Yes, you read that correctly. Sixty videos. All videos ranged in length from two and a half minutes to nine minutes, shot without a tripod, without any lighting equipment and shot without a wireless microphone.
What the heck am I doing creating videos without all these things? I’ll tell you what I’m doing. I’m doing a series of micro marketing experiments. Each video, an experiment to see if I can create great legal marketing videos without the need for all my gear.
After years of taking all my gear with me, I decided to experiment. I wanted to travel ‘light’. I wanted to be able to whip out my camera and start talking. Anywhere, anytime, with just my iPhone and an external microphone that plugged into my iPhone.
If you remember from my other articles, it doesn’t matter what camera you use to shoot your videos. You still need to be mindful of lighting, sound and video quality. Mess up any one of those and you run the risk of losing your viewers quickly.
I began experimenting with creating raw and unedited video, casual video, conversational video, video with mistakes, video with pauses and video with coughs. Stuff that you’d never expect to see in a ‘professional’ video. I’d try to find some shade along the beach, I tried holding the phone vertically for some videos, then holding the phone horizontally.
I found that shooting video in direct sunlight sucks, it makes everything dark. I found that shooting a video about an hour before sunset was the best. The lighting was perfect, and the sun didn’t interfere with how I was illuminated.
I also came to the realization that wearing my prescription sunglasses while shooting video on the beach was beneficial for my eyes but not ideal for my videos. It meant that my viewers wouldn’t be able to see my eyes! This is critically important if you want to form a bond and generate trust with your viewers.
Audio on the Beach
My next challenge was playing around with my audio. I knew from experience that although the microphone on my iPhone X was excellent, it would be terrible if I were shooting video at the beach. It would pick up all the wind noise and nobody would be able to hear a damn thing I was saying. That meant I needed an alternative. I did a lot of research on wired microphones, wireless microphones, boom microphones, lapel microphones and, camera mounted microphones. All had advantages and disadvantages. I wanted something reliable with excellent quality audio. I didn’t want something big and bulky. My needs were precise: It had to have a windscreen. It had to be customizable to change the audio pick-up pattern depending on where I was shooting. It had to be small and more importantly, it had to be reliable. I finally decided on a small external microphone that plugged into my iPhone lightning port and pointed right at me. It had a windscreen and it had an app for my iPhone that allowed me to play around and customize the audio direction.
Using only my iPhone and my plug-in external microphone, I started shooting video. I’d go with my wife to the beach for an hour in the morning while she picked shells. In that one hour, I’d often get six or seven videos done depending on how tired I was at that hour.
Later in the day around sunset, I’d shoot another four or five videos. Some vertically, some horizontally. The vertical ones were intended for Instagram. The horizontal ones were intended for YouTube. Then I figured it doesn’t really matter. It’s all an experiment anyway.
“How Do You Come Up With These Topics?”
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I can take a single topic and create ten or twenty different topics just from that one. Just change the perspective. In one video, I can talk about how an attorney evaluates a medical malpractice case. Then, I can change the perspective using the client as the one trying to learn what they need to know in order to bring a valid malpractice case. Then I can change the perspective again to what my medical expert needs to prove in order to show the jury that you have a valid medical malpractice case.
The topic is the same, but the viewpoint and perspective are different in each video.
Final Observation & 9 Takeaways
One final observation about these micro marketing experiments.
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I’ve noticed much more viewer engagement with this style of video. I’ve also noticed more views and minutes watched over a shorter period after each video has gone live. YouTube and other social media platforms tend to give greater exposure to videos that generate more watch time within the first 24 hours of a video release. I’ve noticed that happening with these videos although it’s early to reach conclusions yet.
What can you take away from my micro marketing experiments?
1. Grab your iPhone and start shooting some video.
2. Be casual and conversational.
3. Be mindful of your lighting, your audio, and your video quality.
4. Test, test, and test.
5. Try it out and see if you like it.
6. Try it and see what kind of viewer engagement you get. (That does not mean ask your spouse, your kids or your law partners what they think.)
7. Don’t give up your ‘professional quality’ video; that still forms the backbone of your legal marketing videos. This merely supplements what you’re doing.
8. Make sure to cross promote your iPhone videos on all your social media platforms and on your website.
9. Ignore everyone who says your casual videos look corny or unprofessional. They have no idea what they’re talking about.
Now get out of your office and keep making those videos!
