Archives de catégorie : Video Marketing

Do Daily Market Video Updates Generate More Revenue for Brokers?

This article was written by Leeor Kabalik, Project Manager at VSM New Media.

The binary options sector represents a competitive marketplace and it can sometimes seem a little difficult to stand out from your rivals. Video marketing offers an approach that can transform levels of brand recognition and engagement and help you differentiate yourself from the competition.

Clients value good quality, exclusive information. Being seen to provide reliable insights can help to build your client base and is also a strong means of encouraging client retention.

But daily email updates and other older forms of engagement have become less effective over time. Did you know, for example, that around 75% of emails that are received by clients will never actually be opened?

In order to have a real impact, you need to think about alternative methods of reaching out to those who might otherwise be failing to hear your message. This is where videos come in handy.

Video in an email can increase click-through rates by up to 300%, helping to drive visitors to your video content. Once there, it’s important that you offer an informative, professional experience.

Focus on your target audience and don’t be tempted to stray from binary options content. Make it a point to deliver insights and how-tos that help your viewers feel more familiar with the forex world.

The more comfortable they feel – the more confident they’ll be to trade. Videos are great for capturing attention and for building trust and they can also have a more direct impact, producing increased revenues.

A recent comparison suggested that businesses using video grow their revenue almost 50% faster on a year-on-year basis than those businesses that are not making use of video content. If you want to see dramatic improvements, then it’s clear that daily market video updates, particularly when making use of personalization, have the ability to have a substantial impact.

When thinking about your approach to market updates, you do need to be wary of using shortcuts. Low quality videos can have the opposite impact, creating a negative, residual view of your brand. The key is to concentrate on high quality updates that build positive brand recognition, reflect the values of your business. Although this may mean making a somewhat larger investment in video production, the outcomes are likely to be much improved.

An increased number of binary options providers are turning their attention of video marketing, embracing the advantages that are on offer. Join that movement today and increase your ability to compete in a crowded marketplace.

How Twitter and Thursday Night Football Are Changing the Video Marketing Conversation

Earlier this month, Twitter conducted its first NFL Thursday Night Football live stream—resulting in a 4 percent rise in stock prices the next day. Given the recent uncertainty about Twitter’s future, combined with the huge number of people that enjoy watching NFL games on TV, that climb is not insignificant.

The NFL live video marketing experiment is a bold but obvious move for Twitter: it combines several existing niches and puts them in one mainstream location, all while achieving Twitter’s goal of becoming a more credible news source and expanding its audience. What’s more, according to CNNMoney Sport, football fans are eating up this new opportunity:

Twitter

But what does this move mean for marketing as a whole? And if live streaming has been so successful for Twitter and the NFL, what other avenues are there for brands to use live streaming? Today, we’ll explore the efficacy of live video, and its role in driving marketing transformation for brands.

Real-Time, Interactive Viewing

Twitter has used its live-streaming deal to beat ESPN at its own game. ESPN typically only offers streaming to viewers who subscribe to a cable service—though a live social stream is always a part of ESPN Gamecast, which show stats and social media commentary in real time during a given game. For viewers from across the country, Gamecasts are a great way to engage in sports talk and sports arguments with people who aren’t within shouting distance.

That ability to heckle and commiserate with fans and foes alike is an integral part of the sports viewing experience—and audiences are already used to leveraging the power of the internet to get involved. Take, for example, the original social live feeds, in which anywhere from dozens to thousands of sports viewers would watch an event simultaneously while chatting about it in real time. Now, Thursday Night Football has legitimized the act of live streaming by pairing it with Twitter—bringing an established social platform into the live-streaming, real-conversation world. And, symbiotically, Twitter can capitalize on the opportunity to sell video marketing for some needed ad revenue.

