As a law firm, you know that clients are the lifeblood of your organization. You need clients coming in the door to grow your brand and increase revenue, no matter what type of law it is you practice. However, finding the time to focus on marketing for your law firm is easier said than done. And when you have only a few hours to dedicate to marketing, you want to make sure you are using those hours effectively and are targeting the right channels and tactics to get you the most return.
YouTube might not be the first place your mind goes when thinking about marketing channels for your law firm, but it should be. YouTube is a powerful marketing tool that allows you to speak directly to your audience of potential clients and give visual explanations of the topics that are important to learn about.
In this article, we’ll give you some great YouTube tips for lawyers, so you can see how easy it is to get a YouTube channel set up for your firm. When you have a strong YouTube channel and can deliver great content to your local area, you will be able to increase your client count and your brand’s reputation at the same time.
Why is It Beneficial to Use YouTube?
YouTube marketing is a form of digital marketing where you promote your brand and services through the YouTube platform. YouTube is an extremely popular video platform, with over 122 million active users every day. Capturing even part of that user base who have an interest in your law firm’s services or industry is a great marketing tool.
You can use YouTube in a number of ways. You can create your own videos that explain industry topics or highlight the value of your brand, work with influencers or other people in your area, and advertise your firm directly to people who might be interested in using it. YouTube can also be used for things like recruitment when you are looking for new members to join your team.
There are a few major benefits of using YouTube as a marketing channel for your business. In addition to the heavy traffic on the platform, the content you produce remains relevant forever. Rather than a social media post which is only relevant for a few hours, even YouTube videos that are years old still get high levels of traffic.
Another benefit of using YouTube for marketing is that you can build an email list right from your YouTube viewers. This allows you to contact people who are interested in hearing more about your brand without needing to find an email list through other means. YouTube is also a great advertising platform, allowing you to get your message in front of people even if they aren’t watching your channel directly.
8 YouTube Tips for Lawyers to Create a Great Strategy
Now that you understand how important it is for you to invest in YouTube as a marketing channel, let’s go through some tips and steps you can take in order to create a great YouTube marketing strategy. Your marketing strategy for YouTube might be different from other platforms, but it still follows some standard pathways to success. Let’s dive into those steps now.
Tip 1: Create a YouTube Channel for Your Business
The first step of any new marketing channel is to begin! You will first need to create a YouTube channel for your business in order to begin creating content for your audiences. YouTube is a part of Google, so you need to have a Google account in order to use YouTube. Hopefully, you already use Google for your Google Business Profile, so you should already have an account associated with the business you can use.
Once you have your Google account created, you can then go ahead and use that to create your YouTube channel. Easy! As a rule of thumb, use your business Google account rather than a personal account to manage the YouTube channel. That helps keep things professional and links your brand with different Google applications.
Tip 2: Learn About Your Audience
Your audience, or your clients, is the most important part of your YouTube channel. In order to capture the attention of your audience, you need to know who they are. Ask yourself questions like “who is the firm creating videos for”, “what do those people already watch”, and “what are their interests?”
In order to create content that your audience will enjoy, you first need to start by learning more about them. How old are they, and what other demographic information is important? Why would they be interested in learning more about your firm and your services? What can you do in videos that would appeal to that audience and make them interested in learning more about what you can do for them?
Tip 3: Research Your Competitors
The next step is to consider your competitors. You likely already know who your major competitors in the area are, so look up their YouTube channels to see what they are doing and what you can improve on from what they lack. Think of it as a typical competitor analysis, but just using a different platform.
Take a look at things like subscriber count, posting frequency, average views, video quality, and the comments of your competitor’s videos. See what they are doing well and where they aren’t doing as great a job, and use that information to inform your own strategies as you move forward with your YouTube planning.
Tip 4: Learn from Your Favorite Channels
In addition to learning from your competitors, you also can learn from channels that you really enjoy watching. Look for leaders from other areas of the country or from other types of law firms and see what they are doing well. What types of videos get the most views, and what kind of effects or editing are they using in the videos? Are they making any cross-promotions or working with influencers?
While you don’t want to copy anyone directly, you can use your favorite channels as inspiration and replicate some of the moves they make in order to appeal to your audiences and create videos that you know people will want to watch.
Tip 5: Create Engaging Video Content
With all the research done, it’s time to start creating videos! Creating engaging content is the key step. Use high-quality recording equipment and consider hiring an editor if you want to have really polished videos. You can also learn basic video editing yourself to create smooth transitions and cool effects.
You want your video topics to be engaging and relevant to users. You might want to consider making videos about things like important steps when going through a law process, tips for avoiding legal trouble, or updates to laws in your industry.
Tip 6: Optimize Your Videos When Uploading
The next step is to optimize your videos. The YouTube search bar is just another type of search engine like Google, so take time to consider things like keyword research for your videos and video descriptions. You can also use timestamps on your videos to call out different sections and help users get to where they want to go quickly.
It’s also important to consider things like the thumbnail image, which is like the cover of the video. You want to have an engaging thumbnail that people want to click on.
Tip 7: Optimize Your Channel
Your YouTube channel page is almost like a website. You want to have it optimized with your brand’s logo, a great cover photo design, a relevant description, and organized playlists for easy searching. You can also consider adding your own unique intro or graphic for videos or having your own channel music created to play over your intro. This helps you strengthen your brand and grow your reputation among your viewers.
Tip 8: Share Your YouTube Videos on Other Platforms
While YouTube is a powerful search engine on its own, you want to make sure that your YouTube videos can work for other platforms. You can pull clips from your videos for platforms like Instagram and TikTok, or publish entire videos on your LinkedIn pages or Facebook page. You can also link to your videos directly on your website so people can find and follow your channel.
By sharing your YouTube video content across different platforms, you can extend the value of your videos and make sure they work in a variety of settings to bring in new clients and spread the word about your law firm’s brand.
Schedule a Demo of Surefire Local
At Surefire Local, we want to help your law firm get the most out of YouTube marketing. That’s why we offer business intelligence marketing software to make online marketing easy and attract new customers through different channels. To learn more, schedule a demo of Surefire Local today and see how we can help your firm grow.