I had a great opportunity to shoot video over Labor Day weekend. The kids were out at playdates. My wife was running errands, and I had an hour to myself. I had great content I wanted to talk about. After setting up my video equipment in my backyard and sitting down in my chair, the next thing I heard was the annoying hum of my neighbor’s lawnmower. It was awfully bad timing on my part. It was terribly bad planning on my neighbor’s part. Argh!

However, being the good neighbor that I am, I sat in my backyard for 10 minutes hoping he would finish cutting his lawn quickly. Watch the video above to see how well that turned out.

One of the significant disadvantages of shooting video outdoors is that you cannot control the noises around you. In some instances, that type of background noise may give greater credibility to the location where you are shooting video. However, in most instances where attorneys create educational content, it is not advisable to shoot video in a noisy environment.

The reason? A viewer will not be able to hear you well and will get distracted by the background noises.

How can you minimize the chances that your audio will come out well? Sometimes it’s just a matter of luck. Obviously shooting in the early morning hours when people are still sleeping has a better chance of being quiet than in the middle of the day. When you listen to the video above, you can clearly hear the lawnmower as a distracting noise and a viewer would not forgive such a distration. I know I wouldn’t.

The bottom line? If you’re going to shoot outdoors, find a quiet time and a quite place to shoot video.

Sly Fox, Northern Israel posing for a photo during our Jeep tour of the Golan Heights

That’s a catchy title.

If you clicked on it to see a pretty and sexy lawyer, I’m sorry to burst your bubble. There’s no provocative lady. There’s no X rated video. There’s no video in this post either. What disappointment.

A quick buildup…intrigue…anticipation…expectation…and then…a total let down. What a bummer. Honestly. A trick. An exercise.

“Huh?” you ask.

Yes, an exercise. I wanted to see how many of you would click on the title, with the expectation of seeing something more than ordinary. Something unusual. Something you wouldn’t normally expect to see in a lawyer marketing blog post.

Just think whether you would have taken the time to click if the title had been “Lawyer discusses paragraph (a)(2) of the subsection that discusses negligence and how it applies to baboons who fly according to the State code 312.78.”

What you say in your title can make the difference between someone reading what you have to say and being ignored.

CAVEAT: You must ALWAYS abide by your States’ ethics rules when creating titles and any content. Most lawyers would not want to create titles like the one above to attract potential clients. You never, ever want to trick a viewer into coming to your content or video. EVER. They will not appreciate it.

This title exercise is just that. A teaser headline. Now go think about different ways you can ethically create great headlines.

Dateline: Galilee, Israel

I’m sitting outside of my hotel room here in Northern Israel. Looking into the distance, I am told, is the Golan Heights. The Golan Heights borders Lebanon and we will be traveling close to the Syrian border tomorrow. The amazing thing about this Country is its size.

You can drive from the North end of Israel to the Southern end of Israel in 6 hours. About 335 miles in length. That’s it. Yet for some reason, this little sliver of arid land is one of the most contested pieces of land in the world.

Here’s what’s so amazing. Its’ size doesn’t matter. It’s a tiny country, yet it is perceived to be a very powerful one.

What does this have to do with lawyer marketing?

Glad you asked.

The answer is…Everything.

There are some large law firms that boast of their size. They boast they have the ability to  handle every type of law. They claim huge diversity in their staff. That’s their unique selling proposition.

When you ask a solo or an attorney in a small law firm, they’re able to say that they give personal attention and they know your case inside and out. Being small can be a huge advantage. You just have to be perceived as having the power of a big firm. With today’s technology you can.

What’s the best tool you can use TODAY to convey to your potential clients that you have knowledge and power? Come on…you know what I’m going to say. The answer is…VIDEO!

Creating an entire video library not only distinguishes you from all of your competitors and larger firms, but showcases your expertise. Really smart lawyers who use video stand out from the crowd; as long as the video is done correctly and strategically.

Being “small” means you can get video content online almost immediately. How many large law firms do you know can shoot 50 videos in a one-day video shoot and then edit, optimize and upload those videos online?

That’s the power of being small. Savor it.

Dateline: Galillee, Northern Israel

I’m in Israel as I write this and learned that Starbucks failed here in the only democratic country in the Middle East. Why did Starbucks fail here? Because they didn’t understand the cultural differences between people in Israel and in the United States.

For one thing, apparently Israeli’s don’t like drinking their coffee from paper cups, or so I heard. Another reason is that most Israeli’s want to have food with their coffee. Starbucks didn’t have any real food to offer. I’m sure there are other reasons, but the take-away point I learned was that before you can form a lasting and trusting relationship, you have to understand your consumers and potential clients.

How well do you understand their cultural differences?

Do they live in the same town as you? Do they have the same background as you? Are they from a different country?

When lawyers try to market themselves they often try to ‘put information out there’ that they think people want. However, unless you know and understand your potential client, you may be putting the wrong information out there.

That could be difference of getting a client or not. Take the time to truly understand their problems and where they come from. Understand their family dynamic and you will have an insight into what goes on every day. Importantly, you’ll understand them. Even more importantly, they’ll realize that you understand them.