For those who think this marketing transformation is only available to brands or platforms that care about sports, think again. The conversation factor with various live-streamed events (most notably lately, the presidential debates) is off the charts—and currently, many people are starting their conversations via piecemeal approaches. For example: using a roommate’s laptop to stream the debate while two other roommates Tweet and share Facebook status updates from their smartphones. And Twitter’s not the only company to recognize this need for real-time chatter: Facebook Live has also begun tapping into it by allowing people to react to certain moments of a video, rather than just the video as a whole.

Although it’s just catching fire, one thing’s certain: interactive, conversational live streaming is here to stay—and like most tech trends, several will fail before someone gets it totally right. That’s not to say there isn’t room for a few players to fill different niches, but brands must be smart about which platforms to invest their marketing resources in.

Tom Brady on Thursday Night Football

Fewer Interruptions, Greater Success

Television ads have lost their effectiveness due to services that allow recording and fast-forwarding or premium internet streams that don’t feature ads at all, but the future of video marketing may well be reaching users exactly where they are—whether that means finding them on whatever device they’re using or being able to target demographics with unprecedented precision. Users reacted extremely positively to the first few Thursday Night Football streams on Twitter, and many openly acknowledged that they were watching via a mobile device instead of traditional television (myself included).

Another way that interactive live streams combat the feel of interrupt ads is by providing more momentary-yet-pertinent content. The difficulty of Twitter is that logging in after even an hour away can feel like playing a never-ending game of catch-up. This makes it hard for brands to reach their audiences and, by extension, for audiences to feel like Twitter is worth using at all. Interactive live streams acknowledge and embrace the fleeting nature of content without losing out on the opportunity for engagement. If anything, they enhance engagement, since those participating in the streams are deeply engaged with the content in front of them instead of passively scrolling through a wall of content that they can’t possibly hope to read all of.

Engaged Audiences for Every Content Channel

The data is clear: audiences want to combine real-time content streaming with real-time conversation. Brands can capitalize on this desire by tailoring their content to be flexible and embracing the fleeting nature of live streams. Whatever they lose in staying power, they gain in engagement.

Staying power is a myth anyway; the internet moves so quickly that even the funniest, most viral piece of content has a half-life shorter than nuclear unobtainium. Rather than trying to create one campaign that exists across channels in the traditional paradigm of advertising, brands should observe the niche success of Twitter’s deal with Thursday Night Football and try to understand what it’s really all about. Whether the streams are enough to save Twitter is less important than whether audiences want to stream live content and engage socially simultaneously. And to that, the answer is a resounding yes.

Subscribe to the Content Standard

CMO Today: AT&T Announces New $35-a-Month Online Video Service

Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes (right) and ATT CEO Randall Stephenson spoke about their deal at the WSJDLive 2016 Conference.

BUNDLE UP: ATT wants to use its $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner to access one of the more elusive cohorts in the TV landscape: cord-cutters. Speaking at the WSJDLive conference, ATT Chief Executive Randall Stephenson announced that the company’s new online video service, DirecTV Now, will launch next month and carry more than 100 channels for $35 a month, The Wall Street Journal reports. It will, of course, carry Time Warner’s suite of TV properties. It’s still early days in the live streaming world, with companies like Hulu and Google hard at work to cobble together their offerings. But at $35, DirecTV Now is a pretty good deal for a not-so-skinny bundle. Both Mr. Stephenson and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, who joined him on stage, played down skepticism that the mega merger won’t pass regulatory muster. Mr. Stephenson pointed to the $35-a-month service as a reason consumers shouldn’t be concerned. “Anybody who characterizes this as a means to raise prices is ignoring the basic premise of what we’re trying to do here,” he said. Mr. Bewkes said the acquisition is also about bringing more competition to the advertising market to take on Google and Facebook.

