The key to effectively communicating with clients and potential leads is to relay the necessary information in a format that they like.
In the past, people got information through reading articles in newspapers and magazines, mainly because any other option was too costly and time-consuming to be practical. Still, nowadays, technology has progressed at such a rate that we can easily create content in various formats. Users steadily displayed preferences for more visual modes of communication like infographics and videos. Recently, YouTube boasted 2 billion monthly users and 1 billion hours of watch time daily. Viewers claim to retain 95% of a message when delivered through video, and 72% of customers prefer learning about a product, service, or company through video.
Given the fast-paced, modern lifestyle, it’s easy to understand why people prefer videos over other formats. The daily grind often means people are forced to squeeze in entertainment in the middle of work or household tasks. Videos are great for multitasking since you can still absorb information even when you’re not fully paying attention. Besides the convenience, videos are better at relaying instructions than text and photos. Recipes and instructional DIY videos help users learn through a more immersive visual experience. Web design companies are also expanding their services to include video production to cater to more clients.
It has already been established that there’s a high demand for video as a content format. Given this, your law firm should consider hiring a team or outsourcing video production services to start your content marketing campaign.
Would video content marketing work for a law firm?
It’s easy to assume that no one outside your industry would even be interested in watching videos about the law. Still, if you do a quick YouTube search, you’ll find many legal YouTube channels garnering millions of views and subscribers. There’s no question that there’s an audience for these kinds of content. The question is: how do you carry it out effectively?
On top of making content for your YouTube and other social media pages, consider converting some of your website’s information into videos. To draw clients in, a law firm’s web design should incorporate creative elements like rotating banners and video reels. Videos speak more to clients than text does, so for sensitive topics and humanizing your law firm; video is definitely the way to go.
Benefits of video content
As mentioned, by having video content as a part of your law firm’s web design, you’ll be catering to clients who prefer the dissemination format over text. You’ll also have content that has a higher engagement and shareability potential than long-form articles. Having high-quality video content also positively impacts your search engine rankings, which is an excellent bonus if you also have an ongoing SEO strategy. Creating great videos also boosts brand awareness and fosters a deeper emotional connection with your target audience.
How do I get started?
You can work with video production experts to ensure your vision will come to life exactly the way you want it to. Compelling video content marketing isn’t just about making a slapdash video and calling it a day. Factors like video and sound quality, production quality, editing, sound direction, etc., affect whether a user will consume your content. Your goal is to create videos that users will watch and share with their social circles.
If you’re determined to keep your video production in-house, put together a team of creatives with a solid portfolio and considerable experience in video creation. Prior experience working with a law firm is not needed but is helpful since they would have some idea of what quality and style is expected of them.
If you’re in the early stages of planning your video content marketing strategy, here are a few key questions you need to answer.
- What makes existing law/legal services videos successful?
Firstly, watch these videos and note what drives users to watch them. Is it the host? The topic at hand? The editing style and the way the information is laid out? Once you identify common factors among successful legal videos, you can incorporate those into your own content. Include key personnel in your videos so your audience can foster a connection and build trust with your attorneys even before meeting them.
- What information is valuable to your audience?
Cater to your target audience’s needs by addressing their most common questions and concerns through educational legal videos. Clients are often unfamiliar with even the basics of the law, legal requirements, and legal processes for building a case, so having videos to guide them through that will undoubtedly help them and many others outside your immediate circle of influence.
Consider making videos on the most common cases you’ve handled to date. You can even make content analyzing historical trials and major political and legal events in the present. Having these kinds of timely content in your catalog could contribute positively to your view count since people are more likely to watch videos on recent and ongoing topics.
Keep an eye on your YouTube comments and look out for commonly requested topics so you can use them as ideas for future videos.
- How frequently will you post?
The key to video content marketing is consistency. Audiences are always hungry for more; if they notice that you stick to an upload schedule, they’re more likely to subscribe to you. Talk to your production team and agree on a schedule that you can commit to. Set up a content calendar that outlines workflow, deadlines, and what kinds of videos are set to come out on upload dates. By staying organized, you avoid crunching and will most likely produce higher-quality videos.
There are other ways you can expand your video marketing strategy. You can collaborate with YouTubers in the same field to hopefully convert some of their audience into potential clients for your business. You can also work with a law firm web design company to include other creative elements like graphics and animation to help send a clearer message.