Category | LexGrow | Generalist Agency |
|---|---|---|
| Price | From $999 a month, published on the pricing page. | $4,000–$10,000 a month, usually quote-only until the third call, plus setup fees. |
| Commitment | Start month to month at the published price. A term is optional and only lowers your rate. | Commonly a twelve-month minimum, with the discount for signing it already built into the sticker price. |
| Expertise | Legal only. Your state's advertising rules are checked before anything publishes, by people who work on nothing but legal marketing. | A playbook written for other industries, adapted for legal after the fact. |
| Time to first result | Onboarding runs about two weeks. You see published work in the first month. | Discovery, strategy decks, and creative review often fill the first quarter. |
| What happens when they quit | You keep the accounts, the content, and the data. There is nothing to hand back. | Ad accounts, tracking, and content often sit in agency-owned property you have to negotiate for. |
| Who owns the work | You do, permanently. Every page, post, listing, and ad account is in your firm's name. | Varies by contract. Read the ownership clause before you sign. |
| Reporting | Signed cases by channel, with cost per case next to it. | Impressions, clicks, and rankings, reported monthly. |
What is the alternative to a legal marketing agency?
There are four, and they are genuinely different purchases rather than four prices for one thing. A generalist agency brings breadth and adapts a playbook built elsewhere. A legal-only team brings a playbook built for this industry. An in-house hire brings availability and loses coverage. A lead marketplace brings volume and sells the same enquiry more than once.
The question that sorts them is not price. It is which part of the job you want to own: the strategy, the execution, or neither.
Why does legal-only matter for law firm marketing?
Attorney advertising is regulated per state, and the rules reach further than most marketers expect: what counts as a testimonial, whether a past result can be named, how a specialisation may be described, what has to appear in a disclaimer. A generalist agency is not reckless about this, it simply has no reason to have built the checks.
The practical difference shows up in review cycles. When compliance is a step in the publishing process rather than a partner reading every draft, work ships faster and the firm spends less of its own time on it.
- State advertising rules checked before anything publishes, not after a partner catches it
- Content written by people who have written for this practice area before
- Reporting in signed cases, because that is the number a managing partner is accountable for
When is a generalist agency the better choice?
When legal is one line of a wider business, when the firm needs brand and creative work that has nothing to do with search, or when an existing relationship is already producing results worth keeping. A page like this one is not worth much if it cannot say that plainly.
The case for switching is narrower and more specific: you cannot find out what you are paying until the third call, the reporting is activity rather than outcomes, or nobody on the account has read your state's advertising rules.
Common questions
- What is a good alternative to a law firm marketing agency?
- A legal-only team with published pricing. The trade is breadth for depth: fewer industries served, more of the specific work law firms need. LexGrow publishes four plans from $999 a month, works only with law firms, checks every asset against your state's advertising rules before it publishes, and reports signed cases by channel.
- How much do legal marketing agencies charge?
- Most do not publish a number. We benchmark a single-channel agency scope at $4,000–$10,000 a month, which is our own benchmark for the category rather than a surveyed market figure, and multi-channel scopes run above it. Setup fees and twelve-month minimums are common enough to ask about on the first call rather than the third.
- Should a law firm hire a specialist legal marketing agency or a generalist?
- Generalist if the work is brand and creative, or if legal is one part of a wider business. Specialist if the work is search, content, reviews and local visibility, where the rules and the buying behaviour are specific to legal and a generalist has no reason to have built for them.
- What should a law firm ask an agency before signing?
- What is the total first-year cost including setup. Who owns the website, content and ad accounts if we leave. What is the minimum term and the notice period. Who reviews work against our state's advertising rules. And what number will you report each month. The last one tells you the most.