RESPECT YOUR ELDERS: If you thought the media world just didn’t feel right without some juicy legal drama surrounding Sumner Redstone, you’re in luck. As WSJ reports, the 93-year-old media mogul is suing his two former companions, Manuela Herzer and Sydney Holland, for elder abuse, including swindling him of more than $150 million. Mr. Redstone wants his money back, “with interest.” The complaint alleges that the two manipulated him to dip into his vested Viacom and CBS stock options to give them a combined $90 million. That gift triggered a tax bill of nearly as much, forcing him to take out a loan from his holding company National Amusements. The suit says that the women isolated and confused Mr. Redstone, which incidentally is very similar to the argument Ms. Herzer made about his daughter Shari Redstone in a lawsuit that was thrown out months ago. The complaint also reveals that Mr. Redstone’s condition has deteriorated to the point that he now uses an iPad programmed with his voice from excerpts of old interviews and speeches to communicate.

TRUMP TV?: Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner reached out to a prominent investment banker about a possible post-election media venture in recent months, but the Republican nominee has denied that any “Trump TV” project is in the works. But as WSJ reports, Mr. Trump’s campaign has reignited the rumor with its new nightly Facebook Live broadcast hosted by two advisers and Tomi Lahren, a conservative pundit from TheBlaze. “Trump Tower Live,” which is to air nightly at about 6:30 p.m. ET, promises to give viewers an unfiltered campaign message free of the media bias Mr. Trump has railed against. The first episode’s stream averaged 40,000 to 60,000 viewers, according to CNN. As for whether the Facebook Live show is laying the groundwork for something more formal, Mr. Trump told a Cincinnati radio station that he has no interest in creating a Trump TV venture, CNN reported. “I have one interest, that’s on November 8,” he said.

BRITISH INVASION: The British are coming—this time into the U.S. bro media market. As CMO Today reports, Lad Bible and Unilad, two young male-focused, U.K.-based digital publishers that have exploded thanks in large part to the rise of Facebook video, have set their sights on the U.S. The duo are already huge players in online video, amassing more than 3.6 billion video views each in September, according to Tubular Labs. Both companies, whose memes and viral pratfall videos you’ve likely seen in your Facebook feed, say that much of their audience is already here, and now it’s just a matter of setting up shop. Unilad says it plans to open a New York office by March 2017, while Lad Bible says it’s eyeing expansion next year as well. Young men are coveted consumers for advertisers, but some traditional publishers don’t see “lad” media companies as much of a threat. Troy Young, president of Hearst Magazines Digital Media, which owns Esquire, described the bro content fare as “kittens for dudes.”

Elsewhere

HBO Chief Executive Richard Plepler said Vice’s daily news program drew “hundreds of thousands” of viewers in its first two weeks on the air, though he said he doesn’t care so long as the show is “additive to our brand.” [WSJ]

Former AOL CEO Steve Case, who knows a thing or two about what it’s like to merge with Time Warner, has written about his advice for the ATT-Time Warner deal. Mr. Case said that the right idea isn’t enough, and that the two companies need to align culturally and follow a “one company” strategy. [WSJ]

Comcast Corp. reported better-than-expected financial results thanks to strong growth at its NBCUniversal unit, which was powered by the Rio Olympics. The cable provider added 32,000 video customers in the third quarter. [WSJ]

“The Walking Dead” on AMC brought in 17 million viewers for the premiere of its seventh season, a 16% increase from last year’s debut. [CNN]

Groups backing GOP House and Senate candidates are running ads that depict them as a check against a potential Hillary Clinton presidency, a strategy shift that acknowledges her lead in the polls. [WSJ]

Marketers are particularly drawn to this year’s World Series, given the Cubs’ attempt to break a fabled 108-year curse and the Indians’ attempt to secure their first championship since 1948. A 30-second ad is running brands about $565,000. [Ad Age]

A.G. Sulzberger, the new deputy publisher of the New York Times and son of current publisher and chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr., discussed his new role, saying that the paper has caught up to its digital competitors since his leaked 2014 “innovation report.” [Poynter]

Apple’s revenue and profit declined for the third consecutive quarter, though the company had a bullish outlook for revenue in the current quarter thanks to the iPhone 7. CEO Tim Cook said that Apple, which is still the most profitable U.S. company, is “open to acquisitions of any size.” [WSJ, Multichannel News]

About Us

Follow us on Twitter: @wsjCMO, @digitalshields, @VranicaWSJ, @JackMarshall, @perlberg, @alexbruell, @srabil, @asharma

Subscribe to our morning newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox, at http://on.wsj.com/CMOTodaySignup.

