http://lawyersvideostudio.com

In one corner is a well known personal injury law firm from Wisconsin. In the other corner is also a well known and respected personal injury law firm also from Wisconsin.

A few years ago, both law firms faced off against each other in a way that lawyers had never envisioned. Here’s what happened.

Law firm #1 hired a company to start a Google Adwords campaign. It was an innovative campaign. Most lawyers simply try to use adwords to attract viewers to particular keywords like “accident,” “lawyer,” “attorney,” “Wisconsin,” and so on.

Law firm #1, Cannon & Dunphy, decided that one of the keywords they would be advertising for was their biggest competitor: Habush Habush & Rottier, Law firm #2.

“Huh?” you ask. Here’s how it was designed to work. When someone did a search for Law firm #2, an ad for Law firm #1 would show up either at the top of the page, ABOVE the organic search results for Law firm #1 or to the top right of the page.

Is that ethical? Is it right? Well, that’s what Law firm #2 asked themselves. In fact, they questioned it to the point that they sued Law firm #1. That lawsuit wound up in the Wisconsin appellate court. The 27 page decision is a must read for any lawyer who markets their law firm online.

Thanks to Ross Fishman for bringing this to our attention and for a well-written post addressing this case (and his role as a defense marketing expert in the case).

What’s the take home message for your marketing?

Here’s my recommendation. If it’s in a grey area, stay away from it. In my video success program, I am adamant that things are either black or white. There is NO stepping over the ethical line. Ever. Do you want to make case law in your state with a novel marketing idea, like Law firm #1? Or do you want to run an ethical marketing system that consistently teaches and educates your consumers and potential clients in a way that shows you are different?

You can, using video.

There are some “gurus” and marketing “experts” who talk about ‘black-hat’ methods of marketing. “Stealth marketing,” as it’s often referred to. Ad campaigns that try to game the system are ultimately revealed and the fallout from that can be bad.

As attorneys, we have an obligation to ourselves, our potential clients and to the public. If you engage in black-hat methods of marketing, you do so at your own peril. Go on, read the decision. Ross posted it toward the bottom of his article. It’s fascinating.

Lawyers Video Studio January 2011 Newsletter

Learn how one really smart New York City Park Ave. law firm created video in the Lawyers Video Studio. Find out how many videos the Lawyers Studio put online last month alone. Learn about our lawyer referral program and how you can easily generate income with a single phone call. A quick reminder that lawyers who join our program get to take advantage of the ONLY video coaching group for lawyers in the country.

Click here for our new online newsletter!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I give you the State of the Union for Lawyer Video.

“My fellow attorneys,

The state of affairs for lawyers who create video to market themselves stinks. Truly awful. Video quality has improved but content has gone down the drain. Four years ago the only type of lawyer videos that video companies created were “Look at me!” videos. Those videos simply were one intro video that did nothing more than say “Come to me because I’m great.”

Fast forward to the present day and lawyers have made leaps and bounds. Now, many attorneys have gone beyond the bounds of “Ooo, pick me because I’m great” type of videos, to ones that actually inform. However, the information that most attorneys are putting out are not what online viewers want or care about. It’s true.

Lawyers still focus on the number of views that each video gets. Video companies sell their services and convince lawyers that their video metrics program is top shelf and can also predict which videos will get viewers to call. Nonsense.

The reality is that metrics don’t matter at all. Really, they don’t. I have written repeatedly that video metrics are not worth your time to invest in or learn about. The ONLY thing that matters with your online videos is whether your viewer picks up the phone to call you for an appointment. That’s it. That’s your goal. If your videos are not accomplishing that, you have big problems. The reason that most lawyer video does not work is that most videos fail to provoke a viewer to take action.

In all likelihood you’ve spent a lot of time and money creating video, either on your own or with a video production company. Have you tracked your return on your investment? That is something definitely worth calculating. You must know at all times what your ROI is.

Let’s say you spent $10,000 on 5 videos. The production team spent all day in your office and each video, after editing, came to about 1 minute to 1:30 mins. The cost per video in this instance is $2,000. The production company might say to you “If you get only one case from a video, the fee you get will have paid not only for that one video, but for all five of your videos.” That sure sounds like a line from the yellow pages rep who would visit my office on a yearly basis. She made it sound so convincing when she came in to renew my yellow pages ad that I had a hard time saying no.

