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July 2008, Issue #26

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In this issue:

Creating Home Page Video Scripts For Lawyers #1

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This last month I seem to be helping PI lawyers work on their video scripts for their websites. I thought you might be interested even if you are not a PI lawyer. You are going to need at least a "welcome video" on your home page one day in the near future if you want to capture more clients from your website. Also one day not too far off you will be deemed "behind the times" by web visitors if you don’t have a video at least on your home page.

NOTE TO THE READER: I want to give you a disclaimer at the outset. I am not an expert in bar rules for all the states or any single state, so a bit of transparency here is in order. Whatever script you come up with via my input is not warranted to be OK with your bar association. It is solely your responsibility to be sure you are not violating any of your bar's rules in this video and script. This would include the background in the video and the location where the video is shot.

So you need to be sure you are following your bar rules in your state and not rely on the following article for any of that knowledge. Also: none of the material coming in Part 2 of this series is to be taken as direct quotes you should use. They are merely for inspiration and are not a finished product by any means. Sorry to have to say this and it is necessary – my lawyer made me do it he says smiling.

Now, to begin creating home page video scripts for PI Lawyer websites... let's start from the start.

To begin with, go to www.YouTube.com and search using the term "personal injury lawyers". Watch between 10 and 20 of the videos that come up.

Notice that most of the people who appear in the videos are dressed in suits and ties, while others are little more "business casual". Here's one example I want to point you to: http://www.youtube.com/user/cadonahue. Look at all of his videos. Donahue is casual with no coat in two of them, no tie, and very personable – meaning he is showing his personality more as opposed to being "oh so professional" or "dressing for success". I don't know the right balance for you and I would say error in the direction of being less formal and less "oh so professional." Be more on the "personable" end. Now go to Donahue’s website here and look around and see where he is coming from:

http://www.donahuelawfirm.com/

Clearly his videos are his TV commercials. Also click on his "Meet Charlie" and the other buttons on his site.

You want to put more time into your video on a website. Here Charlie just puts his YouTube commercial links on the site. Not the best practice and better than no videos. It is better to have the video turn on the moment the person hits the site with a button that is clear to the visitor in case they want to turn the video off.

On a website home page video certainly 60 seconds and maybe 90 seconds works better but you are pressing it going much more. Having more time allows you to be more informal, show more personality and more information can be delivered. Here are some other pointers. You want to look right at the camera as well when you do the video as if the person was right in the room with you. What we are trying to create is a personal relationship with the website visitor on an unconscious level and impact the "emotional" or limbic part of their brain. We want to create a sense of "know, like, trust, relationship, and credibility" with the visitor. We are tapping into the "emotional reasons to buy" right from the start in the video. We can give them logical reasons to buy in the video; however, the primary purpose of the video is to reach the emotional or limbic level of the brain in our visitor, as for most people emotions are more persuasive than reason.

Every good salesman knows that people buy the person first due to emotional reasons, but these are mostly subconscious or unconscious elements to them. Later on they'll use "logical" reasons to buy to justify their decision.

I am not saying you need to merely mimic Charlie, of course. I am just saying clearly he is selling himself first and his professional credibility second which is where you need to come from in what you say on your own video. His website needs help by the way but it is a good one in many ways compared to many.

Now, there is an Internet marketing firm that does good work on websites and videos, but you need to be prepared to spend $20K to $30K minimum to go that route. You can find them at www.EinsteinLaw.com. I do know of less expensive options with good quality and this company is not a bad option if your budget it up to it (like www.YourLegalPractice.com for instance). I don't agree with everything they do on their sites with respect to marketing funnel and strategy; however, their video is top notch with lots of it. So go to a couple of their sites for attorneys here and look at all of the videos to give you a sense of what is being said by attorneys and their "style" of saying it: http://lynnharrislaw.com/ and here: http://www.siegfriedandjensen.com/

I will deliver more concrete ideas concerning writing scripts to you next month with actual sentence stems for you to contemplate. If you are in a hurry to learn more on this marketing topic or any law firm marketing top give me a call at 888-434-3006 and I will be happy to spend some quality time with you. My compliments of course.

Comments, ideas, questions or topics you would like to see addressed in future newsletters? I would love to hear from you. Just reply to this newsletter and tell me what you think.

To your success,

Henry Harlow
Founder, www.Law-Firm-Marketing-Coach.com

PS: Get your #1 attorney marketing problem solved today. Spend complimentary individual quality time with me on the telephone. Dial 888-434-3006 now or get more details by clicking here right now.