All of the traditional forms of  attorney advertising are becoming less and less relevant today, especially since most people go online to get information;  free information.

Cisco, one of the biggest Internet companies in the world responsible for making the Internet work, predicts that within the next 3-4 years video will be the dominant source of information online. The statistics that they actually cite is that 91% of all content online by the year 2014 will be video-based. I’ve seen statistics and comments by people from Google, Yahoo and other leading Internet companies agree that the future of everything online is video-based.

Knowing this, the question is “What can you do with this information?”  If you knew that the stock market would go up or down in a particular year you would have the ability to make sound investment choices (putting aside any issue of insider market trading). Here you have better information, coming from the top Internet companies in the world. All the articles, seminars and blog posts that these companies put out, all point to the direction of video being the dominant way in which people will receive information online in the coming years. Undoubtedly, there will be some people who still rely on text to get their message out. There’s nothing wrong with that.

However, if you are still in the stone ages and keep insisting that your static website is going to convert more viewers into callers compared to lawyers who have video on their website and the video sharing sites, you are sorely mistaken. Your goal, as an attorney who is looking for new clients, would be well advised to get onto video today and tomorrow and the next day.

Video helps you create a bond with your viewer, establishes trust and shows the online world that you are friendly and approachable. Remember, people do business with people. They don’t do business with faceless corporations. It’s okay if you don’t think video is for you, but please remember my words three or four years from now. You don’t want to kick yourself for not creating the best method of communication online, in the most cost-effective manner possible.

For more information about how you can get onto video in a simple, easy and fun way, I urge you to explore my total online video solution for attorneys here.  To learn the mindset of the viewer and how to create compelling content I encourage you to join my video coaching group for lawyers here. It’s the perfect solution for attorneys who are creating video on their own as well as with a video production company.

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Most people think that in order to create good looking video, you must have a “professional” video camera that costs over $5,000 and looks like it came from a video production studio. That type of thinking is so wrong, on so many different levels. But it’s a typical expectation.

If you show up for a video shoot with little more than a rinky-dink handheld camcorder, people look at you like you’re an amateur. Guess what? They’re wrong.

Professional cameras cost anywhere from $2,500 up to $10,000. They weigh anywhere from 3 lbs to 10 lbs, which is really heavy when shooting without a tripod. B&H Photo in NYC has a great selection if you’re interested. They’ve also just built a neat little interview studio that showcases all of their pro cameras and equipment.

By contrast, most good consumer-level video cameras cameras cost anywhere from $500-$1,300, can be carried in the palm of your hand and typically weigh less than a pound.

So, does the minimal size of your equipment mean your quality suffers? The answer is no.

I use a top-of-the-line consumer-level camera made by Canon; the Vixia HF S10. It weighs nothing. My seven year old loves to play with it, thinking it’s so small and easy to use.

I used to own a professional grade Sony video camera that weighed a ton. It was a great standard digital (SD), miniDV camera and built like a rock. But I got tired of lugging it around. (It’s the camera at the top right of this page).

My Canon not only is tapeless and weighs next-to-nothing, but the quality of the HD video far surpasses what I used to own for a fraction of the price. Don’t worry about size. Instead, concern yourself with the quality.

Thanks for reading my blog and have a great day!

______________

“Gerry single handedly has changed the way attorneys are viewed by their website visitors. You see, Gerry “gets it.” He decided that instead of using online videos on his website to pitch his firms’ expertise and how he can handle your case, he decided it was better to educate his website visitors about the questions they have, prior to calling an attorney.”

Mike Acosta is a video production expert with www.HBProductionGroup.com.

______________________
ABOUT GERRY

Gerry is a New York medical malpractice and personal injury trial lawyer in practice for over 21 years. He has produced and created over 250 educational and informative videos to help consumers understand how lawsuits work in the State of New York. If you want to see how Gerry has used video to promote his own practice click here.

Gerry created the Lawyers’ Video Studio to help other lawyers get onto video. To get started with creating video to market your legal services, Gerry offers a simple and cost-effective turn-key video creation system where he does everything for you except appear on camera. To get onto video today, learn more in The Lawyers’ Video Studio.

