How lawyers can use the Internet, social media, online video, and technology to attract clients, be more effective, make more money, and have more fun.
Social media has become “the next big thing” for those of us involved in Internet legal marketing. Because most attorneys are late adapters, there aren’t a lot of law firms getting clients from social media. When law firms do use social networks, it’s deemed worthy of a Wall Street Journal article. But I believe I can show you how attorneys can successfully use social media in a mass tort legal marketing campaign.
I’ve used the Internet for legal marketing in mass tort cases for over 10 years, and I’ve used online video as part of my legal marketing for 2 years. But I didn’t add Twitter and Facebook to my toolbox until the last year. It’s one thing to read books about social media marketing; it’s another to actually do it. Most of the really valuable experience I’ve gotten with social media has come in the last 7 weeks as I’ve blogged, Tweeted and used Facebook to interact with people about the Gulf oil spill.
I’ve recently been blogging (with some help) about the Gulf oil spill at BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig. When I started the blog, I was struck by the fact that there were no pay-per-click lawyer ads when I used Google News to search for articles. But that changed in a hurry. Within a couple of days the lawyer ads began emerging in an ever escalating war to sign up claimants. When mass tort ad campaigns such as this start, I’m usually either involved in it professionally or I follow the campaigns because I find them interesting and, sometimes, educational. As of the time that I’m writing this post, there are seven law firm ads displayed on Google News when you run a “BP oil spill” or “Gulf oil spill” search. Seven law firms and one almost unnoticeable ad by BP.
Perhaps it’s the technology geek in me, or my interest in Internt marketing, but I enjoyed comparing the ads. The lawyer ads all utilized the top line of the ad well, with large blue letters proclaiming something such as “Gulf Oil Spill Lawsuit” or “BP Oil Spill Lawsuit.” BP’s ad, by comparison, simply said “Spill” on the top line. It’s as if they are ashamed to be associated with it, and don’t want to admit which particular “spill” it is they are talking about. But if BP is too embarrassed to shout out its message in a way that competes with the lawyer ads, why even buy an ad on Google? And if BP, a company which had profits of $6.1 billion in the first quarter of 2010, wants to run an ad on Google, why doesn’t it bid high enough to rank higher than sixth out of eight ads?
As I’ve mentioned on this blog before, I’m involved in an Internet campaign to spread information and make legal services available to people who have had the misfortune to find Chinese drywall installed in their homes or businesses. As we’ve done many times over the past decade, my partner and I have organized an alliance of law firms in multiple states, with lawyers licensed to practice law in most of states with significant numbers of cases, including Louisiana, Florida, Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama and many others. I’ll state at the outset that I believe that the only way a homeowner with a Chinese drywall problem is going to get the problem fixed is to file a lawsuit, either by joining in the MDL in New Orleans, or by filing an individual lawsuit against the builder and suppliers. I do not recommend that anyone wait around for the Consumer Product Safety Commission or some other governmental agency to fix their homes. And I believe that any delay by a homeowner before filing suit is simply time he or she loses in getting the money to replace the drywall.
When I began this project, I believed it would follow the same course as previous mass tort projects on which I have worked since 2000; cases such as those involving the deadly liver drug Rezulin, the cholestoral drug Baycol, artificial Sulzer Hip and Knee Joints, Diet Drug Litigation (diet drugs caused heart damage and primary pulmonary hypertension (a potentially life-threatening lung condition) among many people who had no history of heart problems), Yamaha Rhino rollovers (caused by design defects in the Rhinos), etc. I expected to create one or more websites that was full of information, optimize the website so it could be easily found by searchers who were looking for the information and services we offered, and make it as easy as possible for those people become informed and retain us if they wanted to do so.
This project has been somewhat different. Although we are getting substantial traffic to our website, and are talking to a number of people on the telephone and are reviewing a number of case review forms, I am getting the sense that, compared with our previous mass tort cases, a higher percentage of CDW victims don’t seem to know what to do.
I have my own hypothesis. I can’t remember being involved in a mass tort in which so many politicians and governement agencies are involved. Every politician seems to want to express his/her outrage, particularly if his/her constituents are affected by the problem. And the relevant governmental agencies feel obligated to release reports, even if the reports don’t really reach any conclusions. Then the politicians go back and complain about the slow manner in which the government is dealing with the problem, and several dozen news articles are written or put on television everytime one of these things happens. A Google News search today for “Chinese drywall” returns 922 articles. And none of them provide real, comprehensive advice about how the homeowner can get the problem resolved. If a person runs a Google search for the commonly-searched term “Chinese sheetrock,” a post I wrote on our Chinese Drywall Attorney Alliance site is the top-ranked lawyer-provided page. But it still doesn’t appear in the top ten results on Google.
For example, on Nov. 23, 2009, the lawyers for the Consumer Product Safety Commission wrote a letter to Senators Bill Newlson and Mark Warner, and representatives Jim Webb and Glenn Nye. A great deal of waffling is found in the letter, which concedes that investigators eyes were irritated when they inspected homes with Chinese drywall (CDW), but the letter didn’t make a single recommendation telling people what they should do.
I admit I have bemoaned the ugly Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) sometimes created by Google when someone searches for a mass-tort related term. Somehow, it appears slightly hucksterish to see all those page titles saying “[name your tort or defective product] Lawsuit, lawyer, attorney, law firm….” But if you run a Google search for “Chinese drywall” the top ten results are news results (as of Thanksgiving day 2009). None of the news articles offers help getting the money to remove and replace your drywall. I’m as big a news junkie as anyone (hey, Google News is my homepage), but the integration of News results into Google web search seems to be going a bit too far. I still believe many people search Google News for news articles, but search Google web for more in-depth information and the type information they need to solve problems.
