Guest post by Gerry Oginski, Esq:
So you want to jump on the video bandwagon and start creating video…
Well, here you go. Just click ‘Record’ on your webcam and start talking about what a great attorney you are. Then click ‘Upload to YouTube’ and you’ll be an instant celebrity overnight.
If you think that’s all it takes to create great online video, then don’t even bother reading this informative post. Just do what I tell you in the first full sentence on this page, and you’ll have no viewers and you’ll continue to wonder where you went wrong.
However, if you really want to understand how to get yourself on video, and if you really want to know why website viewers love video, then keep reading.
Video will change the way you market yourself and your law firm. I guarantee it.
YouTube announced recently that they have over 100 million viewers! If you are a lawyer and have not yet started to create educational videos then you are missing out on the greatest and best way to communicate your message to potential clients. Best of all, YouTube is totally free. That’s right, free. Obviously, there’s a significant cost associated with creating your videos, but once you post your video on YouTube, it can be watched ten times or ten million times, all for the same price; Nothing.
Who am I and why should you listen to me? (This will be the only time I will toot my own horn).
That’s a fair question. I write a regular column for Technolawyer Blog called YouLaw that critiques and evaluates attorney videos. Importantly, I describe not only what’s good about the video, but importantly, what’s not and how you can learn from someone else’s mistakes. I’ve also published Video Marketing Tips, a popular five part series at Law.com. I’ve been interviewed by Newsday, the Legal Broadcast Network by Scott Drake, as well as Grant Griffiths, the Blawgfather. I’ve been contacted by news reporters and TV producers who have watched my videos to ask questions about the area of law I practice in. I have written articles on creating video for lawyers that have appeared on Larry Bodine’s Lawyer Marketing Portal website as well as The Mac Lawyer.
In the last year and a half, I have created, produced and uploaded over 140 educational and informative video clips designed to help website viewers learn about and understand how medical malpractice, wrongful death and personal injury cases in New York work. These videos appear on my website and many different blogs. My favorite blog is my New York Medical Malpractice Video Blog which showcases my videos in a great format.
ASK YOURSELF, “HOW AM I DIFFERENT FROM EVERY OTHER LAWYER?”
If you answer that question by reciting your credentials, then you’re just a commodity. That can’t be the only way you can set yourself apart from your competitors.
Mindset:
You must determine in your own mind how you are different. You then must ask yourself how you have used those differences in your marketing message. For example, do you advertise in the yellow pages, which in my opinion is nothing more than an overgrown useless stack of books that only is useful for finding a plumber when your toilet is clogged? What advertising media have you used in the past to set yourself apart from the thousands of lawyers who compete with you every day? Come on…there’s got to be something.
Video will help you distinguish yourself from everyone else.
I guarantee it.
TOP 5 REASONS TO USE VIDEO
- Viewers get to know you
- Viewers get to hear you
- Viewers get to see you
- Viewers place their trust in someone they know much more than someone they don’t
- A viewer is much more likely to contact you after watching a video compared to reading a bland non-interactive website
This blog post is not going to convince you that millions of videos are watched every day. This article is not going to convince you that people who watch a video of you are more likely to call you than a lawyer who does not have a video. This article will not change your outdated thinking that video is a passing phenomenon, because it’s not. Video is the best way to market your legal services right now and for the future. If you have not realized it yet, video is KING on the internet.
If you don’t want to believe me, don’t. Ignore all of the studies done by small website companies like Google and YouTube. More clients for me! However, if you want to do something now, pay attention because this will help you create your own videos.
5 TIPS TO CREATE GREAT ATTORNEY VIDEO
1. DO NOT TALK ABOUT YOURSELF
“Oh, sure. Then what am I supposed to talk about if I can’t tell viewers how many cases I’ve won and how I battled the top lawyers in the State and took home the grand prize?”
