Effective Strategies for Video Marketing in Law Firms

Video Marketing for Law Firms: An Introduction

In a world where digital content continues to dominate our daily lives, video has emerged as one of the most powerful tools for engaging audiences, building credibility, and communicating essential information. For law firms, video marketing has become an indispensable strategy that not only helps attract new clients but also fosters stronger relationships with existing ones. According to a recent study by Cisco, video will account for 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2022, making it the primary mode of online communication. Given this trend, it is no surprise that video marketing has become a cornerstone strategy for businesses of all shapes and sizes, including those in the legal industry.
The need for law firms to develop a strong video marketing strategy is further evidenced by survey results from Clio , which found that 77% of respondents prefer watching an informative video than reading text on a website. This statistic underscores the high level of interest in video content among potential clients and demonstrates the growing appetite for consuming legal information in a more visually engaging way. Additionally, video marketing provides a unique opportunity for law firms to convey their expertise and differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace.
Though it can be a complicated process to navigate the world of video marketing, the benefits are well worth the time and resources. As the demand continues to grow, it is crucial for law firms to embrace video as a vital component of their marketing strategy.

The Value of Video Marketing for Law Firms

When it comes to reaping the benefits of video for law firm marketing, it’s essential to build a video strategy that generates ongoing, cumulative results over time, as opposed to the one-off successes of a brand-new video: something for which the latter is not built to provide and cannot deliver. And fortunately, if all goes as planned, we’re not just building the one-off video here, but a strategy that will dramatically increase visibility time and time again for your law practice.
There’s one guarantee when you embrace a robust digital strategy with video at its core: You’re going to see more visibility for your law practice.
Your law firm website is probably already home to detailed content about all of your services and practice areas, relevant case law, attorney bios, and other content that helps attract your ideal clients. However, you have to compete against a world of digital distractions to get your ideal client to spend 15 seconds on your content – much less to dive deep into the full range of services your law practice offers. When you add video to your website (or press the "start" button on your content), you immediately begin boosting visibility and traffic.
With a strong video strategy, you expand your reach and visibility exponentially – by pushing your message to the prospect first, long before he or she finds the time to search for you. Your video shows up in social media feeds, online ads, email campaigns, and affiliate sites. You expand your opportunities to show up on video search results, and to be featured on YouTube channels and playlists, newsletters, etc.
With the right video strategy, you can even go beyond the next level, and supercharge your visibility through effective paid methods – essentially turning your video engagement into revenue.
The name of the game with digital marketing is engagement; and with video, you capture the attention of your ideal clients like never before. When a prospect watches an interesting video, they’re far more inclined to stay on your site or navigate to another page on your website, than if they had to mentally sift through several hundred (or thousand) words of text.
Video isn’t just about immediate engagement with prospects, however. It’s a perfect platform for showcasing your expertise and positioning yourself as an authority in your practice area.
Video is also a powerful engagement tool up and down the conversion process. It’s an extremely effective medium for reminding your existing clients that you’re just as good at handling their business as you’ve always been, and it’s also great for generating referrals from attorneys who may not handle all of the needs of their clients, but might be impressed by the service-based law practice you’ve built.
Video marketing for law firms is an effective way to provide personalization at scale, in a world where interpersonal connections are becoming increasingly rare. Whether on a text message or in a direct conversation, prospects expect a personal touch throughout every stage of their relationship with a vendor or service provider, to increase their loyalty to them and accomplish the same goals that are driving them to seek an attorney – to advance their personal and business priorities.
Video puts your face – and character – personally in front of the camera, allowing you to make a meaningful impression and connection that drives loyalty, and enhances your ability to be seen as a trustworthy advocate.

Different Forms of Video in Law Firm Marketing

Attorneys are increasingly using video in their marketing strategies to promote their practices. The most prevalent type of video is educational—lawyer-produced content that answers common legal questions posed by potential clients. But there are other types of videos that can be used in legal marketing, according to Lawyers.com.
Client testimonials. Testimonials can be powerful, but only if a lawyer has gained the confidence of a client to provide one. These need not be long and fancy. A short clip (two minutes or less) can suffice. The content is what matters. It can cover the problem that was solved, how your firm helped, and how the client feels about the outcome.
Lawyer introductions. These should be shorter than a couple of minutes and needn’t be slick. The goal is to demonstrate your human side, not to present a script.
Case studies. Clients want to know about other people like them who have faced similar legal challenges. Videos that cover a trial, settlement, verdict, or an internal matter such as insurance claims and denials can be helpful.

