If I were someone who had never created video before and I was inundated with all these video experts and gurus online telling me how easy it is create video to market my practice, I would be confused beyond belief.

I know plenty of “experts” who claim that by using a flip camera or a Kodak Zi8 or your WebCam you can create professional looking video that will get potential clients to call. They promise how easy it is by simply pressing the record button and then pushing the “Upload to YouTube” button in order to generate those calls. Those same experts tell you that you don’t need professional lights since you can use something in your home or you can make your own for a few dollars.

While the do-it-yourselfer, without any marketing budget, can try and get by with using available tools and equipment at home, you must always ask yourself what type of impression you want to make with your online viewer? Do you want to come across as professional? Do you want to come across as an amateur? Do you want your video to have panache and gravitas? Do you want to be seen as an expert in your field of law?

The goal of creating educational video to market your practice is to create content where the delivery platform is totally invisible to the viewer. Let me say that again since this is critically important. The way in which you deliver your message should be totally transparent to the person who’s watching your video. There should be no technical glitches. The only thing the viewer should be concentrating on is the  content you are delivering.

If you want to do amateur video without editing, color correcting, audio correcting, inserting graphics, adding background music, adding introduction, adding an exit, properly framing your background, properly illuminating yourself and your background, then don’t be surprised if the results are less than stellar. In fact, I’d be surprised if you got any results at all.

The best analogy I can give you is the difference between meeting an attorney who is dressed in a rumpled, disheveled and dirty suit with shoes that have not been shined since the 1940′s. Compare that to meeting a lawyer who wears a finely tailored silk suit with a crisp, fresh white shirt with french cuffs and cuff links with the finest tie and cravat. Looking down at his shoes you can see yourself in the mirror because of the reflection. What types of images do these descriptions conjure up? Which one of these lawyers exude confidence and competence without speaking to either one?

Lawyers who use amateurish methods to create video should be mindful of the impression they will make. Most attorneys don’t want to be a videographer; they don’t want to be a video editor and they certainly don’t want to be a video distributor. Instead, they just want to practice law and that’s perfectly okay.

If you are eager to learn how to create video and learn the hundreds of steps necessary to create excellent quality video, be forewarned that it will take hundreds and hundreds of hours to become proficient at it. Before jumping on that bandwagon, ask yourself this question, “Would my time be better spent with my family and engaging in hobbies that I truly enjoy, or would I be better off learning how to make videos, learn how to edit them and put them up online?”  You can learn how to create video on your own, or you can hire an experienced video company to create video for you. You can fix a clogged sink on your own or you can call a plumber. You can climb up on the roof to fix a hole, or you can call an experienced contractor. You can fix your car when it breaks down in the middle of the night or you can call a tow truck and the mechanic will have your car fixed the next day.

The next time somebody tells you how easy it is to use simple video equipment to create video to market your practice, don’t be so quick to jump on that bandwagon.  I will tell you that as an experienced video producer, and an experienced medical malpractice trial attorney who has created over 350 educational videos to market my own practice, creating video is not easy. It is detail-oriented, extremely time-consuming and will bore the heck out of you if you are not really into it.

Just beware of those online experts who tell you to press the record button and upload it here.

Thanks for reading my blog and leave me comments about what you thought of today’s blog post.

Gerry

As an attorney, you have lots of marketing choices. Let’s go through each one to determine which one has the best return on investment (ROI).

• Yellow pages
• TV
• Radio
• Classified ads
• Display ads
• Billboard
• Online

Yellow pages: This is the standard-bearer for lawyers for the last 35 + years. When was the last time you looked in the yellow pages to find a business or service? Do you even have the books anymore? The only people I know who still keep those paperweights are folks who do not have internet access. The reality is that this method of marketing has become less and less relevant with the proliferation of unlimited information online.

In New York, it would cost about $25,000 for a full page ad for one year in a competitive market like Manhattan, Queens, Bronx or Brooklyn. Then you might get some freebies thrown in like a small ad in one of the local community books. Ooh. That made you feel really special. When I took out my first full page ad, I didn’t realize the implication of being on page 9 of the full page ads and then having 30 pages of other sized lawyers ads right after mine. The rep conveniently neglected to mention that most readers would never even get beyond page one, two or three, much less page nine to find an attorney. I realized all too quickly that if a potential client was calling after seeing my ad in the yellow pages, it’s because 8 other lawyers rejected them.

