Video is becoming the most important type of content in the digital landscape. Businesses are investing more of their resources into creating compelling video content – and for good reason. Since the pandemic, online media consumption has increased by 215% – with audiences spending an average of 19 hours a week watching videos. If you think you don’t need to consider video, you’re wrong.
Video is exciting for lawyers because it presents the ideal opportunity to forge a stronger relationship with clients and engage with new ones. People tend to respond well to videos because they can make a more human connection. This is especially important in industries such as legal because it can be more difficult to make that personal connection (which is key in prospects trusting you to solve their legal worries). People work with lawyers, not firms, so creating content that really resonates with potential clients is more important than ever.
Here’s our checklist of 5 things you can do to improve your video strategy – and the results it’s getting.
Keep your audience in mind.
It’s impossible to market properly if you don’t know who you’re trying to reach. Videos that you create should help with at least one marketing goal.
To achieve this, it’s essential to understand your target audience. You can do this by creating buyer personas. If you already have a set of buyer personas, determine the channels they utilize and the issues they are aiming to address. It is important to figure out how your buyer personas spend their time. Do they have a lot of free time and enjoy longer videos on platforms such as YouTube, or are they busy and engage in short-form video content such as TikTok? Video content should be user-specific to ensure a large audience is being reached.
Be consistent with branding
Whether you’re repurposing webinars or creating live videos, make sure you’re consistently using your firm’s logo and other branding elements such as color scheme and aesthetic. Bonus points for including a short branded introduction to any video content you produce. Brand videos serve to captivate your audience and involve them in your company’s mission.
Use videos for storytelling.
The whole point of video content is to make things more personal. Forget the formal information, and stick to showing, explaining – and inspiring. Share client success stories, or dive deep into a controversial topic. Share positive anecdotes that will invoke emotion and connect people with your brand. Get creative and add b-roll, supplementary footage used as cutaway footage to enhance your video and create a full circle story. Explore and familiarize yourself with the camera you have, whether it’s a smartphone or another device, because utilizing both close-up and wide-angle shots can introduce depth and excitement to your video.
Don’t underestimate optimizing.
To enjoy your video, people need to find it! YouTube is the second largest search engine next to Google – that means that people are searching on there for information to help them solve problems. Make sure your videos are easy to find and tailored to the channel you’re posting them on. Every channel has different best practices that they recommend to make your video successful. Take time to research and familiarize yourself with these best practices before posting. In addition to optimizing for the channel, remember to account for SEO. Research keywords and incorporate them into the title and description. Keep titles less than 60 characters (but informative). Always include a link to your website, and try to build backlinks when appropriate. Lastly, make sure to optimize for mobile viewing, since many people look at videos on handheld devices.
Include a call to action.
All of this work is for nothing if you aren’t directing potential clients to your site, or to the next logical step of a campaign. Tell viewers what you want them to do next. It doesn’t have to feel “salesy”. Some good examples of subtle calls to action include asking a question that people can answer in the comments or directing them to another piece of content. Include a concluding reminder in your video to encourage viewers to subscribe or follow your account, along with other platforms. This guarantees that the audience will continue to watch future videos and engage with various social media accounts.
Takeaway
Video isn’t going away. It’s become a real marketing powerhouse that can put you above your competition. If you need help creating or implementing a video strategy that will work, contact us today for help with your video marketing strategy.
This post has been edited and republished from June 20, 2019.