Write to Steven Perlberg at steven.perlberg@wsj.com

AT&T’s DirecTV Now online video service to cost $35 per month

ATT‘s upcoming DirecTV Now online video service will cost $35 per month, including mobile streaming costs, and target viewers who shun pay-television subscriptions, Chief Executive Randall Stephenson said on Tuesday.

The wireless company’s streaming video service, which launches late next month, will have more than 100 channels, Stephenson said at the WSJ.D Live conference in California.

ATT said on Saturday that it would buy Time Warner for $85.4 billion, as it looks to diversify its business into the media and entertainment market.

The Time Warner deal gives ATT control of cable TV channels HBO and CNN, film studio Warner Bros and other coveted media assets. Time Warner content will be incorporated into the upcoming video service, Stephenson said.

« Thirty-five dollars, you don’t find that for a hundred channels in the marketplace, with wireless streaming, » Stephenson said.

ATT is betting big on mobile video to tap new revenue as the U.S. wireless market stagnates. ATT acquired DirecTV for $48.5 billion in 2015, making it the largest U.S. pay-TV operator with 25.3 million video subscribers.

ATT is entering a crowded market that services viewers who increasingly consume video online rather than through cable and satellite television services. Dish Network Corp’s Sling TV offers about two dozen channels for $20 a month, while Sony Corp’s PlayStation Vue has packages as big as 100-plus channels for $55 a month.

Online video service Hulu will roll out a new live TV bundle of broadcast and cable network channels early next year.

ATT has said that DirecTV Now will have content from partners including Walt Disney, Viacom and Scripps Networks Interactive.

Justin Trudeau «enfirouapé» par Obama

Le Canada s’apprête à envoyer un contingent militaire en Afrique. L’objectif n’est pas la protection des populations civiles, mais d’assurer la sécurité des sites miniers des entreprises canadiennes, dont les investissements sont parmi les plus importants dans cette région du monde. « Les minières canadiennes, attirées en Afrique de l’Ouest par la faiblesse des redevances et des gouvernements complaisants, doivent maintenant faire face à un nouveau risque : la menace croissante d’attaques de groupes islamistes radicaux de la région », pouvions-nous lire dans le Globe and Mail du 26 août.

 

Dans un rapport publié au mois de juin, le FMI déclarait que « les compagnies minières font remarquer qu’elles doivent hausser leurs mesures de sécurité parce qu’elles ne peuvent faire confiance à la police ou à l’armée de ces pays ». Quelles meilleures mesures de sécurité peuvent-elles espérer pour protéger leurs installations que des troupes fournies gratuitement par le gouvernement de Justin Trudeau, déguisées en « contribution canadienne au maintien de la paix » et coiffées des Casques bleus de l’ONU ? !

 

Lors de son intervention devant le Parlement canadien, le président Obama a déclaré : « Le Canada doit augmenter sa contribution à l’OTAN. » Il faisait savoir au gouvernement Trudeau qu’il y avait un prix à payer pour le privilège d’être reçu en grande pompe à la Maison-Blanche, comme l’ont été Justin Trudeau et son entourage, et à accueillir le président des États-Unis dans l’enceinte du Parlement canadien.

Stratégie américaine
 

La future mission canadienne en Afrique s’inscrira de toute évidence dans la stratégie américaine dans cette partie du monde. Le site Internet The Intercept vient de révéler, à partir de documents militaires américains obtenus en vertu de la loi d’accès à l’information, que l’armée américaine construit présentement, au coût de 100 millions de dollars, une base pour les drones à Agadez, au Niger. C’est le plus important investissement militaire américain en Afrique.