You could not jump to the front of the line with your placement because this was done on seniority. If you wanted two full page ads (known as a double truck) you’d be paying upwards of $35,000 per year. If you wanted four full page ads, well…you get the idea. I finally realized that I didn’t want clients who selected their attorney the way they chose a plumber; just pick the biggest ad with the most promises and hope it works.

TV ads: They’re expensive. Very expensive to shoot and distribute. Are you going to be in the ad? Will you hire paid actors? What type of budget do you have? Is this a campaign or simply a one-time shoot? How many commercials will you create? One? Three? Five? Will you be putting your commercial on with Oprah’s show? Maybe Dr. Phil. How about Judge Judy? Premium shows get premium prices for advertising.Will you have it one every day? Every week? Every month? For how many months? Is it just one channel? Multiple channels?

Maybe you want the economy budget solution. You put your TV commercial on during late-night shows on cable TV where there’s very little viewership, especially at 3:00 a.m. on channel 325.

Creating a TV commercial can cost $5,000-$25,000 and more. That’s just for a 30 second spot. Distributing that ad can be just as costly, if not more, depending on your frequency and the number of channels where you put that ad. Here are two questions I always ask every attorney who has created a commercial for TV:

1. “How do you distinguish yourself from every other lawyer who does the same work you do, just from your 30 second TV commercial?”
2. “How can a viewer tell the difference between you and your competitor who also has a TV commercial on right before or right after you?”

The answers are always the same. “Uh, um…I’ve been in practice longer and I handle more cases.” Those are features, not benefits or ways to distinguish yourself. The problem with TV ads is that they all say the same thing. You don’t have enough time to explain anything. You don’t have time to get them to trust you with what you know.

Radio: You have even less time to connect to a listener compared to a TV viewer. You must spend half of that time repeating your 1-800 phone number to drill it into their head so they’ll remember it 10 minutes after your radio spot is over.

Classified ads: Your message is truncated even worst than Twitter tweets. How much useful information can you give to a reader with 8 words? “Lawyer. Experienced. Will work for you. Results. Car wrecks. Call now.” Not a very effective way to tell your viewer how you’re different and how you solve people’s problems.

Display ads: These are only marginally better. Most of these attorney ads list the ten areas of law you handle. They tend not to focus on one specific type of law, or how you can help solve your reader’s problems. These ads generally focus on showcasing what the attorney does and trying to scream louder than every other ad in the newspaper. Again, the frequency with which you keep that ad in the paper will determine familiarity, not necessarily trust.

Billboards: Do you remember the last phone number of an attorney ad you passed on the way to work? Would you call that lawyer just because you see a smiling face, or a wrecked car with a big phone number like 1-800-WE-SUE-THE-PANTS-OFF THEM? Billboards are also expensive. Can you afford 5 months on a high-traffic billboard? How about 10 billboards all across town? Doing a one-shot deal for one or two months will not generate much of anything.

Online: You can blog. You can write articles. You can write FAQ’s and answers. This is all great and mostly free. You can do the social networking thing; Twitter, Facebook and LinkeIn, and that’s a fantastic way to tell the world what you do. We know that social media is all the rage now. Guess what’s king of all social media? Video.

Video has taken the online world by storm. Businesses of every type have just realized that video is the best way to communicate with online viewers. Lawyers are slowly coming around to realize that video is interactive in that a viewer gets to see you, hear you, and begins to trust you before they ever walk into your office. Video allows you to explain to your viewer how you have helped other people with similar problems. Creating educational video allows you to show how you are different without telling viewers how you’re different. Video gives you an opportunity to show your expertise in your area of law. It allows you to hyper-focus a specific topic to a specific potential client looking for the answer to their question.

You can’t do any of that with any other form of advertising media available today. None. Nada. Zip. Nothing else even comes close.

Video works for you day and night. Anytime someone searches for a particular legal problem there is the likelihood that your video will show up in the search engines. (There are many tips and traps that you need to know about in order to increase the chances that your video will be found and watched.) There is no other media that we lawyers can use that allow viewers to search for the information they need and to find us instead of our competitors.

