Video Marketing For Lawyers Is The New Frontier

Search Engine Optimisation or SEO, the staple for law firms, has faced its biggest upheaval in at least a decade in 2022. Search Engine Marketing is already expensive and will skyrocket in cost in 2023. In Australia, Bing Ads are largely useless and not an alternative to Google. Advertising costs on other platforms are also rising. Video content remains the most under-utilised marketing tactic for lawyers and demand for video marketing strategy and social media advertising is going to increase in 2023. Law firm video marketing, when used correctly, has a far greater return on investment than older, more “accessible” methods of digital marketing and has far more applications than just content marketing. Marketlytics are law firm video marketing specialists who make video marketing strategies accessible and brutally effective, especially on social media channels. Our social media campaigns are sharp, have a bite and cut through the noise. But law firm video is far wider and deeper than a marketing tactic for social media channels. YouTube is still an untouched part of law firm marketing strategy, and content marketers have always floundered with youtube videos for lawyers. We explain the opportunity, the challenges and the solutions available. 

Search Engine Optimisation and Search Engine Marketing Is Becoming Less Attainable

With the Helpful Content Update, many standard SEO practices are now illegitimate and millions of websites, including law firms, are penalised. The penalties we have seen are frequently at least 30-40% to 80%, amounting to monthly losses of thousands of visits. Before 2022, some keywords on Google Ads fetch as much or more than $110 a click. This is only going to become more exacerbated as the legion of punished SEO agencies will flock to Google Ads to compensate. They only know Google after all. Marketing strategies involving multi-channel or even omnichannel strategies are only going to increase in necessity and popularity. Marketlytics espouses a rather different approach, we advocate a Right Channel, Right Purpose approach, focusing our marketing efforts using the right weapon for the right outcome. A defined target audience is now an increasingly strict requirement for SEO and SEM to work properly, small generalist law firms are some of the biggest losers and will find it the hardest to climb the ranks.

Advertising is becoming less transparent, harder and costlier

Law firm advertising has always been challenging. The dry, complex nature of law, the regulations around law firm marketing, and even the complex environment and regulations of the advertising platforms themselves have made advertising less hospitable and accessible for many law firms. Ever since the iOS14 and 14.5 update, and the development of cookieless tracking, the efficacy of all advertising has dropped, and the difficulty and barrier to entry rising because digital marketing is less transparent due to privacy measures blocking tracking. Facebook is also clamping down on bad advertisers and advertising practices and legions of law firms are breaking the rules, not knowing it and being punished severely. The number of advertisers and market saturation remains great. We are a marketing agency specialising in law firm advertising across major channels. Our capabilities extend beyond social media platforms. We develop strategies that attract potential clients in the most efficient manner you can afford. Our best tool is marketing videos that drive the cost of obtaining potential clients to such efficiency, you will have explosive growth. We make videos that sell and are not the same as explainer videos or even client testimonial videos. 

Strategy has never played a more important role in advertising

With the machine learning of all advertising platforms instantly less effective for quite some time now, strategy has never had a more important role and it extends beyond the advertisement to even the client intake process. It is far more complex and nuanced than merely producing law firm video content. Systems such as email marketing must be developed to support and nurture your potential clients. Video production is only one component of a complex online marketing machine. Your marketing efforts cannot be left to a generic proposal. That is why we developed the Legal Lead Booster (LLB) to create tailored marketing strategies that match your marketing goals with effective marketing. Contact us today and find out about our marketing services.

How placements work on search engines and social media

A lawyer’s video marketing campaign will find the quickest wins on social media. Let us explain why. Search Engine Marketing occurs on the search engine results page. Generally speaking, there are only around four paid positions and ten organic positions per page. This is called a fixed placement. On Google, the placements are finite and defined, which is why they become so expensive. As they are definite and defined, it is easier and possible to outbid your competitor on that particular keyword. Social media is different. Not quite the opposite, but they have what we call a fluid placement. A placement on social media generally only happens when the user stops scrolling their feed. But this is extremely subjective. Anyone can have any number of reasons to stop scrolling. However, this is where superior creative becomes cheaper. Since placements are fluid, they are harder to be bought out. Even if you paid a higher price, if your law firm’s video content is poor, you lose. Conversely, it means more effective video content will be preferred and become cheaper! It is by no means an infinite number of placements, as high competition can still increase the Cost-Per-Thousand-Impressions (CPM), but a far more equal playing field. Social media is the great equaliser of digital marketing.

Why video marketing for law firms is still profitable

Despite the video marketing mistakes lawyers frequently make, such as being too technical, not “selling”, and not understanding the technology and art sufficiently, some lawyers are still making gains in their advertising even with amateurish execution. However, as the market saturates, potential clients are going to demand greater sophistication. This is where the opportunity lies. Just as the gap between winners and losers is occurring in SEO in 2022, so too the same will happen in advertising, as law firms marketing online take up more competent marketing services. Those who do not spend enough will only damage their brand with more online marketing they do, and those who spend frivolously or try to buy their rankings and placements with marketing spend are not going to be saved by online video. The best marketing professionals understand marketing spending is a bell curve. It is about reaching optimum levels of effective marketing and is far more complex than having a suite of leading marketing tools. Creating video creates more levers for differentiation and effective marketing reduces the cost to some degree, but it needs to be sharper, edgier and polished without the exorbitant budget and impractical requirements of a brand video. The dynamic nature of the video format requires measures that are fit for purpose. We are a digital marketing agency focused on true ROI, not vanity metrics or polish without utility.

TikTok is the false prophet of video marketing for lawyers

TikTok is taking the world by storm, many law firms have already been emulating the Tik Tok video format. We feel this is overall a fallacious, ineffective digital marketing strategy for law firms. Marketing firms are pushing this as the newest trend for lawyer video marketing, but we are going to tear the concept to shreds in a few paragraphs.