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Seiko Analog/Digital Chronograph

My watch needed a new battery the other day. It’s a Seiko diving chronograph. Steel bracelet, multi-function display, with day/date/time/stopwatch/ alarm and count-down timer. Oh yes, did I mention it tells time both analog and digitally? It’s really cool.

Well, I decided to take it into a little jeweler’s shop on the same street as my office. I dropped the watch off, told them I needed a new battery, and I’d be back in 10 minutes.

In 10 minutes I returned. The owner told me they replaced the battery and that it would cost $20. That was a shock. In fact, it was way overpriced for a battery. I told the owner that to get a battery change cost at most $10.

Then, the owner told me that “By the way, you can’t wear this in water now.”

“What?” I asked incredulously.

“Yes, we don’t have the machine to make your watch waterproof. Therefore, you should not wear it in water,” came the reply.

I responded, “Do you know that this is a diving watch? You can wear this to a depth of 100 meters? I wear this watch when I swim. I bought this watch so I could wear it in the water, and now you’re telling me I can’t wear it in the water because you put in a new battery but don’t have a machine to make it waterproof? How can you replace a battery in a diving watch and then tell the customer they can’t wear the watch in water?”

I said that had I known they didn’t have this equipment, I never would have given my watch to them for a new battery. Besides, the cost to put in a new battery and seal the watch properly costs only $20 in Manhattan in the jewelery district. The owner didn’t believe me that it cost only $20.

“It’s true,” I said. I always bring my watches into the city to get this done. I didn’t this time, since I wasn’t planning to be in the city for another week.

The owner finally said, “We can bring it into the city to seal it, but it will cost us money to do that. We’ll work something out with you when we get it back.”

“Fine,” I replied. I needed the watch properly sealed and wanted to wear it.

A week later the watch was ready and the owner told me  it cost him $20 to get it sealed. “That’s ridiculous,” I said. $20 for the battery and $20 for the sealing? No way.

“Would you agree to split the cost for sealing the watch; only $10,” the owner implored.

I seethingly took out my $10 bill, handed over the currency, took my watch and walked out the door, never to return again.

They didn’t even set the time for me; presumably because they didn’t know how to set both the analog and digital portions of the watch.

So what does this $10 story have to do with your legal practice and creating video? I’m glad you asked.

You charge fees. Either you have a flat fee, hourly fee or contingency fee. Create a video that clearly sets out the basis for your fee and how you calculate it. Doing so will educate a viewer about what you charge so there will never be any misunderstandings about your expectations and your client’s requirement to pay.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog!

___________________

“Video blogging is something we all should be doing, yours truly included. If I had to name one of the top experts in using video on a blog, Gerry Oginski would be my go-to guy. In fact Gerry is a great example of how a professional service provider can use video to get their message out and how it can be used to provide information to their audience. I just wish I could get Gerry to be a regular contributor to Blog For Profit.”

Grant Griffiths

Founder, BlogForProfit.com and HeadwayThemes.com

______________________

Gerry is a New York medical malpractice and personal injury trial lawyer in practice for over 21 years. He has produced and created over 200 educational and informative videos to help consumers understand how lawsuits work in the State of New York. If you want to see how Gerry has used video to promote his own practice click here.

Gerry created the Lawyers’ Video Studio to help lawyers get onto video. To get started with creating video to market your legal services, Gerry offers a simple and cost-effective turn-key video creation system where he does everything for you except appear on camera, click here to learn more.

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Mary Cary, founder of Video Blog Marketing in San Francisco, California had this to say about me and The Lawyers’ Video Studio:

“We are huge fans of Gerry Oginski at VideoBlogMarketing.com and here are the top three reasons why:

3. Gerry’s professional and natural presence on video – Gerry is real and you can feel his pure enthusiasm,

2.  Gerry is coaching attorney’s to move into this decade!  No offense attorneys, but sometimes you are a bit behind the times when it comes to your Internet presence – listen to Gerry, he knows what’s up,

and the #1 Reason Video Blog Marketing is a huge Fan of Gerry Oginski:

1. He sends inspiring and fun emails keeping us informed that bring a splash of joy to our day.  Thank you Gerry from Me, Mary Cary at Video Blog Marketing in San Francisco!