Create a video one time. Put it online and it can be watched 10 times, 1000 times or 100,000 times, all for the same exact cost of ZERO! Nothing. Free. There is no other comparable marketing method anywhere that allows you to do this. None. Yes, there are costs to produce the video and distribute it online. However, once online it works for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. All for free.

I will tell you that I have over 350 educational videos to market my New York medical malpractice law firm and creating video is the best return on investment anywhere today. There is nothing better from an investment standpoint and from a standpoint of deciding which marketing method to use when you have only one choice. Your goal is to make that phone ring. Choosing which is the most effective method to do that and using your available resources is key. Creating attorney video is the only choice if you want the best bang for your buck.

Gerry Oginski, Esq.

1. Choose your camera
2. Choose your microphone
3. Choose your lights
4. Upgrade your computer hardware
5. Become proficient with using video editing software
6. Upload your video to your website and video sharing sites
7. Tell the world about your new video

That’s it. You’re done.

Simple right?

Sure it’s simple if you know which camera to use out of the hundreds on the market, and new ones coming out daily. Sure it’s easy if you know which microphone to use; a wired microphone, a wireless microphone, or a shotgun microphone. Sure it’s easy to light up your room with your overhead lights. Are those halogen or tungsten lights? Are they fluorescent? Are you using natural light? So many options and so much confusion.

Which hardware do you need to upgrade? Is it the RAM memory? Is it the graphics card? Is it the external hard drive? Which video editing software should I use? Do I need to spend $750-$800 on Final Cut Pro when I don’t even know how to get the video footage off my camera and onto the computer? Can I get the Sony Vegas free trial?

Do you know how to edit your video? Do you know how to create transitions and graphics? Can you add music? Color correct your video? Correct the audio? Turn single channel audio into stereo?

Do you know what settings your video needs to be in in order to create 16 x 9 aspect crystal-clear high-definition video? It’s simple if you know how.

I see these so-called experts online telling you how easy it is to create video by using a simple little camera and uploading videos directly to YouTube. What these experts don’t tell you are the hundreds of steps necessary in order to create great quality video.

Most importantly, what these video experts don’t tell you is what content to create as an attorney that will interest your viewers. Nor do they help you understand what content will convert an online viewer into a caller. It’s not simply putting up  a call to action that says call me.

So you’ve decided to start creating attorney video. Good for you. You now have hundreds of choices to make. First is your camera. How much do you have in your budget? You can spend anywhere from $125-$5000. Next you get to choose your microphone. But the cost ranges from $20 for a wired microphone to $1500 for a top-of-the-line wireless microphone system. Then you get to choose your lighting equipment which can range from a do-it-yourself project to hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Your video editing software can range from free windows movie maker to a free trial of Sony Vegas to iMovie if you have a Mac to final cut express or Final Cut Pro. Again your choices are limited only by your budget.

Once you have all the equipment, including the software and hardware, you now have to learn how to use all of them effectively. Either you need to spend hundreds of hours learning through trial and error, or take classes that teach you how to use each of those things.

Four years ago, when I first started creating video to market my law firm, there were no attorneys anywhere in the country who were helping other lawyers create video to market their practices. When I recognized how important video was I had to go outside of my comfort zone and look to experts in the video field to learn how to create effective video. I was hungry to learn how to create it since no one else was doing at that time. I would’ve paid thousands of dollars to have someone do it all for me so I didn’t have to spend the time and effort to learn how to do it myself.

Years ago, companies that created video for attorneys would shoot only one video as an “introductory video,” where each video was all about the lawyer. “I’ve been in practice for 25 years and here are my credentials…”

Every one of those ‘me, me, me’ videos lasted only 30-60 seconds. They did nothing to distinguish one lawyer from the next. The video companies convinced these lawyers that the novelty of having an introductory video on their website would get viewers to pick up the phone and call. Wrong. Many of those websites were not being found in the search engines organically. If no one could find your website, then your video wouldn’t be watched. Even if someone did somehow find your website, the video was not compelling enough to get your viewer to call.

