Integrity Marketing

It’s Your Lucky Day – Friday the 13th!

Lucky for estate planning and elder care law firms, there’s nothing superstitious about the law firm marketing practiced by IMS. Our clients know that we provide them with the latest in marketing technology to power their practices, in every aspect, from website development, SEO, and social media to the nitty-gritty of practice operations. Why does a law firm, especially an estate planning and/or elder law firm need to be on the cutting edge?

Your client base is changing. Millennials don’t always have a printer, paper, scanner or steady supply of ink on hand. They are more likely to take a picture with their phone and email or text it to your office. Asking them to download a form, print it out, and hand-carry it to your office is tantamount to announcing that you have added ballpoint pens to your practice. Millennials are moving faster than the speed of Twitter, and you’ll want to keep up with them.

Your office needs to be more efficient. Unless you are okay with a receptionist who devotes twenty minutes every time a new prospect calls—time to answer the phone, time to review your office services, discuss an appointment, offer directions, then shift back to what she/he was doing in the first place—you’ll really want to automate the intake process.

Competition is only getting stiffer. So you’ve survived the introduction of services like Rocket Lawyer and endless copies of samples of wills that do-it-yourselfers find online. The time between new technologies today is about half of what it was six months ago. What’s coming next? We’ll keep you informed, but we hope you’ll be open to embracing the new.

Web leads in particular want an online, immediate response. Web leads are not interested in having a long conversation with your receptionist. We have the ability to offer you an automated client intake plug in for E2-CRM that will make your intake blazingly fast.

Even videos have changed. Once upon a time you could make a simple video that would impress everyone. Today’s website visitor expects a cinematic experience when they see a video on a lawyer’s website. If you don’t have a video at all, they’ll wonder who you are. If you have a low-quality video, they will wonder if your legal services are equally mundane.

Why Are We Still Talking about Lawyer Videos at WealthCounsel Symposium?

If you want your estate planning and elder law practice website to really stand out from other practices, a professionally produced lawyer video is the way to do it. Most of your peers still don’t have them, for reasons that continue to mystify us at IMS. That’s because we hear first hand from our clients about the impact the videos have on their marketing efforts.

Why are videos so powerful?

Video drives a much deeper engagement than text. Videos are processed faster by our brains than text. It’s how we are wired. Think about how much we love going to the movies or how much people love to watch “their shows” on television. We engage with moving pictures of all kinds, from movies to television to YouTube videos. We get lost in the stories being told.

Videos are also more geared to our emotional side. When making a decision about who to entrust our family’s future, a lifetime of savings, and making difficult decisions, we want to choose someone we feel comfortable with. That connection happens faster and on a deeper level with someone who we have seen speaking to us in a video.

Think about your favorite movie. How many times have you watched it? Do you feel like you understand the characters the actors are playing, even if they live in another country or another galaxy? That’s an example of the emotional power that video has.

Another nice touch about lawyer videos: they are you, “live,” 24/7. People can meet you on their phones, tablets and desktops, without ever setting foot in your office. And when they do meet you, they’ve already had a really good introduction. They know what your voice sounds like, have a sense of what kind of mannerisms you may have, and already established a level of comfort.

Want to know more?

If you’re reading this from WealthCounsel Symposium, please do stop by the IMS booth #37 to say hello to Michael and James. Michael will be more than happy to talk with you about lawyer videos and you can pick up a copy of our new book, 52 of Our Best Ideas to Market Your Firm Now! You can also call James at 877-352-2021 ext. 80.

Digital Leads are Different – Jennifer Goddard Speaking at WealthCounsel Lunch & Learn

If you’re at WealthCounsel Symposium this week, join us on Wednesday, October 19^th at 12:45 pm for today’s Lunch & Learn program where Jennifer Goddard will be presenting “Transforming Digital Leads into New Clients.”

In case you still think that having a great website is all you need for your estate planning and elder law practice, we need to share some of our experience with you. Your website is just the beginning of a marketing strategy that starts when people begin to look for help with an estate or elder law problem and doesn’t end until… well, if everything is being done right, it never ends.

Your relationship with clients is different than a transactional law firm, like the one that handles a residential real estate purchase. Let’s look at the process.

Prospects search for an estate planning or elder law firm online. They find yours (because your SEO is good!) and spend some time reading about your firm, watching your videos and clicking on your social feeds to get a sense of who you are. Do they like you? Trust that you’ll do the right thing for them? Don’t underestimate the power of a video to help them engage with you on a personal level.

