Ratelle, Lawyers & Notaries

1. Ursa Marketing’s mandate for Ratelle

Founded in 1968, Ratelle, is a leading law firm on Montreal’s North Shore. Its multidisciplinary team covers more than 25 areas of law from three offices in Joliette, Repentigny and Mascouche. The firm holds a rare position in the region: it serves both individuals (family law, criminal law, wills and estates) and businesses (corporate law, construction law, insurance law) under one roof.

After a period during which the firm’s marketing had been put on hold, Ursa Marketing was entrusted with a full-service digital performance mandate: build a measurable client acquisition ecosystem, generate qualified consultation requests for all three offices and every practice area, and reinforce the firm’s position as the region’s go-to legal authority.

Objectives

• Generate qualified leads: phone calls and form submissions for all three offices.
• Keep cost per lead competitive in an industry known for some of the highest advertising costs.
• Increase brand awareness and visibility among a diverse clientele across Montreal’s North Shore.
• Grow the corporate law practice in the Les Moulins region (Terrebonne and Mascouche), a key growth priority.
• Implement reliable performance tracking and a unified dashboard to support data-driven decisions.
• Support Ratelle’s team with its SEO strategy and website management.

2. The challenges

Several structural challenges had to be addressed before growth was even on the table.

One of the most expensive industries in online advertising

The legal industry has some of the highest customer acquisition costs online. Generating a steady flow of inquiries while keeping acquisition costs reasonable required continuous, disciplined optimization, not just running ads.

Two very different audiences, one website

Ratelle serves individual clients (B2C) who are often going through stressful life events such as a separation or an estate settlement, which calls for an empathetic, reassuring tone.

The firm also advises SME owners and executives (B2B), whose decision cycles are longer and who expect a strategic advisor.

Bringing these two messaging and targeting approaches together without diluting either one was a major segmentation challenge.

Measurement infrastructure built from scratch

Without reliable conversion tracking, there was no way to tell whether campaigns were profitable. Setting up rigorous call and form tracking, while complying with Quebec’s Law 25 privacy requirements, was a prerequisite for any serious optimization.

Protecting the brand name

One of the firm’s main competitors shares the same name and operates in the same city. Protecting the Ratelle name in search results against this competitor was essential.

3. Strategies and tactics

Ursa responded with a multichannel strategy covering the entire client journey, an uncommon approach for a regional law firm, built on four pillars.

Google Ads

Campaigns were structured by practice area and by the firm’s business needs. This segmentation keeps ads highly relevant and preserves lead quality in each segment, while covering all priority practice areas.

Meta Ads

The same segmentation was applied to Meta and adapted to the platform’s formats and audience behaviour. Campaigns were rolled out in phases.

LinkedIn Ads

LinkedIn was used for the B2B audience, following the same segmentation: reaching business decision-makers in the region and supporting the firm’s corporate law positioning. Ursa also supported Ratelle’s recruitment campaigns.

Analytics and measurement

• Conversion tracking implemented through Google Tag Manager (GTM) and GA4 for phone calls and form submissions.
• A unified Looker Studio dashboard for transparent, centralized reporting.
• Law 25 compliance (cookie consent banner).

4. Results

Since launching campaigns, performance has been transformed. The account went from generating a handful of conversions per week to a 160% increase in campaign conversions, with a cost per acquisition that has remained controlled and stable over time.

Conversions: a measurable, profitable lead generation engine

• A controlled, stable cost per acquisition month after month, in an industry known for expensive advertising.
• A strong average conversion rate of 9%, a sign of qualified, relevant traffic.
• Lead volume up 2.6x from launch to today.
• Advertising cost efficiency improving steadily since launch.

Traffic and visibility

• Branded search dominance: #1 position for every variation of “Ratelle” and related local searches.
• Strong growth in ad impressions (up to +54% in a single month), expanding reach and the remarketing audience.

Key takeaways

Through an integrated, disciplined and data-driven strategy, Ursa Marketing helped Ratelle generate a steady stream of qualified prospects: a controlled cost per acquisition, rapidly growing lead volume and a stronger brand presence across Montreal’s North Shore. The next phase will support the firm through the launch of its new website, including a seamless SEO migration.