Whether you’re in a major city or a small suburb, you have the ability to be analyzed by some of the best doctors in the country.
According to today’s Wall Street Journal article, Doctor, Can You See Me Now?, more hospitals are using video to invite specialists from all over the country into their patients’ rooms to better diagnose their ailments. This opportunity to connect patients with specific doctors is helping hospitals better examine symptoms and make quicker, more accurate decisions on the best type of treatment and medication for a patient. Thus, leaving very little room for error.
The video is also two-way, giving the patient a personal connection with the physician, even though they aren’t even in the same hospital. The art of “visual medicine” can help save lives across the country by immediately connecting a patient to the right doctor.
For the social media skeptics out there – you don’t have to feel lost in a world of web communities. The Wall Street Journal published an article on Monday, September 14 entitled “Relief for Twitter Headaches”. It discussed how large companies, such as Microsoft and Whole Foods, are using Twitter to manage customer questions and complaints. These “tweets” range from 300 – 500 a day. Far less than most law or professional services firms are probably currently receiving. All of which are handled immediately to ensure superior customer satisfaction. How do they do it? With free supplemental Twitter programs that help companies organize tweets and answer them as quickly as they are posted. Tools like TweetDeck, Tweet Assignments, Conversation Threading and HootSuite all have specific Advil-like roles to help eliminate your pounding headache.
How do you answer your clients’ minor questions? If the answer to this is more complicated than “Twitter posts,” you may want to reconsider your firm’s client interaction. Some of their questions may be tough, but getting in touch with you should be the easiest part of the process.
“B-to-b marketers today have more opportunities than ever before to communicate directly with their customers and prospects…”
This excerpt from the article “Dealing With the Old End-Around” from B2B Magazine highlights how the push from print to online advertising has given B2B marketers a more direct line of communication to clients. Along with this idea, the specificity of the Internet has created small niches within many industries. Because of this, marketers can better target clients with the greatest potential for acquisition.
Today, not only must you be concerned with creating firm awareness, but as social media and web engagement continue to grow, you must devote more time and effort to customer interaction. Say goodbye to traditional ads hoping to generate a following and hello to the world of online marketing tactics. Professional services must now use webcasts, videos, and social networking sites to better reach their targeted clients. If you think this doesn’t apply to you or your firm, think again.
On July 1st, Canada Day, I gave a Webcast for BrightTALK’s Legal Marketing Channel on “How Can Video Help Your Law Firm Accomplish Its Marketing, Recruiting and Communications Goals?”
Click here to see the presentation. Don’t have an hour – that’s okay. Watch it in ten minute chunks or scroll over the circles at the bottom to see the slides and find the information you care about most.
As promised, here are the links to the videos I discussed:
On June 16th, I was delighted to present “The Next Wave: Videos They’re Not Just For YouTube Anymore”at a Breakfast Seminar we jointly hosted with Headshift, the leading European social media company. Livio Hughes, Director of Headshift, presented real-world case studies that showed how leading firms and companies are using social software tools to save money and add value to their services. Gil Yehuda, a former research analyst with Forrester Research also spoke, providing a wonderful overview on Social Media and Enterprise 2.0. My presentation addressed the question, “What Can Video Do For Your Firm”. I provided B2B research, showed some examples of creative videos and discussed why video is one of the fastest growing segments of online marketing. Some of the attendees were professionals from law firms, financial firms, telecom companies and media agencies.
Presentations were lively and well received and the two break-out groups that followed allowed participants to ask detailed questions of the experts who were there, as well as share their experiences in the enterprise social media space.
Please click on our respective links to see the presentations. We hope to take this show on the road in the Fall, so let us know if you are interested in arranging a presentation to your firm or company.
We are delighted to be re-launching our website after a total makeover. The site is easier to navigate, has a more professional look and, most importantly, is capable of displaying our videos in a professional light. Working with TALLAN was a wonderful experience. Contact Anton Hios for more information.
One week after it was posted on YouTube, over 37 million people watched a heartwarming viral video where a cheeky, not-so-glamorous yet charming, 47 year-old Scottish woman swept critics’ hearts on “Britain’s Got Talent”, the UK’s version of “American Idol”. This video is compelling and “viral” because it has five distinctive qualities:
1) It’s about an underdog
2) The underdog is genuinely talented
3) Audience and judges’ facial reactions narrate the story to provide context and conflict without dialogue
4) The story is visually interesting, concise, but detailed enough to be engaging
5) The video is professionally produced with music overlays
The power of video as a marketing & communications tool is obvious when you see how Susan Boyle’s story impacted viewers around the world. Lawyers, accountants and consultants should create engaging video narratives to attract potential clients and stay connected to existing ones. This is a skilled and complicated process. The key is to educate, entertain and engage viewers with relevant, simple and exclusive stories. This point was recently emphasized by nationally known political consultant, James Carville, at the recent Legal Marketing Association’s Annual Conference in Washington, DC. Carville co-presented the keynote with his wife, Mary Matalin. He talked about the marketing messages he teaches his politician clients and how one’s core message must be repeated consistently and frequently. In the world of web videos, this is where effective web distribution and Video Search Engine Optimization come into play. Susan Boyle’s video proves that (a) you capture an audience’s attention with a story, and (b) video is the most effective storytelling vehicle because by nature, it is uniquely dynamic and interactive.
