How Law Firms Can Use Video Marketing To Win New Clients

Video is one of the most powerful marketing tools on the planet. It’s so effective that the vast majority of brands prioritize video ahead of every other content format – and it’s no different for a law firm.

Why? Because when it comes to building trust and credibility – two essential aspects of law firm advertising – nothing comes close to video marketing for lawyers.

How do we know? Because video is our business. Viddyoze created a multi-million dollar empire using simple, effective video animations. And it’s our mission to help your law firm do the same.

In this guide, we’re going to show you how to take that power and use it to promote your law firm. From US legal advertising rules to storytelling frameworks, this guide will tell you everything you need to know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxJ-5XYFQys

When it comes to video marketing for lawyers, the American Bar Association (ABA) has certain advertising rules that you must adhere to in your content.

Before diving into video strategies that will grow your law firm, here’s what you need to know to ensure your marketing doesn’t land your firm in hot water.

Don’t Call Yourself A Specialist (Unless You’ve Been Accredited)

Only lawyers who have been certified in specific fields by ABA-approved organizations can refer to themselves as ‘expert’ or ‘specialist’.

So unless you’re an accredited tax lawyer, immigration lawyer, or bankruptcy lawyer, for example, you cannot claim to be in your marketing communications.

If you do and your law firm isn’t accredited, you’re breaking the law. So, before publishing any video content, think very carefully about the wording used and how it describes your services.

Don’t Make Non-Quantifiable Claims

Business marketing is awash with bold, unprovable claims about being “the best” or “the most popular” product around.

For most sectors, that’s not an issue. For the legal industry, it’s a little different. Include a claim like that in your attorney video marketing, and you could be breaking the law.

Think of it this way: if you can’t back up a statement with a fact or stat, it’s likely that the ABA will deem it misleading. When advertising your law firm, whether that’s on social media platforms, like YouTube or Facebook, local TV, or through email, only make comments you can back up – it’s just good legal practice.

Do You Need A Place Of Business?

In some US States, a law firm must have a physical place of business in order to operate. For example, Florida.

And in some cases, that can extend to your lawyer video marketing. Depending on where you’re based in the US, you may need to clearly include an office address in all marketing material.

This rule can vary from state to state so we suggest you check the local regulations before you start creating any law firm video marketing.

You Cannot Pay People To Recommend Your Services

Video testimonials are a powerful way to attract new clients to your services. However, when it comes to law firm advertising, you cannot pay or incentivize former clients to recommend your service.

While in other sectors, paying for client testimonials is just bad practice. In law, it’s actually illegal.

Of course, you can still make client testimonial videos, but they must be unpaid. Your client must be recommending your law firm of their own accord.

You Cannot Solicit Specific People Or Groups

Soliciting and advertising your services are two very different things.

If you solicit your services, you target a person, or group of people with a specific problem and offer them legal services – this is illegal. Advertising, on the other hand, is the general promotion of your services to everyone.

Solicit and you could land your firm in hot water. As good legal practice, be sure to aim your marketing materials at the general public and you should be fine.

Now that you’re all caught up on the rules of advertising your firm, here’s 7 powerful and effective videos that you can create to kickstart your video strategy.

1. Attorney Profiles And Introductions

Think of this as a product video.

But instead of a breakdown of your services, you’re the product! Remember, with video for lawyers, the main aim is to market yourself to potential clients as professional, empathetic, and personable.

These can be simple interview-style videos, where your subject explains a little about themselves and their expertise. Be sure to include a few things about your personal life (hobbies, etc) to add a human touch, and a clear call to action (a “contact me” button would work well here).

Be sure to make one for every lawyer in your law firm and host them clearly on your website’s “about me” page. It’s video marketing for law firms 101.

2. Law Firm Introduction, Corporate Culture, And Mission Statement

An introduction video is the perfect way to tell prospective clients who you are, what you do, and what you stand for.

Remember: video marketing for lawyers is all about building relationships, and your goal here is to strike a chord with the viewer. Sure, you want to show that you can help with their legal issues, but you also need to show that you share the same values.

After all, over 70% of consumers buy from businesses that align with their personal values, reports 5W PR.

3. Case Studies

Video marketing for lawyers should build credibility. There’s no better way to shout about your credentials than with a video case study.

