http://lawyersvideostudio.com

In this video I give a “State of Affairs” commentary about online attorney marketing from 2009. In the next series of Fireside chats you’ll see more commentary about how attorneys need to engage their viewers more and leave behind the old ways of ‘marketing’ themselves with traditional forms of advertising.

Watch the video to learn more.

Best regards,

Gerry

The Lawyers’ Video Studio
“A great place to learn how to create and improve your attorney video.”
25 Great Neck Rd., Ste. 4
Great Neck, NY 11021
516-487-8207
Gerry@lawyersvideostudio.com

http://lawyersvideostudio.com

In this video I give a “State of Affairs” commentary about online attorney marketing from 2009. In the next series of Fireside chats you’ll see more commentary about how attorneys need to engage their viewers more and leave behind the old ways of ‘marketing’ themselves with traditional forms of advertising.

Watch the video to learn more.

Best regards,

Gerry

The Lawyers’ Video Studio
“A great place to learn how to create and improve your attorney video.”
25 Great Neck Rd., Ste. 4
Great Neck, NY 11021
516-487-8207
Gerry@lawyersvideostudio.com

You can do it for Google search. You can also do it for video as well. The question is: Should you?

Lawyers who use pay-per-click are literally paying rent to be on the right-side of Google search results, or at the top of the page with the yellow background. Many of these firms are nowhere to be found in the organic search results. What does that mean? If you stop paying rent, nobody will find your website.

The same is now true for your videos.

YouTube has created a program that allows you to appear at the top and on the right side of the search results in a YouTube search, for a fee, of course. Pay-per-click for video. Guess what? Stop paying rent and try to find your video. If you can’t, your videos will not be watched.

More importantly, you need to ask why your videos are not being indexed and ranking highly in YouTube’s organic search results. If you’re not coming up in the organic search results, you have a big problem. You need help. I have the solution.

Take a look at my turn-key system to get you on video. Create video; have it uploaded; optimized for the search engines; blogged about; put on my own blog; and tell the world about it using my social network and yours as well. Our video incentive program is the best value for your money. Anywhere.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog!

______________________

“Whether trying to learn valuable tips on how to shoot online video for yourself or knowing what to ask an online video company, Gerry Oginski and The Lawyers’ Video Studio has quickly become the hub for information about online videos for the legal profession.  Online video is the future of law firm marketing and Gerry has more knowledge about that area than any other person.  Gerry has become a leading expert about online videos for attorneys and his information has encouraged our firm to increase our use of online video and make it the priority for our marketing and advertising campaign.”

Damon T. Duncan, Esq., Duncan Law, PLLC  628 Green Valley Rd., Suite 304, Greensboro, NC 27408 t:336.856.1234

DamonDuncan@DuncanLawOnline.com

http://www.DuncanLawOnline.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.

Want to jump onto video but don’t know where to start?

You need to read this book, written by my good friend Tom Foster of Fosterwebmarketing.com and myself, to get you motivated. You’ll learn tons of useful information about why video is so important to market your practice and why it’s the future of the internet.

The book is in and now available at Amazon.com for $16.95. (Don’t worry that it says out of stock. It’s here.)

Here’s the link:
How Really Smart Lawyers are Using Video on the Web (to Get More Cases)

It’s a great investment and an even better read!

You’ve made the choice to jump right into video to market your legal services. The move is a good one. It will help you distinguish yourself from everyone else. Here now, never before released, is my definitive guide to video marketing for lawyers.

9 BENEFITS TO USING VIDEO:

1. Viewers get to see you
2. Viewers get to hear you
3. Viewers get to know you
4. Viewers begin to trust you before they ever walk in your door
5. You become the wise man at the top of the mountain
6. You are viewed as the legal expert
7. You are giving away information in order to gain an audience
8. Viewers see that you are a real human being
9. The image of a grumpy stuffy lawyer dissipates when a viewer sees you on video

CREATE AN EDUCATIONAL MESSAGE

What do I mean?

Do not use online video the same way lawyers have used TV commercials since 1973. A 30 second commercial on YouTube does nothing to help you get new clients in your door. The same is true for 60 second commercials too. Take advantage of the unlimited capacity for as much video as you can create. (There are some important caveats you need to know. More on that later.)

TIP #1: EXPLAIN

Explain the last case you successfully handled for a client. Tell your viewer why your client came into your office. Explain the legal issue in layman’s terms; tell the viewer what you did to help your client solve their legal problem. Then, and here’s the million dollar tip, explain to your viewer that if they have a similar problem, they should call you for more information.