They fill out a form or call your office. That’s the first big part of bringing new clients to your practice. How you respond to their initial outreach will make a big difference as to whether or not they retain your firm. That’s the topic of Jennifer’s presentation, so we’re not going to dig into it here.

Once they have become clients, are you finished marketing to them? Not at all!

You know that estate plans are not “set it and forget it” documents, and you know that reminding your clients that their plans may be ready for a review is a mark of good service as well as good marketing. But that’s not where it ends either!

In addition to reviewing and revising estate plans, you should also be staying in touch with clients throughout the year in a way that is informative and helpful to them. It’s far easier if you have an automated system in place, like our E2-CRM.

Your marketing messages should be value-driven: informing clients about changes in state or federal laws that will impact their estate plan or their plan for long term care, news about speaking engagements or the practice’s involvement with local not-for-profits, client appreciation events and the like. Communication should be on-going.

Some offices send birthday cards to clients at milestone birthdays. We think it’s a warm and friendly thing. Who doesn’t like to get a birthday card?

A successful, profitable estate planning and elder law practice is like a garden that needs tending, but over time, with the right nutrients, sunlight and enough water, the garden will produce a bountiful harvest for many years to come.

The Science of Success

We’re not behavioral scientists and we’re not anthropologists, but we do know a lot about human behavior, based on more than twenty years of serving estate planning law firms with marketing programs that work. Today our success is easily measured in data gathered through website performance analytics. But here are a few things we don’t need data to tell us:

The average American, who reportedly would rather die than speak in public, would also prefer not to think about becoming ill, old, or dying. They can probably come up with a hundred different reasons not to call you for an appointment to take care of their estate planning.

That same person who has no problem sharing intimate details of their most recent illness would prefer not to talk to anyone about their financial situation, particularly not to a stranger.

Many people still read, but if you want to reach someone fast or make a warm, personal introduction, a video is the way to tell your story. It reaches them fast, it requires less effort, and they don’t feel burdened as long as it is engaging.

Finally, the elephant in the room for us all: the average person is not crazy about talking to lawyers. They associate going to a law firm with something bad happening. Even if they’ve never been to a law firm before, or if they know lawyers personally or professionally, they’d rather go apple picking than come to your office.

For all of these reasons, lawyer videos are a powerful way to cut through the fear and anxiety that accompanies most people’s thoughts about estate planning. A video lets them get to know you and lets you share your story in an unthreatening way. You can talk about why you chose to be an attorney or what you think is the most important part of an estate plan.

Whatever your story is, video gives you a platform. And the data tells us that a website with a video will be far more successful when it comes to helping visitors feel comfortable enough to fill out a Contact Us form or pick up the phone. And that’s what IMS is all about!

Can Clients Test Drive Your Law Firm?

You can take a new sports car out for a test drive, try on a designer dress, even rent before you buy. But professional services don’t work the same way. Clients are either fully on-board or they are someone else’s client. That’s why getting clients through the sales funnel and overcoming obstacles is tougher than other sales cycles. That’s another reason to incorporate video into your marketing plan.

The sales funnel for professional services starts with clients being able to find you, and for digital marketing, that means having an online presence that works as well for human visitors as it does for the Google bots that crawl the web and deliver rankings back to the mother ship. Have we mentioned lately that Google loves video? Because if for no other reason, the impact that having videos on your website has on SEO is reason enough for you to invest in videos.

If estate planning attorneys in your area have videos and you do not, you’ll have to have something extremely compelling on your website to compensate. And if they don’t have videos, you have an opportunity to take a quantum leap ahead of them.

Here are more reasons why we like our clients to have videos on their websites:

While you are out of the office, on vacation or at your kid’s softball practice, these videos are working 24/7. They are never out of the office.

Videos introduce you to clients before they even meet you and help clients get comfortable with you. When they walk into your office, they already know what you look like and what your voice sounds like. If you are old enough to remember video dating (1970s), you know the basic premise!

And in case you didn’t realize it, just as we optimize your website with title tags, keywords and descriptions, we do a lot of the same things to optimize your videos. They are working hard for you.

Still a little anxious about lawyer videos? Consider this: you are not entering the world of lawyer videos on your own. Your marketing team at IMS is right beside you every step of the way, from crafting a strategically planned script to making sure you look great on camera to determining the most impactful way to use those videos. We’ve got you covered!