 

De même, le gouvernement Trudeau a accepté d’inscrire dans la révision de sa politique étrangère la participation du Canada à un futur bouclier spatial américain au-dessus du sol canadien. Le premier ministre Paul Martin avait rejeté une telle coopération.

 

Mais là où l’assujettissement du gouvernement de Justin Trudeau aux politiques de Washington est le plus révélateur, c’est dans l’envoi d’un bataillon de 1000 soldats canadiens en Lettonie, dans le cadre du déploiement des forces de l’OTAN en Pologne et dans les pays baltes.

 

L’OTAN justifie cette intervention par la crainte d’une intervention russe dans ces pays sur le modèle de ce qui s’est produit en Ukraine. Ce qui est fort improbable. L’intervention russe en Ukraine est survenue quand l’OTAN et l’Union européenne ont encouragé l’Ukraine à abandonner son statut de pays non-aligné et ses liens historiques avec la Russie pour devenir un partenaire européen.

 

En fait, c’est comme si le Mexique décidait de rompre les liens avec Washington et invitait les troupes russes à s’installer en permanence sur le sol mexicain. On connaît déjà la réaction américaine puisque nous avons eu l’exemple de Cuba.

Provocation
 

Dans son livre My Journey at the Nuclear Brink (Stanford Security Studies, 2015), William J. Perry, qui a été secrétaire de la Défense dans le gouvernement américain de 1994 à 1997, raconte que, lorsque le secrétaire au Département d’État Richard Holbrooke a proposé au président Clinton d’étendre la sphère d’influence de l’OTAN en y incluant la Pologne, la Hongrie, la République tchèque et les États baltes, un groupe de 50 proéminents leaders américains, provenant à la fois des milieux conservateurs et libéraux, ont signé une lettre adressée au président Clinton s’opposant à l’expansion de l’OTAN.

 

Ils voyaient dans cette expansion une provocation qui compromettrait les progrès réalisés alors dans la réduction des arsenaux russes et américains de missiles de longue portée et d’armes chimiques, dans le cadre de l’accord SALT II.

 

L’année 1996 a constitué un tournant dans les relations américano-russes. Perry fut le seul membre de l’administration Clinton à s’opposer à la décision du président Clinton d’accueillir dans l’OTAN la Pologne, la Hongrie et la République tchèque. Plus tard, George W. Bush poursuivit cette expansion de l’OTAN jusqu’aux frontières de la Russie.

 

Contrairement à son fils Justin, Pierre Elliott Trudeau a déployé en son temps beaucoup d’efforts pour doter le Canada d’une politique étrangère qui ne soit pas complètement inféodée à la politique américaine, en reconnaissant Cuba et la Chine et en soignant ses relations avec la Russie.

 

En 1969, en pleine guerre froide, il a même envisagé de suivre l’exemple du général de Gaulle et de sortir de l’OTAN. Finalement, il retira de l’Europe la moitié des forces canadiennes qui y étaient stationnées.

 

En 1983-1984, Trudeau père mènera une initiative de paix auprès des dirigeants de plusieurs pays de l’Est et de l’Ouest pour les persuader de négocier la réduction des armes nucléaires afin de diminuer les tensions causées par la guerre froide. Cette initiative lui vaudra le prix Albert-Einstein. Trudeau père n’a pas craint de s’opposer au président Nixon. Trudeau fils s’est fait enfirouaper par le président Obama.

 
 

Des commentaires ou des suggestions pour Des Idées en revues ? Écrivez à arobitaille@ledevoir.com et à gtaillefer@ledevoir.com.

Des manifestations contre la culture du viol se tiennent aujourd’hui

Des manifestations devant dénoncer la culture du viol sont annoncées pour mercredi soir dans quelques villes du Québec, sur les réseaux sociaux.

Une communication émise par Stop culture du viol, notamment sur le site web de la Fédération des femmes du Québec (FFQ), annonce qu’à Montréal, des milliers de personnes sont attendues à la place Émilie-Gamelin dès 17h30. Des discours devraient être prononcés et les manifestants participeront ensuite part à une marche.

