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Criminal defense marketing that gets you the call after an arrest.
Sunward Marketing is a Miami agency that runs Google Ads, Local Services Ads, local SEO and call tracking for criminal defense firms in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, in English and Spanish. We go after urgent searches like "DUI lawyer near me" and "criminal defense attorney Miami", run them in the hours your firm can answer, and never use case results. Ads management is $1,500 to $4,000 a month plus ad spend from $600, month to month.
Why do defense firms lose calls they already paid for?
Because arrests happen at night and on weekends, the person calling is often panicked, and if nobody answers they hang up and dial the next firm. These are the three things defense attorneys tell us first, and what we do about each.
| What owners tell us | What we do about it |
|---|---|
| "Our calls come in at 2 AM on a Saturday. By Monday, they've hired someone else." | We set the after-hours plan with you before a single ad runs: who picks up, how they reach an attorney and how fast. Night and weekend ads only run once that plan is in place, with the call button first and a short form for anyone who can't talk. |
| "Half the clicks want a bail bondsman or a free lawyer." | We keep out searches that aren't looking for a private defense attorney, like bail bonds, public defender offices and court record lookups, unless you want them. Then we split the rest by charge, so DUI, drug charges, domestic violence charges and probation violations each get their own budget. |
| "We can't put our results in an ad, so how do we stand out?" | With what people can check: your attorneys' faces and names, the courts you practice in, the languages you speak and a phone that gets answered. Everything is written with Florida Bar advertising rules in mind, with no case results and no promises, and your firm approves it before it runs. |
What does Sunward run for a criminal defense firm?
Five services built for criminal defense, each one aimed at a frightened person reaching a calm voice at your firm.
Google Ads and Local Services Ads
Campaigns by charge for searches like "DUI attorney near me", "drug possession lawyer" and "abogado penalista en Miami", kept apart from slower searches like sealing a record. Local Services Ads run where the category qualifies, and you pay per lead.
Local SEO and Google Business Profile
Show up in the map for "criminal lawyer near me" around the courthouses you work in, with hours that match when you really answer, real photos of your office and a steady flow of new reviews.
Pages built for the first call
A page for each charge in English and Spanish, with your number at the top, the courts you cover, what happens on the first call and a short form for people who can't talk. General information only, never advice on anyone's case.
Facebook and Instagram ads
An arrest sends people to Google, not Instagram. So we use Meta for slower matters like sealing a record, and to keep your attorneys' faces familiar in the neighborhoods you serve. Your firm approves every ad.
Social media and content
We film your attorneys in person, in English and Spanish, explaining in general terms what happens after an arrest in South Florida, so a family member watching at midnight hears a real voice before they call.
How does someone find a criminal defense lawyer after an arrest?
Fast, from a phone, and often it's a family member searching, not the person who was arrested. They call the first firm that looks real and picks up. Here's that path, and what we put in place at each step.
Someone searches within hours.
A mother, a partner or a friend types "criminal lawyer near me", "DUI lawyer Miami" or "abogado penalista" from home, from work or from the courthouse parking lot. Call-first ads and Local Services Ads put your number before anything else.
They look for a firm that seems real.
A name, a face, a local office and the courts you cover. No mugshots, no flashing sirens and no case results. Just who you are and how to reach you.
They call, and someone answers or they don't.
Calls go to your office, your on-call attorney or your answering service, depending on the hour. Call tracking shows answered and missed calls by the hour. Recording stays off, so what a caller says stays between them and your firm.
Intake gets the basics.
The charge, the county, any court date and whether the person is still in custody. The short form asks the same things for anyone who can't talk on the phone, and goes straight to your intake team.
Some take a day to decide.
A DUI or a misdemeanor often gets compared across two or three firms over a day or two. Sealing a record can take weeks. Reviews, attorney videos and clear pages do the work while they decide.
They hire you, or the next firm.
Each month we match tracked calls against the cases you took, by charge, hour and language. Budget follows the calls that become clients, not the ones that only ring.
The system we'd build for your defense firm.
None of these is a case result, and none came from a law firm. They are Google Ads accounts our team ran in 2025 for other kinds of local businesses. Criminal defense is a lane we're opening now, and for your firm we'd build the same tracking-first system, with every call sorted by charge, by hour and by whether someone answered.
Figures come from Google Ads and analytics accounts our team managed in 2025, with tracked conversion values. What a defense call costs depends on your county, your charges and the firms you're up against, and past results don't guarantee future ones. See the full ledger.
Tell us the charges you take and who answers at night.
We're off the phones right now.
Chris will tell you in about five minutes what he'd run for a defense firm like yours and what it would cost. No pitch and no pressure.
We pick up again at 10 AM, Eastern time. Book a time that works for you and Chris will call you then.


Phones open Monday to Friday, 10 AM to 6 PM Eastern
What criminal defense attorneys ask us.
How much does marketing cost for a criminal defense firm?
Our management fee is $1,500 to $4,000 a month, and ad spend is a separate bill you pay straight to Google or Meta, starting at $600 a month. Criminal defense clicks are among the most expensive on Google, so on the call we'll suggest a budget for your charges, counties and hours. Websites are $1,500 to $7,000 one time and social media starts at $1,800 a month. Month to month, cancel with 30 days notice.
How fast will a criminal defense firm get more calls?
Search ads and Local Services Ads can bring calls in the first weeks once tracking is live. Climbing the map and ranking your pages take months. How many calls become clients depends on who answers and how fast, so we don't promise numbers, and we never promise an outcome in court.
Should our ads run at night and on weekends?
Only if someone can answer. If you have an attorney on call, or an answering service that can reach one, night and weekend ads run with the call button first. If not, they pause in those hours, so you never pay for a call that rings out. The call reports show when your calls really come in, and we adjust from there.
Can we get into Local Services Ads for criminal defense?
Often, yes. Google runs Local Services Ads for legal services, and where the category qualifies in your area, Google screens your firm and attorneys before the ads go live. You pay per lead instead of per click, and we track those leads next to your other calls so you can compare what each one costs.
Can our ads mention dropped charges or past wins?
No. We write with Florida Bar advertising rules in mind and leave out case results, verdicts and promises. Your ads lead with what people can check instead: your attorneys, the courts you cover, your languages and a phone that gets answered. Your firm approves every word.
Can you run criminal defense ads in Spanish?
Yes. Our team is bilingual, and many Miami families search in Spanish, for things like "abogado penalista en Miami", "abogado de DUI" and "abogado criminal cerca de mí". Spanish ads get their own pages and their own tracked number. It works best when the person who answers at night speaks Spanish too.
Be the firm that picks up.
A free 15-minute call, by phone or video. We'll look at your charges, your county and who answers after hours, tell you what's realistic, and leave you with a plan, whether or not we work together.