Here, you can explain your toughest cases in an educational, impartial way. You already know all the facts, you just need to relay that information clearly.

As a form of user-generated content (most of the content comes directly from the source), case studies are highly effective – Stackla reports that 79% of consumers’ buying decisions are impacted by UGC.

4. Customer Success Stories

Client testimonial videos are gold for law firms. Not only does it create social proof, but it puts a human face on your success.

For lawyers, videos like this are a great way to build trust and empathy, which, as we know, are absolutely key to marketing law services.

However, there are a few things attorneys need to remember when creating a customer testimonial video:

• You cannot pay or incentivize a former client for their testimony – they must do it off their own accord
• You cannot promise the same outcomes. What happened for one client may not happen for another – a simple disclaimer or banner at the bottom of the screen should take care of this

5. Free Legal Advice Live Streams

To generate more leads, host your own free legal clinic using Facebook Live or a similar social media platform, such as Instagram or TikTok.

This is a great way to build your reputation, raise brand awareness, drive more traffic, and create trust and credibility in your brand. It can also be done with a simple one-camera setup, making it quick and easy.

Before you host your live stream, collect a series of questions via social media and email marketing. You can then offer advice live on your stream.

6. FAQs Responders

Law firm video marketing isn’t just great for social media channels – it can help improve organic search results, too.

In fact, research from Forrester revealed that by incorporating video onto your landing pages, you’ll have up to 50x more chance of ranking organically.

To improve your traffic even more, make legal marketing videos that answer specific legal questions. Start with two or three common questions that your clients tend to ask you. If your clients are asking them, there’s a good chance others are too.

You can also use online tools such as Answer The Public, and ahrefs to improve your keyword research.

7. Weigh-in On Trending Legal Topics

Build your brand awareness and raise your industry profile by commenting on a trending legal issue with an explainer video and other educational content.

Look out for new regulations or law changes that affect your area of law. For real estate lawyers, it could be a new law related to buying homes. For health care lawyers, there could be a change in the health care system.

If there’s a popular series with a legal theme currently airing, you could react and offer your input, as the LegalEagle did for Better Call Saul (see below). The same goes for big news stories. The channel YouTuber Law is an awesome example of this.

Write A Script

A video script is just like a strong closing argument – it needs to be clear, convincing, and compelling.

You should write and rehearse your script before every video. People respect legal professionals, so it’s imperative that you come across well in your videos.

We suggest that you begin with a list of bullet points. These should be the major issues you want to cover in your video. Once you’ve written your script you can cross-reference the two to ensure you get your point across.

Demonstrate Your Professionalism

It’s imperative that lawyers display confidence, authority, and professionalism in their video marketing.

Think about it. Any clients viewing this video are likely to be seeking help with a particular legal matter. They could be looking for a law firm to represent them in court. They want a lawyer who commands respect and exudes confidence.

Ensure your videos strike the right tone (serious, not humorous) in their delivery, music, and branding. Make sure the setting is right (professional setting as opposed to a coffee shop), and that you’re dressed appropriately.

Be Empathetic And Personable

At the end of the day, most people seek out the services of a law firm when they need help. There’s a good chance they could be distressed, upset, and even desperate.

Video marketing for attorneys should strike an empathetic and personable tone. Not only will this soothe and reassure potential clients, but it will help build trust between client and customer.

Media Post reports that 57% of people feel more confident in their purchases when video is involved. You need to inspire confidence with law firm video marketing – empathy is the best way to do this.

To take your marketing videos to the next level and create something that elicits emotion whilst providing an unforgettable viewing experience, you need to tell a story.

When a message (yes, even a marketing message) is presented as a story it’s easier for people to remember.

In fact, renowned psychologist Jerome Butler found that the human mind is 22x more likely to remember facts when presented within a story.

And if that’s not enough to get you excited about storytelling, Search Engine Watch managed to boost their website conversions by 30% through taking a story-led approach in their content marketing.

But how exactly do you tell stories in your marketing videos?

Well, it’s not as difficult as it sounds. By outlining a 3-act structure during the planning stage of your video, you can easily take watchers on a journey that organically promotes your services.

Below is a 3-act outline which you can use to direct your next video.

