Oops! Sorry to have to tell you this but  Yellow Page ads are not law marketing. Ads are law advertising—nothing more. You pay for them so they hold very little credibility weight. They do not demonstrate that you care for your prospects. They do not provide useful information prospects can use. They do not show you as an authority and valued resource. Saying you are one and showing that you are are two totally different things. 

All ads can do is say, "Hey, here I am. I’m great and I do this." Big deal! Yes, they may make people who look at the Yellow pages aware of you (if they actually spot you), but what about the many others who do not look at the Yellow Pages? Besides, who is going to accept as the unvarnished truth what you say about yourself? 

If you are going to convince your prospect that you are THE solver of their specific problem, you are going to have to more than that. "But," lawyers have told me, "I also have a web site." Great! What do you have on it? "More information about what I do." What does that mean? "The kinds of cases I handle, the number of attorneys in the firm, the awards we’ve won." Likewise, big deal!

Having a web site about your practice is barest bones marketing. In fact, it is more like advertising than marketing unless you demonstate that you understand your prospect’s problem emotionally and behaviorally. Unless you indicate you will solve that problem as quickly as possible with the least pain to them. Unless you show them all the benefits they will accrue in working with you. You have to say and show it loud and clear what is in it for them. 

If you have a web site, you need to provide information for prospects. That is, useful articles giving information about approaches to their problems. Or simple things they can do to prepare to meet with an attorney. Or explanations of the legal context in which their problem fits since so few non-lawyers truly understand the legal system and have misperceptions about it. You are claiming to be an authority so share with them your expertise and experience.

What you do to attract your prospects has little to do with your practice directly. It has everything to do with your prospect, their needs, desires, attitudes, perceptions, expectations, and problems. Once you can snag their attention, get them to call to make an appointment, you are only the conduit through which they can reach their goals. Unless you approach your getting visibility and credibility for your practice with this mindset, you are not  effectively "marketing" yourself as THE solution to their problem.

You are, instead, only hoping and wishing clients will simply fall into your arms. Perhaps in small communities where there are very few attorneys from whom to choose, you may feel comfortable with only your Yellow Pages ad and/or your feature-oriented web site. But should you have real competition or want to create more profitability, these non-marketing approaches are not likely to work for long.

For law or any other profession, advertising does not make the case that you are THE desirable and appropriate problem solver. But marketing CAN. That is why marketing is not only a priority but also the ultimate priority for making your law practice a success.