Fractional CMO for your law firm: in-house marketing without the overhead. I build your pages for each deal, your accountant referrals, and your oversight of any agency around the way Canadian business owners actually choose a lawyer.
conversion rate, against a 5.55% average for legal search ads¹
14.1%
Line: conversion rate, against a 5.55% average for legal search ads¹
I'm Joshua David Little. I've run my own consulting firm since 2004, I've helped lawyers prepare complex cases for trial, and I ran the first family-law ad on ChatGPT, before the platform allowed legal-services ads.
Business owners buy legal services all the time: a purchase, a shareholder agreement, a franchise, a plan to hand the company on. They find a lawyer through their accountant, through someone they trust, or through a search for the exact thing they're doing. A firm that's easy to find for that exact thing, and easy for an accountant to recommend, gets more of the work.
In Canada, corporate lawyer is searched about 2,400 times a month, more than twice as often as business lawyer at about 1,000, and commercial lawyer gets about 590.² A firm that names its work only the way lawyers say it misses the way its buyers search.
We asked Google's AI and ChatGPT what kind of lawyer someone buying a small business in Toronto needs, and who they'd recommend. Google's AI listed four firms and ChatGPT named three others. Not one firm appeared in both answers.³
If referrals have carried your firm and you now want more work to come straight to you, the first job is telling which of the new inquiries fit.
Corporate lawyer 2,400 a month · business lawyer 1,000 · contract lawyer 1,000 · buying a business 720 · business succession planning 720 · commercial lawyer 590 · family trust 590 · shareholder agreement 480 · estate freeze 320 · franchise lawyer 260.²
For the Toronto purchase, Google's AI called the need "a corporate transaction lawyer or a business acquisition lawyer," mentioned flat or capped fees, and listed four firms from the map, with between 29 and 286 reviews. ChatGPT named three different firms.³ A firm that wants that work needs a page that names the transaction the way the buyer and the AI both describe it.
Buying a business, selling one, a shareholder agreement, a partner who wants out, a franchise, a contract that's gone wrong. Each one gets its own page, written for the owner in that situation, with the lawyer who handles it named. That's the page an AI answer can match to an owner's question, and the page an accountant can forward to a client with one line of introduction.
Accountants can steer which lawyer a business owner calls. Earn that recommendation by making things that help the CPAs and advisors who share your clients do their own job: a year-end note on a rule change, a checklist for an owner about to sell. Your lawyers send it directly and post it on LinkedIn, so the accountant thinks of your firm before a client asks.
A business client who incorporates with you will one day need a shareholder agreement, then a succession plan, an estate freeze, or a family trust. Business succession planning is searched about 720 times a month in Canada, family trust about 590, and estate freeze about 320.² I map how your clients move from your corporate side to your estates side, and build the follow-up that brings them across before another firm does.
An owner comes back to a lawyer again and again over the life of a company, so relationships carry more of the work in a business practice than in most others. In Canada we start with LinkedIn content under a named lawyer, the founder's own profile, and the referral partners above, and plan any direct outreach to companies with you.
A business owner choosing a lawyer for a deal reads your site for proof of that exact work: the transactions you've handled, the lawyer who'd handle theirs, and what the process looks like.
If an agency runs your Google Ads, that can work well, as long as someone on your side checks what the agency is doing and measures it against the matters you actually sign. As your Fractional CMO, I'm that person.
If a lawyer or an assistant handles the marketing between files, I'll train them, give them a plan, and lead the work.
Instead of trying to convert visitors directly into clients, we strategically capture their information first so we can follow up and nurture the relationship.
Create guides, toolkits, and webinars that help prospects understand their legal situation – positioning you as the expert before they ever call.
Get contact information and permission to follow up by offering something genuinely helpful, not just a consultation request.
Automated emails that continue providing value while keeping your firm top-of-mind during their decision process.
Continuously refine what's working through data – not guesswork – so your results keep getting better.
Know exactly which marketing activities generate clients and how much each client costs to acquire so we know which platforms to amplify and which need more optimization.
How each step looks for a Canadian business-law firm: A buyer's or seller's guide, or a shareholder-agreement checklist, written for the owner; a way to sign up on every page and every ad; follow-up that keeps helping while the deal takes shape; testing that keeps what works; and tracking that follows each inquiry to the signed matter.
A small-town practice that lists corporate work beside real estate and wills runs on who knows whom. The marketing that fits is personal: material for the accountants, bankers, and agents who refer, a strong local profile, and talks at the chamber of commerce or the service club.
A 14.1% conversion rate, against a 5.55% average for legal search ads.¹
About 75 times its ad spend back in estimated case value.⁴
About 11 times its ad spend back in estimated case value.⁴
The system is based on best practices that work across industries, so it adapts to any practice area with customized resources and messaging for your specific clients.
Both, where they fit. Canadians search corporate lawyer most, so your main pages should use it. The pages for each deal should use the words owners type for that deal, such as buying a business or shareholder agreement.
We can make it much easier for them to send you clients. We build useful material for the accountants and advisors who share your clients, help your lawyers share it directly and on LinkedIn, and keep a record of who sends what. The relationships stay with your lawyers.
You may keep the agency. What you get from me is someone on your side who checks the work, measures it against the matters you sign, and makes the ads and the rest of your marketing work as one system.
Yes. Canadian business-law firms are part of my work, alongside firms in the US, the UK, and Australia.
Everything runs over video: the assessment first, then our strategy calls.
There's no long-term contract to lock you in. I expect our relationship to last for years, and I don't want to be paid for work that isn't helping.
The fee depends on what the firm needs and how much of the work my team handles. Your assessment comes first, and we set the scope together from there.
¹ LOCALiQ, 2026 search advertising benchmarks: attorneys and legal services average a 5.55% conversion rate.
² Google Ads Keyword Planner, Canada, average monthly searches.
³ Aquila's research: Google's AI and ChatGPT, logged out, one Toronto business question.
⁴ Case value estimated from average case value.
A 45-minute to one-hour video call with me. We map your firm's marketing together on a whiteboard, and you keep the map whether or not we work together.
Currently accepting a limited number of Fractional CMO relationships.