Pool in St. Maarten overlooking the ocean

I have the privilege of speaking to many lawyers across the country each week. I always ask them this question.

“What EXACTLY Would You Like Your Income To Be?”

99% of them can’t give me a coherent answer. Instead, they give me excuses. The most common is the economy. They give me excuses about why they are not achieving their lofty goals.

When I steer them back to the question about what exactly they want their income to be, they simply have no idea. The majority of attorneys have not given this any thought. It is not sufficient, from a marketing standpoint, to simply say “I want to make a lot of money.” Instead, you have to have a specific exact number in mind that you write down on paper.

Some lawyers feel that this is simply an exercise in fantasy. Others exclaim “This is stupid.” However, I disagree.

Instead, visualizing exactly where you want to be at the end of this year is crucial in order for you to make strides in your businesses that will get you there. If you have a vague and nonspecific goal of “Making a large sum of money,” then your ability to get to that ideal goal will get lost and, most likely, never reached.

To be honest, it makes no difference what you believe or desire your income to be. Whether it’s $10,000 more than you are currently earning or $1 million more. The fact is that you must identify exactly how much you want your income to be. You must then measure where you have come from in order to properly measure your success.

If you don’t know what you would like your income to be, how will you ever know whether you have achieved that level of success that you desire? Without setting a realistic goal you are shortchanging yourself, your law firm and your family from ever realizing that possibility.

Once you have written down exactly what you want your income to be, you must identify exactly how you intend to get there. If you do not formulate a written plan, you again risk the real possibility of never reaching your ideals.

So go grab a pen and paper right now and put down exactly what you would like your income to be.

What is Ischemia?

It was a great video. It asked an important question. I provided a great answer.

I was so excited since I had just created this video with my new video camera. I was very impressed with the video quality. I shot a series of videos in 45 minutes. I popped out the memory card and headed over to my office where I had a full day of phone conferences scheduled back to back.

In between my phone conferences, I edited my video and added graphics. I added intro music and exit music. It took all afternoon since I was only able to dedicate a few minutes between each call to doing this. Before finally processing the video, I always play back the video make sure everything is correct. Then I got on my next conference call.

Then I went to render the video into a QuickTime movie file. I was distracted by another phone call while doing this. I went ahead and clicked the ‘okay’ button to begin the process and then devoted my full attention to my caller.

Once the video was rendered into a QuickTime file, I always check to see how big it is and then must compress it. Once that is done I always play it back to insure that I have good quality video and audio. The problem is that I was multitasking. I did go ahead and play back the video but was concentrating on the next call without realizing that I had a significant problem.

Later on in the evening I went ahead and uploaded my video. It wasn’t until later that night when I went onto YouTube to check it did I realize my serious mistake.

I thought I lost my hearing. Then I thought it was a problem with the speakers on my computer. I put in headphones and thought my headphones were not working. Then I rebooted my computer to see if that was the problem. Then I played another video on YouTube that worked perfectly.

I had never done this before. I created a video and uploaded online without sound.

Unless you read lips, it would be extremely difficult to get any benefit from this particular video. I immediately deleted it from my account and vowed to find out what I did wrong the next morning.

Playing the video back to my computer I realized I processed the video without any sound at all. What a ridiculous mistake that was. I saw immediately what I did wrong. I forgot to click the ‘sound’ button. I fixed the problem, processed the video and have now uploaded it to YouTube.

You can watch the video below.

Have you ever done something similar? If so, let me know in the comments below.

Sea Shells- St. Maarten

That’s exactly what a really smart and savvy marketing guy said to me at a mastermind seminar. I almost took offense, but realized that he had no idea what I do and how I do it.

During our mastermind session, each participant was in the hot seat and they needed to explain to the group what they did and what challenges they were facing in their business. In the span of two minutes, I explained that I am the only trial attorney in the country who helps other lawyers create online video to market their practices.

This business owner did not understand what was different about what I do compared to any other video production company. He made the statement “Guys like you are dime a dozen.” It was a tough love comment given constructively.

My reply:

The first thing I pointed out was that we are not a video production company. We are a video marketing company.