TIP #2: GIVE IT AWAY FOR FREE

Give the information away. It’s free anyway (for most consumer-level attorney specialties). If you are a personal injury attorney, or workers compensation attorney or divorce attorney, explain how things work. Your potential clients will get this information from you when they come into your office anyway. Why not give it away and allow your viewer to become a better informed and educated consumer of  legal services? The internet is the ideal place to give away your information. The more you give, the more calls you should get. (There’s a lot of psychology involved in that reasoning that I will not go into here.)

TIP #3: BE CONCISE

When creating video, do not expect a viewer to watch you ramble endlessly. You must make your video long enough but also short enough. (How’s that for a double-sided lawyerly answer?) You want to be concise, but you do not want a short commercial. You want to explain, but you don’t want your viewer to lose attention and go elsewhere. What’s the ideal length for a relevant video? Approximately 2-3 minutes. Yes, there are always exceptions, just as in law. Some will be shorter; some will be longer.

TIP #4: NO WEBCAMS NEED APPLY

“Can I use my webcam or little flip video camera to make these educational videos?” You could. But then you’d be wasting your time wondering why not many people are watching your videos. Your webcam is great for a quick hello to a friend or relative. The video quality is generally poor, as is the audio quality. The new generation of flip video cameras are great little hi-def video tools that were unheard of five years ago. The major drawback is that they do not work well in low-light situations and none of them have the ability to use an external microphone, which is an absolute must when creating quality video to post online.

TIP #5: CHOICES

You have two options to create attorney video:

(1) Do it yourself, or (2) Hire an experienced video company to do it for you.

If you are a do-it-yourselfer, like me, you need tons of time and dedication to creating strategy, lighting, audio, video, calibrating your equipment, shooting video of you- yourself, uploading the video footage to the computer, learning how to edit, insert transitions between scenes, correct color, add stereo sound, add graphics, add intro and exit music along with any background music, shoot b-roll footage to insert into video, render the video to a quicktime or flash file, then compress that file to make it compatible to upload online. Then, you have to upload the edited video to video sharing sites, put it on your blog and website, and there’s more! You now have to optimize the text so that your videos will be found in the search engines. You must give the videos ‘tags’ and ‘keywords’ for the search engines. But there’s still more to do! Then you have to let the world know about what you’ve just created.

How? Simple. Use all of your available social media to do that. “Ugh,” you think. “All that, just for one video?” That’s right…if you want to do it properly. You’ve got to Tweet about it. You’ve got to put your video on Facebook and MySpace. You’ve got to tell your friends, relatives and acquaintances about it. “Is that all?” No. There’s more! (I feel like this is an infomercial where they say, “Wait…there’s more! For only $12.95 you get…”)

Then it’s time to start your next video…and the cycle continues. If you do not have the time or desire to learn the technical details of creating, editing and uploading your video, I strongly recommend that you skip option #1 and to directly to option #2: Hire a reputable video company to create your videos for you.

What should you look for when deciding to hire a video production company?

1. A firm with experience producing attorney videos. Do not use a video company that just finished a wedding shoot that weekend. I would also hesitate using those video companies that create video depositions. Why? Because they usually do not have experience knowing what an online viewer looking for an attorney wants in an attorney video.
2. Ask whether the video producer is a lawyer. Why is that important? A practicing lawyer has a pretty good insight into what consumers need to see, or want to see in an attorney video. A lawyer brings a particular type of experience when creating attorney video; especially an attorney video producer who has created hundreds of educational videos for use in their own marketing of their legal services.

___________________

Susan Cartier Liebel, creator of Solo Practice University says, “Gerry has the aptitude and technical savvy to create compelling, engaging and highly-professional videos to get potential clients to pick up the phone. Educational marketing through video is the future. Gerry is your teacher.”

Susan Cartier Liebel, Esq., Creator of Solo Practice University

Solopracticeuniversity.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.

You’ve made the choice to jump right into video to market your legal services. The move is a good one. It will help you distinguish yourself from everyone else. Here now, never before released, is my definitive guide to video marketing for lawyers.

9 BENEFITS TO USING VIDEO:

1. Viewers get to see you
2. Viewers get to hear you
3. Viewers get to know you
4. Viewers begin to trust you before they ever walk in your door
5. You become the wise man at the top of the mountain
6. You are viewed as the legal expert
7. You are giving away information in order to gain an audience
8. Viewers see that you are a real human being
9. The image of a grumpy stuffy lawyer dissipates when a viewer sees you on video

CREATE AN EDUCATIONAL MESSAGE

What do I mean?

Do not use online video the same way lawyers have used TV commercials since 1973. A 30 second commercial on YouTube does nothing to help you get new clients in your door. The same is true for 60 second commercials too. Take advantage of the unlimited capacity for as much video as you can create. (There are some important caveats you need to know. More on that later.)

