You’ve read the articles. You’ve heard the marketing strategists. And, yes, you’ve undoubtedly seen the videos extolling the virtues of video marketing. Add our voice to the chorus: Video should definitely be part of your professional services’ firm’s marketing mix.
Why? Here are a few compelling reasons why video is critical to reaching your audience and growing your firm’s brand:
According to Cisco, by 2021 over 80% of consumer internet traffic will be video.
Adding video content to your website increases SEO rankings. It should come as no surprise that Google continues to favor video content in search results since its acquisition of YouTube. According to Comscore, adding a video to a website can increase the chance of a front page Google result by 53 times.
More platforms, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, are prioritizing video content and facilitating broader network distribution of video content versus written content.
Mobile device use continues to explode, and video is the medium of choice on mobile. Over half of video content is viewed on mobile devices and 92% of mobile video viewers share content with others.
Many other factors support the argument that video should become a pillar of a law firm’s marketing strategy, such as the fact that video empowers firms to make an emotional connection with their audience and engage in more powerful brand storytelling. Video taps into both the art and science of online marketing and the Internet’s discovery infrastructure. Bottom-line: It’s time to get serious about video marketing.
Indeed, video, unlike many other fickle marketing trends, is not going away. It’s only increasing in importance.
Where most firms struggle is knowing where to start. Many default to what is undoubtedly the most frequently utilized format in professional services, which is a series of videos featuring professionals delivering extended, on-screen monologues. Done right (and that’s a big caveat because most aren’t) those types of videos can be valuable to demonstrate thought leadership, but they are often over-emphasized to the exclusion of another video format that has broader marketing and brand awareness impact.
Why Every Firm Needs a Brand Video
In marketing, we talk a lot about the importance of “brand.” A firm’s brand is a collection of unique attributes, values, and elements of culture encapsulated in a compelling narrative. Brand is story. And given that video is increasingly becoming the most popular and important storytelling mechanism, it’s critical for firms to showcase their brands through video.
A strong brand video showcases a firm’s people, culture, and position within the marketplace. Brand video captures a firm’s essence and engages audiences on both and emotional and intellectual level. What typically used to require 1,000 words of text to get across, a brand video can convey in 60-seconds or less, which makes a big difference in today’s distracted and noisy world.
To give you a sense of how video can reinforce a firm’s brand, here’s an example of a brand video we shot and edited for our client Kerr Russell, which is meant to amplify the firm’s new tagline, “Founded in Detroit. Always in Detroit.” Not only is the video used on the homepage of the firm’s new website, but it has also served as an important brand awareness tool on social media.
In 2019, you can try to build a brand and get your message out without video. But why swim upstream? The current is flowing in the direction of more video—because that’s the medium through which an increasingly large number of buyers of professional services are consuming information. Statistics from as far back as 2015 show that 75% of business executives watch work-related videos at least once a week, and 59% of senior executives say that if both text and video are available, they prefer to watch video.
Video marketing is thriving online, but in the world of professional services it’s still a relatively nascent tactic which is often disconnected from a larger strategy. And, in our experience, few firms are using video effectively to build their brands. This presents big opportunities for firms looking to make an impact in the mobile-first, digital-first world in which they’re competing.
Interested in incorporating video into your firm's marketing mix? We help firms drive engagement, lead generation, and brand awareness through strategic video marketing. Contact Jay Harrington at jay@hcommunications.biz or 313.432.0287 ext. 1 to discuss your firm's marketing objectives.
Looking for more? Check out these related posts:
Video Marketing Strategy: What Law Firms Need to Know (Part 1)
Five Ways to Build Your Personal Brand in Today’s Digital World
Want to Become a Thought Leader? You Need to Build a Platform
We work with professional services firms to develop content marketing strategies, create visual storytelling assets, and build brands and websites that lead to new business.
If you’re interested in increasing the returns on your marketing investments, contact me to set up a free consultation to discuss how we can work together to define clear goals, create a specific plan of action, and implement marketing tactics that will help your firm grow.