When it comes to generating high quality legal leads, many lawyers rely on traditional marketing techniques like SEO, paid media ads, and legal directories. And while these strategies should continue to occupy a place in every personal injury lawyer marketing strategy, firms can no longer ignore the value of video when it comes to marketing their legal services.
Video marketing plays a vital role in building recognition and trust with prospective clients. Videos also increase engagement and improve search ranking performance. Moreover, videos are quickly becoming the content of choice for users. In the United States, an estimated 85% of internet users watch video content each month on their devices. According to Cisco, by 2022 an estimated 82% of global internet traffic will come from video streaming and downloads.
In terms of personal injury lead generation, video marketers report getting 66% more qualified leads. And 93% of marketers report converting a new customer through a video posted on social media. In this article, we will explore 6 video marketing techniques that lawyers can begin using today to acquire and convert more leads.
#1 – Research the types of content that interests your target audience
To acquire leads with video marketing, you need to identify topics that will engage your audience. Much like you would search for potential topics when writing a blog, start by conducting keyword research. One easy way to do this is to enter some search terms on YouTube.
For example, if you are interested in getting more workers comp leads, type related terms into the search bar. YouTube will suggest top related search terms, giving you some potential topics for videos. You could also use a free tool like TubeBuddy to analyze tags that your competitors are using in their videos.
#2 – Put together a quality video script
Creating an unorganized and poorly executed video will not help your marketing efforts and is likely to damage your brand. There are countless resources that you can use to write a quality video script. For example, check out this useful how-to article.
A good video script typically:
- Includes an outline of the general points that will be covered in the video
- Features an engaging introduction
- Is conversational and easy to understand (i.e., no legal jargon)
If you are short on time, consider hiring a reputable script writer to prepare one for you. Make sure that the writer has experience creating scripts within the legal industry.
#3 – Develop educational content
Educational and how-to videos are the most watched category on YouTube. Many of your competitors will likely limit their video marketing efforts to branded videos on their homepage. While branded videos are great for identifying your unique selling proposition and establishing trust with prospective clients, educational content will set your firm apart and give any personal injury lawyer marketing strategy a huge element of trust and credibility.
Remember the keyword research that you conducted? Create videos that answer the questions that prospective clients are searching for. For example, your objective may be to generate more personal injury leads. Suppose your research found that users are searching for “How personal injury compensation is calculated?” You could create a video that outlines the different types of compensation and even include a hypothetical case to increase viewer engagement.
#4 – Include a call-to-action
Much like your firm’s landing pages, videos must include a call-to-action (CTA). The CTA that you use should be appropriate for the stage that your clients are at in the customer journey. For example, workers compensation leads could be at the awareness stage or are ready to hire an attorney.
Potential clients in the awareness stage may have just been injured at work and are researching what their remedies are. A CTA could be something simple like, “Click the link below to learn more.” For leads that are ready to make a hiring decision, your CTA should prompt the client to take action, “Click here to schedule a free consultation.”
#5 – Publish your videos on multiple platforms
Publishing your videos on your website is important. Most firms that have at least one video have this process down. But to increase your reach and generate more leads, you should publish your videos on every platform that potential clients are likely to use. YouTube, the world’s largest video platform, is a given.
Social media platforms are becoming an increasingly important marketing trend for lawyers. Platforms like Facebook make it easy for firms to target users based on demographics and interests. Consider posting videos on your feed as well as using them in display ads. Research suggests that video ads perform significantly better than static banner ads.
Law firm directory websites like Avvo are great channels for acquiring leads. Consider adding a video link on your directory profiles where possible.
#6 – Optimize your videos
While the legal industry has some ground to make up before it catches up to other industries in terms of video marketing, there is still a tremendous amount of content out there. Unless you optimize your videos, your target audience will likely never find them.
Since YouTube is the largest and most important video platform, start by optimizing your videos there. The better you optimize your videos, the more likely they are to appear as suggested videos when prospective clients enter a relevant search term. To optimize your video focus on:
- The title of your video. The title should include your target keyword. Make it interesting so users click on it. For instance, if you make a video about how to get the most for your car accident settlement to generate more auto accident leads, you’d probably want to name the video something like “Maximizing Your Car Accident Settlement.”
- The video’s description. Like your title, be sure to include your target keyword(s) and write an interesting description to encourage users to watch your video. Make sure that your description is more than 200 words.
- Incorporating keywords. Be sure to use your keyword(s) in your video, YouTube incorporates video content into its rankings.
- Using video tags. Include each of your target keywords as tags. Try to include 5-10 tags that are relevant to the subject matter.
Video content will play an increasingly important role in any personal injury lawyer marketing strategy. Those new to video marketing should start small. Create one video and see what the response is. Learn what works well and what does not. Incorporate what you learn into future videos and watch your revenue grow.