TV can be a great marketing tool for lawyers, but it has limitations: (a) a 30 to 60 second message; (b) the need to gain your viewer’s confidence in 30 or 60 seconds; and (c) the need for the potential client to remember how to contact your firm. I believe you can use online video to do some things that you just can’t do on TV. We tried this in a video that we recently used in a Yamaha Rhino campaign. The Rhino is a side-by-side off road vehicle that rolls over very easily. It’s caused hundreds of deaths, amputations, and crushed bones. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating the Rhino, buy Yamaha acts as if there’s no problem. I thought Yamaha deserved a satirical look at their inaction. Here’s the video:
Some interesting questions have been raised by a lawsuit filed by the National Association of the Blind against Target, which operates both retail stores and the target.com website. The lawsuit alleged that Target’s website, discriminated against blind users in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The lawsuit alleged that the website lacked alt-text, required the use of a mouse to complete a transaction, and contained other graphical features which prevented blind users from navigating and making full use of all of the functions of Target.com. [click to continue…]
According to an article in today’s LawyersUSA, at least two class actions have been filed over allegedly defective Chinese drywall used in thousands of homes. The Chinese drywall allegedly emits a sulfur gas that makes the homes uninhabitable, with an unbearable “rotten egg” smell. The gas also allegedly corrodes electrical wiring, plumbing, air conditioning units and other metals in the homes. A plaintiff’s attorney estimates the damages in the hundred million dollar range.
One plaintiffs’ attorney, Ervin A. Gonzalez of Colson Hicks in Coral Gables, Florida, predicted that there may be 65,000 plaintiffs around the country. Both lawsuits are filed on behalf of Florida residents. Jordan Chaikin, another attorney for the plaintiffs, said suits are likely to spread to other states where the drywall was used, including Alabama, California, the Carolinas, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York and Virginia. [click to continue…]
I usually attend the Mass Torts Made Perfect seminars in Las Vegas twice a year. They’re always loaded with great speakers, great topics, and they provide a painless way to get your CLE. They also give you some great ideas about litigation you might find interesting. But I’ve got the flu, or a reasonable facsimile, and will be cancelling my flight and hotel reservations after making this post. The next seminar is October 15 and 16, 2009 at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. I hope to see you there.
A site named ask in wiki claims to have a list of the top 777 paying keywords from 2008. I don’t know if it’s accurate, but if it is, it’s interesting to see how many of the top keywords are related to personal-injury litigation. Mesothelioma lawsuits are especially sought-after, with bids starting at more than $85.00. [click to continue…]
I recently bought a book entitled “What Would Google Do?” It’s written by Jeff Jarvis, who blogs at buzzmachine.com. In addition to the intriguing title, my attention was captured by raving reviews on the cover by Chris Anderson (author of The Long Tail), Craig Newmark (founder of craigslist.com) and other Web 2.0 gurus. With these guys all describing how revolutionary the book is, how could I go wrong by devoting a few hours to reading it? [click to continue…]
I just saw an interesting article at Law.com asking whether pay-per-click advertising is worth it for small law firms. The article interviewed Miles Cooper, Managing Attorney of the Veen Firm in San Francisco. He said their firm had always relied on a steady diet of attorney referrals and what Cooper refers to as “cold calls.” I suppose Cooper was referring to potential clients calling the firm, even though I always thought of (and Wikipedia defines) cold calling as the process of approaching prospective customers or clients. Anyway, about a year ago the firm noticed a drop-off in “cold calls,” leading the firm to begin a pay-per-click ad campaign this January. “It was a philosophical jump for us,” Cooper said. “We thought of ourselves as one of the more prominent firms in the city, not a 1-800 ambulance firm. … But we need to make sure that our names are out there.” [click to continue…]
Today Bloomberg reports that heart patients taking the anti-clotting drug Plavix were 25% more likely to die or be readmitted to a hospital if they also took pills to prevent stomach bleeding. This conclusion came from a study of 8,205 acute coronary syndrome patients given Plavix after being discharged from Veterans Affairs hospitals from October 2003 to January 2006. About 30 percent of patients taking the stomach medicines, known as proton pump inhibitors, died or were readmitted, compared with 21 percent of those given only Plavix. The information was contained in a report issued today by the Journal of the American Medical Association.
In an interview yesterday with CNBC’s Bill Griffeth and New York Times reporter Andrew Ross, Google’s CEO said he’s bullish on mobile advertising–suggesting the medium can target consumers more easily. That’s really not surprising, considering Google’s December 8, 2008 announcement of a new option that allows AdWords advertisers to show desktop text and image ads on the iPhone, the T-Mobile G1, and other mobile devices with full (HTML) Internet browsers. With more powerful browsers on mobile devices such as iPhones and Blackberrys, people are using cell phones for more than voice communication and email these days, and the trend is certain to grow.
In the interview yesterday, Google’s CEO said of mobile ads, “They should be worth more, advertisers should be willing to pay more, and there should be greater conversions, which is ultimately what advertising is about,” he said.
I agree. That’s what led me some time ago to stock up on a variety of legal-related .mobi (for “mobile”) domain names. All of my .mobi names are suitable for mobile websites, but a few are perfect for development as iPhone apps. Google announced in December 2008 that users had already downloaded 3 million iPhone apps, and that number continues to grow.
If you’re a lawyer, legal marketer or iPhone application developer interested in developing iPhone apps or mobile sites targeted at lawyer advertising, feel free to contact me to discuss development and/or advertising possibilities.
Should lawyers Twitter? For those who haven’t been keeping up with what’s going on in the “social media,” Twitter is what some call a micro-blog service that lets you post 140-character messages any time you feel like it. The Wall Street Journal’s technology blog Digits reported that Google’s Eric Schmidt referred to Twitter Tuesday as “a poor man’s email system.”
I’ve never thought anybody cared to know what I do all through the day, so I’ve never bothered to Twitter. Nevertheless, some marketing experts are now pushing everyone to Twitter, including lawyers. [click to continue…]
