Ustream.TV is catching on like wildfire.  It’s a technology that allows virtually anyone with a $100 webcam to broadcast a live TV show over the Internet.  And that’s exactly what I did for the first time tonight.  You can see the rather rough and raw video at the link below:

Live Video streamed by Ustream

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/legal-marketing-cafe 

Don’t be too critical - I wanted to capture my first attempt so that hopefully we will witness a progression as a better understanding of the interface emerges!

If you’d like to know more about Ustream.TV, check out this 6 minute video with the vision of the two West Point founders.

I’ve been hearing about a web 2.0 site called “Twitter.”  When somebody uses twitter they are said to “tweet.”  I have to tell you that this terminology really didn’t strike me as anything that I would ever be involved in.  However, tonight I signed up for my own twitter account and now I tweet!  As a matter of fact if you go to the calendar page on my website you will be able to follow my twitter account. 

Here’s why I did it.  I continue to study and explore social media and tonight I am listening to a series of videos, one of which is about www.twitter.com.  The forecast is that this is a rapidly growing phenomena and I so I want to understand it. 

Recency often replaces authority.  Google is giving us an in to page one as they continue to change the rules.  How is it affecting media?  When I search for something that is current, I see results on news from places like PR Web.  How do we get there?  We do a press release.  If we want to dominate and play with the big boys we need to write content and do media everyday.  It’s pretty intense.  Twitter will track you as you do that.

I am now set up to syndicate my twitter updates on facebook, my space and my website.  I can simply send a text message and all 3 places will be instantly updated so that anybody that wants to know what I am doing can quickly see that.

Web 2.0 is an exciting arena.  Twitter is just a small part of it.  If you want to try it, go to www.twitter.com and sign up for a free account.

Vivaty is a start-up based in Menlo Park, Calif.  An article in the New York Times today talked about their developing 3-D virtual chat rooms that can be added to web pages and social networking profiles on the sites where they spend most of their Internet time.  They are apparently planning to test the new technology on Facebook this week and then release it in wider form this summer. 

The reason this article captured my attention is because of the following statement:

“…The company plans to make money partly by allowing companies to start their own virtual rooms on their own Web sites, where they can control the decor and their marketing messages.”

One more avenue for interaction on the web.  Why is it important that we evaluate these types of opportunities?  As I continue to conduct both quantitative and qualitative market research on Client Advisory Panel members in law firms throughout the US, I am finding a clear trend.  These participants, who generally represent a firms best clients, are very heavy internet users.  A vast majority spend 2 or more hours on the web daily, and state that they research everything on the web.  Approximately 1/3 of these individuals state that their friends often refer to them as “computer geeks.” 

In light of these findings I believe it is imperative that we continually evaluate new web based marketing opportunities.  Vivaty is simply one of them.

I believe that the Internet will continue to change the way we do business.  I don’t think I’d get much of an argument from anybody on that.  However, when I talk with my clients about strategic marketing initiatives that are web based, I often hear something like this “our clients don’t have computers so that probably wouldn’t work for them.”  I hear it less and less, but I still hear it. 

Well, I believe that the scales have tipped the other way and the majority of our clients do have computers.  That is confirmed to me more and more as I watch the email lists of my clients grow and I look at open and click through rates on emails that we send to clients.  I also see and measure pass along on some of the multimedia emails that we send and the opportunity that provides to grow our databases.

 It is such an exciting time to be a marketer.  Social networking, online video, email, podcasts, screencasts, the list is endless.  Are your clients on the web?  Yes they are - in droves.  If you’re not utilizing web based marketing strategies beyond just having a website, I recommend that you research options and make a few of these strategies part of your 2008 marketing program.

My Space allows members to customize their individual profile and in the process they have an opportunity to learn a great deal about their members.  So it just makes sense that in the very near future My Space advertising will be targeted based on the members profiles - just like we saw foreshadowed in the movie Minority Report a few years ago.