In case you missed a blog post I did a few months ago about Martindale Hubbell, they create a single video of no more than 60 seconds for a price of $3000; but you must be a member of their directory in order to take advantage of their “special offer.”

So what is the answer? Do you really need to spend hundreds of hours learning how to do all this stuff? Do you really want to become a video expert, a videographer, a video producer, a video editor and a video distributor? If you do, I congratulate you. But if you do, what will your existing clients think when you’re spending more time working on video instead of helping them solve their legal problems? What will your family think when you’re spending all your free time in front of the computer learning how to edit instead of reading your kids a bedtime story? What will your spouse think when you’re up in the middle of the night e-mailing different software companies questions because nothing’s working the way it’s supposed to?

Thankfully, I have a solution. It’s taken me a few years to create the solution that helps lawyers create great quality video without having to learn how to do any of it. Importantly, there is no other video production company in the country that teaches lawyers what content to create that will compel viewers to pick up the phone and call you.

The total online video solution for attorneys is the only place where you have an experienced medical malpractice trial lawyer who’s also an experienced video producer help you create the content that you need that will compel viewers to pick up the phone and call you for more information. That is your goal. I’m happy to say that we have a proven track record not only with my own practice but with helping other attorneys create compelling video.

Many lawyers are fixated with the number of viewers that come to watch their YouTube videos. While it’s always good to monitor your video traffic, the more important question is how many of those viewers are converting into callers? Even more important is why did they click on your video and whether they watched it in its entirety.

Your goal when creating attorney video is to make that phone ring. It’s not to make your video go viral, and it’s not to get advertising revenue on the video sharing sites. Your goal is to help solve your client’s legal problems.

With my online video solution I help you create your content and you don’t ever have to worry about anything technical. You want results without the hassle of learning how to do this all yourself. We know how to do it. I’ve done it and I get calls and e-mails everyday from people who watch my videos thanking me for creating useful information that people want to know.

I have received countless phone calls from people who are in the middle of watching my videos when they call me. That’s when you know that what you are doing to market yourself clearly works.

I invite you to contact me if for a free personal consultation about how I can help you create educational video to market your law practice. You can reach me at 516-487-8207 or by e-mail at gerry@lawyersvideostudio.com. I welcome your call.

Dave Kaminski talks about 3 Keys To Success With Web Video. He’s right on target with his mindset and I totally agree with him that worrying about what equipment to use is nowhere near as important as what to talk about and implement.

What’s more important to you? Accumulating CLE credits or learning how to improve your bottom line and convert online viewers into callers?

Don’t get me wrong. I like listening to boring CLE lectures as much as the next attorney. I’m required to rack up a certain number of CLE credits each year, just like you.  I like having the same speakers talk about the same trial tactics seminars I’ve been listening to for more than 21 years. Don’t get me wrong…I’ve learned a lot from these attorneys. I’ve also gone to ‘marketing’ seminars put on by the bar associations with these same personal injury and medical malpractice lawyers. I honestly can say that I have not learned much there. I wish someone had instead directed me to Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer (direct response marketers that teach other people how improve their bottom line).

Over the last year, as I began to fine-tuned my total online video solution for attorneys, I wanted to get the word out to fellow attorneys who could benefit from video marketing that was making my phone ring. I have lectured to attorneys at the New York City Bar Association in Manhattan about medical malpractice law. I have created CLE approved lectures both in person and on video, discussing medical malpractice in New York. I have also been invited back to lecture on the same topic. In fact, I am lecturing to attorneys this month, July 15, 2010, at the NYC Bar Association about medical malpractice law. Thinking that I could offer attorneys useful information about video marketing, I approached the New York City Bar Association and the NYS Trial Lawyers Association.

Each has a committee that vets topics deemed worthy. That’s understandable. They don’t want their attorneys to be inundated and bored to death with topics they can’t use or relate to. Also, they have to be able to offer CLE credit to their members and there are various requirements needed to justify approving CLE credits. Also understandable.

When I suggested that I present a seminar about video marketing for attorneys and have other legal marketing experts talk to attorneys about how to market their practice, the response was eye-opening. The NYC Bar was quite clear. They said they do not want a seminar where attorneys or marketers are pitching or selling their services to their members. Not even if the material was educational and informational only. “Hmmm,” I thought. Rejected. Ok. Maybe the NYS trial lawyers would have a different take on it.

