You’re likely already aware that we specialise in marketing for accountants and solicitors, and we readily acknowledge that both professions have been somewhat slow to adopt video marketing.
Other sectors – retail, for example – are already on the video train, with targeted ads going out all over Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok.
But for professional service providers, it hasn’t been so easy.
In fairness to professionals, this isn’t necessarily their fault.
TikTok dances don’t lend themselves too well to discussions of divorce proceedings or Capital Gains Tax, for example.
Serious and sober Instagram reels tend to get swamped by endless content about cats and the platform is not conducive to developing trust with the viewer – a trait that professionals should aim to always portray.
But video marketing doesn’t need to be constrained by these narrow channels and we’ve recently been working with our clients to develop more innovative options to inject video into their strategies.
YouTube, for example, is the second most effective platform for content marketing after LinkedIn, which is another great place to use video – especially when B2B marketing.
Both are optimised for networking, building leads, and demonstrating your expertise – the first being suited for longer-form videos like vlogs and the second being more useful for short snippets, like explainer videos.
Video killed the radio star… but it could help your firm
You don’t have to look far to find overwhelming evidence that video marketing works.
Hardly surprising when roughly a third of all online activity is spent watching video content.
In fact, 72 per cent of consumers say they would prefer to learn about a product or service through video rather than written content and 82 per cent of consumers have purchased a product or service as a direct result of a marketing video.
Users spend 88 per cent more time on web pages with videos, so even your website itself is improved by including video content.
We all know the Buggles song “Video Killed the Radio Star” and initially some marketers thought it would go further and actually kill off written advertisements.
However, we’ve found (as have many others) that the best strategy is to use video as a supplementary injection of engaging content alongside original, useful, and informative text-based ads.
It’s like a classic pub meal:
- The bulk of the meal – the steak pie – is made up of your website, your blogs, your design, your service pages, and other direct marketing strategies.
- The chips – a supplementary but nonetheless vital part of the meal – are the videos that help you promote your services further.
Just as the quality of a pub can be determined by the chef’s ability to make triple-cooked chips, the quality of a professional service can be determined by the value of their video content.
If one or the other was missing from your meal, you’d go looking for it, and your audience will be doing the same if you fail to include video in your strategy.
They might be searching for a deeper glimpse into the personality of your firm.
Perhaps they are wondering what your senior management team are really like or they want more information on a specific aspect of your firm’s services.
Either way, video content adds a genuine advantage to your overall strategy.
How to make the best video content
If you’ve decided to start including video content in your marketing, it’s important not to just rush in.
There are some key things to remember when it comes to videos:
- Quality over quantity: 80 per cent of users will click away from a video if it starts to buffer or load slowly and poor audio or graphics quality can seriously damage your reputation as a high-value service.
- Know your platform: Consumers of your content won’t want to watch hours and hours of highly technical advice (in most cases anyway), so keeping your content short and snappy is generally the best bet. Having said that, sometimes the opposite is true, especially when it comes to YouTube and podcasts, so it’s important to know your platform and channels.
- Keep it consistent: Inject your branding into your video content and where possible, use the same speaker or graphic design. This keeps your branding consistent in the minds of your audience and ensures they know exactly where to go to find you.
- Agencies can do most of the work for you: Producing, editing, and promoting videos is a major undertaking for most firms and most don’t have the time to do so. That’s where a marketing agency comes in.
A marketing agency, like JE Consulting, can help you with all things video.
We can support you with strategy and the development of a comprehensive and effective video marketing campaign for both the long and short term.
Whatever your video marketing goals are, we have the expertise to help.
If you’d like to learn more about the possibilities that video marketing can unlock for your firm, please get in touch with our team.
Call: 0121 355 4774 or email: info@je-consulting.co.uk
