The Next Legal Marketing Breakthrough: Video Billboards

Do a Google search for ‘West Palm Beach Car Accident Lawyer’ and you’ll see this result:

That big red video result at the top of the organic listings is called a Google Video Billboard, and if they haven’t yet entered your market, be assured, they’ll be there within the next 6-12 months.

Why is this is so important for attorneys?

World-renowned marketer Seth Godin made an observation in 2007 that attorneys should pay close attention to.

In his TED presentation and corresponding Fast Company article entitled ‘Purple Cow,’ Godin introduced the following concept:

“The American marketing mind grew up during the TV-industrial complex. Buying ads got you more distribution, sold more product, made you more of a profit with which you could buy more ads.”

The problem now is that the TV-industrial complex has been canceled. The model allowing us to interrupt people whenever we want is over.

Godin suggests that in its place, marketers and business owners (attorneys!) have to embrace the following concepts:

1. Ideas that spread, win.
2. Don’t be close and cheap—be the only pumpkin in the patch.
3. Your prospect’s favorite person is … themselves. They don’t want email from you. They want me-mail.
4. Normal cows are boring—purple cows are extraordinary.
5. On a bell curve, ignore the majority middle—they are professional “ignorers.” Instead make a beeline to sell to the geeks and the nerds—innovators and early adopters—and give them a way to make remarks about you.

So the question is, as an attorney, “What meets all these criteria?”

First, we would suggest that by its very nature—when a potential client visits Google and types in ‘Los Angeles Car Accident Lawyer,’ they immediately identify you as qualified—what happens after that is where Godin’s criteria must be considered.

1. Ideas That Spread, Win

When the search result appears, what is a better conveyor of you as an attorney—a text listing? Or a video of you explaining your passion about why you do what you do, why you fight the insurance companies or the prosecutors for your clients?

Winner: Video Billboards

2. Don’t Be Close and Cheap—Be the Only Pumpkin in the Patch

If the metaphor is a pumpkin patch, with the Google search results being the patch, then the only pumpkin in the patch is a Video Billboard at the top of the page—it literally jumps off the page and tends to be the only one on the page.

Winner: Video Billboards

3. Your Prospect’s Favorite Person Is … Themselves

Two attorneys take two different approaches with marketing to the ‘me’ consumer. One puts efforts into writing on-page content for his/her website (which is a great thing to do) that addresses 20 of the top questions car accident victims have about their case. The result is that the firm’s website top-ranks on Google with text listings when those questions are typed in.

The other attorney decides to get in front of a camera and address each of the 20 questions with 90-second videos and then puts those videos up on their YouTube channel. The result is that the videos appear at the top of the Google search results when those questions are typed in (assuming the attorney is working with a marketing company that actually knows how to get the videos to top-rank on Google).

Winner: Video Billboards

4. Normal Cows Are Boring—Purple Cows Are Extraordinary

A text listing on Google is ‘normal.’ The ‘purple cow’ extraordinary result is a Google Video Billboard.

Winner: Video Billboards

5. Target the Geeks and Nerds (Early Adopters and Innovators)

Again, by virtue of the fact the prospect is specifically looking for what you do, it qualifies them as paying attention. However, they have now become proficient at ignoring a standard experience and need to be interrupted. We would argue that a standard text result or a pay-per-click top position is starting to be ignored, particularly when the page also shows a Video Billboard.

Winner: Video Billboards

Finally, legal Video Billboards meet the final and most important criteria—something Godin refers to as ‘permission marketing’ where the business provides something “anticipated, personal and relevant.”

When your prospective client is combing Google to find ‘that special lawyer’—one who exudes confidence and empathy—there’s simply no better way to convey it than to have a 90-second video meeting them at their time of need.

This article originally appeared in the November/December issue of the PILMMA Insiders’ Journal. To learn more, visit:

http://www.LegalVideoBillboards.com