Keep up the great work Gerry!”

It’s always nice when someone gives a written testimonial. It’s even nicer when someone takes the time to create a video testimonial. Thank you Mary!

Mary Cary
VideoBlogMarketing.com | (415) 690.7112
Website / Blog Design | Internet Marketing | Video Production

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You missed my online webinar about the importance for attorneys to market themselves with online web video. That’s ok. You’re going to have another opportunity to listen in; once I get the mp3 recording, I’ll be posting that to The Lawyers’ Video Studio.

In addition, in today’s video and in a series of highlights from the webinar, you can listen in and actually see me giving my webinar presentation. I invite you to join me, for less than two minutes, to see how I started off.

By the way, you’ll see in the video that I’m wearing a telephone headset while giving the seminar, and I also have a wireless lavalier microphone that the video is picking up. Stay tuned for more.

By the way, one thing I ask. If you find that the material I post is useful and helpful, let me know either by a comment on the post, or even better, in the form of a testimonial. When you send me a testimonial I will include your name, contact info, photo and website, which gives you a back link to your website.

Thanks for taking time to read my blog!

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THE 10 COMMANDMENTS OF LAWYER VIDEO

1. Thou shall not disparage another lawyer in your video
2. Thou shall not puff yourself up
3. Thou shall not criticize another lawyer
4. Thou shall not compare yourself, by name, to any other lawyer or law firm
5. Thou shall not talk about yourself
6. Thou shall not make any guarantees that you cannot keep
7. Thou shall not be a salesman
8. Thou shall not use slogans
9. Thou shall make educational video
10. Thou shall learn how to answer your viewers’ questions

No, I’m not Moses, and no, these commandments are not written in stone (but that would be really cool if they were). These are guidelines to follow if you are serious about creating attorney video. Some of these rules are common sense. Some are embodied in ethics rules that each of us must follow in our own state.

I reviewed an attorney video about a year ago for a feature called “YouLaw” which is a column I write for Technolawyer blog. In the video was a trial attorney from the mid-west who had a very good educational video- for most of it anyway. He was explaining in his video how aggressive he was in taking cases to trial. So far so good. Then he did something horrible. He compared his firm to his competitor- BY NAME- and claimed that unlike THAT PARTICULAR law firm, he takes cases to trial. The other firm (specifically giving their name) takes them solely to settle cases before they ever get to trial.

Whether the claim is true or not is besides the point. He has now subjected himself and his law firm to possible claims of libel and slander by this other attorney in his town. He could have accomplished the same thing without mentioning the name of the other law firm. Bad move on his part. His video was immediately taken down after my review came out.

Next: Stop talking about yourself. Yes, you read that correctly. Viewers who are watching videos looking for an attorney don’t want to hear about YOU. They don’t care about you. They care about themselves. Stop wasting your time and money talking about you.

Stop selling your services. There’s nothing worse than walking into a store and the salesman hovers over you trying to sell you something the moment you move left or right. (I sometimes like to play around with them, especially in a jewelry store, where I move left, then shift to my right, and the salesperson follows my every move, hoping to make a sale). Aghhh! Stop selling yourself and start educating me, your consumer. By educating me, you become the expert and not the slick salesman. Re-read this paragraph again and commit it to memory.

GUARANTEE:

I guarantee that if you follow these 10 commandments, you will create video that is better than 99% of the nonsense that is currently online. (You see, I can make that guarantee because I know it’s true). Most lawyer video is not educational and does not help a viewer distinguish one lawyer from another. Follow these rules and you’ll be on your way to creating great educational video.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Have a great day!
______________________
Gerry is a New York medical malpractice and personal injury trial lawyer in practice for over 21 years. He has produced and created over 200 educational and informative videos to help consumers understand how lawsuits work in the State of New York. If you want to see how Gerry has used video to promote his own practice click here.

