52 WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM | FEB 2022 Video, Video, Short FormVideo (&Audio) Video is not going away and it is important to consider it when planning your legal marketing strategy for this year, as consumers are increasingly looking to absorb information through video. While some will put the time into reading a long blog post, others who may not have the time will likely prefer and engage more with video content. It has been found that 89% of legal marketers maintain that they get good ROI with video, so it is well worth the effort to at least explore the idea. Another advantage of looking towards video is that only 24% of law firms currently use video marketing, allowing you to get ahead of potential competitors in the field. However, video is one of the most time-consuming and daunting areas of content that you can attempt – which is why we think that short form video could be the answer to your legal marketing prayers. People are not generally watching many ten-minute videos going into depth on complex legal subjects, but they are gravitating towards shorter (under one minute), more irreverent videos from businesses. Think Instagram Reels and TikTok. Even Youtube have now released ‘Youtube Shorts’, which are one-minute videos that co-exist with their longer form counterparts. These sorts of videos can be perfect ways to humanise your law firm and not only inform and entertain, but also show potential clients a new side to lawyers, opening up new audiences. If you’re new to video, it is easy to be put off. But there are dozens of great tools to help you start and you can look at several different methods. Many law firms will create animated explainer videos, while others will create their own videos of themselves in front of the camera. Which method you choose may well boil down to whether or not you are comfortable in front of the camera. But the key method to help you on your way is to follow this simple plan: Understand your audience. Get some data on your existing clients – your target audience – and figure out what they like. Similar to researching keywords, this will help shape your video content. Define your topic. Figure out what you want your video to be about and make sure it matches up with the audience information you researched earlier. At the beginning of the year we laid out our Legal Marketing Trends Outlook for 2022, outlining the marketing avenues that will be crucial for law firms’ continued growth in the new year. Those avenues (websites, SEO and social media) comprise some of the best tools for growing a law firm’s client base in an increasingly digital world. This month we will build upon our earlier advice. Read on to take a deeper dive into the marketing techniques that, when used in conjunction with the above digital platforms, will help your firm to thrive even in a time of heightened competition and uncertainty.
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