The answer is to tell viewers how you helped solve someone’s legal problems. Viewers don’t care about you. They don’t care about your name or where you went to school or where you’re from. Most viewers searching for an attorney online don’t know a lawyer for the specific problem they’re having. If they did they wouldn’t be searching online for a lawyer. Simple, right? You want to create video that explains how you helped solve someone’s legal problem.
2. Repeat #1 above. If you violate this rule, I guarantee that a viewer will never watch your videos.
3. Talk about FAQ’s that your clients ask you every day
Write down the five most frequently asked questions that potential clients ask you when they come into your office. Go ahead. Write them down now. Stop reading and grab a pen and paper. Now. I’m trying to help you, OK? After you’ve written them down, continue reading.
Do not write the answers. You know the answers because you give the answers off the top of your head every time a prospective client walks in your door. These questions will form the basis for five different short educational video clips.
4. Educate. Do not sell.
If you do not know the difference, walk into a car showroom and ask yourself whether the salesman is trying to sell you a car, or trying to educate you about the cars he sells.
If you come across as a salesman, you will lose all your viewers and you probably will not get any calls. The reason why attorney video works so well is because it is the best way to educate a potential client and at the same time have them get to know you.
Why does that help? Once a viewer gets to know you, they begin to trust you. They will listen to you. They want to hear what you have to say. If you try to make a sale to your viewer from your short video clip, they will click on the next video, never to pick up the phone and call you. Your video should be to teach and educate. Not sell. By teaching, you show that you are an expert. Is a viewer more likely to call an expert who explains things or a slick salesman?
5. Do not use a script when creating your videos. Outline are good. Scripts are bad.
Scripts are too formal and stilted for online video. I know many people at big website companies will disagree with me, but again, I guarantee that what you want to show your viewers is a more conversational and informative side to you. Put away that formal stuffy lawyer attitude you carry around with you in the office, on the phone or in Court. When you create video, you are having a one-on-one conversation with someone sitting at your kitchen table.
Most online video producers miss this point precisely because they’ve never been a client, or have never practiced law and been in the trenches every day. If you can connect with your viewers by looking at them directly in the eye (through the camera) then you will have achieved your goal of letting your viewers get to know you.
Having said that, it does not mean you will not practice what you have to say. You will. When a potential client calls you in the office to ask you a legal question do you stop them and say “Wait a second, I have to get my script to see how to answer your question.” Of course not. The same thing applies when answering questions on your attorney video.
Conclusion:
In the ‘old’ days, static websites were king. Then lawyers put pretty pictures on their websites. Then blogs became king, and as Grant Griffiths will tell you, blogging is the best way to attract a following of loyal people who will contact you when they have a question about your area of expertise. Beyond blogging is video blogs. This is an offshoot of creating an educational message in the best format on the internet today.
How else can you engage your viewer in a one-on-one conversation (admittedly it’s a one-way conversation) and have them see, hear and observe you personally, all from the comfort of their own computer? The answer is with video. Attorneys who recognize this now and get in on the ground floor stand a much better chance of having their videos rank higher in the search engines.
So, the question you should be asking is not “Why should I create video?” Rather, it’s “How can I start creating online video to help me get my marketing message out to people searching for an attorney online?”
Till next time, see you on video!
About Gerry
Gerry Oginski, Esq., is a New York medical malpractice, wrongful death and personal injury trial lawyer in practice since 1988. In the last year, Gerry has created, produced and uploaded more than 140 educational videos about medical malpractice and personal injury law to his Web site and video-sharing sites. He is also the featured author of YouLaw, a Technolawyer.com blog, where he reviews and rates the latest law firm videos so that you can learn what works and, importantly, what doesn’t. Gerry has used his video experience to create a new service blog called “The Lawyers’ Video Studio” to help get lawyers on video. Contact him via e-mail at lawmed10@yahoo.com or telephone at 516-487-8207. You are also invited to join Gerry in the Lawyers’ Video Studio group on Facebook where he provides helpful tips and information that helps lawyers create online video.
