Attention All Lawyers:

Ever hear of “Great Legal Marketing?” If you haven’t, you should. Ben Glass is a Fairfax, Virginia personal injury and medical malpractice trial lawyer who is the genius behind Great Legal Marketing. Ben has changed the way lawyers market themselves and does so in an ethical, outside-the-box way that helps distinguish you from all of your competitors.

I have been following Ben’s marketing methods for years now and felt that now was the time to create this video testimonial; to let other lawyers in on Ben’s marketing secrets. Nobody asked me to create this video or this blog post and I’m not being paid to do it either. Rather, it’s time that lawyers open their eyes and realize that most attorneys don’t have any clue about how to market themselves and their law practices effectively.

If you want to learn how to improve your marketing and your mindset, I encourage you to sign up for one of Ben’s information-packed two day seminars that he holds in Northern Virginia; one in January and one in June. I went in January 2009 and can tell you it was very impressive. I didn’t stop taking notes the entire weekend. Up to that point, I thought that I was pretty savvy in marketing my law practice. Wow, did I have a lot to learn. The people presenting had so much content and useful information that I have been continuously implementing every one of their tips for the last 10 months and there’s still so much more!

Anyway, I hope this information has been helpful and hopefully I’ll see you at one of Ben’s seminars.

Attention All Lawyers:

Ever hear of “Great Legal Marketing?” If you haven’t, you should. Ben Glass is a Fairfax, Virginia personal injury and medical malpractice trial lawyer who is the genius behind Great Legal Marketing. Ben has changed the way lawyers market themselves and does so in an ethical, outside-the-box way that helps distinguish you from all of your competitors.

I have been following Ben’s marketing methods for years now and felt that now was the time to create this video testimonial; to let other lawyers in on Ben’s marketing secrets. Nobody asked me to create this video or this blog post and I’m not being paid to do it either. Rather, it’s time that lawyers open their eyes and realize that most attorneys don’t have any clue about how to market themselves and their law practices effectively.

If you want to learn how to improve your marketing and your mindset, I encourage you to sign up for one of Ben’s information-packed two day seminars that he holds in Northern Virginia; one in January and one in June. I went in January 2009 and can tell you it was very impressive. I didn’t stop taking notes the entire weekend. Up to that point, I thought that I was pretty savvy in marketing my law practice. Wow, did I have a lot to learn. The people presenting had so much content and useful information that I have been continuously implementing every one of their tips for the last 10 months and there’s still so much more!

Anyway, I hope this information has been helpful and hopefully I’ll see you at one of Ben’s seminars.

“Attorney Nostrils and Ceiling Lights a No-No.” Another YouLaw video review by Gerry Oginski. Click here at Technolawyer Blog to watch the video and see the full review. You don’t want to miss this.

I thought I’d seen everything online. I also thought I was a savvy Internet marketer, until I received an e-mail about two new websites today that will shock you.

I received an e-mail from someone who had watched one of my educational attorney videos on YouTube. He was promoting a company that he claims to have used in order to increase the number of views that YouTube logged each time his video was watched. The website is http://tubeviews.net. I was curious, so I decided to check it out. I was stunned. No, shocked is a better word. This website guarantees that if you pay them $29.99, they guarantee 20,000 YouTube views. If you want 50,000 YouTube views your cost is $64.99. They guarantee 500,000 YouTube Channel Views for
only $320.99

Even more astonishing was that this company promised to provide a certain number of ratings to each of your YouTube videos that you paid for. I was even further amazed to learn that this company will provide generic comments about how good your video is, provided you pay a fee. For 50 video ratings the cost is $30.99. For 200 ratings the cost is $105.99. If you want them to leave unique and customized comments they charge anywhere from $14.99 for 10 unique comments, all the way up to $149.99 for 200 unique comments.

I sent an e-mail to this company and to another one asking for further explanation as to how they can guarantee these enormous amounts of views provided you pay their fee. I have also asked them to explain the ethical concerns I have about placing generic [FALSE] comments about a video simply by paying a fee. Finally I have asked them whether YouTube has sanctioned what they are doing.

Importantly, I’ve come across certain attorney videos that have inexplicably received astronomical views. From my point of view those particular videos that I have seen with these crazy views were poor in quality, were unimaginative, and were extremely lengthy and frankly, boring. Yet for some unexplained reason these videos garnered more than 60,000 views.

Now while I don’t know exactly how those attorneys accomplished such astronomical views for such an awful video, one can only wonder whether they used a service like the one I’ve discussed in this post.

I was always under the naïve assumption that people watch videos because they were interested in the topic. I also assumed correctly, that my competitors were trying to learn what I do as well. Unlike pay per click programs, YouTube does not charge for the number of clicks or views on any video. However, a video with a greater number of views is presumably more relevant and important to the search engines. Ah, there’s the rub.

Pay a fee; get more views; YouTube thinks your video is important; your video gets ranked higher in the video search engine results. Lots of questions and problems with this “system.”

“HELLO YouTube!” if you are listening, you would be wise to check out this service to see if it complies with your terms of service.

My recommendation: Stay far away from services like tubeview.net and marketingofyoutube.com.

As an attorney, you have an ethical obligation to present yourself in a fair and accurate manner. If you are using a service to promote your videos, one could argue that you are inflating the true value and importance of what you have to say. You don’t want a bar association or state grievance committee making legal precedent because you were so eager to promote your videos.