He believed that any video company can hire a video crew, shoot video, edit it and then post it online. That statement is true. However, there are no other trial lawyers who help fellow lawyers create a video marketing program to market their businesses.

He still didn’t understand the benefit of having a trial lawyer as your video producer, video coach and video guide.

I asked him to envision himself as a lawyer who was searching for clients online. I asked him whether a film student or a typical run-of-the-mill video production company would know my ideal client was and how to create compelling content for that viewer. I asked him whether the film student would know what the ethical rules are about what an attorney could and could not say. I also asked him whether a video company that simply sends out a camera crew would be able to help the attorney create content that was compelling, got viewers interested, and made them recognize that this lawyer has information that they want and need.

I explained that most video companies simply ask a set of standardized questions and give very little guidance to the attorney regarding what to talk about. I explained that in my program, our initial mastermind session is the most critical component of the entire video marketing strategy. During that one hour phone call I reveal tips, strategies and tactics that are proven to work and are immediately able to be used with all other forms of online and off-line marketing.

You can hire lots of video production guys. Guys who really know their video equipment. Guys who understand production and lighting. Guys who know audio and editing. That’s the dime-a-dozen catchphrase that you can lump those ‘guys’ into. However, there’s no other attorney colleague who has personally used these tactics and strategies to grow his business dramatically who actually helps other lawyers do the same. There’s a huge difference.

Want to learn more about how video can help you dominate your online marketplace? If so, come join me on this Free webinar I created to teach you why you need to be on video today.

Just sign up here and pick a date and time that’s convenient for you. I look forward to seeing you on the webinar!

JVC-GY-HM150U

Last year I created a blog post for my holiday wish list, hoping that my wife saw it, read it and surprised me. She didn’t read it, she didn’t surprise me, and I’m no worse for the wear because of it.

That Wish list was for a JVC professional video camera that allowed you to simply drag and drop QuickTime movie files right into Final Cut.

Had I bought it, I’m sure it would’ve been a wonderful addition to the cameras I use both professionally and personally. Over the last few weeks I have been shooting a lot of professional video and have spent a good deal of time figuring out whether I need to upgrade my equipment.

My conclusion is that I still want a $3000 video camera. This year, technology has improved greatly, the size of the camera has decreased significantly and instead of the JVC professional camera from last year, my sights are lined on a professional Canon video camera.

Canon XF105

So here again is my wish list for my wife to read and hopefully, to surprise me. In all reality, she will never read this blog post, and despite pining for this incredible new camera, I will be no worse for the wear, using great video equipment already in my  backpack.

I have always said that it is not the size of your [video] equipment that matters (notice the tongue in cheek reference), rather it’s how you use that equipment. In addition, it is often not the camera that creates a great  video. Rather, as my good friend Dave Kaminski likes to say, it is what you do with the video footage and the recipe that you use to cook your videos that allows you to get great crystal-clear video onto the web.

Sign at the Dead Sea, Israel. Pay attention to #2. No jumping.

I had an hour to myself last Friday and decided I would shoot some educational video in my office. I set up my equipment and changed into a blue button-down shirt with a dark tie. I set my white balance on my camera, checked the frame to make sure I was in good position. I checked lighting and of course I checked audio.

This all took place within a span of 15 minutes. Of course certain adjustments need to be made like repositioning the lights, closing shades and moving the camera angle so you did not see reflection in my eyeglasses.

I then proceeded to press record and start talking. After I was done with my first video, I played it back and everything sounded wonderful through the tiny little speaker that is on my camera. I then shot another video clip, then another and another. I wound up with about five or six video clips during the 50 minutes I was shooting video.

Over the weekend, I decided to start editing those videos and as soon as I uploaded them to my computer and put them into my video editing software, I knew I had wasted my time. From the moment I pressed play I knew I’d made a huge mistake and didn’t even realize it until that moment.

This was very frustrating especially since everything else was just perfect. The lighting conditions were great, the weather was perfect, my office was beautifully clean and immaculate. My content was right on target and my delivery was pretty good considering there have been days I could barely cobble two sentences together (bloopers) and other days when things come out beautifully.

What was the problem?