Act One – Hitting On Pain Points

Pain points are the roadblocks that your potential customers are facing right now. They’re the challenges that they need to overcome.

By hitting on pain points in your video, you create more relatable, empathetic, and emotionally impactful marketing.

The goal is for your audience to see themselves on the screen by depicting the exact predicament they find themselves in.

Doing so will make them feel connected to your video right away because it shows that you understand the emotions that they’re experiencing. A key method of building trust.

Here is some pain points that relate to different legal services:

• Personal Injury lawyers – your client has suffered an accident at work that has left them injured. Because of this they’re currently unable to work and aren’t making enough money to provide for their family as a result.
• Estate Planning Lawyers – your client is approaching old age and they’re anxious that their family won’t receive their proper inheritance and financially struggle if they don’t take action.
• Criminal Defense Lawyers – your client has been accused of committing a crime that comes with considerable jail time. They risk losing their immediate future and freedom if convicted.

What’s important to grasp with pain points is the stakes and the intensity behind them. Nobody takes legal action for the sake of taking legal action. There will be a purpose behind it.

Touching on that purpose and showing that you understand the emotion behind it is the key to engross potential clients in the first act of your video.

Act Two – Introducing Your Services As The Solution & Promising Them Their Dream Outcome

In storytelling terms, you’ve begun your protagonist’s journey. You’ve established the hole in which they begin the story, now you need to move them out of it and towards their happy-ever-after.

If not clear by now. The protagonist is your potential client and the solution to their problems is your legal services.

Now’s the time to talk about what you do and lay out the exact steps that you’ll take to solve your client’s problem.

The key concept you need to understand here is that of the dream outcome. The dream outcome is what your client wants to accomplish if they enlist your services.

If they don’t think you can achieve their dream outcome they won’t hire your law firm, it’s as simple as that.

Sticking with the examples in act one, here’s their dream outcomes:

• Personal Injury lawyers – your client receives enough compensation to support their family and end their money worries.
• Estate Planning Lawyers – your client has a will drawn up that ensures their family is taken care of when they’re no longer around.
• Criminal Defense Lawyers – you win your client’s case and they stay out of prison, allowing them to achieve their life’s ambitions.

It’s crucial in act two that you forge a strong connection between your services and the dream outcome for your client. Do this and they’re almost guaranteed to come onboard.

Act Three – Calling Your Viewers To Action

Now that you’ve introduced and built demand for your services, all that’s left is to tell your audience how to get in touch with you.

Close out your video by telling your audience exactly what you want them to do. Give them a plan.

Do you want them to call you, send an email, or walk into your offices? It may be obvious to you but it isn’t to your viewers. If you don’t tell them precisely what to do you risk them not getting in touch.

And there you have it! A three act structure that you can apply to your marketing videos that’s guaranteed to resonate with your audience and compel them to reach out when they’re ready to enlist your services.

High-quality, professional branding is absolutely essential for a law firm – perhaps more so than any other business.

The reason? A law firm must appear professional, trustworthy, and authentic in everything that it does.

Think about it. Nobody is going to use a lawyer they don’t think can win their case because they lack the resources to do so.

With this in mind, your legal videos have to look top-notch to inspire consumer confidence in your services.

There’s just one problem for busy lawyers: creating high-quality branded videos from scratch is difficult and time consuming.

But there is an easier way: Viddyoze.

Our simple, easy-to-use software allows you to create high-quality branded videos in a matter of minutes.

Promoting your law firm with videos that are built to tell stories has never been easier.

All you need to do is sign up for the Viddyoze app, choose a template from our library, customize it with your branding and messaging, then download and post. It really is that simple.

Kickstart your video marketing strategy today and win more clients than your firm can handle.

Click here to get started or watch the video below for more info.

Once you’ve created your video content, you need to distribute it effectively.

From social media platforms to local TV, here’s where you should be posting your law firm video marketing content so that potential clients see it and get in touch.

Your Law Firm’s Website

First and foremost, you should host your law firm videos on all the relevant pages of your website.

For example, if you’ve made an introduction video, place this on your “about me” or home page. If you’ve made service-specific educational videos, put those on the relevant service’s page.

Once you’ve got those videos onsite, you can begin distributing the url to drive people to your site where you can convert them. Eye View Digital reports that video on a webpage can increase conversions by as much as 80%.

