Find Legal Topics > Lawfirms Laws > Youtube Advertising and Your Law Firm: Youtube Ads 101

Youtube Advertising and Your Law Firm: Youtube Ads 101

Youtube Advertising and Your Law Firm: Youtube Ads 101

According to Alexa.com, Youtube has now become the fourth most popular website in the entire world.  With over 70 percent of web viewers using Youtube at least occasionally, advertising on Youtube has now become a great way for attorneys to get their names heard by the people most likely to give them a call.  In this brief guide, you'll find out why Youtube advertising is still being underutilized by attorneys, and how to create the best Youtube advertisements possible for your firm.

Advertising on Youtube: The Best Tool You're Not Using

Studies show that videos are one of the best tools that you can use for your marketing strategies.  Youtube advertising can put your ad in front of the right people at the right time.  Advertising on Youtube has been made very easy since Google bought the website, and you can now use the Google AdWords interface to help you distribute Youtube advertisements.

When you use Youtube advertising, you're up to three times more likely to get conversions.  Why?  Several reasons.  First of all, it's been proven that consumers like video ads like Youtube advertisements better than text ads.  Youtube advertising lets you put yourself front and center, showing clients how you interact and what kind of personality you have.

Second, when you start advertising with Youtube, it's easy to target exactly the type of clients that your law firm is best at talking to.  You can run dozens of different targeted ad campaigns if you wish, so that your Youtube advertising is seen by all of the different groups you're trying to attract.

Different Types of Youtube Advertisements

If you're not sure that you want to start producing actual video Youtube advertisements right away, you can also have text advertisements displayed in searches or while people are browsing for videos.  Text Youtube advertising also appears underneath videos and before the comments.  In addition to being easier to set up, text ads are also substantially cheaper on a per-click basis than other types of advertising on Youtube.

If you already have someone in your office who can design print ads, you can create display Youtube advertisements that will be broadcast before someone watches their video.  These display ads are a nice way to dip your toes into the water of advertising on Youtube without feeling the need to dive in right away.

Of course, some of the best advertising on Youtube is in video form.  You can create thirty second Youtube advertisements that will appear before the other videos your desired clients are watching.  This type of Youtube advertising is harder to produce—you should always make sure you're using professionally produced video, not something you've made yourself—but can definitely be worth it.

Depending on what kind of Youtube advertisements you're producing, you can choose to either pay for your ad per thousand impressions, or per click.

Targeting With Youtube Advertisements

Internet advertising has been great for smaller law firms with low budgets, because it is substantially less expensive to advertise when you can target your potential clients.  The days of using television ads and billboards to reach huge audiences (most of whom have absolutely no need for the services you're offering) are gone for many small firms.  Instead, today's solo practitioners and small firms like to use advertising on Youtube, Facebook, and Google to find most of their new business.

When you target your Youtube advertisements, you can base your targeting on keywords just like you would with Google AdWords.  You can also limit your advertising budget, and make sure that your advertising on Youtube is only seen by people who are in particular demographic categories or geographic regions.

It's a good idea to test your targeting by doing split tests.  Keep track of all of your different campaigns and who they see the best results with.  By building targeting data over a long period of time, you'll slowly improve your ability to target the right customers without wasting money on people who are unlikely to convert.

Mistakes to Avoid When Advertising on Youtube

If your Youtube advertisements will take site visitors to another Youtube video, make sure that video has relevant information and isn't just advertising.  If someone follows a piece of advertising on Youtube only to find even more Youtube advertising, they're not going to be happy and you'll have wasted money on their click.

Trying to be clever in your Youtube advertising may work, but it can also backfire.  If your ads are too cleverly written, they may seem confusing or difficult to interpret for clients.  Instead, if you have a text-based ad, try using your text to ask a question that a potential client may have, so that they'll click for the answer.

Ad fatigue sets in quickly for internet ads, so if you're leaving up the same Youtube advertisements for a long time, you're probably wasting money.  Consider changing the content of your advertising on Youtube at least once a week, and possibly twice a week.  Youtube advertising will work better for you if it's constantly updated and fresh.

The Future of Youtube Advertising

More and more Youtube viewers today are accessing the website from their mobile phone's internet browser or by using a mobile app.  This increase in mobile traffic suggests that no matter what kind of Youtube advertisements you're placing, you should make sure that you're directing web traffic to a mobile friendly website.

Mobile advertising on Youtube is a booming industry.  Because it's so much easier to call attorneys after finding their website using a smartphone, law firms that have used mobile advertising campaigns have seen drastic upswings in their conversion ratios.  While a mobile advertising click may cost you more, it's a click that is more likely to make you money in the long run.

Youtube advertising, as bandwidth becomes cheaper, will probably start to require better resolution video and images.  That may not be an issue for your firm right now, but you should consider either obtaining this kind of video equipment or hiring a company that has professional video recording and editing equipment.  You don't want to come off like an amateur in your Youtube advertisements.

Related Topics