Des féministes telles Tammy Emma Pépin, Sue Montgomery et Léa Clermont-Dion prendront ensuite la parole lors d’un événement au Club Soda.

Des rassemblements pourraient aussi avoir lieu à Québec, à la Place de l’Université-du-Québec, au Marché de la Gare à Sherbrooke, à l’Université du Québec à Chicoutimi à Saguenay de même qu’à l’Université du Québec en Outaouais à Gatineau.

Abonnez-vous à notre page sur Facebook
Suivez-nous sur Twitter

Une infirmière canadienne est accusée d’avoir tué huits personnes âgèes

FacebookTwitterGoogle+PinterestWeChatEmailPrintPartager

Une infirmière de 49 ans a été accusée d’avoir tué huit résidents de foyers pour personnes âgées dans le sud-ouest de l’Ontario, a indiqué la police mardi.

Elizabeth Tracey Mae Wettlaufer ( Facebook - Canadian Press)
Elizabeth Tracey Mae Wettlaufer ( Facebook – Canadian Press)

Elizabeth Tracey Mae Wettlaufer, de Woodstock, a été formellement accusée de huit chefs de meurtre prémédité, qui auraient été commis entre 2007 et 2014. Selon la Police provinciale de l’Ontario, elle aurait administré aux victimes des médicaments que l’on retrouve habituellement dans les pharmacies de résidences pour personnes âgées. La police n’a pas voulu préciser les mobiles des meurtres allégués.

L’identité des victimes a été dévoilée : il s’agit de James Silcox (84 ans), de Maurice Granat (84 ans), de Gladys Millard (87 ans), d’HelenMatheson (95 ans), de Mary Zurawinski (96 ans), d’Helen Young (90 ans), de Maureen Pickering (79 ans) et d’Arpad Horvath (75 ans). Les sept premières victimes résidaient au centre Caressant Care, à Woodstock, alors que la huitième habitait le centre Meadow Park, à London.

La police croit que l’accusée a aussi travaillé dans d’autres centres de soins de longue durée en Ontario, sans préciser davantage. Les registres du Collège des infirmières de l’Ontario révèlent que Mme Wettlaufer s’est inscrite en août 1995 et qu’elle a quitté la profession le 30 septembre dernier. Elle n’était plus autorisée à pratiquer son métier.

L’entreprise Caressant Care Nursing and Retirement Homes, qui exploite 15 centres de soins de longue durée en Ontario, surtout dans des petites villes, a simplement indiqué qu’une ancienne employée, qui a quitté l’entreprise il y a deux ans et demi, faisait présentement l’objet d’une enquête policière.

La Police provinciale a indiqué que l’accusée a comparu mardi matin et qu’elle demeure en détention. Par ailleurs, l’enquête se poursuit et d’autres accusations pourraient être portées, a-t-on précisé.

L’accusée Elizabeth Tracey Mae Wettlaufer Photo : Facebook
L’accusée Elizabeth Tracey Mae Wettlaufer Photo : Facebook

Les « anges de la mort » dans le secteur de la santé ailleurs dans le monde

telechargementCharles Cullen a été l’un des plus prolifiques des infirmiers tueurs dans l’histoire moderne. Il a avoué avoir tué entre 30 et 40 patients au cours de sa carrière de 16 ans comme infirmière dans les hôpitaux de New Jersey et de la Pennsylvanie. La police croit qu’il y avait des centaines d’autres victimes.

Il donnait des injections de digoxine pour soulager la douleur de ses patients. «Je pensais que les gens ne devaient plus souffrir. Donc, dans un sens, je pensais que j’aidais « , a-t-il déclaré à l’émission de télévision 60 minutes. Il a été condamné à 17 peines d’emprisonnement à perpétuité en 2006.

Pour d’autres, il semble que le pouvoir enivrant qui vient avec le fait de jouer à Dieu à déterminer qui allait vivre et qui allait mourir.