Your Video versus Cat Videos on YouTube

IMS has been creating videos for estate planning attorneys long before Google purchased YouTube, and even before lawyer videos were an important part of Search Engine Optimization rankings. We know that lawyers tend not to be “early adapters” of new marketing techniques. It’s our responsibility as your marketing team to push you just a little bit out of your comfort zone into new things that we know will make a difference to your practice.

So how do we compete against cat videos, which are one of the most popular kinds of videos on YouTube?

Strike the right balance between serious and ponderous. Estate planning is a serious topic, and we know we are never going to be as funny as a cat jumping away from a cucumber. But we also know that overly serious videos with dark messages will not engage visitors. We showcase you, your skills and your concern and caring for clients.

High production values. We are stunned when we see lawyers who have placed a smart phone on their desks and created their own videos for their websites. You’ve seen them too. There’s often a law library or a potted plant in the background and the lighting and sound quality is bad. Home-made is great for family or animal videos, not for a professional service firm.

A focused message matters. We don’t start filming until your message is extremely well defined. And while many of our clients are great speakers, we practice, refine, and practice again until the script is second nature. What you say will not be random, but a highly targeted message that only feels conversational.

Let’s keep it simple. Estate planning is not always simple. But we keep our videos straightforward and easily digestible. Too much legal jargon and too many details will cause viewers to bounce right off of your video. That’s bad for the viewer experience and bad for SEO.

Letting you be you. Imagine if you saw a video about a law firm starring Brad Pitt, then when you got to your appointment, you met a grizzly and grey-bearded Harrison Ford. You might not appreciate the switch. That’s why your lawyer video has to feature you, wrinkles and all. We are creating a message starring you, because that’s who your clients are going to meet, get to know and get comfortable with, both online and in your office. No stand-in’s need apply!

So don’t worry about those cat videos. They are going to be around for as long as people enjoy taking a break for a good laugh, while your videos will serve to educate and engage new clients.

This Time, It’s Personal

A website with a handful of strategically developed and professionally produced videos is more than a website. It’s a personal statement. We do business with people we know, like and trust. Would you retain an attorney you didn’t like to handle your highly personal estate planning? Probably not. You might hire an aggressive pit bull of an attorney for a litigation battle, but chances are the attorney who you want to discuss your will, family dynamics and legacy, will be someone you personally like.

Prospects and clients are generally busy people, just like you. If they are seeking an estate planning attorney online, they don’t have an unlimited amount of time to visit an endless series of websites. They may target a group of ten attorneys in the area and then narrow it down from there. Who will win their business?

Lawyer videos grab web visitors’ attention and keep them engaged with you. Through a video, they can see who you are physically, hear your voice, and hear in your voice the person who they will be meeting with to discuss highly personal matters. It’s not a beauty contest, but it is a way to get to know you at their convenience, in a highly focused manner.

What’s more, as they are narrowing down their selection, prospects can return over and over again to your lawyer video. Consider what happens when a new talk show host takes over a long-standing show, like The Tonight Show. Usually you have to watch the show a number of times before you are really comfortable with the new host. But then, after a few weeks, you feel like you know the new host. You might even forget about previous hosts!

Lawyer videos foster a personal connection with website visitors. They can help overcome the obstacle of an unknown person discussing a client’s innermost thoughts and wishes about a very intense subject. They boost your SEO rankings, because Google loves videos. And they can help you stand head and shoulders above other law firms who have failed to embrace this very important marketing tool.

Ready for Your Close-Up?

We’ve heard many different reasons for lawyers not to have a video on their website. The excuses range from “I’m waiting until I lose these last ten pounds” to “I need a new suit” and everything in between. For some people, the very idea of making a video creates anxiety. They are worried that they may not look good on camera, or they may say the wrong thing or that the experience will be a negative one.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. Let’s walk you through the experience of making a professionally produced video with our team at IMS.

You’re not going to be improvising. There’s nothing casual about the lawyer videos we produce. Before we even start filming, we have devoted a good deal of time to clarifying key messages and scripting your dialogue.

You’re not alone in the studio. You’ve got an entire team working with you, so while you are the only one in the video, there are people guiding you through every step of the process. They may be asking questions off screen, to be edited out during final production, or holding up cue cards in front of you. They’ll make sure you look your best on camera.

