10 Biggest Mistakes in Legal Video Marketing

10 Biggest Mistakesin Legal Video MarketingMichael Mogill, President of Crisp Video Group

• President of Crisp Video Group

• www.CrispVideo.com

• www.linkedin.com/in/mogill

• @mmogill

Michael Mogill

• Legal video marketing company

• Team of experienced directors, producers, script writers, and digital marketing professionals

• Help clients enhance their brand and expand their reach online through video

• Results-driven

• Solutions focused

• Do more with less

• Better than yesterday

• Be positive

• Take ownership

• Vested in clients' success

About Crisp

As Featured in

Our Clients Include

• Search Rankings• High quality video increases your chances of a

1st page ranking by 53 times.

• Engagement• 80% of your website visitors will watch a video,

while only 20% will actually read content.

• Trust• 57% of clients say video increases their

confidence in a legal firm.

• Brand Authority• Your video is a reflection of your brand. Make a

good first impression.

Why Video?

Great Information +Great Video Quality =

Conversion & ROI

• FAQ/Educational videos

• Releasing a consistent flow of educational videos.

• Practice Area Specialty Videos

• Videos about the different practice areas your firm handles will show the breadth of specialized experience provided by your firm.

Building Authority

• Legal Brand Video (About Us)

• A video highlighting what makes your firm and your staff unique will let potential clients get to know your passion and personality.

• Client Testimonials

• The customers you have helped in the past can become your biggest selling points when they are on video telling their story.

Building Connections

The Buyer’s Journey

Understanding the Buyer’s Journey will help you determine your goals, and know what types of content will achieve those goals.

• In the Awareness Stage, buyers are seeking education.

• Guidelines

• Short (1 – 2 minutes)

• Engaging

• Purely educational

• Provide a call to action

• Focus on answering a question or providing a solution. Don’t make a sales pitch.

Building Authority

• In the consideration/decision stages, buyers are comparing their options, and looking to hire the best solution.

• Guidelines

• High Quality (2 - 3 minutes)

• Engaging

• Explain benefits of your firm

• Provide contact information

• Tell potential clients what sets you apart from other firms. Make a good first impression.

Building Connections

• Build brand authority

• Inject personality into your website

• Convert visitors into clients

• Increase site value

• Improve search rankings

Building Connections:Consideration/Decision Stage

Angus Lee

Angus Lee is a criminal defense attorney based out of Vancouver, WA. His brand video was designed to showcase his ability to fight hard for his clients. He comes across as someone you want on your side of the courtroom.

Legal Brand Video Example

10 Biggest Mistakesin Legal Video Marketing

#10Making a Video

Just to Make a Video

• Producing a video without having a broader marketing plan and distribution strategy.

• “What’s the purpose of this video?”

• “How is going to benefit us?”

• “Can we tie that directly to new business?

• “When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” -Benjamin Franklin

What’s the Mistake?

• You waste money

• Instead of getting it right the first time, you may have to redo it.

• You waste time

• Instead of using it right away, you will get behind because you don’t know where to put it.

• You waste opportunities

• Time is one thing you can’t get back, and as time passes so does the opportunity for new potential clients.

Why is This a Mistake?

• Video Strategy Checklistü Is this video part of a larger marketing,

branding, and business GROWTH strategy? How does this fit in with my other efforts?

ü Do I have a clear audience, message, means of distribution, and tracking tools?

ü Will this video (and video in general) help me achieve my goals? If not, is video the best decision for me?

How to Avoid it

# 9Not Branding Your

Firm Correctly

• What’s the point of having a great video if the viewer doesn’t know it’s from you?

• Every video impression is an opportunity to make yourself known.


• Video Strategy Checklist

ü Does my logo appear in my video?

ü Does my website URL and contact information appear in my video?

ü Will a viewer know my practice name, branding, and my website within the first few seconds of watching my video?

How to Avoid it

Example

#8Making Your Video

Too Long

• We can all learn something from the Twitter character limit format (140).

• In many cases, less is more.


Why is it a Mistake?

• Overall, shorter videos are more engaging than longer videos.

• People decide whether or not to watch pretty quickly.

• If your video is too long, people may miss your call to action.



ü Is my video longer than 1-2 minutes? If so, does it absolutely need to be?

ü Is every part of my video valuable? Am I teaching, sharing, demonstrating, or communicating something of value during each second?

How to Avoid it

#7Not Focusing on a

Single Message

• Producing a video that doesn’t have one clearly defined message.

• Jumping between multiple topics.

• Trying to be all things to all people.