I was wrong. The seminar topics were selected two years in advance and they didn’t see a need for topics on attorney marketing. However, they did offer an alternative. They said I could become a preferred vendor and appear outside each of the seminars in order to promote my service. “No thanks,” I replied.

I finally realized that the bar associations didn’t want to run marketing seminars since they could not justify giving CLE credit. That’s understandable. I finally realized that attorneys who want to learn about my services and how they can benefit from video marketing can learn tons of useful stuff from my online webinars, live seminars, video blog articles, my video coaching group for attorneys (the only video coaching group for lawyers in the country) and my Total Online Video Solution for Attorneys. Oh yes, they can also contact any one of the attorneys who have used my services and ask them personally what they thought.

You can be sure that the next time you hear me speak about video marketing for attorneys at a seminar, that my content has never been given to any bar association for CLE credit. What’s more important to you? Accumulating CLE credits or learning how to improve your bottom line and convert online viewers into callers?

The decision, as always, is yours. Choose wisely.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog!

Gerry

Dave Kaminski of Web Video University does an excellent job of reviewing the Canon t2i DLSR camera. Here’s my question:

You’re an attorney who wants to create video. You want a camera that will last for years. You want the latest technology. You don’t want to spend a fortune. The choices of video cameras are overwhelming. SD or HD? Hard disc or tape-based? Pocket Flip camera or Kodak Zi8? $500 camcorder or a prosumer model costing $1,500?

Now, you have even more choices. Canon, Nikon, Sony and Pentax are all vying for your dollars by adding hi-definition video capabilities to their digital Single Lens Reflex (dSLR) cameras.

Here’s what you need to know if you’re considering buying a DSLR to shoot your attorney video:

1. It’s costly. This camera with lens will cost $900-$1,200 depending on the lens you buy.
2. You must buy an external wireless mic which will run you anywhere between $150-$600, depending on the mic you buy. You simply cannot use the built-in mic because it’s noisy and picks up the autofocus lens mechanism.
3. Then you need a ‘rig’ to hold all this stuff together while on your tripod. Otherwise, you’ll have to use tape or velcro to hold it up.
4. There is no flip-out screen to see yourself while you shoot video of yourself. This is unfortunate. It means you have to hook the camera up to an external monitor with a cable. If one is handy great. Otherwise, through trial and error, you have to figure out if you’re in the camera frame.

If you’re willing to spend anywhere from $1,100 to almost $2,000, then this camera might just be for you. Be forewarned. As Dave mentions in his video, this camera is NOT for the person who wants to simply turn the button on, press record and start talking. This is for the camera buff who really enjoys playing with all the settings and enjoys the technical details to get a good video shoot.

Oh yes…did I also mention it takes stunning photos?

I am tempted to sell my Sony DSC F828 with my flash to try this out.

Sony DSC F828

What do you think? Is it worth it? My 8 year old, the budding camera man, doesn’t want me to sell it since he knows how to use this camera really well. He’s not sure if he’ll be allowed to play with the Canon t2i if I sell my Sony. All thoughts appreciated!

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

Best regards,

Gerry

SOUND CHECK
Have you ever just sat in your office and listened to the sounds? If you did, I bet you’d hear traffic, a siren, a horn, a hum from your computer, the cackle of secretaries laughing at some joke, your partners walking by your office talking loudly, your phone ringing, and on and on.

When you are deciding on a place in your office to shoot video, you must consider all of these elements and ways to eliminate or reduce these ambient sounds. Otherwise, your pristine looking video will have unwanted background noise. Yes, that noise can be minimized in the post-production phase with video editing software, but the better practice is to eliminate it while taping instead of later during editing.

LENGTH OF YOUR VIDEO

How long will your video clip be? The short answer is “Not too long.” The longer answer is “Not too short.”

You are not limited to thirty or sixty seconds of a quick commercial of you screaming at potential clients that they must come to you. With online video, you can use your time to explain to clients how you can help them. That’s the key. Again, if you’ve taken the time to watch some attorney videos, you will see that most videos do nothing to help explain anything to potential clients.