How to Produce Quality Legal Video Content

Creating high-quality legal content is essential for effective video marketing. Law firms should focus on developing clear and compelling scripts that resonate with the target audience. The script acts as the foundation upon which the video is built, allowing the content to flow naturally and effectively convey the intended message.
When it comes to production quality, law firms do not necessarily need high-end equipment to create professional-looking videos. Investing in quality lighting and sound equipment can make a significant difference in video quality. While there are many free or low-cost editing tools available online, hiring a professional editor may be beneficial for larger projects.
In addition, it is essential for law firms to have a clear message that is relevant to their target audience. Video content should reflect the firm’s brand and expertise while addressing the specific needs and interests of their target demographic. High-quality video production paired with clear messaging will help law firms establish themselves as industry leaders and drive engagement with their target audience.

Search Engine and Social Media Optimization for Videos

When it comes to digital marketing, video is one of the most effective tools law firms can use to reach a wider audience while establishing themselves as authorities in their practice areas. But like anything else, there’s a right way and a wrong way to use video marketing effectively. A well-optimized video can not only attract leads but also establish you as an authority and drive traffic to your law firm website, helping you with your SEO.
Search engine optimization strategies apply to video marketing just as they do to website content and articles. Like content, video should be optimized for any keywords you’re trying to rank for. In other words, if you publish a video on Your Law Topic, then you should use that keyword in your title and description where applicable.
You should also make sure to tag your video with keywords to improve discoverability. This applies not only to your law firm website or blog, but also to sites like YouTube, which is one of the most popular video platforms in use today. If you’re using video marketing, you should not only have a presence on YouTube but also a strategy for taking advantage of it , optimizing your videos for discoverability and consistency in branding.
Beyond just YouTube, there are numerous other social media platforms that you should be leveraging not only to distribute your videos but to optimize them for discoverability. These include:
Facebook has been actively competing with video platforms like YouTube; other social platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter and Snapchat are also increasingly implementing more video. Don’t stop by just integrating SEO best practices; go an extra step by creating transcriptions of your videos and uploading these to your site. That way, both search engines and your audience have a full version of the video or presentation for easy viewing and for indexing and ranking.
Using video wisely can not only help you establish yourself as an authority in your field, but also help you show your audience how you treat your clients as well as get a better understanding of your strengths and weaknesses. By optimizing videos with keywords and publishing them on various social platforms, you can also get an extension of your reach so that you can earn more high-quality leads.

Promoting a Law Firm with Video

Once you’ve created your video it’s time to get it in front of your target audience. Paid advertising, social media channels and including video on your law firm site are great ways to reach potential clients.
Paid Advertising
Facebook ads can be a powerful, affordable way to reach legal consumers. The platform allows you to target your advertisement to certain locations, demographics, and interests, which allows you to maximize the effectiveness of your campaigns. You can also include one of your videos within a Facebook ad for even greater effect.
You can publish video ads to YouTube, or retarget users who have previously watched one of your videos with another ad featuring new content. Promoting videos on YouTube is common and effective.
Social Media
Many people spend hours every day on social media; Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other platforms have become ubiquitous in Western culture. This presents a huge opportunity for spaces where you can publish and promote your segments.
Facebook recently launched a standalone app, Facebook Watch, for discovering and watching videos on the go. It’s not a YouTube competitor, as you might think; instead, Facebook Watch groups videos by topic into series. A few dozen law firms are included in the service today, but it’s still very much in its early stages.
Twitter has been more aggressive lately on promoting the use of video across its network. As a new platform, Vero is also making an aggressive push to attract users and hack video into the vernacular of its target demographic. Two other new but powerful platforms to emerge recently are Musical.ly and TikTok. You may not think of these platforms as a way to generate legal business, but if you’re keenly aware of your audiences’ social media habits, you can leverage them to your advantage.
YouTube and Vimeo
While a growing number of social networks allow for native video uploads and hosting, many marketers still find it most useful to add videos to their site and pair them with links to other sites where the videos can be embedded.
With a little optimization, video content will rank well in search engines. Video marketing is different than traditional blogging and article marketing. You’ll need to come to terms with how to work through these differences to become more comfortable with video marketing.
Other Video Platforms
Video doesn’t only have to be hosted on mainstream streaming video networks like YouTube. In fact, Dtube might be preferable to something like YouTube — especially when you consider how convoluted a deal is on that platform. Dtube is available to video producers who don’t want to have to make a deal with Google or Facebook to run advertisements alongside their videos. The trade-off is that Dtube splits its advertising revenue with both the viewer and the video producer.
You can also host video on Snapchat, a photo-sharing app with a perishable element that deletes uploads shortly after posting. Be sure to capitalize on this necessary feature, or you might soon find yourself embarrassed and short on content!