For me, I recouped my yellow pages investments, but just barely. Calls were few and far between. I was on page 9 of 11 full page ads. By the time someone got to my ad, they had already been rejected by eight other lawyers.

The video production companies who help lawyers create video have changed their way of creating video. They’ve moved on from creating a single “intro” video that cost $5,000-$10,000 just a few years ago, to creating multiple videos for around that same price. I’ve seen some wedding videographers knock the price down to $2,500 for 7-10 videos. I always ask those wedding guys if they know who the lawyers’ ideal client is? They don’t and that’s a big problem. They tell me they create broadcast-quality video. I believe them. But that’s only half of the equation.

The other, more crucial part is content. It’s knowing how to get the videos found in the search engines using white label strategies that are proven and tested. It’s not just about creating good technically proficient videos. It’s getting the videos recognized; getting a viewer to have enough curiosity and interest to click on your title; getting them to watch your video in its entirety and most importantly, getting that viewer to call or email you after watching that video. If your video production company can’t show you, using proven tactics that they have the know-how to do this, then you’re paying for something that will look pretty but be nothing more than watching your money evaporate into the internet ether.

Let’s turn now to the other side of the coin; attorneys who create video on their own. There are lawyers who think they can master this video thing all by themselves. Some can, but most have not yet been able to do that. Some lawyers don’t want to spend the money to shoot video with an experienced video production company. Instead, they want to do it all themselves.

Those are the type of lawyers who would rather climb up a ladder to fix a leaking roof instead of calling a roofing expert. That lawyer will try to fix their broken watch by buying a do-it-yourself fixing book about watches. When the electrical system in the house breaks, that lawyer would rather spend a week learning how to fix the problem himself instead of hiring a certified and qualified professional electrician. This lawyer is the type of person who, when his car breaks down, eagerly spends two weeks fixing his car in his driveway and walking to work, instead of spending the money to bring it into a mechanic and get it done in one day.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great when someone has the ability, desire and time to learn to do things on their own. However, really smart attorneys and business owners realize that the way to make tons of money is to leverage their time with other people’s expertise. Here’s what I mean. If you are a transactional attorney and you bill at $400 per hour, and it will take you 2 days to edit two hours of video, the amount you could earn doing legal work would be conservatively $6,000. Is it worth it to you to spend that time editing your own video instead of earning $6,000?

It’s always a time/cost trade-off. What if you could hire a video editor to edit those two hours of video for only $1,000? Would that be a more cost-effective and economical use of your time? I should think so.

I know there are lawyers out there who think they can become a videographer using their iPhone4, their Flip camera or their Kodak Zi8 and that’s great. There are also lawyers out there who think they can become video editors using iMovie or Sony Vegas or Final Cut Express, and that’s great too. Then there are still others who believe they can become video distributors and publishers. Good for you. But wait…aren’t you still a practicing attorney? How do you have the time to do all that and more? Are you going to be using your skill to create a side-business or are you just going to keep all this information to yourself for your own benefit?

Most lawyers just want to practice law. They don’t want to get involved in marketing or video marketing. Rather, they want someone to do it all for them, and that’s good too.

So, Mr. or Mrs. Lawyer, where do you stand?

Are you closer to the lawyers who want to do it all themselves, or are you a little closer to the lawyers who want experienced and tested video production experts to do all the video work for them?

2011 will be a great year for those lawyers who implement their decisions to change. Video marketing should be done smarter, with more knowledge, information and content. Content will rule in 2011. If you lack content and a compelling reason to call you, you will revert back to the startup days of internet marketing. Make this year your most successful one ever.

To your success!”

Gerry

Who's Your Video Producer?

I came across this website while searching the internet for attorney video production companies that offer useful services. Here’s the advice they offer to their attorneys:

Using a script, focus on your firm’s expertise and trustworthiness through testimonials and proven results.

To successfully deliver your firm’s message, consider using examples and visual cues by showing footage of your firm’s lawyers working on behalf of clients. Demonstrate to your audience that your firm is the best fit for them. You may even want to debunk myths, such as the idea that clients cannot afford your services.

First of all, I strongly advocate never using a script when creating attorney video.

Why not? Because it always comes across as contrived and unnatural. More importantly, when a potential client comes into your office and asks you a question, do you need to run to your file cabinet and grab a script in order to answer that person’s questions? Of course not.