Most website companies will tell you they need to shoot a few hours of video in your office that could take most of the day. You think “Ok, that’s fine. I expect to get lots of usable video for all those hours, right?” No, you’re wrong. These same companies take your video and multiple re-do’s of the same topic and will edit them into maybe four or five video clips. “Four or five hours of video shooting, and all I get is four or five video clips?” Yes, that’s true. “But how long is each video clip?” “About 1-2 minutes each,” comes the suave reply.

“Wait a second…you’re telling me that after spending four, five or six hours shooting and re-shooting videos; spending an entire day disrupting my office schedule doing this video stuff, all I can expect to get is a total of eight to ten minutes of video??!!” Yes, that’s correct. “I don’t get it! I’m paying all this money, spending all this time, and this is the end result? That’s crazy!”

Yes, it is crazy. These same website companies tell you that potential clients have limited attention spans. This has some truth to it. They also tell you that in their “experience” viewers can absorb only one to two minutes of video. I disagree. I think one to two minutes of video are not very helpful and do not give you enough time to explain a particular legal concept or answer a particular question.

If you put your videos on video sharing sites like YouTube, Yahoo Video, Blip.tv, Metacafe, Mefeedia, etc. you don’t pay a dime to have these sites host your video. However, there is a drawback to only using these video sharing sites to “host” your videos: You lose control of that video. Ads will appear as an overlay on your videos that will entice viewers to click away, never to return to your video.

I firmly believe that your video clips should be anywhere from two to four minutes in length. I have found that if a viewer has found your video and has a pressing legal issue, they have no problem watching a few minutes of your video if you are answering a legal topic that applies to them. In fact, I have had people call me telling me that my videos were so helpful, educational and informative, that they spent hours and days watching all of my videos.

That’s impressive since I currently have over 250 educational videos online about medical malpractice, wrongful death and personal injury law in New York.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

To give you some insight into how I create my own videos, it takes me 15 minutes to set up my equipment, one to two hours to get one full hour of video tape, and 10-15 minutes to take down my equipment. From that one hour of video, I can usually obtain four to five usable video clips that average from two to three minutes in length.
Now we enter the post-production phase.

POST-PRODUCTION

What happens now that the video-shoot is over, and the video techs have left your office? The video tape has to be uploaded to a computer. If I’ve shot one hour of video, it takes a great deal of time to get the video onto the computer. Once it is physically on my computer, I must edit it using video editing software. This is very time consuming and labor intensive.

VIDEO EDITING

For a one hour video, it will take at least six hours (or more) to edit the video, add graphics, background music and convert the video file to a file that is internet-compatible, compressed and ready to be uploaded to your website and the video sharing sites. This is by far, the most time consuming part of making the actual video.

Once your video clips have been edited and are now “ready for upload” they must be optimized for the video search engines, and the regular search engines. The videos are useless if they’re not recognized by the search engines and indexed by sites like YouTube and Google.

The editing is the “behind-the-scenes” work that makes your video come alive. Most attorneys just want to see the final product, and that’s ok. However, when a video editor spends 8 hours to edit your videos, you will begin to understand why website companies charge so much money.

Gerry is a New York medical malpractice and personal injury trial lawyer in practice for over 21 years. He has produced and created over 300 educational 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 take a look at his New York medical malpractice video blog.
Gerry created the Lawyers’ Video Studio to help other lawyers get onto video. To get started creating video to market your legal services, Gerry now offers a “Done-for-you” service where he does everything, except show up on camera, where you don’t have to learn anything technical. Take a look at Gerry’s Total Online Video Solution for Attorneys.

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

Gerry Oginski's Total Online Video Solution

“What?!”

“What do you mean it doesn’t work? Isn’t that what you’ve been preaching about for the longest time?”

Yes I have. But I have a secret. A secret I do not want to share with my competitors. You see, the reality is that creating video to market your message really does work.

Why would I write such a headline? Two reasons:

1. There are articles online that discuss the efficacy of video blogging and whether they work for attorneys, and
2. I wanted you to see what happens when you create a controversial or compelling headline. The headline is a tease. Sorry. I also don’t want my competitors to think this stuff really works, although I imagine they’ll figure it out eventually and try to replicate what I’ve done and learn what I’m teaching other smart lawyers to do. In fact, if they were really smart, they would hire me to teach them what I’m doing.