The first thing to note is that yes, indeed the performance of some of these video formats is prima facie incredible. With the cheap clicks, and high click-through rate (CTR), it all seems to be good and check out. Let me make a simple logical argument. Legal services are complex. We argue a 30-second video does not give enough context to its viewers. Effectively, a Tik Tok-based digital marketing strategy is clickbait. It is shallow, and thus, even if it sells the click, the prospect is not informed enough, or emotionally moved enough to take action. That is why the conversion rate of these videos is either low, or yields so many unqualified leads, who simply like the snappy, entertaining nature of that video.

Creating a video that sells is far more complex and driven by emotional content rather than style. Marketing professionals who overuse this method are selling you brand awareness. Never rely on brand awareness as a major part of your marketing spend unless you are Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nike or Adidas. It is a sinkhole of money that goes nowhere. Lawyer video marketing should be used to sell, and although you may not understand the nuance yet, it is very different from the brand awareness reserved only for the biggest, most recognisable brands, which is no law firm in existence worldwide.

Why long-form videos are superior for law firms

We have a saying which goes, the context of the content is what compels. Too many law firms mistrust online videos, frequently thinking that no one would view these. We are not talking about mere Tik Tok or brand videos. We are talking about almost hypnotic messages with targeting that identifies people likely to be experiencing that very problem. That is why our short video, which is longer than a Tik Tok video, will compel and this is what makes us unique when compared to other marketing firms.

A long-form video to a videographer is 5 minutes or more. We have news for you. Did you know, when marketers sell to other marketers, sometimes the video is at least half an hour long we have seen some an hour and a half long.

Our definition of long-form video is 1.5 minutes or longer. In the age of the rise of Tik Tok, that’s much longer than usual. It is most definitely not an explainer video. Although video testimonials are helpful, many law firms misattribute them to the wrong audience awareness state and the marketing content does not resonate as much as ours. Our digital marketing strategy is to create coherent, sharp messages that compel. And it is much harder to craft a deep, meaningful message in 30 seconds than it is with at least a minute and a half.

Why you do not need a videographer for video marketing

All marketing goals should be around generating revenue and profit. If all advertising videos require the budget of brand videos, logically and numerically speaking, how much harder is it going to be to break even and make decent returns? Video production is both becoming cheaper and more expensive simultaneously. Methods and techniques become more complex and complicated, whereas marketing tools make it easier to produce at a lower level.

We live in a golden age where the role of videographer-level video production is relegated to making brand videos and blockbuster films. The skill and technique video marketing lawyers need are far more important than the latest greatest cameras and gadgets. Content is king and context is God, legal marketing requires the correct level of expenditure and effort, not shoestring budgets nor blockbuster marketing spend. Please remember you cannot bribe any of these modern media platforms if your target audience hates your content.

Our superior variation building and testing

Our technique requires our scriptwriters to be master copywriters. Notice I did not say master screenplay or scriptwriters. We are selling. Selling has a bad name, from car salespeople to bad digital marketers, maybe personal injury lawyers who are candidly known as ambulance chasers. This is something very different. Our copywriters must read, understand and apply a classic copywriting book retailing for $1,000AUD on the open market. They must understand, master and detect the only seven copywriting angles in existence by heart and we generally try to use at least four angles. Moreover, we match the strategy and message to the prospect’s awareness state. We analyse and match the sophistication of the market and aim to create a blue ocean for you rather than let you choke in a red ocean of market saturation. What we have is far more complex, nuanced and difficult to replicate than a mere marketing video. Advertising is more focused and agitating than most content marketing, including this article you are reading.

How we make video marketing for lawyers accessible

Marketlytics has invented the Marketlytics $1K Video Setup. As a basic setup, at 2022 prices, it costs no more than $1,000AUD to make videos. You can use it organically on social media platforms, use it to make a YouTube video, and even make video testimonials. The marketing content you can make far extends beyond any advertising we do for you. And we just give it to all our clients. We enable our clients to make videos at a semi-professional level, and we have advanced setups we can teach clients, even beyond this basic setup to make this easy.

How video can improve your organic marketing and user experience

Web pages with videos are more effective when they have marketing videos. This is far more complex and nuanced than simply having a client testimonial. The biggest issue in video marketing for lawyers is that they sound like lawyers. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage is that the person speaking is viewed as an authority. The disadvantage is that the mindset and typical communication of a lawyer is not necessarily emotionally compelling.

Why a video is not a video, is not a video. The myriad of video types and purposes

Just to demonstrate quickly, there are many types of videos for many different purposes. A video sales letter is not a good advertisement, a Tik Tok video is usually 30 seconds or less, and an Outreach video is different again. Furthermore, the technology required for each type of video can be very different. Some, you can get away with a good webcam, but many times, a flagship phone is all that is needed. Occasionally, you need at least a mirrorless camera. The setup we give our clients will only fit certain purposes, but it will be tailored for legal marketing.

When should you use an actual videographer?

For most law firms, the only scenario where a videographer must be used is when shooting a brand video. A brand video is defined as a short video that is meant to showcase your brand. It is normally quite shallow, but stylistically complex and takes a very long time to produce. Our 30-second brand video took over eight hours to shoot, including prior setup.

Conclusion

Video marketing is far more complex and difficult to properly execute than a simple marketing tactic. Use the video marketing specialists tailored for legal practice, Marketlytics and receive a fine-tuned method that has been in the making and refined for four years now in 2023. You will find no one else who can prepare you as adequately, make it easy and accessible for you, but most importantly, have effective deadlines and help you outmanoeuvre even tough competitors.