TIP #1: EXPLAIN

Explain the last case you successfully handled for a client. Tell your viewer why your client came into your office. Explain the legal issue in layman’s terms; tell the viewer what you did to help your client solve their legal problem. Then, and here’s the million dollar tip, explain to your viewer that if they have a similar problem, they should call you for more information.

TIP #2: GIVE IT AWAY FOR FREE

Give the information away. It’s free anyway (for most consumer-level attorney specialties). If you are a personal injury attorney, or workers compensation attorney or divorce attorney, explain how things work. Your potential clients will get this information from you when they come into your office anyway. Why not give it away and allow your viewer to become a better informed and educated consumer of  legal services? The internet is the ideal place to give away your information. The more you give, the more calls you should get. (There’s a lot of psychology involved in that reasoning that I will not go into here.)

TIP #3: BE CONCISE

When creating video, do not expect a viewer to watch you ramble endlessly. You must make your video long enough but also short enough. (How’s that for a double-sided lawyerly answer?) You want to be concise, but you do not want a short commercial. You want to explain, but you don’t want your viewer to lose attention and go elsewhere. What’s the ideal length for a relevant video? Approximately 2-3 minutes. Yes, there are always exceptions, just as in law. Some will be shorter; some will be longer.

TIP #4: NO WEBCAMS NEED APPLY

“Can I use my webcam or little flip video camera to make these educational videos?” You could. But then you’d be wasting your time wondering why not many people are watching your videos. Your webcam is great for a quick hello to a friend or relative. The video quality is generally poor, as is the audio quality. The new generation of flip video cameras are great little hi-def video tools that were unheard of five years ago. The major drawback is that they do not work well in low-light situations and none of them have the ability to use an external microphone, which is an absolute must when creating quality video to post online.

TIP #5: CHOICES

You have two options to create attorney video:

(1) Do it yourself, or (2) Hire an experienced video company to do it for you.

If you are a do-it-yourselfer, like me, you need tons of time and dedication to creating strategy, lighting, audio, video, calibrating your equipment, shooting video of you- yourself, uploading the video footage to the computer, learning how to edit, insert transitions between scenes, correct color, add stereo sound, add graphics, add intro and exit music along with any background music, shoot b-roll footage to insert into video, render the video to a quicktime or flash file, then compress that file to make it compatible to upload online. Then, you have to upload the edited video to video sharing sites, put it on your blog and website, and there’s more! You now have to optimize the text so that your videos will be found in the search engines. You must give the videos ‘tags’ and ‘keywords’ for the search engines. But there’s still more to do! Then you have to let the world know about what you’ve just created.

How? Simple. Use all of your available social media to do that. “Ugh,” you think. “All that, just for one video?” That’s right…if you want to do it properly. You’ve got to Tweet about it. You’ve got to put your video on Facebook and MySpace. You’ve got to tell your friends, relatives and acquaintances about it. “Is that all?” No. There’s more! (I feel like this is an infomercial where they say, “Wait…there’s more! For only $12.95 you get…”)

Then it’s time to start your next video…and the cycle continues. If you do not have the time or desire to learn the technical details of creating, editing and uploading your video, I strongly recommend that you skip option #1 and to directly to option #2: Hire a reputable video company to create your videos for you.

What should you look for when deciding to hire a video production company?

1. A firm with experience producing attorney videos. Do not use a video company that just finished a wedding shoot that weekend. I would also hesitate using those video companies that create video depositions. Why? Because they usually do not have experience knowing what an online viewer looking for an attorney wants in an attorney video.
2. Ask whether the video producer is a lawyer. Why is that important? A practicing lawyer has a pretty good insight into what consumers need to see, or want to see in an attorney video. A lawyer brings a particular type of experience when creating attorney video; especially an attorney video producer who has created hundreds of educational videos for use in their own marketing of their legal services.

___________________

Susan Cartier Liebel, creator of Solo Practice University says, “Gerry has the aptitude and technical savvy to create compelling, engaging and highly-professional videos to get potential clients to pick up the phone. Educational marketing through video is the future. Gerry is your teacher.”

Susan Cartier Liebel, Esq., Creator of Solo Practice University

Solopracticeuniversity.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.

http://lawyersvideostudio.com

Why is creating lawyer video to market your practice so complicated? Can’t you simply press the ‘record’ button upload your video to YouTube? You could, but you don’t want to.

Watch the video to learn why you have two choices as an attorney if you are interested in creating video. You can either learn how to do it yourself, or you need to hire an experienced video production company to get you onto video with a turn-Key system.