Gerry created the Lawyers’ Video Studio to help lawyers get onto video. To get started with creating video to market your legal services, Gerry offers a simple and cost-effective turn-key video creation system where he does everything for you except appear on camera, click here to learn more.

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WARNING

1. You don’t know why you should create video.
2. Nobody would want to watch you anyway (except your family).
3. You’re lazy.
4. You like the # of calls you’re getting from the yellow pages.
5. You have no desire to market yourself on the internet.
6. It’s beneath you to talk about what you do in public.
7. You don’t look good, and have a radio face.
8. You don’t sound good and would rather pay ‘talent’ to appear for you.

This list is for those attorneys who fail to take action when presented with the opportunity to dominate their area of law.

Let’s face it; the yellow pages are dying and lawyer directories don’t distinguish you from any other lawyer. TV, radio and display ads are expensive. You created a website to tell the world what you do, hoping that somehow, someone looking for a lawyer online will find your website and despite compelling odds, choose to call you instead of your competitor down the street. You don’t update your website often. You don’t write a blog. Nor do you give your viewer a compelling reason to call you.

At this point, you might as well give up now and continue to complain to friends and colleagues about how bad your law business is in this economy. This mindset reminds me of a character in the book “Our Iceberg is Melting” by John Kotter. The character is a penguin (all the characters are penguins) who is always pessimistic and they call him “No-no.” Why? Because every suggestion, even good ones, are turned away by “No-no.” Nothing is ever good enough to warrant a “Yes” from him.

Why does your yellow pages ad stink? Because it’s just like all the others.

Why doesn’t your offline advertising bring in business? Because as marketing guru Mark Stevens says “Your advertising sucks.”

Nothing’s working for you. Business is way down and you don’t know how video can improve your marketing. To you, video looks like a waste of time and money. For the pessimist it will be. However, if you have a positive outlook and a good mindset, then creating video can dramatically improve your ability to effectively and ethically market your law practice.

Video allows a viewer to hear you; see you and begin to trust you. Now here’s my warning:

If you really look like a schlump, dress poorly and are not confident, then DO NOT create video. If your prospective clients are afraid to meet you because of your looks or inability to converse and interact with them, you might want to consider being an attorney who has limited contact with clients and focus your strengths on the law. Leave the marketing to someone more dynamic in your firm or hire talent to appear on camera for you.

Will you start creating video to market your law practice? Only you can answer that question. If you are eager to get onto video, I can help. Take a look at my turn-key system where I do everything for you. Also, take a look at some of the well-known lawyers who have taken the time to write testimonials. It’s truly eye-opening.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Have a great day!

______________________

Gerry is a New York medical malpractice and personal injury trial lawyer in practice for over 21 years. He has produced and created over 200 educational and informative videos to help consumers understand how lawsuits work in the State of New York. If you want to see how Gerry has used video to promote his own practice click here.

Gerry created the Lawyers’ Video Studio to help lawyers get onto video. To get started with creating video to market your legal services, Gerry offers a simple and cost-effective turn-key video creation system where he does everything for you except appear on camera, click here to learn more.

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

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Ever hear of Grant Griffiths? If you blog at all, you should know him. He’s the founder of BlogForProfit.com and he’s also known as the “BlawgFather” of blogging. He created an incredible 31 day (FREE) program called 31 Days To Kick Your Blog in the Butt. In this video you’ll learn the reasoning behind his 31 day program.

I had the chance to speak to Grant for a few minutes after I presented a lecture to a great group of lawyers at MILOfest (Macs in Law Office group). Grant was presenting a lecture about the importance of blogging, and my lecture was on the importance of attorneys creating video.

If you’re unfamiliar with Grant, you should know that he, together with his son, have created an incredible Wordpress theme called Headway which allows you to make changes to your blog instantly without knowing any code at all. Check out Headwaythemes.com for yourself. I personally use it on my blog, lawyersvideostudio.com and encourage you to see for yourself how I use it.

Gerry Oginski, Esq.
Lawyers Video Studio
Great Neck, NY
516-487-8207

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