Secondly, this advice tells you to focus on your firm’s expertise. I totally disagree. This is the traditional form of Yellow Pages advertising  which shows everyone that it’s all about “Me, me, me.” I would think by now, most video production companies would recognize that it’s got nothing to do with “Me, me, me.” Instead, it has everything to do with “You, you, you.”

Third,  look at what they recommend next:

To successfully deliver your firm’s message, consider using examples and visual cues by showing footage of your firm’s lawyers working on behalf of clients.

Do you really think that by showing B-roll footage of lawyers looking at papers and lawbooks that that visual is going to convert an online viewer into a caller? I don’t. In fact, I don’t believe that  it adds anything, and simply is a waste of time and space.

They continue by saying “Demonstrate to your audience that your firm is the best fit for them.” Again, do you really believe that statement will help convert an online viewer into a caller? I don’t. The focus of that statement is once again “Me, me, me.”

If only these people would stop trying to sell law firm clients to online viewers, then viewers might actually take an interest in whatever video they created. Don’t these video production companies know that people want real, useful information and not a sales pitch?

You might  be asking yourself while reading this blog post which video production company it was that offered these statements? As much as I would love to publicly out them, I don’t want to give them the recognition nor do I want to embarrass them. Hopefully, they’ll get around to reading this blog post and recognize their content.

You’ve decided to change careers. You don’t want to practice law anymore. You think it’s more glamorous to shoot video. Ok, I’ll admit it, the allure is there. It certainly is tempting. In order to show you how to become a videographer, I need to ask you some questions first:

When was the last time you took video of anything?
Maybe you shot video of Thanksgiving at your house with all your relatives. Maybe you were on the soccer field taking video of your six-year-old. Maybe you were at the aquarium with the dolphins. At least you have some level of experience.

When you shot these videos did you use a tripod?
Did you have super8 movie cassettes that had to be developed, or were they standard VHS cassettes the size of Montana? Maybe you got a video camera when miniDV tapes were all the rage. Or maybe you got one of those miniCD cameras that recorded directly to a mini disk.

Most of us just held the camera in our hand until we were tired and then either switched hands or put the camera down. We couldn’t understand why our videos always bounced around and were shaky (this is before the steady-shot features that help slightly).

When you created your family videos, did you use any external lights?

Chances are you used whatever available light was around; the lights in your kitchen, the mood lighting in your basement, the flickering fluorescent bulb in your den or whatever overhanging lights were on.

How was the audio with your homemade videos?

Rarely did you get great quality audio since you used whatever microphone was attached to your camera. You knew there were better ways to capture great audio, but you were not a Hollywood video producer and saw no need to spend big bucks on professional microphones.

Do you know what all the manual settings on your video camera do?

Sure you can simply set the dial to full automatic mode and let the camera take over. If you’re only shooting outdoors on a beautiful sunny day, then you can create great looking video. However, shooting outdoors has many challenges. If you’re shooting indoors, the auto settings are often not good enough to balance your color and illuminate your frame. Also, many cameras of yesteryear cannot shoot great video in low level lighting.

Here now are a few tips to help you become a videographer:

1. Learn what all those manual settings are on your camera. Aperature settings, exposure settings, iris settings, depth of field, shutter speed, manual focus v. auto focus, white balance, color changes, special effects, video frame rate, focus priority, image stabilizer. Learn why your digital zoom is not effective for getting great quality video, and on and on. How much video can you hold on your camera’s memory card? Does the video shut off if you shoot for 10 minutes continuously?
2. Learn all about lighting. What’s a ‘key’ light? What’s a ‘fill’ light? What’s a ‘hair’ light? Why do you need to illuminate your background when you shoot video?
3. What is your setting? Is there ambient noise? Are there lights or sounds you can eliminate or minimize? Do you shoot in front of that beautiful picture window? Do you shut the window shades?
4. What microphone creates the best quality audio? Do you use a separate audio device? Do you use a wired microphone? Are wireless mic’s really that much better? What’s the difference between a $150 mic and a $600 microphone?

Here’s the bottom line. Do you really want to be a videographer or do you want to practice law? If you want to do both, then I have a great resource that will help you. In my video coaching group you’ll learn the mindset that will allow you to create video that compels your viewers to pick up the phone and call you.

