As lawyers, most of us are very analytical people. In law school moot court, our professors taught us to see both sides of an issue regardless of our personal biases and to passionately argue for the plaintiff at 1pm and the defendant at 1:30. Law school courses were and are designed to help us identify the “black letter” law in case law reports written by judges in different jurisdictions, in different eras.
In our law practices, most of us have focused on one or two practice areas and we have become very skilled in guiding clients down a specific path. Time is quite literally money so we are very bottom line people.
This analytical way of thinking, unfortunately, is not very effective when preparing and recording educational videos. When you survey law firm YouTube channels, you will inevitably see videos displaying an uncomfortable looking lawyer in a tight collar spouting complex legal jargon in lengthy lecture style videos.
I have even seen videos where the lawyer is standing in front of a white board with a pointer as if he was presenting to a CLE or law school class. In another video I saw recently, the presenting lawyer urged his viewers to grab a pen and paper to take notes.
Needless to say, your videos will not be effective if you treat them like lectures that you might give at a CLE presentation.
Don’t be a Lecturer of the Law
Your potential clients are not lawyers or law students and legal jargon will confuse them unless you clearly and patiently explain an important term of art.
I don’t think you need to go so far as to assume that your online audience is made up of people with an 8th grade education but you have to make your presentations understandable and practical. Speak slowly and give examples. Pretend that you are explaining your topic to your spouse’s best friend or to a non-lawyer at a cocktail party.
Further, your videos need to do more than serve as a forum for you to reveal information. In an effective video you are presenting yourself as a sincere, generous, caring and knowledgeable advocate – in that order. [Read more…] about Why Legal Video Marketing is About More than Sharing Information