The air conditioner. More specifically, the hum the air conditioner created.

You see, in my office building the air conditioners are still running. You and I tune out every-day sounds around us, otherwise we would never be able to get any work done. It is insignificant, or so I thought. However, my wireless microphone didn’t. My microphone was so sensitive that it picked up the low frequencies of the air conditioner and you can clearly hear it on the soundtrack throughout each of my video clips.

In an effort to try and clean up the audio I needed to play around with the audio filters in my editing software. The only problem is that there are 40 different sound filters available including a “hum filter,”  “a low-frequency pass filter,” “a high shelf filter,” and tons of equalizers and enough audio gobbledygook to envelop you in techno geek hell.

I spent just under an hour shooting my video, and will tell you that I spent two hours cleaning up just the audio. This was an incredibly frustrating day. Although I was able to tweak the audio to the point where it was acceptable, it clearly was not one of my better videos. Will anyone notice? Someone with a good ear definitely will.

Next time I’m going to make sure the air conditioner is OFF!

Gerry Oginski, Video Producer & Director

The real question to ask is, “How many medical malpractice trial attorneys help other lawyers use video to market themselves online?” The answer is: Only one.

Why do you care? You should care and here’s why.

When you choose a video production company to create your educational video they are supposed to help produce your videos, teach you how to deliver your message and most importantly help you create content that will compel viewers to pick up the phone and call.

How does your video producer know who your ideal client is? Do they know what conversations are going on in your potential clients minds? How do they know why an online viewer is searching for an attorney like you? I’ve said this many times before. There many good web design companies that create attorney video. From a technical standpoint, the video quality they create is good. However, not one of them has a trial attorney as their video producer.

Why does that matter? It matters if you want to create content that your viewers want to watch. It matters if you want someone who has experience not only creating video for other lawyers, but has created hundreds and hundreds of their own videos to market their own law practice. It matters if you want someone who understands what works, and importantly what doesn’t.

If you had a pressing legal problem would you want a junior associate who was just out of law school handling your case? Or, would you want the senior trial attorney with 25 years of legal experience in the courtroom handling your case?

Both of those people went to law school. Both of those people are in the legal field. Yet having a lot of experience in a specific niche often makes a big difference. When you need surgery, you don’t go to a doctor-in-training who is still doing a residency. Instead, you go to a surgeon who has done this procedure thousands of times before. If you need surgery, you don’t go to a journalist who has written about surgery. Instead, you go to the person was actually done it and has written about it in peer-reviewed journals and books and has presented lectures and seminars to other doctors throughout the country.

Here is a great example of how I was able to help a really smart attorney create video during his recent video shoot in the Lawyers Video Studio. He came to the video shoot having all his material prepared in the form of PowerPoint slides. He was going to use that content as outlines. When I arrived to set up the video equipment, he told me that all of his PowerPoint presentations were  no longer accessible on his laptop, and he had no other written notes that he could use to help him create an entire day’s worth of video. He was devastated.

You might think this would be horrible. It wasn’t. Since I knew who this attorney’s ideal client was and what information they were looking for online, I was able to help craft video topics that relate directly to the conversations going on in their minds. I knew from experience which topics would most likely convert viewers into callers.

The really cool thing about our video shoot was that for the very first time, I brought with me my super-secret success video kit. In fact, there is no other attorney video production company in the country that has this kit. Contained within this briefcase was one of the key things that helped this attorney create great video. What was really amazing what that this lawyer didn’t even know I had this kit with me.

To learn how my Total Online Video Success Solution can help you create video to stand out from the crowd using proven and tested methods to market your law firm, I encourage you to click here.

Gerry Oginski, Esq.

Q: “Video marketing doesn’t work, right?” asks an attorney.

A: “You’re right,” I respond. It’s a terrible way to market yourself online. (This will undoubtedly make the attorney feel better, since he already knew that video marketing could not possibly work. Who am I to tell him otherwise?)

Statement: “Nobody watches attorney video. I mean, what type of person would ever go online to look for an attorney? Just ask someone to refer you to an attorney. You don’t need to go online to look for one,” the attorney states authoritatively.

