A couple of months ago, as one of the judges on Legal IT Insider’s Legal Industry Video Awards 2014, I had the privilege of watching over 50 videos from law firms and their technology providers. The winners can be viewed here: http://www.legaltechnology.com/latest-news/the-legal-industry-video-awards-the-winners-showreel/ Well done to the winners and runners up.
For those looking at integrating video in the marketing mix, I thought I’d share my top ten observations:
- Grab attention – Within the first few seconds. Make an impact.
- Use music – Be bold in your choice and avoid tired, safe options.
- Blend styles – Great photography, clever captions, smart voiceovers, artful animations and even research.
- Tell a story – Draw the audience in so that they watch until the end. Have clear messages.
- Use humour – It’s amazing what a difference it makes. Add warmth and entertainment.
- Don’t clutter – Whilst the drawing technique is good, don’t cram too much on a screen.
- Size matters – Most material is viewed on smartphones, keep it big.
- Interact – Give your audience a chance to choose their own path through your material.
- Integrate – Signpost other material and drive traffic to your web site.
- Dare to be different – Too many videos look and sound the same. Don’t be dull.
The nice people over at mmadigital (https://www.mmadigital.co.uk/ a digital marketing agency dedicated to helping law firms which was founded in 2012 by former Yell executive Dez Derry) were kind enough to share some statistics and their insights into the top trends for video in 2015:
Statistics:
- Socialfresh.com says that videos on a website landing page increase conversions by 86%.
- Figures from Google on YouTube content in December 2014 showed that people chose to spend nearly one billion minutes watching the top 10 ads on YouTube this year.
- According to Dr James McQuivey of Forrester Research, one minute of video has the value of 1.8 million words
- ComScore, which measures online engagement and use, says more than 45% of internet users view at least one video online over the course of a month.
- A Forbes survey of executives found 75% watch work-related videos on business websites at least once a week, with 50% watching on YouTube. It’s clear that this is working as figures state 65% visited the marketer’s website after viewing a video.
- Retention of information is strong by video too, the Online Publishers Association statistics suggest 80% remember a video ad from the last 30 days and 46% of those took action after viewing it.
Trends for 2015:
- Infographic video Infographics have become hugely popular and these can be animated to create informative, visual and easy to absorb films. In addition, the stats that you use in your videos can help support your content marketing and PR strategies by creating a white video
- Explainer videos These are set to be a big part of creating relevant, useful content and can be hugely important for law firms in both business-to-business (B2B) communications and consumer-led (B2C) marketing. With more law firms offering business services solutions, explainer videos on a dedicated YouTube channel or that of your video creator will become essential.
- Video blogs It’s becoming more and more important to create a personal, relevant and useful experience for a customer. With the wearable device market set to become huge in 2015, people can and are becoming more choosy about the brands they interact with or want to receive updates from.
See how the top 200 law firms in the country compare in terms of their web offer at www.comparemyfirm.co.uk, a new tool launched by mmadigital. For further information, please contact: www.mmadigital.co.uk 0161 452 0311 Twitter: @mmadigitaluk LinkedIn.com/company/mmadigitaluk