• Because your message is:

• Disjointed

• Difficult to Follow

• Difficult to Remember


• Focus on a single call to action and a single message:

• Good Example

• “We will work relentlessly to get you the best result possible.”

• Bad Example

• “We treat you like a member of our family…our prices beat those of the firm down the street...the technology we use is the state of the art...and we make house calls.”

How to Avoid it


ü Make sure you can answer the question, “What is the #1 thing I want to viewer to take away after watching this video?”

ü Are you able to clearly define your target audience, the message you want to communicate to them, and your single call to action?

How to Avoid it

#6Improper Placement of

Selling Points

• Your viewers will miss the point of your video if you don’t place your selling points in the right places.

• Fact: You will have drop off.

• When you place your selling points at the end, you will lower your chances of conversion.



ü Did I begin my video by introducing my selling points (things to hook the viewer), or did I put them at the end?

ü Do I have enough information in the first 20 seconds to inform and hook the viewer? If a viewer stopped the video after 20 seconds, what new information would they know about my practice?

How to Avoid it

#5Not Including a

Clear Call to Action

• What is it?

• A Call-to-Action (CTA) is a simple direction or instruction that you give to your viewer. It tells them the next step that you want them to take.

• Why is it important?

• If you don’t, you will leave the viewer thinking, “So, what now?”


• If someone is watching your video, then he/she is interested in your services…

• Now all you have to do is direct them to you.

How to Avoid it


ü Does my video include some sort of a call to action?

ü Have I clearly told my viewers what I want them to do after watching my video?

ü Is it easy to understand to someone who is unfamiliar with your services or specialty?

How to Avoid it

#4Failing to Address

Your Target Audience

• Creating a video with a message that does not address a specific audience.


• You will potentially reach the wrong audience and have a lower return on your video marketing investment.

• Narrow Message + Broad Audience = Horrible Marketing

• Broad Message + Broad Audience = Bad Marketing

• Narrow Message + Narrow Audience = Good Marketing


• Who are you attracting and what attracts them?

• Know your target demographic.

• Know their needs.

• Know how you can solve those specific needs.

How to Avoid it


ü Do I know who my target audience is? Can I accurately and completely describe who they are, what they are looking for, and how I can appeal to them?

ü Have I addressed this audience in both the content and visuals of my video? Is my video appealing to the audience that I am targeting?

How to Avoid it

#3Expecting Instant Results

• Marketing is an investment in your firm.

• It’s about placement.

• It’s about reach.

• It’s about conversion.


Reach

Clients

• Expect results and track everything.

1. Have reasonable expectations.

2. Set goals at the onset.

3. Understand that no one can make videos go viral every time.

4. Test and optimize.

5. Track everything.

How to Avoid it


ü Have I developed a long-term strategy for my video efforts? Do I have a video strategy, and does this strategy fit with my overall marketing strategy?

ü Do I have means of tracking results over time? Do I know my number before I start my video campaign? What about after?

How to Avoid it

#2Failing to ImplementProper SEO Practices

• Producing a video without optimizing it for search engines.

• Missing out on the SEO benefits of higher rankings.

What's the Mistake?

• Want to know where people go when they are seeking legal help?


Source: Google Consumer Survey


Searches on Google are not slowing down, they are going up.

(Example based on legal keyword searches in the Atlanta market)


SEO = Search Engine OptimizationMaking your content relevant for search engines

Out of the those who searched on Google:

Clicks From Page 1 = 71.33%

Clicks From Page 2 and 3 = 5.59%

Clicks On The First 5 Results on Page 1 = 67.60%.

Source: Advanced Web Ranking

• Upload your video to YouTube

• YouTube is the second-largest search engine on the web.

• YouTube has more than one billion users.

• 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.

How to Avoid it

How to Avoid it

Optimize your title, description, and tags.

Example:

Seattle DUI Lawyer: Your Firm Name | 555-123-1234

http://www.yourwebsite.com

Your Firm Name has been working in DUI law in the Seattle area for over twenty years…

Upload a custom thumbnail

Link yourwebsite

How to Avoid it

Upload a custom thumbnail.

Before: After:

How to Avoid it

• Focus on your titles• First and foremost. Include your keyword in the title, but as naturally as

possible.

• Optimize for people, not Google• Write your titles and descriptions naturally. Keyword-stuffing can result into a

penalty by Google. When in doubt, follow Google’s guideline: Focus on the user, and all else will follow.

How to handle your first DUI | Your Firm Name | 1-800-555-5555

Write your target keyword first

Include yourbranding

Include your phone number last

• In order to maximize your efforts, use Schema Markup to tag your video.