Am I forgetting the ability of lawyers to appear at the time of Google by purchasing pay-per-click ads? No, but the most recent data I saw on the issue still indicates that people are about twice as likely to click on an organic (natural) listing rather than a pay-per-click listing. Even though I sometimes use pay-per-click ads, I still believe at least a few good legal marketers should be able to find their way to put genuinely helpful information onto the first page of Google’s results with the necessity of resorting to pay-per-click advertising.
There may be other instances in which the heavy integration of traditional news into the top of Google’s web search results are beneficial, but I don’t think it’s helping CDW victims who are trying to decide what they need to do to solve their CDW problem. Call me a skeptic, but I don’t believe anyone is going to get his or her Chinese drywall problem solved by a person who walks up with a CPSC card and says “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help you.” I think the challenge for those of us with information and services that can actually help Chinese drywall victims is to break through the noise that has been created by politicians, political agencies, and the news media, and continue putting out a message of clarity that is easily found by those who are searching for help with their Chinese drywall problems.
I expect to lauch ConsumerNews.com within weeks (after having fired and replaced a developer). Pro-consumer lawyers and others who want to communicate directly to consumers will have an avenue via that site, especially if they are communicating on a topic that is news-driven, such as Chinese drywall. If you or your organization is interested in being a sponsor or advertiser on ConsumerNews.com, which will cover stories of interest to consumers from a distinctively pro-consumer point-of-view, please contact me.
As I concentrate more of my time and resources on ConsumerNews.com, I’ve decided to part with some legal domain names that I bought when I thought I might use them. Names such as AsbestosReporter.com, ConsumerLawNetwork.com, and many more. [click to continue…]
One of the projects in which I am involved is the ATV Attorney Alliance, a national network of law firms we organized to pursue ATV accidents–primarily the Yamaha Rhino, an incredibly unstable vehicle which can roll over at low speeds on flat ground. To make matters worse for Rhino owners, many of the Rhinos were sold without adequate protection to keep riders’ arms and legs in the vehicles. We have used an online marketing campaign for about a year in an effort to: (1) educate consumers to the dangers of the Rhino, (2) put pressure on Yamaha to recall the Rhino, and (3) obtain clients who have been injured or lost family members due to Rhino rollover accidents.
We started calling for a Yamaha Rhino recall in blog posts almost a year before the recall came.
4) On November 27, 2008 after the death of 2 Mississippi girls, we took our Rhino recall campaign in a different direction, this time producing a video for YouTube explaining how dangerous Rhinos are and why they roll over so easily. 5) And finally, due to the lack of response by Yamaha to the requests for a Rhino recall, on March 13, 2009, we launched an Internet campaign which included producing and distributing the video satire that appears in my March 26, 2009, blog post below on this site. That video was designed to dramatize Yamaha’s callous failure to issue a Rhino recall.
On March 31, 2009, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”) and Yamaha announced that all Yamaha Rhino models are being recalled. Owners were told to immediately stop using the Rhinos. All Rhinos are to be returned to Yamaha dealers to have repairs that are intended to solve the Rhinos’ problems, and no new Rhinos will be sold until the repairs have been made on them. (Forgive me, but I believe I’ll take a wait-and-see attitude before deciding whether the newly repaired Rhinos are safe for their intended use.) I have to admit, after trying to get Rhinos recalled for almost a year, it was gratifying to see these dangerous vehicles recalled. I hope the repairs are adeqate to render the vehicles safe for future riders.
Unfortunately for the hundreds of people who have been permanently injured or killed in Yamaha Rhino rollovers, the Yamaha Rhino recall came too late.
For more information about the recall, check out Yamaha Rhino recall blog I started over the weekend.
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:
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.
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…]
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 6-3 that FDA approval of a prescription drug label does not preempt state tort claims by persons injured by the drug, according to Bloomberg and other sources. “Congress did not intend FDA oversight to be the exclusive means of ensuring drug safety and effectiveness,” Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the court. The ruling affirmed a $7 million award to a musician who lost her arm after being injected with Wyeth’s Phenergan nausea treatment.
This settles an issue which has hung over consumers and the plaintiffs’ bar for several years. The Bush administration had agressively pushed for FDA preemption, as well as preemption in a number of other areas.
A blog for lawyers about technology, legal marketing, mass torts, consumer advocacy, and protecting the rights of individuals.
What can we do together? Since 1999 I've been using the Internet, websites, blogs, online video, Twitter and other social media to help thousands of injured people find great lawyers. We've organized national networks of lawyers in over forty states to take on Pfizer, Bayer, Yamaha and other multinational corporations. We've put consumers on a level playing field, and had fun doing it. If you're a great lawyer looking for more clients, contact me and let's see what we can do together.
Use the Contact Form or connect with me onLinkedIn, follow me on Twitter @evansmichaelj, or connect on Facebook.
What can we do together? Since 1999 I've been using the Internet, websites, blogs, online video, Twitter and other social media to help thousands of injured people find great lawyers. We've organized national networks of lawyers in over forty states to take on Pfizer, Bayer, Yamaha and other multinational corporations. We've put consumers on a level playing field, and had fun doing it. If you're a great lawyer looking for more clients, contact me and let's see what we can do together.
Use the Contact Form or connect with me on