This cat has nothing to do with today's blog post

Lawyers often tell me that the best source for referrals are either current or past clients. Yet when I ask them what they are doing to get to know their clients and to stay in touch with their former clients, they often get a distant glaze in their eyes as if there was a disconnect between what I asked them and what they should answer.

We all know that getting a referral from a trusted source is worth its weight in gold. When a new client comes in from a trusted source who has vouched for us and said only good things about us, that’s a powerful way to generate new business.

What do you think you can do to get to know your existing and former clients even better to improve your referral rate?

One of the easiest things is to pick up the phone and call each of your clients on a regular basis. Before you send me comments telling me how impossible that is because of the large volume of clients you have, I want you to understand why keeping that personal relationship going throughout the litigation and afterward is so important.

As lawyers, we offer services to help our clients who have legal problems. The reason why a potential client chooses us instead of a competitor is often because they like us and trust us. How cool would it be if you went the extra step to make your client feel extra special? How impressed will your client be if youdid something over and above what they expected?

Here is a perfect example. If you have a same-day surgical procedure and then go home after a few hours, how cool is it when the doctor calls you late at night to find out how you are feeling? You certainly didn’t expect the doctor to call you late at night. That example is just one way to make someone feel special. There are countless others.

Make the effort to take a personal interest in each one of your clients. Show them you care and that you know all the details of their file better than they do. Then, take an interest in them and their family. That will make all the difference.

1. 

   I refuse to compete on price

   Lawyers who compete on price simply become a commodity and encourage shoppers looking for the lowest price attorney.

2. A consumer looking for the lowest price attorney doesn’t care about the value the attorney provides. They simply believe that every attorney provides the same service and therefore, why should they pay more when many other attorneys can charge less to accomplish the same thing.
3. Lawyers who look to become the “lowest-price” service provider quickly learn that the only people they are attracting are the ones who do not have the money to pay for their services. Having the lowest price around is not a competitive advantage.

Lawyers who rely upon either flat-rate billing or hourly billing often struggle whether their fees are too high. They rely on peer pressure and perceptions about what their consumers and clients think about their fees. That leads many of them to drop their fees. Bad move.

When I attend seminars and lecture to attorneys across the country about video marketing, I’m constantly asked how much my service costs. Before I ever answer that question I need to make sure that the attorney understands what value we provide.

• We are not simply “another” video production service.
• We are not simply a video company that provides a cameraman to videotape the attorney.
• We are not simply an SEO company that optimizes video for the web.
• We are not simply video editors and,
• We  are not simply video publishers.

Instead, we are a done-for-you, tested and experienced, turn-key, video success program created by and run by an experienced trial lawyer (that’s me).   I use this exact method to market my law firm successfully online. There is no other experienced medical malpractice trial lawyer in the country who helps other lawyers create educational video to market their law firms online. That has tremendous value for my attorney clients.

There is no other video production company in the country that offers a mastermind call with the attorneys to understand what content to create that will set them apart from all their competitors. This mastermind call sets me apart from every video production company in the country.

Think about it this way: If your video company or video producer does not understand who your ideal client is and what type of content they need and want to know, then how can they help you create educational and useful video messages that are compelling?

If you are an attorney looking for the lowest price video company, then I am not the answer  to your video problems. If however, you recognize true value with experience, knowledge and success, then we may just be the right fit for you. To learn more, I encourage you to pick up the phone and schedule your free phone consultation with me by calling Kathleen at 1-800-320-4314 or by e-mail kathleen@lawyersvideostudio.com. I look forward to speaking with you.

http://lawyersvideostudio.com

What is a “Force Multiplier?”

It is something that leverages a good thing and increases the effectiveness and usefulness of that thing. “What the heck am I talking about?”

Video will help you magnify your message. It will set you apart from all your boring competitors. It will showcase your knowledge. It will take your educational message and get your potential clients to recognize you have information they need.

That’s a force multiplier.

It’s more interesting than the written word, whether online or offline. It’s interesting because a viewer gets to see you, hear you and begin to trust you. No other form of media allows you to do that.

Create force multipliers and you will leverage your knowledge and show your ideal clients what they need to know.

How Many Lawyers Do You Know Own a Yacht Like This?

You advertise, right?
You use TV, radio, newspaper ads, display ads, classified ads. You hold seminars and you develop a large referral base. Yet for some reason, you struggle to get those large, high value cases? Why is that?

Many times I have been in the lawyers lounge in Court and hear attorneys complaining. What’s their complaint? “If only I had a few million-dollar cases, then I would be on easy street.” Then they conveniently point to very successful law firms who appear to get these multimillion dollar cases out of thin air and look upon them with jealousy.

If only they learned to figure out why those cases are attracted to those particular law firms like flies on a flytrap.

The obvious answer is that they are excellent attorneys who get excellent results. Success always breeds more success. Lawyers in the community recognize and reward lawyers who have extraordinary success. However, a consumer searching for an attorney may not have access to the same information about which lawyers are so successful.