Here’s how you’ll know if becoming a videographer is right for you:

• Do you wake up every morning with 10 new ideas about how to market your law firm using video?
• Do you actively look for ways to set yourself apart using every available method know to mankind?
• If you do, then this is the right place for you.

If you don’t, then I have another resource that you definitely need to know about, my Total Online Video Solution for Attorneys. In this total done-for-you program, you just show up and start talking on video. We do all the rest. It’s that simple.

Take a few moments to explore these helpful resources and stay tuned for my next blog post about “How to become a video editor.”

Are You Ready to Create Video?

Some attorneys will just know. Others will wait and watch what their colleagues are doing. Still others will never get around to picking their heads up from their work to wonder what all the fuss is about.

Which lawyer will you be?

I believe there are three kinds of lawyers. I happen to have been all three at different times in my legal career.

• The workhorse
• The rainmaker
• The marketer

The workhorse is typically an attorney who just got out of law school and works like a dog for the next five to seven years in a law firm learning everything and getting as much experience as possible. There’s no time for marketing; no time to think about rainmaking. The only thing on your mind is working hard, getting noticed by the partners and hopefully, if you’re so inclined, being asked to become a partner.

The rainmaker actively looks to bring in new business. He (or she) realizes that there are relationships to make, networking meetings to attend and money to be made by getting known. He doesn’t yet understand or know what type of rainmaking activity works best or which ones combined will generate income, but at least he’s trying to figure it out mostly by trial and error.

The marketer is someone who works on the business and not just in the business. The marketer realizes and understands that in order to grow your law business, you need multiple sources of business to keep you afloat, especially during harsh economic times. The old maxim “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” certainly applies to legal marketers. Focusing on just one marketing method is a guaranteed road to very limited success. A really good marketer will understand what “ROI” means: “Return on Investment.” That lawyer will always be looking to get the best ROI with any marketing he does. In other words, he looks to get the best bang for his buck.

Here’s my recommendations to understanding whether you’re ready to create video:

1. The workhorse is NOT ready for video. He is in the trenches each day and may not truly realize the benefits of creating attorney video to market himself and his law firm. The workhorse may not even know why lawyers would even create educational video.
2. The rainmaker IS ready for video. He is looking for ways to increase revenue to his law firm. He’s exploring different ways to see what works and what doesn’t and will look to his more-experienced colleagues for guidance. The unfortunate consequence of looking to colleagues is that this creates a ‘me-too’ marketing approach, and if it works for them, then it’ll work for me mentality. Bad idea. Don’t follow the pack.
3. The marketer IS definitely ready for video. He knows the value of creating a personal bond with his online viewer. He understands how important it is to answer viewers questions before they ever pick up the phone. He realizes that video is the best way to interact with a potential client and to show his expertise before he ever meets that person. The marketer knows that creating video is the best ROI out of any attorney advertising media currently available. He knows that the future of the internet is video. He also understands that video works for him 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, whether he’s in the office, on vacation or sleeping. This type of lawyer is ready to leverage his knowledge of the law and put it to use in creating educational video to market his law firm. This is the ideal attorney who is ready for video.

Which lawyer are you?

Which lawyer do you want to be?

In one year, do you see yourself asking these same questions and achieving the same results you’ve always achieved? Or, do you want to change and grow your business and your income? The choice, as always, is yours.

If you’ve heard me speak in front of hundreds of lawyers across the country you’ve heard me say this:

A good marketer is one who knows how to make a decision.

A great legal marketer is one who takes action on that decision.

An incredible legal marketer is one who implements that decision to take action.

Taking action is the only way to achieve results. Lawyers who sit around and debate all day lose opportunities that really smart marketers take advantage of. So…what are you waiting for? An invitation?

Ok, here’s your invitation:

You are cordially invited to take action and become the best legal marketer you can be.

Listen in to what Atlanta personal injury attorney Greg Stokes had to say after shooting video with the Lawyers Video Studio:

Come join me in the Lawyers Video Studio with the only ‘done-for-you’ video program in the country that’s run by a veteran New York medical malpractice trial lawyer. As the only experienced video producer who is also an seasoned video producer you get the benefit of learning what works using attorney video and importantly what doesn’t. If you’re ready for video, call me today for your complimentary phone conference at 516-487-8207 or by email: gerry@lawyersvideostudio.com. I look forward to speaking with you.