Robert Diaz a été reconnu coupable d’avoir tué 12 patients âgés dans trois hôpitaux différents de Los Angeles avec des surdoses de lidocaïne. Le médicament pouvait déclencher une réaction fatale et il pouvait ensuite se précipiter pour tenté de sauver ses victimes et ainsi s’attirer la reconnaissance du personnel médical autour de lui. Malheureusement, beaucoup sont morts avant de pouvoir être réanimés.

Stephan Letter a tué au moins 28 de ses patients âgés en Allemagne en 2003-2004, affirmant aussi qu’il les mettait hors de leur misère. Mais beaucoup n’étaient pas gravement malades.

Serial killer Charles Cullen – 60 minutes

RCI avec la Presse canadienne, Radio-Canada et CTV News

Sur le même thème

Une ex-infirmière accusée des meurtres de huit personnes – Radio-Canada

Former nursing home employee charged with 8 counts of 1st degree murder – CBC

Ontario nursing home murder suspect talked God – Toronto Star

What we know about the nurse charged with 8 counts of murder – CTV

FacebookTwitterGoogle+PinterestWeChatEmailPrintPartager

If you’re human and you know it, sell your brand

According to a video marketing specialist, one of the ways lawyers can make their services more appealing is to communicate one obvious feature they share with would-be clients – that they are human.

In Chris Schwager’s view, lawyers have a particular approach to selling their personal and business brand. Many know that marketing is an essential part of establishing a business presence, but their focus is distracted by a range of competing fears.

Savvy firms, however, understand that the secret to connecting with audiences is relatability. Mostly, Mr Schwager says, people just want to connect with people.

“Everybody is looking for ways to differentiate and attract clients and they have to know what their options are. Relationship-building and the idea of ‘people buy from people’ is to a certain degree where video marketing fits into the mix, because video is humanising and good at making connections,” he said.  

Mr Schwager is the director and owner of Ridge Films. He counts Clayton Utz and several smaller law firms among his clients. Ridge Films has been in the business of ‘inbound video marketing’, where multimedia is used to generate organic engagement with a brand, for the past 15 years.

Mr Schwager believes that many lawyers are held back from hard marketing because of fears about what their peers in the profession may think about the way they are pitching their services. And, he said, this aversion is preventing them from connecting with a significant pool of potential clients.

For those who are not completely deterred from taking their business messaging to video, it rarely plays into a wider marketing strategy and often risks being reduced to a few slapdash phone videos, he added.

“Some businesses just think that they will produce an explainer video because that’s what the competitors are doing. It is common for lawyers to all be looking at what the others are doing and thinking that ‘If we can just do it a bit better than them, that’ll be good enough’,” Mr Schwager said.

“Because lawyers are conservative, they are looking to peers that may be judging them on their businesses and not necessarily focused on target market and not necessarily focused on attracting the next client,” he said.

It perhaps comes as no surprise that the video marketing specialist describes the sentiment he has observed in law as “ultra-conservative”.

However, Mr Schwager added that online platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube have moved more firms to respond to market expectations, and communicate in ways that make them more accessible to potential clients.

He suggested that the legal services industry and grassroots business in suburban areas, in particular, could benefit from unshackling themselves from the fear and trying something new.

“Lawyers want to be perceived as relatable and I think they really fear being perceived as cold or calculating. From our point of view as video marketers, we use video to shift that value and that understanding,” Mr Schwager said.

“Of course, video marketing is but one of many avenues to improve the quality of business and I think it is good practice for any business to ask what those opportunities are.”

Mr Schwager will be a panelist at the inaugural Lawyers Weekly Future Forum and will also host a workshop on using video as a platform for thought leadership.

The day-long Future Form will be held next month at venues in Sydney and Melbourne. For more information see here.

Like this story? Read more:

Profession commends outgoing Solicitor-General

In-house survey shines light on corporate human rights

More to come on technology front


Written by Melissa Coade

Last Updated: 25 October 2016

Published: 26 October 2016