Attorney TV Advertising Versus Video Marketing
What’s the Best Way For Law Firms To Find New Clients—Attorney TV Advertising or Video Marketing?
Way back in 1973, when Texas attorney Jim Adler first opened his own law firm, it was unethical to advertise. Not on TV, not even in the local newspaper.
“The bar could come after you and take away your law license,” he explains.
But all that changed in 1977, with the landmark case Bates v. State Bar of Arizona. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that allowing attorneys to advertise would not harm the legal profession.
And soon the floodgates opened—attorney TV advertising hit daytime TV.
Attorney TV Advertising
That’s when Jim Adler, now known as “The Texas Hammer,” began running TV commercials in his home state.
As you can imagine, Adler was hesitant to begin filming. Would it be proper? What would his friends say?
“I was a pariah. People couldn’t believe that I advertised.”
But soon, his phone started ringing and new clients began pouring in. And today, Jim Adler & Associates has over 300 employees across Texas.
Of course, Jim Adler isn’t alone. Hundreds of attorneys and law firms are advertising on local TV stations across the country—because TV advertising works.
Effective but Expensive
According to National Trial Lawyer magazine, attorney TV advertising has been steadily growing—from $531 million in 2008 to nearly $900 million in 2018.
On average, firms spend 2% of annual gross revenues on marketing. However, large national firms earmark up to 5% of annual gross revenues, while small practices may allocate up to 10%.
Consumer-driven law firms—those practicing family law, personal injury or criminal defense—pay even more. Successful personal injury firms may go as high as 20%.
Attorney Video Marketing
But wait, there’s another approach to law firm marketing that can be more cost effective.
Attorney video marketing.
What’s the difference, you may ask? With attorney video marketing, there are no media costs. You aren’t writing big checks to local broadcast stations or cable networks.
You’re posting videos on your website or YouTube instead.
How Video Marketing Works
With video marketing, you create videos that are informative or educational. It’s less about you, and more about the problems that potential clients are facing.
For example, let’s say someone has an auto accident with an uninsured motorist. How will they find a lawyer?
About a third of the time, they’ll do a Google search, and find a video posted on a local attorney’s website—”What to do if you’re hit by an uninsured motorist.”
Successful law firms today are posting all kinds of videos. “Three things to know if you’re getting divorced.” “What to do if you get a letter from the IRS.”
These videos are all optimized for SEO, to ensure they show up in those Google searches.
And here’s the best part—once they’re online, they never stop working. They get watched on desktop computers and on smartphones, during the day and in the middle of the night. They promote your firm 24/7.
Which Approach Is Better?
So attorney TV advertising or video marketing—which approach is better? In all honesty, it depends on the size of your firm and the competitiveness of your market.
There’s no denying that TV advertising works, but the most visible firms are spending millions of dollars each year on production and media costs.
And while video marketing is more affordable, it also never ends—you need to post new video content regularly to stay relevant in Google searches.
Of course, if you’d like to know more about TV advertising or video marketing, give Content Puppy a call. Either way, we can help you with your future production.
You can also read a past blog post about TV advertising and video marketing—you’ll find it here.
About the Author:
Harry Hayes is the owner and executive producer at Content Puppy Productions, a corporate video production agency based in Charlotte. Before starting Content Puppy, he spent 20+ years as an advertising writer and creative director.