In this month’s ABA Law Practice journal magazine, the featured article is written by yours truly.
The theme of this month’s magazine is SMART MARKETING: IDEAS YOU CAN USE TO GET YOUR FIRM BACK IN THE GAME. Take a look and tell me what you think about the article.

Click here to read the article.

Lawyers Video Studio Newsletter-May 2010

http://lawyersvideostudio.com
Learn how really smart attorneys are using video to market themselves today. Read about two law firms who use their custom video channels to showcase and highlight their educational video messages.

Read about Frank Kern’s dumbest mistake ever. Find out why you don’t want to be a videographer and learn all the technical mumbo-jumbo.

Learn what two videos got Gerry Oginski a call from the Wall Street Journal and multiple wrongful death cases.

For more information, I encourage you to explore my blog, The Lawyers Video Studio. If you’re interested in getting onto video today I urge you to call me at 516-487-8207 or by email: Gerry@lawyersvideostudio.com. I look forward to speaking with you.

Click below to read the newsletter.

Lawyers Video Studio Newsletter-May 2010

Frank Kern, in case you didn’t know, is the biggest online information marketer anywhere. Truly. Anywhere.

He’s the man responsible for many multi-million dollar online product launches. Many of his own included. He’s the one that most other online marketers follow. He clearly sets the standard for everyone else to follow. “Why the headline, and what does this have to do with attorneys creating video?” I’m glad you asked. I’m on Frank’s email list (along with at least 400,000 other people) and I received an email from him the other day about his decision to start creating video. I’m going to post his email here because his comments speak directly to attorneys who are interested in creating their own video.

Now, at this point – I had enough money to go out
and buy a bunch of video equipment.

…So I finally quit being a moron and I went and

It was a video of the inside of my heart, and I’m very pleased to tell you that it was still inside my body when I was watching it!

I went for an echocardiogram this morning, which is a test that uses high frequency sound waves to image the heart. What I saw was nothing less than amazing. I watched my mitral valve move as blood was pumping through the different chambers of my heart. There is also a setting called color Doppler flow which analyzes the blood flow through the heart. You can actually see on the computer screen in real time what blood flow through your heart looks like. Watching the different parts of my heart beat on the monitor was absolutely fascinating.

However, don’t expect to find this video on YouTube anytime soon. You might ask “What does this have to do with creating attorney video?” If you’re a longtime follower of my blog posts you’ll know that it has everything to do with creating attorney video.

What made this video so compelling to watch? The fact that it was in real time. The fact that it was of something I never would have ordinarily been able to visualize without very expensive high-tech equipment that I clearly was not qualified to operate or interpret. The fact that I got an inside look at the inner workings of my body, beyond the standard EKG or x-ray was simply incredible. So how can you translate that into creating content for your attorney video?

Think about my comments above and what a viewer looks for when searching for an attorney online. What would make them have that “Aha” moment and say “Wow!” that was amazing. “How do I get more of that information?”

You have to be creative when deciding what content to put online. I can’t spoon feed you your content unless you sign up for my coaching program or sign up for my total online video solution where we create video for you.

I am still amazed at what I saw this morning on this video and I can’t wait to start creating new video content in the next few weeks that will incorporate today’s observations. If you have thoughts about how you can use this technique to create content, leave me a message in the comments section below; I’d love to hear it.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog post!

Gerry

__________________

“Gerry’s advice regarding Attorney Video Marketing is spot on.  You cannot afford not to listen to him.  As a pioneer, he has blazed the trail for us all.

Our firm would not trust outsourcing our legal marketing to just anyone.  It is critical that any vendors we use in marketing our law firm be owned or at least managed by an attorney as there are too many ethical pitfalls that a non-attorney marketer may fall into.”

Emery Brett Ledger, Personal Injury Attorney, Newport Beach, California
www.ledgerlaw.com

800.300.0001

___________________

About Gerry

Gerry is a veteran New York medical malpractice and personal injury trial lawyer and is the only video producer who is also a seasoned trial lawyer. He has produced and created over 250 educational videos to promote his own law firm using his New York Medical Malpractice Video Blog.

Gerry created the Lawyers’ Video Studio to help get other lawyers get onto video. Gerry offers an all-in-one, ‘we-do-it-all for you’ system where he does everything for you except appear on camera. Learn more in the Lawyers’ Video Studio.

You can reach Gerry personally at 516-487-8207 or by e-mail at Gerry@lawyersvideostudio.com. He welcomes your call.