A: “You’re right. Consumers don’t go online to look for attorneys. All they need is a friend/relative/acquaintance to refer them to the right attorney for them,” I answer.

Q: “You mean lawyers actually create video? What…are you like into doing porn videos or something?”

A: “Yes, that’s exactly what I do. Create porn for my legal clients. They need something to keep them interested between my monthly updates, and you know they’re hungry for something unusual…so that’s it. How did you ever guess?” I reply sarcastically.

(As a side note, I had my family over for lunch last weekend and when they were in the basement they saw my video lights set up. They didn’t know what I used them for, so I told them I create educational video. One of my cousins actually said “Where’s the bed? At least that would be interesting!” Yeah, right.)

Statement: “I can create video just as good as you by whipping out my pocket video camera and talking while I walk along the beach,” the attorney said to me.

A: “Great. You do that. Then upload it online and in 3 months let me know if the video generated more than 10 views,” I answered.

Statement: “I don’t have to learn how to do great video, I just have to copy what you’ve done online since you have hundreds and hundreds of videos. That should get me going without having to do much work,” said the eager attorney.

A: “Lawyers who take shortcuts suffer in the long run. Copying someone’s content is wrong on so many levels, but more importantly, copying without understanding everything that goes on behind the scenes will leave you scratching your head wondering why your videos are not watched and wondering why your viewers (assuming you have any) are not converting into callers. If you copy someone’s content, you do so at your own peril,” I said.

There are some ‘old-school’ attorneys that simply cannot see any benefit or reason to market themselves online or even comprehend why anyone would use video to educate viewers. Frankly, I’ve decided I’m not going to try convincing those lawyers anymore. I will no longer waste my time trying to help those attorneys. Instead, I want to help attorneys and businesses that understand the value and benefit of creating educational video.

If you want to see one really smart attorney who understands the value of creating video, read below.

____________

Brent Adams, Esq.

North Carolina Personal Injury Attorney Brent Adams says, “I  aspire to be the North Carolina version of Gerry Oginski.”

“Dear Gerry:
It was a truly exciting experience to participate in your Total Online Video Solution and shoot an entire day of video with you and Harry. It invigorates me to be around experts who know what they’re doing and who enjoy doing their work with dedication and perfection. It was  great to see you again and to learn about what you’re doing and how you use the Internet to market your practice. You are a truly amazing person and lawyer. I get worn out simply thinking about all the work you do in a short span of time and all you accomplished simultaneously.

Your malpractice verdicts and settlements are stunning, particularly in view of the fact that you practice alone. Most big-time malpractice lawyers who I know have a stable of lawyers to take depositions, conduct medical research, prepare written discovery and handle a mountain of other details necessary to successfully prosecute a malpractice case. Your fantastic success in handling complex malpractice cases is especially impressive when you consider that you personally handle your own internet marketing and also have a separate business. All this and four children still in the home!

I  aspire to be the North Carolina version of Gerry Oginski.
Thanks,
Brent

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.

Final Cut Express

1. You’re not sure which camera to buy,
2. You don’t know what type of microphone to use,
3. You’re unsure what lights you need to create video,
4. You don’t know how to edit video,
5. You don’t have time to learn how to edit,
6. You don’t know how to add graphics, music,  an introduction or an exit,
7. You don’t know what settings to process the video in to create high definition, high quality video,
8. How many pixels?
9. What size video player?
10. Multi-pass or single pass rendering?
11. 640 x 360, or 1280 x 1080?
12. 1080p or 1080i?
13. How many frames per second? 24, 25, 29, 30, 60?
14. What format should the video be in? .flv, mp4 or .mov?
15. Where and how will you distribute your video?

Unless you want to become a videographer, a video editor and a video distributor, you are much better off letting a professional video company creates video for you in order to market your message. Of course you can always learn how to do this on your own, but if you don’t have the time, desire or inclination to learn how to do this really well, you’re much better off leveraging your time with our expertise and a proven track record to make it happen. If you have questions, I urge you schedule a complimentary phone consultation with me to discuss how we can help you create educational video that will make you stand out from the crowd and showcase your expertise. You will learn how to convert online viewers and callers using content that viewers want to know about. I look forward to hearing from you.

