Don’t know who Jonathan Coulton is? Shame on you – here he is (not necessarily safe for work).

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Marketing your law firm using video may sound alternately compelling and scary. On the one hand, who doesn’t want their 15 minutes of fame? On the other hand, what if you look like an idiot on camera?

First, let’s talk about the extent of video online. The #2 search engine in the United States (behind Google) is YouTube. In fact, in August 2008 YouTube got 2.6 billion searches. Let it sink in – 2.6 billion people, and not all of them were looking for funny videos of Coca-Cola and Mentos.

Beyond that, realize that YouTube isn’t the only video sharing and distribution site in town. You’ve got places like Vimeo, Daily Motion, MetaCafe and a bunch of other places. Taken in the aggregate, 11 billion video clips were viewed in July 2008. That number is a year old as of this writing, so I’m sure it’s far higher now.

So 11 billion people are doing video searches and you’re stuck worrying about how well your site ranks on Google for the text stuff. Miss the video angle (no pun intended) and you’re missing the boat.

Now you’re saying, No way I’m going to use video to market my practice. I’ll look stupid on camera.

Here’s the news flash you don’t want to hear. If you look stupid on camera, chances are pretty good you look stupid to your clients. And because you’ve succeeded in actually getting some clients over time, you probably don’t look dumb to them, either.

(How do you like how I turned THAT one around?)

Seriously, the reason people look stupid on video is that they spend so much time thinking about the video camera. All you need to do is take a deep breath and try your best to forget there’s a camera in front of you.

Want a tip? Put a picture of your best friend, spouse, or child on the wall directly behind the camera. Talk to the picture. Works like a charm for me every time.

Still, you’re wondering why someone would possibly search for a lawyer on a video site. Simple – some people just learn better visually than by reading. Our brains work in different ways; for example, I need to read something to fully understand it. My wife, on the other hand, prefers to look at it. This comes in handy when we’re putting together furniture; I sit and read the directions while she stares at the picture on the box to visualize how it gets put together.

They’re out there, prospects for your law firm. They’re looking for a real person who can help them, and there’s no better way to humanize yourself than video. It shows your warmth, your personality, your smile and your mannerisms. It allows you to connect with your visitors and prospects in a way that is far more compelling that text or even audio.

Do you market your practice with video? Drop a comment (and a URL to one of your videos, if you dare) in the comments section below.

Image courtesy of Robert of Fairfax.

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I could go on and on, but I won’t. Because my colleague and fellow Solo Practice University faculty member Gerry Oginski – a wunderkind of online video for his New York medical malpractice practice – did this terrific guest post over at Blog for Profit.

Read it. Learn it. Use it.

By the way – for my videos (yes, I’m working on a bunch of them) I use the Canon Vixia HF10. Awesome little device, highly recommended.

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