I’m proud to be returning to speak at the 29th Annual Las Vegas CLE Seminar.  This year, my presentation topic is “The Non-Linear Relationship of Value-Based Marketing.”  I’ll provide perspectives on value-based marketing.  During the presentation, I’ll illustrate a technique I developed to increase exposure on multiple social media and traditional media resources without significantly increasing the time required to do so.

In today’s environment, it’s important to utilize social media differently than what we may have done in the past.  It’s your message that matters most.  Where it shows up is a close second.  You’ll learn practical steps to increase your brand exposure, while maintaining brand positioning.

If you’ve followed me over the past several years, you know I’m a strong proponent of utilizing video in your marketing efforts. But what if you don’t want to be on camera? You can still take advantage of video and the benefits of video SEO.  Video with voiceover is a marketing option you should consider.

In its simplest form, think of a screen cast that shows still images (e.g. your logo, photos, etc.) and features your voice as you narrate the video.

This option allows you take full advantage of the video format.  Clients and prospective clients can listen to your advice or perspective.  You’ll be leveraging “rich media” which is a benefit for Google search.  Quite honestly, one of the reasons video works is that it’s easier to consume than a page of written text.

Video with voiceover provides another asset to complement your existing marketing tools.

• You can upload the video to your firm’s YouTube channel.
• It can be posted on your blog.
• You can also upload it to your various social media channels (e.g. LinkedIn and Facebook).
• These steps provide additional targets for Google to find, index and feature in search results.

One of my clients, Greg Blakemore of The Nehemiah Group, was interviewed about his company.  He asked me if there was a way we could use this material.  He has a very compelling story about how and why he launched his business.  It provides some terrific insights into the ethos of his business.

We decided against uploading an hour-long interview.  The truth is most people wouldn’t listen to the entire recording.  Instead, we segmented his story into multiple parts.  Most of them last between 2-4 minutes.  There’s much better chance that people will be willing to listen to a short clip.  It may compel them to actually listen to a few additional segments.

We’re rolling out the video with voiceover segments over a period of time.  Dumping large batches of data typically won’t yield lasting results with the search engines.  It’s usually better to trickle out the content.  In Greg’s case, we’ve decided to launch this series on YouTube, Facebook and Linkedin.

I’ve done several videos with Greg, but we’re excited to see how the video with voiceover approach performs.  Here’s his 1st in an 9-video series about his company:

Law Firms Gain a Competitive Advantage by Video Marketing for Rural-Area Clients

This is the article I contributed to the Louisville Bar Association’s May 2015 edition of Bar Briefs.  It provides insights into a counter-intuitive approach to law firm marketing, especially for rural areas.

Sometimes, it’s not what you say, but rather how you say it that’s important. If you’re marketing to a rural area, you should take that a step further. Based on your target audience, you may want to consider how that message is delivered, literally.

Many Louisville-area law firms engage in efforts to market to the surrounding counties. Some are cultivating a statewide approach to generating incremental business. There’s enough data to prove that it’s time some of these firms begin taking a counter-intuitive approach to marketing.

If you do any level of Internet marketing (e.g. website, blog, etc.) it’s time to think about how you provide content, especially if your intent is to reach a broader audience. It’s time to reconsider online video. It’s no longer an expensive attribute or upgrade to your website. Based on the statistics, it may be your best medium.

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Video Can Be Impactful in
3 Seconds or Less

Nielsen confirmed it.  Video marketing has a significant increase on the impact of your overall strategy.  It works even if the viewer only watches for 3 seconds.  Let me repeat that: …even if the viewer only watches for 3 seconds.

A recent Marketing Land article summarized the Facebook-Nielsen report:

“Study shows significant lift in ad recall, brand awareness and purchase intent even among people who view the video for zero to three seconds.”

“That means even people who never watched the video, but did see the impression, were still impacted by the ad.  And, as expected, lift increased the longer people watched the ad.”

“Every part of a video view – from the initial impression to a complete video view and everything in between – drives value.”

So what does that mean for law firm marketing?  Video marketing is something you need to consider for 2015 and beyond.

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Did you know YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world?  According to Search Metrics, “65% of Google’s keyword searches return videos in the results.”  More and more small businesses are figuring this out.  In fact, law firms are realizing video provides a competitive advantage in marketing.  Using online video for business development leads to increased visibility and improved conversion.

I gave a presentation to the Evansville Bar Association in February.  One of my segments focused on trends in online video.  If you’re on the fence about incorporating online video for business development, you should spend time watching the below excerpt from my presentation.

The video clip at the bottom of this post is the just the segment summary.  However, you’ll see prompts to click to the full segment.  Those prompts are called “annotations.”

Video annotations enable you to link from one video to others, similar to a hyperlink on a text-based content page.  

I inserted these annotations to let interested people click to view the longer video.  It also illustrates a simple tactic you could employ in your own online videos.
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