P.S. This was the reply I received moments ago from marketingofyoutube.com: “Oh i am sorry , our views service is temporary stopped due to some reason.” Interesting.

How can a “Thank You” card from a clothing store help you market your practice?
How can a “Thank You” card help you create a better video?

Yesterday my wife received a very pretty “Thank You” card from a fancy store where she had purchased some ladies accessories. (She still won’t tell me what she bought). The card was written by the assistant manager and had a personal handwritten thank you inside. I immediately wondered what she had bought that would have triggered a personal thank you card from the assistant manager of this well-known store. I’m almost afraid to look at my credit card.

Since when does a manager of a store take time out of their day to write a customer a thank you card? I’ve never heard of that.

Guess what? It had the desired effect- on me anyway. It tells me that in this economic climate this manager felt my wife’s purchase was so important to warrant a personal card. I have since learned that this purchase was a small gift for a friend, and nothing outrageous. Whew. That’s a load off my mind.

So how can this help you make a better video? Simple. Thank your viewer for watching. Thank them for the time they’re taking to listen to you. A “personal” thank you will do wonders for making your viewer feel special. Look them in the eye (the camera lens) and say “Thank you for taking a few minutes of your day to learn about lawsuits like these.”

It will make all the difference.

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.

To read the full article about video cameras and equipment I use, click here.

The “cost” to distinguish yourself for a one-time display ad in the June 2009 edition of New York magazine that profiles Personal Injury Litigators is $47,783 for the early bird offer. If you wait, your cost will be $53,092.

I received today in the mail a special advertising pitch that will appear in New York magazine in conjunction with the New York Law Journal. I was fascinated to read their pitch to attorneys to get in now. Here’s part of their pitch:

“This is your time to let the readers of New York magazine know about your victories and achievements-to stand out from your competition-to let the public know that if they’re injured, your firm is the one to turn to. This is a special advertising section in which you can tell your firm’s story, your way.”

In my opinion, the pitch should read, “This is your chance to part with your hard-earned dollars to show the world how great you are with a one-time fancy display ad.”

The early birds get a tremendous discount.
A full-page profile costs $27,717; a half-page profile costs $16,918; a third-page display costs $11,045 and a ‘key attorney profile’ costs only $6,165.

The pitch continues…”This is your opportunity to highlight you and your firm’s stand out partners in a profile or display ad.”
“We provide all of the following: The services of a professional photographer, experienced writer and designer who will work with you to create a winning profile.”

Now, if you’ve read New York magazine special advertising section before, you get the impression that these attorney write-ups are written by news reporters. However, these ads are not news items or independently written profiles by a news magazine. In reality, these advertorials are ads purchased by attorneys and law firms to promote themselves.

The inherent problem with these ads is that, like many attorney videos, they talk about how great they are. While I accept that some of those attorneys truly are great trial lawyers, ask yourself how a consumer is able to distinguish one law firm from another. If one law firm says they get many million dollar verdicts and settlements, and the next law firm says pretty much the same thing, how is a consumer going to determine which law firm is right for them? By the fancy photos they see? By the pretty bookcases and smiling attorneys? By saying they’ve been in practice for 20 years? Is a consumer looking for an attorney going to be swayed by the large two page ad over an attorney who buys the 1/3 page ad?

There are many consumers who pick lawyers they way they pick a plumber; by going to the largest yellow pages ad thinking that since that company can afford to pay for the large ad, it must necessarily mean that they are better able to handle their matter than another firm that takes a smaller ad.

I am sure many of these lawyers deserve credit for their accomplishments, yet from a marketing standpoint, I cannot see how the small law firm or even a solo practitioner can match the marketing madness that is associated with a one time display ad that costs almost $50,000.

From a magazine marketing standpoint it’s a brilliant way to generate tons of advertising dollars and give potential consumers the impression that these lawyers are the ones you should go to. Despite the fact that this advertising section is labeled “Special advertising section” the consumer does not realize that the attorneys have paid for these display ads.

Do I want to spend $47,783 to distinguish myself from other personal injury attorneys in New York? No thanks. I think I can find a few other ways to distinguish myself. I’ll start with my website, my blogs and importantly my video blogs.

Don’t shoot your video in front of your beautiful office window.

Why not?

Your camera doesn’t know what to focus on. It doesn’t know what’s light or dark. When you have a bright source of light from outside, it makes everything inside look extremely dark. The better practice is to close your window shades and put up a drape or curtain to give you an even, textured background.

Do not use your $20 webcam to create your attorney video. The quality will stink; the video will be poor; and the lighting will be awful.

The worst video I ever made was my first one. My kids still joke about it. “Dad, you look like a bobblehead.”

“Dad, the lighting is terrible.”
“Dad, the sound is awful.”

Looking back now, they’re right. I used my built-in webcam to tape my first-ever internet video. However, I was so eager to get onto video, I felt I had to do something!

Believe it or not, this ‘terrible’ video has actually done well in the search engine rankings. That’s why I’ve kept it up. Quality-wise it stinks.

Get your secretary or paralegal to do a video too.

Transparency on the internet is very important. Show a viewer how your secretary helps get your work done. Show their work space. Have your secretary explain why she likes working at your firm and how she interacts with your clients. Viewers eat this up! They love to see real people working and how those people help others.