• Schema Markup will provide Google with more details about your video content, such as the length, thumbnail, title, location on the web, and more.

• Without Schema, your video has a smaller chance of appearing in the search results.

How to Avoid it

How to Avoid it

<div itemprop="video" itemscope itemtype=http://schema.org/VideoObject>

<meta itemprop="duration" content=”T0M00S" />

<meta itemprop="thumbnailUrl" content=”http://thumbnailurl.com" />

<meta itemprop="embedURL" content="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoID" />

<iframe embed code></iframe>

</div>

This sample Schema embed code tells Google:

1. There is a video located in the div container.

2. The length of the video.

3. The image to display in the search results.

4. The location of the video.

How to Avoid it

Implement on your blog and optimize

When properly implemented, your videos can appear twice for the same keyword. In this example, we can see the same video appearing in the blog post as well as on YouTube.

Blog Post

YouTube

• Get Double the Benefit from the web's 2nd most popular website.

• SEO Juice – With link-backs to your website, Google sees this as a credible referral. They are more likely to show your result in the search engine.

• Referral Traffic – You will gather attention and awareness from YouTube, and then bring them back to your website.

How to Avoid it


ü Do I know what keywords I want to optimize my video for?

ü Did I include keywords in my video title, description, and tags?

ü Does my video description include a link back to my website?

How to Avoid it

#1Choosing the

Wrong Partner

• Your video is a reflection of your firm.

• Poor quality video can lead to a negative perception of your firm.

What's the Mistake?

Actual Lawyer Video

• A recent study by Aberdeen has shown that amateur/low-quality quality video does not improve conversion, and in extreme cases can hurt conversion.

• High-quality videos have been shown to improve conversion by nearly 300%.

Video Quality

LowQuality

HighQuality

300% increase in website conversions

A Note on Low Quality Videos

You can see viewers are quickly dropping off of this video. Google takes this fast decline in viewership as a signal that the video is of low quality, and undeserving of a high ranking.

Remember, Google’s #1 Ranking Factor is Watch Time

• Dull background

• Static shot

• Low resolution (240p)

• No music

• Boring

A Note on High Quality Videos

The viewership on this video is much more consistent. Google sees that more people are watching this video all the way to the end. They recognize this video is something people want to watch, and will reward it with stronger search rankings.

• Cinematic shots

• High resolution (1080p)

• Dramatic music

• Tells a story

• Engaging

• Ask Questions

• Do you specialize in videos for the legal industry?

• Can you provide examples?

• Does our relationship end once you deliver the video?

• Will you outsource the production of my video?

• Will your last three clients provide a reference?

How to Avoid it

Ask for Client References• Since August, I don’t even have to make sales calls with potential new clients. Instead,

they just call me and say they are ready to hire. I question them a bit and its clear that after reviewing the videos on my website, they have already made up their minds to hire me.

• August was the first month that I was full up and running. I netted over $50K in sales that month; easily the best month I have ever had.

• The choice to do the video was easily the best investment I have made this year in my business.

– Attorney Daniel Stockmann(Nebraska Interstate Drug Defense – Omaha, NE)

How to Avoid it


ü Do I have the time, resources, and expertise necessary to attempt producing a video myself?

ü If I choose to partner with a video production company, are they professionals and do they have expertise in my industry to deliver a great product that best suits my specific needs?

How to Avoid it

• Be wary when a production company offers its services at a rate that seems too good to be. Make sure travel, music licensing, and other expenses are all included.

• Find a video partner that will be with you every step of the way. A team that will handle not only the production, but the online implementation of your video strategy.

• Its more expensive to do it wrong the first time and have to redo it.

How to Avoid it

Palace Law (Tacoma, WA)

Patrick Palace is a workers compensation lawyer that wanted to display the passion he has for his work, and present some of his success stories from previous clients.

Legal Brand Video Example

1. Making a video just to make a video.

2. Not branding your firm correctly.

3. Making your video too long.

4. Not focusing on a single message.

5. Not including a clear call to action.

6. Improper placement of selling points.

7. Failing to address your target audience.

8. Expecting instant results.

9. Failing to implement proper SEO practices.

10. Choosing the wrong partner.

Recap

• Michael MogillPresident of Crisp Video Group

• [email protected]

• www.CrispVideo.com/vipavvo

Thank YouFor Watching

Free eBookwww.CrispVideo.com/vipavvo

10 Biggest Mistakes in Legal Video Marketing

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