Think about it. Why are those lawyers so successful, and others are not? If you had a file cabinet full of high-value multimillion dollar cases, I’m sure that you would be able to generate significant legal fees and achieve remarkable success simply by applying your knowledge and skill to the cases you handle.

Many attorneys fail to recognize that the marketing they are currently doing do not specifically target those high-value cases. Instead, they choose to use a shotgun approach and target all types of cases and their specialty. To give you a perfect example, imagine a personal injury attorney who markets himself as an accident lawyer who handles all types of accidents including slip and fall cases, dog bite cases, property damage cases, product liability cases, car accident cases, etc. That type of marketing simply dilutes your message.

A TV ad often doesn’t focus on one type of case (unless it’s a pharmaceutical case involving a medication that was taken off the market, or asbestos). A Yellow Pages ad all too often fails to target high-value cases, and instead adopts the one-size-fits-all approach.

When I ask attorneys why they aren’t getting those high-value cases, their answers revert to those marketing methods of successful firms.

However, there is a way that you can market to those high target and high-value clients and consumers. There is a way that you can craft and create a message that is highly-targeted and focuses only on those individual high-value cases. I won’t keep you in suspense any longer… the way to do that is by using education-based video to market your targeted message.

What does that mean? It means that you can create a series of videos addressed to your most profitable and highly targeted potential client. It means that you can provide information to people who may ultimately have a high-value case. There is no other form of attorney advertising that allows you to do as with video.

Video has the best return on your investment. Create a video once, put it up online and have it watched it 10 times or 100,000 times. The cost to have it watched one time or one million times is the same: NOTHING. You can’t say that about any other form of attorney advertising.

Mindset:

When you create a specific marketing message on video, that message is available for your ideal client who is actively searching for that information. That is totally different than typical attorney advertising which basically shouts out to the world that you have a service that a consumer may need at some point in the future. That shift in mindset is significant. Lawyers who fail to recognize how significant it is will clearly lose the ability to properly focus on their ideal client and high-value cases.

To learn more about how video can help improve your bottom line and target those high-value cases, I encourage you to call me for a free 30 minute phone consultation at 516-487-8207, where you will also receive a free copy of my book “How really smart lawyers are using video on the web to get more clients.” I look forward to your call.

Lawyers Video Studio Top Secret Success Kit

In today’s blog post I want to introduce you to my secret weapon when I create attorney video. There is no video production company in the country that has this top-secret attorney video success kit. You cannot buy it. You cannot create it. Nor will you find this kit anywhere else. The only way you would even get a hint of what is contained within this kit is if you are a member of my Total Online Video Success Program for Lawyers.

Even then, lawyers who create video with me in the Lawyers Video Studio are not permitted to see what is inside the aluminum and titanium, heavy-duty case. They do however get the benefit of what is contained within it, but they do not have access to it. When I return from a video shoot, this case gets locked into a vault under special lock and key and only comes out for video shoots.

Be on the lookout for upcoming photographs of me carrying my top-secret video success kit on location, shooting video.
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Learn what one really smart attorney had to say about my Total Online Video Success Program. Click below.

Not the parking zone, not the end zone; I’m talking about “the zone.”

The zone is where you get this clarity and recognize you need to do something different to help market your practice. I was on the phone on a conference call with an attorney in Florida. A mutual friend of ours wanted to introduce me to  let them know about attorney video and how it’s so useful to market their law practice. This attorney told me that he and his firm do absolutely no advertising at all. No yellow pages, no TV ads, no display ads, no billboards, no radio campaign, no classifieds, nada, nothing.

Instead, they get all of their cases by word of mouth referrals. What amazed me is that it didn’t sound like he and his firm were interested in pursuing other sources of revenue through the use of social media or video marketing for attorneys.  Rather, they had to turn away a good portion of the cases they were sent because they had so much work.

That’s a great position to be in, and one that every attorney and law firm would envy. Although the attorney recognized how useful and beneficial creating video is, it sounded as if his firm was totally content to continue getting cases the way they always have.

Most attorneys are constantly looking for new ways to market themselves and to stand out from the crowd.

Since most of this lawyer’s cases came from attorney referrals, he paid lawyers a portion of the attorney fee, in accordance with his State’s ethical rules. That meant that he was giving up a sizable chunk of money to each referring attorney. I asked him if he’d like a revenue stream where he’d have clients calling his office directly and if he took those cases, there would be no referral fee.

Know what the attorney said?

“We have enough cases and we’re very selective in what we take. Although what you are suggesting is interesting, we have to turn away 90% of the cases we look at, and those are still good cases.”

That’s a really great position to be in. Yet, I couldn’t help but think that as good as this law firm was, they couldn’t see the forest for the trees. They were so focused on a great referral base (as every lawyer should be doing) that they were excluding other key sources of revenue. Which income stream was I referring to? Video marketing for lawyers.

If nothing else, my conversation produced an introduction to a great lawyer and insight into the mind of a law firm resistant to change.