Analytics and Metrics for Video Marketing Activities

There are numerous metrics you can use to measure the success of a video marketing campaign. You can evaluate the effects of online and offline marketing efforts for videos that are posted on your website and shared on social media sites.
You will want to know how many views a video has received, not just the day it goes live but views over time. A good rule of thumb is to expect to average 50 to 100 views per day initially, then an average of 20 views per day for the next year, although some videos continue to get views many years after they were created.
You’ll also want to keep an eye on how long viewers are watching the video. Google Analytics allows you to see how many times someone has viewed the video and how much of the video they actually watched. You want to know how many people are watching the video as a whole and how many don’t even get through half of it. If people aren’t sticking around to the end, something in the video is likely losing their interest, at least with that particular video.
When you post a video to YouTube, it allows you to view your subscriber count, which is good to know, but what is even better is knowing how many people are actually registering for your platform, building a subscriber base for your other videos.
For videos on YouTube or embedded on a website (either your own firm’s website or hosted on a site like Vimeo), you can also measure the click-through rate of a link you want to the viewer to click, for instance, if it is a link to fill out a subscription or contact form for new clients.
Of course, what is most important is whether or not the video is leading to new business coming into the U.S. firm. You may easily be able to track an increase in contact form inquiries on your website, phone calls with people who saw a certain video or even appointments made with people who specifically mentioned seeing a video. Your email marketing system may also be able to help you determine who is requesting a copy of your guide or paper that you have advertised through a form on your website that they get when they provide an email. All of that information can help you evaluate how effective your video marketing strategy is to ultimately turning into new business.
ROI can be determined by comparing the cost of a video in terms of man hours and equipment, expenses to produce and distribute the video and comparing those costs with the revenue generated from said video. When you calculate ROI, make sure to give it enough time. It can take time for prospects to view videos that they find on websites after searching for a legal issue, so be sure to give test campaigns enough time to work before you start pulling the plug on expensive strategies.
It’s important to keep in mind that not all metrics are equal.

Problems and Solutions in Law Firm Video Marketing

While the potential of video marketing for law firms is clear, so are some of the challenges that come with it. One of the most fundamental issues is simply financial. Large, multi-practice firms can afford to invest in a solid content marketing and video production budget. Smaller firms, especially sole practitioners, may find those costs prohibitive. The reality for these firms is that video marketing must be just one aspect of a larger, multi-pronged content marketing strategy. On smaller budgets, a sound strategy that incorporates video along with a blog, social media, and/or an email newsletter could be a viable strategy. This also means video marketing should augment, not replace, these other platforms. A strong legal blog, for example , should be complemented by a video strategy that incorporates both short and long-form content. This will help your video marketing go even further.
It’s also important for firms to understand that if all they are doing is producing videos and creating content, they are failing to use video effectively. What most firms lack when it comes to video marketing is a solid promotional strategy. Videos are important to include on the firm website, but they shouldn’t be limited to your website. Promoting your videos through your social media channels, email newsletters, video platforms, and/or paid advertising groups is a critical part of creating an effective video content marketing strategy. If your videos and content spend all of their time on your website, you’re likely missing out on thousands of potential viewers.