Planning your video may bring some surprising insights your way. Before you step into our studio, we’ll ask you a lot of questions about you and your law firm. We’ll talk about your answers and dig deeper before we start to craft messages that align with your overall marketing strategy. Clients often comment that they have never quite been able to articulate their law firm identity before. It’s what we do.

You’re going to like the way you look. With a well-outfitted studio and professional equipment that includes great lighting systems and high-quality video cameras, we create high-production-value videos. That means you will look good. We’ll make sure of it!

Editing makes everyone look better. Did you ever notice how movie stars always seem a little awkward on awards shows, when they are not working from a script? Everyone looks great with a script and editing. It will still be you, but better.

Making videos is painless. Promise. Let’s be clear about this: producing effective lawyer videos is hard work. Honing your message, determining what videos are needed to address your target audience, creating an engaging script that feels natural; all of these details take effort, time and expertise. But it’s a labor of love for our team. When the shoot is done, post-production is completed and you see the final product you’ll understand what we mean. It’s immensely gratifying for us and you.

Ready for your close up? Call James at 877-352-2021 ext. 80 to learn more.

Why Lawyers Who Have Them LOVE Their Lawyer Videos

IMS is a big fan of lawyer videos, and it’s not just because we enjoy spending time with clients, shooting the videos and editing them to perfection. We know how powerful a great lawyer video can be. We know because our clients tell us how much they love their videos and what their videos do for their practice.

We also know that lawyer videos do more than sell 24/7. They also draw people to your site, give them a chance to meet you before they actually meet you and enhance your SEO visibility.

Why isn’t there an IMS produced lawyer video on your website?

“I don’t have time.” How about booking a quick trip to Kansas this summer, when the corn is high and maybe your office is on the quiet side? We’re here, and we’d love to meet you in person.

We can also do on locations shoots as well, which will be great for getting great localizing shots that show you in your environment, at your firm and around and about in your community.

“I don’t like being on camera.” We get that a lot. Not everyone is comfortable being on camera. But when you work with a team of experienced videographers, you can rest easy. Your video will show you in the best possible light, as a polished professional who speaks with authority and credibility.

Additionally, we edit videos in such a way that the attorney isn’t in every frame of your video. The trend today is to show what you’re talking about, rather than just you talking into the camera the entire time.

“How will I know what to say?” We’ve got that covered too. We’ll spend some time with you mapping out exactly what it is that makes you and your practice special. You’ll be well scripted, rehearsed and ready to go when the producer yells “Action.”

 “What if I don’t like the finished product?” We will work with you and your video until you do more than like it–we’re going to make sure that you LOVE it.

Want to know what you’ll love even more?

When new clients who haven’t met you in person come into your office for a free consultation and say “I feel like I already met you” because they’ve seen your video.

Want to get started? Call James at 877-352-2021 ext.80.

Your Real Self and Your Lawyer Self

Is there a difference between your “real” self –and the “lawyer” self?

It all depends on how long you have been practicing law. Twenty or thirty years ago, you put on a different personality when you put on your suit and headed for the office or went to court. The lawyer in you might have had a little bit of a sterner personality, with little room for anything warm and fuzzy, only rarely letting your real emotions show.

And believe it or not, there were decades when women were discouraged from putting photos of children or family members in offices. Women were told that clients and colleagues might not think we took our work seriously enough.

But today, the brick wall between the working person and the outside of work person is only as high as a curb. We dress more casually in the office, with many attorneys only wearing suits or business dress if they are going to court. Expressions of personal style including photographs of family members are seen in everyone’s workspace, from attorneys and partners to associates and paralegals.

How times have changed!

Here’s another personal/office personality that has changed. Today we encourage attorneys to have videos on their websites and use this as an opportunity to introduce the attorneys as people to prospects. In other words, the very opposite of how attorneys used to be told to present themselves.

Let’s be clear: attorney videos must be professional, planned and have a purpose. But the real person of the attorney that you see on the video should be the real person. They should demonstrate their professionalism, their dedication to their clients and their effectiveness. But the video that succeeds most will be the one that also includes a slice of who they are, in real life.

Don’t have a video on your website? Call James at 877-352-2021 ext. 80 and learn how video can change up your estate planning practice.

Legal Marketing Boot Camp

Join us June 8-10 for Boot Camp and learn how a great lawyer video can help you attract and motivate your ideal clients to take action and move forward with you. There's only one seat left. Register today!