Story Creation
While Susan Boyle’s video is entertaining, it is also educational. Let’s deconstruct it.
This highly produced piece tells a story with a beginning, middle, and end. It has emotionally charged music, creative editing and powerful transitions. Because it is cut to show bursts of human emotion throughout, it feels like a movie trailer, not a video, another reason it appears so dynamic.
The video begins with the protagonist preparing for her debut, giving us context and a connection. Next, there’s conflict, in the form of doubt and condescension by viewers. When Susan’s big moment to sing arrives, we experience anticipation. The second we hear her voice, we’re hooked. The resolution is clear, there is a happy ending: Susan’s dream comes true and her beautiful voice wins the hearts of the audience. There is also a moral lesson here: “don’t judge a book by its cover”.
Distribution & Marketing
Once you create a video for your firm, you should distribute it in many ways. Its prime home may be a website or portal, such as YouTube or it can live in a social media environment. It can also be attached to or embedded in e-mails for internal or external communications purposes. Unfortunately, law firms, accounting firms and other professional services firms often miss the golden opportunity to push viewers to proprietary web pages that house these mini gems of edutainment.
In the April 16th issue of The Wall Street Journal, Price Waterhouse Coopers ran a wonderful ad about trust, portraying a climber’s D-ring holding a taut rope (suggesting there was a person dangling). Viewers were then pushed to a specific page on the PWC website (www.pwc.com/trust) where more information about PWC’s philosophy on trust was provided with brief, personal testimonials supporting PWC’s trademarked tag line, “The lessons of life are the lessons of business”. There is only one thing that would have made this experience more memorable: short videos in lieu of words on the web page. Ultimately every professional will have a professional online video, the same way every professional currently has a static online biography.
Paul Gladen, a former Arthur Andersen partner and president of Muzeview, a competitive intelligence firm that tracks the marketing activities of over 100 of the worlds leading professional services firms, states that “less than 1% of their marketing outputs are currently video. This number is poised to explode in the coming years.”
In a September 2008 on-line article from ClickZ (http://www.clickz.com/3631020), Andreas Roell said that viral videos should accomplish three goals: grab attention, be memorable and compel viewers to circulate them. Legal and professional services videos rarely accomplish these things because (a) they haven’t thought about what they’re hoping to accomplish through video and (b) they don’t make short videos that include memorable and sophisticated content. Intelligent Video Solutions, http://www.intelligentvideosolutions.com specializes in creating thoughtful, engaging and impactful videos that emphasize a company’s story and how that story distinguishes it from competitors. We use an on-line research survey to help professionals hone the focus of their piece and a proprietary intake system designed to help videographers, producer and editor streamline their joint efforts. Intelligent Video Solutions has achieved first page Google Video rankings for their newest videos due to effective Video Search Engine Optimization.
Follow these suggestions to create Bite-Size Story Videos for your firm:
1)Focus on a topic that can be addressed in three minutes
(tell an anecdote of a success story, show how your firm’s social media platform enabled collaborative thinking and saved the client money, or have real life clients tell about a profound event that you were a part of)
2)Pick a topic your audience cares about
3)If the “star” or “stars” are not naturally appealing, coach them in presentation skills to be effective before the cameras start rolling
4)Include narrative that is relevant, repetitive and unique
5)Support your story with visuals and compelling graphics or animation
The nature of the internet allows for immediate exponential circulation of videos. Because a link can be circulated tenfold with a click of a mouse, it’s easy to make something “viral”. The key is to identify what is unique and important, and what will entice networks of people to circulate your information to others. When producing a video that relays complicated information, remember that it is the simplicity of the message and your story that will make it memorable. Personal experiences connect people too. Additionally, remember video is just one part of the marketing mix. It is a turbo charger, not a replacement for traditional marketing activities.
Videos are in their infancy with respect to marketing and communications in legal and professional services firms. Although they have been on YouTube for awhile, a new generation of videos is popping up and they are far superior in sophistication, content, and production value. The power of video as a b2b marketing, recruitment, educational or internal and external communications tool is yet to be fully realized. When considering video, remember the power of Susan Boyle and why her image impacted the entire world. Imagine if you only had words on a page to read.
If you are debating about whether to spend or save money on your advertising budget, read this article. Professors from Knowledge@Wharton provide an interesting perspective on spending in difficult economic times to gain a competitive advantage.
Hello professional services providers (lawyers, accountants, consultants, engineers, recruiters etc.) and everyone else out there interested in how video will eventually change how service business buying and hiring decisions are made. My background is in recruitment, marketing, & photography and I’ve been a successful entrepreneur for the last twelve years. My newest company, Intelligent Video Solutions, produces and markets web videos for professional services firms, but the main purpose of this blog is to provide valuable information about how video and video search engine optimization is changing both content and search on the internet for professional services firms. While there is a ton of data out there about web video in relation to mass markets, consumers and YouTube, there is very little being written about video in relation to the professional services. Please come back often..this is our sole focus.