To learn more about how video can help improve your legal marketing message, I encourage you to explore my website. If you have questions about creating attorney video, I urge you to pick up the phone and call me. You can reach me at 516-487-8207 or by e-mail at Gerry@lawyersvideostudio.com. I welcome your call.

The answer: No.

If I am a client, that would not be a very satisfying answer no matter what legal issue or problem I had. Obviously, no lawyer can guarantee a particular outcome even with a good case. But think about how an online viewer searching for an attorney would love to hear about guarantees that you can make to reassure them that you are confident and capable of guiding them through the legal minefield known as litigation.

Can you guarantee that you will do everything possible to achieve a successful result?
Can you guarantee that you will leave no stone unturned in doing legal research to put forth your best legal position when arguing your claim?
Can you guarantee that you will respond to your client within 24 hours of their e-mail or phone call?
Can you guarantee that you will know what is going on with your client’s case at any time, whenever they call?

Ethically, an attorney can never guarantee that they can achieve a particular result for their client. However, there are other guarantees that you can make to your client that will provide them with comfort and reassurance that you know what you are doing.

How can you use video to present those guarantees? Simple.

Come right out and tell your viewer, in plain English what you can and cannot guarantee. I would tell a viewer:

“By law, I cannot guarantee a particular outcome for your case. This is true whether I give 110% effort on your case or 75%. Even with an excellent case, there is no guarantee that we will win your case. What can I guarantee? I guarantee that when you call my office, I don’t have to go to a file cabinet to know what happened last on your case. I can guarantee that when you call, my secretary will not ask you ‘How do you spell your name’?”

“I can guarantee that I will respond to your e-mails and phone calls within 24 hours, unless of course I am on trial with another legal matter. I can guarantee that you are not simply a file number in this office, but someone who deserves the respect that you are entitled to. I can guarantee that if I do not know the answer to your question, I will make every effort to obtain the most accurate, up-to-date answer in the shortest time period possible.”

What do you think? You think that these guarantees will help a potential client looking for an attorney online distinguish me from every other lawyer out there? Do you believe that these guarantees are ethical and responsible statements? As always, before creating any “guarantee” make sure your statements conform to your state’s ethical rules and regulations. No hype, no puffery, and certainly, nothing untruthful. If I were you, I would come right out and say what you cannot say, to give viewers an understanding of what you are technically not permitted to say. Then I would go ahead and discuss those things that I am able to talk about.

Video creates a compelling way for you to establish your credibility, and “guaranteeing” something that you can control simply improves your credibility.

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.

WARNING: This list is not for the thin-skinned or faint-hearted lawyer.

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.

In order to find a web video company to produce your lawyer video you typically have to do an extensive Google search or click on one of the banner ads that these companies use to promote their services.

I decided instead to post a comprehensive list of web video companies, as a resource, for lawyers to use. In the near future I may post reviews of each of these video production companies, but for right now, here’s a list- in no particular order. By the way, before deciding to call any of these companies, I strongly encourage you to read my article “9 Questions You Must Ask Before Choosing a Video Production Company.”

• Fairfax Video Studio, Tom Foster at FosterWebMarketing is the go-to guy here. 1.703.928.8257
• Scorpion Design, 866-332-3230
• Consultwebs, Dale Tincher is the face behind this website company. 1-800-872-6590
• Intelligent Video Solutions, (914) 925-3688
• iLawyerMarketing.com, 1-800-753-6997
• Cepac, 212-759-1126
• FacesMedia, 866.839.3577
• Indigo Productions, 212-765-5224
• Online Video Concepts, 312-953-3826
• Media Edits, 1-631-287-3362
• Einstein Law, 866-689-9921
• FindLaw, 866.443.4635
• eLawMarketing, 718-793-7168
• HB Production Group, 877-789-9163

Ok- if you know of others that are worth your time and money, send me an email and I’ll include them here as well.

Oh yes, I should have also included a plug for my own video production company, The Lawyers’ Video Studio, 516-487-8207.

Where else have you seen another lawyer helping fellow lawyers get onto video? Where else have you seen an experienced trial lawyer with over 200 educational videos for his own law practice, create, produce and upload videos for other lawyers? Where else have you seen an experienced video producer who is also a seasoned trial lawyer? Where else have you seen a web video company create a simple turn-key video production system to get you on video, where all you have to do is show up? Where else can you find a video production company that creates, produces and uploads your videos, optimizes them, blogs about them, tweets about them and posts them on their own blog? Right here. (If you know of someone else who does all those things, please let me know! I’d love to meet him or her.)

When choosing your web video production company, choose wisely. It’s your marketing dollars hard at work. Make your dollars work for you.

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.