When the American Bar Association (ABA) Journal called video marketing the “ticket for new legal business,” many lawyers’ ears perked up–and for good reason! According to the article, Gerald Oginski, a lawyer from Great Neck, NY supercharged his slowing business by posting over 600 marketing videos on YouTube. Three cases and $6 million later, Oginski became a true believer in video marketing, which now brings him a constant stream of new cases.
“The majority of calls and emails to my office today start out this way: ‘Mr. Oginski, I just saw a video you did about this topic—can I ask you some questions?’” says Oginski.
Cisco predicts that by 2018, 87% of internet traffic will be made up of video. In 2012, 52% of marketing executives surveyed by the Web Video Marketing Council reported using video in their email marketing campaigns and 88% reported a positive impact, such as improved click-through rates and sales conversions. Early adopting attorneys are starting to capitalize on the rewards of video marketing. But why is video such a compelling medium?
According to Lawyers.com editor-in-chief Larry Bodine, “Video has all the elements that attract the human eye—the presence of sound, motion, color, a face and, if done properly, emotion and drama.” After building his own studio to shoot videos, Bodine has seen traffic to his blog increase fivefold.
In business development, the best way to reach someone is face to face. However, video is a very close second, as it provides almost all of elements of a face-to-face interaction, allowing potential clients to really get to know the attorney in a natural way.
“Video enables potential clients to know, trust and like you–the key elements of getting new business. Anecdotally, lawyers have told me they know whether a caller has seen a firm video. If the caller has seen it, he is likely to become a client,” says Bodine, also a former editor and publisher of the ABA Journal.
Small and large law firms alike are using video marketing to increase business. Since Chicago’s Levenfeld Pearlstein embraced video marketing, the firm has produced dozens of attorney videos and even won an award in March of 2012 from the Legal Marketing Association.
According to Andrea Crews, director of marketing and business development for Levenfeld Pearlstein, “Our three most popular videos are those that really provide some personal insight, memory or story, including Lisa Vandesteeg’s tour of her office, where Steve Bright would go if he could time travel, and how Dave Berzon deals with a difficult client.”
But how can you create effective video marketing content as a lawyer without being boring on one extreme or cheesy on another? Put yourself in your target client’s shoes and ask yourself, what would you like to watch? What is going to grab your attention and keep your interest? If you can’t do it from the point of view of your clients, consider asking yourself those same questions from your own point of view. “Once you think through what you might be receptive to, find a way to authentically represent yourself. Be you,” says Crews. We couldn’t have said it better ourselves…
“When a viewer has a legal problem, they love learning about a story where the attorney has helped another person with a similar problem Stories are very compelling and show the viewer that the attorney has experience with their particular problem,” says Oginski.
Video can be an extremely affordable and much more organic alternative to traditional advertising if done right. Contact us today to get started!