Video blogging is the best way to interact with your viewer; they get to see you, hear you and begin to trust you before they ever walk in your door.

Most attorneys just want to practice law and focus on what they do best. That’s exactly what you should be doing; what you do best. Lawyers who want to learn how to get onto video and make the best use of their time and energy hire a video production company to do it all for them. You really don’t want to be a videographer or video editor or video distributor, do you?

Instead, you want to be the best lawyer you can be, helping your clients and earning a good living at the same time. If you want to get your message onto video and don’t know where to begin, or want to improve the videos you’ve already created, my video coaching group for attorneys is the place to start.

There is no other video production company in the country run by an experienced medical malpractice trial lawyer who helps other attorneys get onto video. There is no other video production company in the country that has created a coaching group for attorneys to mentor them and show them exactly what I do to convert online viewers into callers.

In my coaching group, I go through the mindset that is so crucial to understanding what a viewer wants to know, and how to create compelling content that will make the viewer click on your video, watch it in its entirety, and then want to pick up the phone and ask you for more information.

My coaching group is perfect for the attorney who is learning to create video on their own as well as lawyers who have video production companies create video for them.

Come join me in the lawyer’s video studio coaching group for attorneys. You’ll learn so much- I guarantee it. I look forward to seeing you there.

In today’s YouLaw, we look at Tennessee trial lawyer Rob McKinney who gives viewers an overview of what they need to ask when looking for the best DUI attorney. The video is 3:25 long, and at times appears drawn out. However, Attorney McKinney offers great content for viewer trying to figure out who they should hire. Experience is the obvious first answer. He talks about how important it is for the attorney to have a mastery in the science of a field sobriety test, the breath test, and the blood alcohol test.

Click here to read the entire blog post.

How Really Smart Lawyers Are Using Video On The Web

Do you?

You know how to press “Record” on your flip camera, right? You know not to shoot in low-level light, right? You know not to use your on-board microphone, right? You know how to set your white balance, even on your little handy video camera like your Kodak Zi8, right?

Excellent. Then why aren’t you creating video to market your law practice? If you are, why aren’t those viewers calling your office? What are they waiting for, a personal invitation? Are your viewers really expecting you to reach through the computer screen and physically pull them into your office? Get real.

Ok- let’s get serious here and dump the sarcasm. Do you know what it takes to create great video? Initiative. Guts. Drive. That’s it. The rest falls into place.

Anyone can hire a video company to produce great quality video. That’s the super-easy part. The hard part is learning what to talk about in your video; learning what your viewer wants to see and hear; learning to stop talking about yourself, and finally, learning how to tell the world about your new video.

I want you to read that paragraph again, because it’s so important.

You must remember that unless your video producer is also an experienced trial attorney, they may have no idea who your ideal client is. If you hire a wedding videographer to shoot your video, he or she may show up in your office and simply say, “Ok, start talking.” That won’t get you anywhere with your viewers.

In jury selection you want to let jurors talk. If you’re doing all the talking, you learn nothing about your jury. If you ask your jurors open-ended questions, it gives them an opportunity to talk and you will actually learn something about them. Why can’t you do the same for your videos?

Stop talking! (Figuratively). Instead, start giving your viewers information that THEY NEED to know. Don’t give them information you think they need to know about you, your wonderful credentials and your law firm: “We’ve been in business since the Ice Age…”

“Our collective wisdom is greater than the teachings of the Bible…”

“Our partners have all been on law review and clerked for the Wise men of…”

Here’s what a viewer says to all that: “Yeah, so? How will that help solve MY legal problem?”

You think you have what it takes to create great content for your video?

If not, give me a call so together, we can create great content for your videos.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog!

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“Gerry Oginski is a master of online-video marketing for lawyers.  He creates excellent video and is valuable source of information.  But, don’t take my word for this — view Gerry’s videos and judge for yourself.  You won’t be disappointed.”

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About Gerry

How Really Smart Lawyers Are Using Video On The Web- New Book!

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.