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Top 3 Reasons Law Firm Videos Don’t Work

I like stalking your videos! Sometimes I sit with a pen and paper taking notes and wondering why law firms create videos the way they do, when it seems obvious to me the video won’t do much.

​​(And these are only the videos I have seen. A lot of lawyer videos end up with no views because no one can find them).

Is this a “Vanity Project”?

Before you start a video production, you might want to ask yourself this: Is it a “Vanity Project”? (That’s a term we use in the music business. It’s a term meant to provoke a response).

A “Vanity Project” as I understand it best, is one with no real intended and tangible purpose, and no a path for achieving an outcome.

I certainly have worked on my share of “Vanity Projects”, including plenty of my own. So I’m not exactly exempt. Sometimes they’re fun, but in marketing they’re the opposite. A video project like this means you have no idea what happens to your hard work or if it’s a success.

Data Makes a Difference

Being the marketing agency that not only shoots the video, but strategizes and tracks your data, well… this gives me the ability to truly put my finger on what isn’t working (and what is not working).

My Backstory (and Video Problems)

Back in the beginning for me, I was a speaker (I still am) and for some reason the law firms keyed into the fact that I was a film maker when I also built websites, did SEO and marketing.

​​So I was asked to shoot lots and lots of videos. I’d fly to many law firms all over the US (I still do that too), sometimes we build studios and teach their staff. But back then, it was up to the law firm who hired me to do something with the videos in order to make them successful.

But even then, I wanted to know that these videos reached the people who needed help.

Sometimes Vendors are Not Friends

In those days, their website developers were so controlling, we couldn’t get their newly filmed videos posted on their own websites.

​​Sure the lawyers were paying for their websites. But these firms weren’t paying for ongoing marketing.

So, in leu of posting the new videos on their websites, I’d build my law firm clients a new YouTube Channel giving them access. Next, I’d search optimize the videos for YouTube in hopes that (even without a marketing arrangement), their videos would bring in clients over time.

After only a few times of this fight of the vendors, I also started building my law firms WordPress websites, and calling it a “Blog”.

I would search optimize the website (aka “Blog”) along with the YouTube videos. This worked even better. In fact, we built a few practice areas this exact way.

Who Writes Video Copy?

It was up to me to write all the copy for the videos and the websites! Luckily I’d been a former litigation secretary which most videographers can’t say – and had my hands in marketing my whole life. But I still learned a lot in those days.

WHY VANITY PROJECTS ARE A DISAPPOINTMENT

I considered most of those early projects to be “Vanity Projects”. This is because there was no real tangible goal for the videos, and certainly no path or strategy for attaining any sort of goal.

Vanity Projects can be very disappointing, which is why I went to great lengths to help my law firm clients to attain any goal for those videos.

So let’s flash forward to now after my filming and marketing 10,000+ law firm videos!

​​What are the biggest problems you’re facing today with video production?

TOP 3 REASONS LAW FIRM VIDEOS DON’T WORK

3. Vendors don’t work well together.
They are in competition with each other unless you have it all under one roof. Make sure before you start to have your web developer, social media marketing agency, and email marketing all know that you want these videos posted – and make sure your videographer looks at all your assets before they go into post production so that your videos match your branding.

2. You have your videographer write scripts.
Your videographer is not well versed in your practice area. They’re not a copy writer, and they certainly are not a data scientist that can track results and create you better and better videos. A videographer shoots video, knows lenses, lighting, framing, audio, location scouting. All the things that make video beautiful.

THE NUMBER ONE REASON: (drum roll please)

1. You create videos no one sees.

There’s no research or strategy. And then there’s no collecting data and making your video outcome better over time. Usually videos are not posted anywhere that can make a difference.

Do you need help with video production? Check out my new book and online course coming out early this year! Go to MaryCaryU.com