The three best ways to waste money in legal video marketing
Saturday, October 3, 2009 at 02:44PM I was going to entitle this post, the three secrets to achieving amazing results in creating, distributing and broadcasting your legal videos, but I decided why should I give the competitors who read my blog each week any more information then is already out there. So, in the interest of giving our "competitors" who create web videos for lawyers and charge them richly for the privilege of some equal time, I thought we'd spend just a few minutes and share the three biggest money wasters. 
Go to one of the old line law magazines or their spin-off web sites and use their "affiliated" video firm.
Look, at one time these law magazines and web sites held a virtual monopoly on legal news, information, education and advertising. However, like all other forms of old media, that monopoly has vanished, but their high cost structure and old media pricing remain. I am here to tell you that quality video creation is not that expensive anymore and if you are being charged much more then $1,000 to $1,500 for a three hour session and finished video you are wasting ALOT of money. When I hear the prices being quoted by some of these old line firms to shoot 10-minute profile videos I don't know whether to laugh or cry. On top of it they post these on their sites where virtually the only people who find them are the friends and family of the law firms. Huge cost, no distribution, what a deal!
Go to one of the road show video creators that visit cities or conventions and "shoot you right there."
I have to tell you, I stumbled across the marketing plan of a few video creation firms that do road shows and conventions where they take a credit card and literally shoot you right there with 30-second and 60-second video profiles. They then take those videos, do the most basic of editing and then carpet bomb YouTube with these really horrible video infomercials. I would post them but I don't want to embarrass the attorneys who paid for these. Many have almost no editing, stammering lawyers, stock backdrops and are sadly a waste of the lawyer's money no matter how much they paid for these. If I were these lawyers I wouldn't want anyone to find these, let alone pay for them.
You find a great video creation firm but then forget that you have to DISTRIBUTE the videos across the internet and search engines.
It is the new media equivalent of the tree falling in the forest and no one being there to hear it. You build a beautiful profile video of you, your firm, your speciality and then you put it on your web site and maybe YouTube and hope someone sees it. If you don't have a distribution and broadcast strategy for your video you are wasting your money in creating it. However, if you have developed a video that is solid, it is a first step in the right direction. It is just that you need to take the second step and create a distribution and search engine strategy to maximize the value of that investment you've made.
In summary, look for a good video creation firm in your area that understands media creation and taping. The biggest obstacles are the "legal video firms" that tape you in the standard "lawyerly fashion" and make you look like some stuffed shirt and drop a bill of $4,000 to $10,000 on you for the privilege. Skip those people, look for a fresh approach and something the reflects who you are, what you are about and gives the viewer an idea of why you are the lawyer they need to call. Please, just stop wasting your money on substandard or overpriced video creation!
Finally, give us a call here at Legal Broadcast Network and discuss a distribution strategy for the videos you have created so you can start getting them viewed. No one can come close to our reach and search engine dominance and you can tap into it by discussing with our production team our Feature Commentator Program. The network is an open platform and you just need to contact us to see if you fit as part of our team of commentators.
Reader Comments (2)
I really like tip #2: The road show. "We're coming to a city near you on the following dates..."
Tip #3: Some video companies say "We'll make the video for you but you have to put it on your own website and blog, and you have to upload it to the video sharing sites as well- all on your own."
There should be Tip#4: Make sure the video production company you use does not use a 'cookie-cutter' format that they use for every attorney, where they simply fill in the blanks with your video, and insert B-roll footage at the same point in every video.
I'm glad to see a blog post that is spot on in every aspect.
Thanks as always for your feed back. For anyone that has not gone to Gerry's site at www.lawyersvideostudio.com I encourage you to visit and see the great work he is doing to help attorney's understand the power of video and how to develop it in a cost effective and professional fashion.