I won’t keep you in suspense. The perfect marketing tool for law firms is…video! Oh, I am not talking about the ubiquitous prerecorded talking head video — although that’s better than no video — but the new video experiences cropping up online.

Video is now the savvy marketer’s choice when it comes to content distribution and engagement. The latest options include:

Live Video — live streaming video has grown in popularity on social media, primarily on Facebook and Instagram. That’s because live video has been shown to be more engaging, thus retaining viewers much longer than prerecorded video. A Livestream/New York Magazine survey found that 80% of people would rather watch live video from a business than read a blog and 82% preferred live video over social posts. Live video is perfect for lawyers to make presentations or host a legal Q&A session since audience members can post questions live during your session.

Virtual Reality (VR) Video — VR delivers a truly immersive experience for the viewer, making them feel that they are right in the middle of the video. How is this useful for law firms? Many people feel intimidated by visiting a law firm to talk with a lawyer since they have no idea what to expect. VR can let prospects experience their first visit to your firm — not just the physical office, but meeting you face-to-face in virtual reality.

1:1 Video — imagine being able to send a personalized video message to a prospect instead of an email or a phone call. You can make these 1:1 ratio (square) videos with your smartphone and use them for lead nurturing — following up on an inquiry, providing content or support, or as a unique way to simply say thank you.

Video Blogs — video blogging — or vlogging — is a big trend in content marketing because its authenticity helps marketers connect with viewers to build a community. You can add video to your current text blog when you have something to show — maybe your firm participating in a community event or a partner being honored with an award. Even snippets of a presentation perform well as a vlog.

Video content is becoming more search-friendly with the use of captions (you need to caption all your videos since most people watch without sound) and AI that transcribes the audio using voice recognition. In addition, Google has added video previews to the video carousel that appears in search results when using Chrome or the Google app on Android.

The use of video in law firm marketing holds a lot of promise. I suggest you start experimenting with different video formats to see what resonates with your target audience. Opportunity abounds to differentiate yourself using video!