YouTube

YouTube marketing for lawyers is an excellent way to draw attention to your law firm and attract potential clients. Not only is YouTube the second largest search engine in the world after Google, but it boasts over 2 billion active users.

As a result, YouTube should play a major role in your marketing strategy. We recommend starting your own YouTube channel and uploading all of your video content to YouTube, optimizing them for SEO. That means including keywords in video descriptions and titles, and designing custom thumbnails.

It’s also a great idea to target specific search terms – popular questions relating to law – with your videos. For example, Steve Vondran’s “How To Win Small Claims Lawsuits”, or “How to Ask for Divorce in Your BC Notice of Family Claim” by YLaw Family Lawyers.

These channels are great examples of effective lawyer video marketing done well.

Your Email Lists

Email marketing has one of the best ROI rates going (4,200%, according to Litmus), so it’s a no-brainer for your law firm videos.

Chances are, you already have a solid email list of your previous contacts and past clients. Well, every piece of new video content you create should be landing in their inbox.

The goal isn’t necessarily to convert people to contact you right away. Think of it as a long-term marketing strategy; a frequent reminder. If your name keeps popping up in their inbox, who’s the first law firm they’ll contact when they next need legal support?

Social Media Ads (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok)

A staggering 4.6 billion people use social media. Most law firms only need to reach a tiny fraction of that to attract more clients.

As such, paid social media ad campaigns should play a big part in your overall marketing strategy. Not only are they an excellent way for law firms to attract potential clients, but they also help generate leads. For example, using PPC (pay per click) you’ll be able to appear in the news feeds of thousands of people you wouldn’t normally have access to.

PPC ads also allow you to zero in on a specific area. If you’re only licensed to practice law in New York State, why waste time and money pushing ads in other states?

What’s more, social media channels Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and TikTok have some of the best ROI for lawyer video marketing.

Local TV Stations

TV advertising is still one of the best ways for lawyers to advertise in the US. In fact, the average US consumer spends around 3 hours a day watching television, compared to 103 minutes watching video online.

In addition, local TV plays a big part in American life, with many people opting for local over network programming. For lawyers looking to target specific geographic areas in search of more paying clients, this is the ideal place to place a video advert.

This works in a similar way to targeted special media adverts: you only put your services in front of the people in your service area.

Video marketing for lawyers is a must in 2022. Not only does it allow law firms to build relationships with their clients, but it also creates trust and credibility for your brand.

And it’s only set to grow. Right now, there are almost 250 million digital video viewers (Business Insider) in the US. The truth is, law firms cannot afford to miss out on such a huge trend.

Viddyoze can help you create professional, high-quality videos. Using our ground-breaking software, you’ll be able to tap into your target audience and win new business. You don’t need any previous experience with video or video animations. Our software allows you to create engaging law firm videos in a matter of minutes.

Sign up for Viddyoze today. Give people a law firm they can trust.

What Is The Target Market Of A Law Firm?

That depends on the services that you provide. If you are unsure, take the time to plan your ideal customer profile. Really drill down into who would most benefit from your services and their demographic profile (age, location, occupation, etc.). Then focus your marketing efforts at people who match that description.

How Does A Law Firm Do Marketing?

Law firms do marketing in many different ways. From digital methods such as PPC advertising, email campaigns, and search engine optimization. To offline methods such as networking, tv advertising, and sponsorships.

What Is The Best Way To Market A Law Firm?

The best way to market your law firm depends on your location, legal specialty, and target audience. However, an omnichannel strategy that reaches your customers and explains the benefits of your services is always recommended.

Does Content Marketing Work For Lawyers?

Yes, content marketing does work for lawyers. By taking the time to understand and research what your customers are searching for online, you can get your brand and services in front of them.

Why Is Content Marketing Important Law Firms?

Content marketing allows law firms to attract new customers, establish their thought leadership and legal expertise, and increase their digital presence online.

Does Google Ads Work For Lawyers?

Google ads are an effective method of advertising for lawyers. As long as you have refined your value proposition and are targeting the right audience, you’ll achieve a healthy ROI.

What Is Digital Transformation For Law Firms?

Digital transformation for law firms is the integration of technology into their processes and marketing strategy, aimed at boosting performance and efficiency.