Practice Management

Coming To A Small Screen Near You

By chucknewton

I have received a number of emails of late by solo or Third Wave attorneys wanting to advertise with TV commercials.  I gave you what I though were the pros an cons of this in a recent post.  My thought is that these attorneys understand the impact of visual communication.  As our mothers use to say, it is better to seen and not heard.  I do appreciate this sentiment because I think we humans are more visual in our interpretation of things.  Reading what someone says and watching a tape of he or she saying it can give you a totally different set of opinions and motivations.

So, what is the alternative for Third Wavers, solo practitioners, carpet commuters?

YouTube.

You can literally get yourself a relatively cheap camcorder and with your Mac or Windows software edit a tape or message down, with voiceovers, background noise and sounds, and some special effects.  Sure you might need to learn a little about lighting and positioning and scripting, but these represent on the job learning.  You edit it down and upload it to YouTube.

First, YouTube is a search engine in and of itself.  It is also linked to Google search and other search engines.  The video can and will get exposure just by placing it on YouTube.

Second, you can both link to and embed your YouTube video with ease.  So, you can post the video on your website or blog.  You can try to get it embedded on other websites and blogs.  And you can provide links to the video in emails to your clients, referral sources or whoever.

Over the years with TV I have come to learn that the slick factor is sometimes over played.  So, it should not give you too much pause that your video does not look Hollywood ready.  How many of us have seen TV ads or videos that are just so slick that they do not encourage an immediate response?  Avoid reading and being too scripted.  Best, of all you can have a TV like commercial for mere dollars.

So, power up the camcorder, stay in good light, talk to your audience, and have at it.  Then, I will see you on the small screen.

Full post as published by Chuck Newton on January 07, 2008 (boomark / email).