TechnoScore: 5.0
1 = Lowest Possible Score; 5 = Highest Possible Score
Today's video review is not about a lawyer video. Rather, it's about a guy who built a business creating newsletters for people to keep in touch with their customers and clients. Jim Palmer calls himself the "Newsletter Guru." He clearly "gets" why it's so crucial to keep in touch with your clients and customers on a regular frequent basis.
In this video we see Jim paddling his canoe on a lake near his home. He is wearing sunglasses, and the camera is sitting in the canoe pointed upwards. As Jim talks, you hear the oar making contact with the water. Jim tells a story about finding a painting he wanted to purchase and the business owner refusing to ship it to his home. The point of the video is to show that the business owner lost a key opportunity to make an easy sell by creating a roadblock.
I like this video for a number of reasons. First, it's different. Here's a guy in the middle of a relaxing activity telling a story that is educational from a marketing standpoint. He's paddling a canoe on a big open lake. There's no hazard of him getting into an accident, like in a moving car, except for falling overboard and destroying his expensive camera.
Second, his video is easy to listen to. What do I mean? It's as if you're sitting in the canoe with him and he's giving you some important advice that will help you in your business. There is no stuffiness or pretentiousness about his story or the manner in which he's trying to tell us about it.
Third, the information is useful to any business owner, lawyers included, about roadblocks that they put up preventing a client or colleague from having easy interactions with them.
As an attorney, what can you learn from this video? A lot.
Tip #1: Use Different Locations When Shooting Your Videos
You don't have to sit behind your desk in a stuffy lawyer's office to create an educational message. The goal when creating attorney video is to stand out. If your video is not remarkable, people will ignore it.
In your next video, try a less formal approach. Perhaps even take off your jacket and tie. Online viewers may have a perception of what an attorney should look like. Sometimes, changing a viewer's perception may give them another reason to watch your video to its conclusion and then call you for more information.
Tip #2: Tell a Story
People love to hear stories. If your story is similar to a viewers' story they will relate to you much more than if you tell them what type of law you practice. Think about when you come home from work and your friend or loved one asks you what happened that day. If something interesting happened, you begin to tell your story. Stories have a beginning, a middle and an end. Many stories have tension and conflict within them. Your story should have all of those points and should also explain how you helped resolve that conflict.
Tip #3: Do Not Sell Anything
The easiest way to turn off a viewer looking for legal information is to sound like a salesman. Don't even think about sounding like a TV commercial. Don't sell a viewer anything because they don't trust you yet.
Instead, establish trust by showing that you have useful knowledge and you are willing to share it freely. Give away some information so prospects can call you for more information. Your goal is to sell through education — the classic soft sell. If you employ this method, your videos and response to your videos will improve.
Till next time, see you on video!
The Back Bench
Certified Family Law Specialist and online video producer Kelly Chang Rickert says: "This video is about roadblocks to business. The irony kills me! Enough said."
Lawyer, journalist, and legal media consultant Robert Ambrogi says: "Not sure why we're covering this guy if he's not a lawyer. That said, his message about roadblocks in business is an important one for lawyers to hear, but I find his delivery a roadblock to listening. Four minutes of watching him paddle and tell a story that he could have delivered in about 30 seconds made me want to tip his kayak."
TechnoLawyer publisher and online video producer Neil Squillante says: "This video reminds me of those business books that originate as articles in magazines like Harvard Business Review. In book form, they fail to use the extra space to offer any new insights, essentially wasting your time. I'm sure a video exists somewhere that offers the same lesson in a fraction of the time."
About YouLaw
YouTube offers law firms a free advertising platform with tens of millions of potential clients. But a poor video can hurt more than help. In this column, lawyer and online video expert Gerry Oginski reviews and rates the latest law firm videos. A panel of fellow experts (The Back Bench) add to Gerry's reviews with pithy remarks. We link to each new YouLaw column and all other noteworthy law firm marketing articles in our weekly BlawgWorld newsletter, which is free. Please subscribe now.
About Gerry Oginski
New York trial lawyer Gerry Oginski has created more than 150 informational online videos for his medical malpractice and personal injury practice. Realizing that most video producers don't have a deep understanding of the practice of law and what potential clients look for, Gerry launched The Lawyers' Video Studio, which provides free tutorials and video production services. If you need help producing a video, please contact Gerry now.
Contact Gerry:
T: (516) 487-8207
E: lawmed10@yahoo.com