Gerry

In the ‘old’ days, you would have to upload each video to each individual sharing site. Each site had their own forms, their own format and their own requirements. If you wanted your content on five different video sharing sites, it would easily take over an hour or more to upload just that one video. Every video must be given a title, a description and keywords.

Thankfully, the ‘old days’ are gone. There are now programs and services that allow you to upload your video to one place and then that service shoots your video out to multiple sharing sites at once. You still have to optimize each video, but these services allow you the ability to upload once and distribute to many locations.

Becoming a video distributor is pretty simple. Really, it is. As long as you’ve done it hundreds and thousands of times. As long as you know what will compel an online viewer to watch your video over everyone else’s, and as long as you understand how to get the search engines to recognize your video content over your colleagues and competitors. Simple.

Let’s start with the basics.

Your video must be in the right format. Usually .mov (Quicktime file), mp4 or flash file is a sure thing. Next, you must make sure that your video file is not too large, otherwise you will get an error message saying your file cannot be uploaded because it’s way too big. Once you have your video file in the right size and the right format you now upload it. Depending on what service you use, like Tubemogul.com (a free service for personal use and paid for business use) or TrafficGeyser.com (a paid service with lots of bells and whistles, it will ask you a series of questions.

The first is: Title. Seems simple, right? Sure it is. Just ask the people who work at the tabloids how they come up with those outrageous titles all the time. “Oprah is sleeping with Obama; Marriage on the rocks,” or “Aliens abduct Charlie Sheen and take him to rehab.” No matter what you think of those tabloids at the checkout counter in the supermarket, I guarantee you the headlines catch your eye.

Let’s use this headline as an example and tell me what you think. “New York lawyer wears black leather shoes to court.” That’s about as dull as you can get and nobody will ever click on that video, guaranteed. Your title is designed to get your video noticed. If your video is not noticed, it will not be watched.

CAVEAT: You must stay within your state’s ethics rules regarding what you can and can’t say.

The next section to fill out is the description. This is often misunderstood and often the video guy is asked to deal with this. He (or she) will usually not have a true understanding of what works best. I actually teach an entire class on how to properly optimize your videos. I explain what works and what doesn’t. I use actual examples by lawyers and other companies so you can see what they did right and what was done wrong.

Let me give you a hint…a one sentence summary of what you talk about in your video will not get your video found.

Keywords are the next box you must fill in. Do not put in 25 keywords. Over-doing it will not help you get your videos noticed. A handful works well. Here’s an example. If I create a video about medical malpractice in New York involving a failure to diagnose breast cancer, my keywords might be: cancer, breast cancer, misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose, lawyer, attorney, new york.

If you are using a service to upload your videos, you still need to create accounts at the multiple video sharing sites first. Then you have to input all the user id’s and passwords. Some sharing sites do not accept specific videos. You must identify which videos work best for which sharing sites. You also have to assign your video to a particular category. Is your video about sports? Business? People? What happens if you don’t categorize your video properly? I’ll tell you…your video will not be found as easily as if you put it in the right box.

Ok, you’ve now just uploaded your first video. You think you’re done right? Wrong. You’ve got so much more work ahead of you. There are other sharing sites that you want to upload to that do not participate in the services of Tubemogul or TrafficGeyser. That’s more time invested in uploading. Do you have that time to spare? If you have ten video clips, do you have the time to upload all ten? I don’t know any attorney who has the time or desire to do this. Do you?

Want to be a video distributor without having to learn or do any of it yourself? It’s simple! We can do it all for you using a proven and effective Total Online Video Solution for Attorneys. Just show up and start talking and let us handle the rest. We make it fun, profitable and have the experience and knowledge to make it happen. There is no other video production company in the country that has a veteran medical malpractice trial lawyer as your video producer. Listen to what attorneys Jack Carney-Debord and Greg Stokes had to say about my video program.

I encourage you to call me for a complementary executive briefing about how I can help you market your law practice using video. It’ll be the best 30 minutes you spend all month. Call my secretary Frances at 516-487-8207 or by email at Gerry@lawyersvideostudio.com to set up our phone consultation.