In today’s New York Times there was an article entitled “MySpace to Discuss Latest Efforts to Customize Ads for Members.”  According to the article “MySpace, the Web’s largest social network and one of the most trafficked sites on the Internet, says that after experimenting with technology over the last six months it can tailor ads to the personal information that its 110 million active users leave on their profile pages.”

 Currently when I visit My Space I see mass-market pitches for mortgages, online dating, etc.  But, if the future unfolds as anticipated, we may soon be presented with customized pitches during our online experience.  If and when that happens, the response will undoubtedly increase significantly, but the cost of the advertising will be greater as well.  Sounds like a win win to me!

In 2002 I went to see a Tom Cruise film called Minority Report.  It’s set in the year 2054 and portrays the writer’s vision for the future.  What I found most fascinating about this film was the portrayal of the hero being pitched personalized ads.  I thought to myself “is this what we can expect in the future.  Will I walk down a street and see ads that speak to me, Cindy Speaker?  And will those ads be targeted to my demographic and or psychographic information?”

 Well, imagine my surprise when I opened the New York Times the other day and read that the future I saw in Minority Report is apparently soon to become a reality?

According to David W. Kenny, chairman and chief executive of a company called Digitas, “the plan is to build a global digital ad network that uses offshort labor to create thousands of versions of ads.  Then, using data about consumers and computer algorithms, the network will decide which advertising message to show at which moment to every person who turns on a computer, cellphone or - eventually - a television.  More simply put, the goal is to transform advertising from mass messages and 30-second commercials that people chat about around the water cooler into personalized messages for each potential customer.”

Wow!  I can’t help but ponder how this development can best be utilized by our industry?  How can we deliver personalized ads to our clients, ads that reflect what we’ve learned about them? 

I don’t know the answer to that question but I do have a few recommendations:

1.  Tune in to mobile marketing.  I believe this strategy will be something that will serve our industry well.  We need to pay attention and learn so that when the time comes to embrace mobile marketing we are prepared and able to position our firms as first in the market to use this medium.
2.  Recognize every point of contact with your clients as an opportunity to learn something more about them. 
3.  Put more emphasis on your database.  Record every point of contact so that it becomes the foundation for your future more personalized advertising efforts.

Google’s view of the future is that the cost of voice calls and data connections to the Internet may soon be partly subsidized by advertisements brought to users by Google’s powerful online advertising machine.

Apparently Google intends to bid on getting a piece of the nation’s airways so that they can make this dream a reality.  And if anybody can do it, this media giant certainly can.

But let’s think about that and how it might play out for our industry.  I wonder if at some future time we might have “The Smith Firm Cellphone Plan” available to our community where we subsidize the cost of a cellphone and in return we include our advertising on the phone.

I recently subscribed to the New York Times online, my favorite newspaper,  I get the early edition delivered to my desktop each morning and as I scan the articles I am met with various advertising messages.  Most of the time I click on “skip this ad” but I do see the opening screen and get a feel for who advertises.  But you know what, I feel very favorable about this advertising because I am getting a very nice service in return.  I get valuable information that would normally cost me a buck a day.  And, more importantly I get convenience.  So, I am fine with having to regularly view various advertisements.  I just wonder if we, in the PI industry, might find a way to leverage the expected value of mobile marketing in a similar way?

Did you know that cellphone carriers are now mandated by the Federal Communication Commission to provide location information for 911 emergency use?  Many now have G.P.S. chips that can pinpoint the phone’s location to within a few feet.

This is really interesting and lends itself to further discussion.  If “we” have the ability to know where exactly a person is physically located and we combine that with “our” extensive databases that include demographic, psychographic and other data, doesn’t it follow that in the near future “our” ads could be targeted not only in the message but by location?

For instance, if we want to reach potential consumers that were travelling a particular  road during a certain time period when a serious accident occurred, this technology could be even more effective then sending direct mail to accident victims - because most likely it will be far more cost effective and it will be immediate.   

I encourage you to brainstorm the possibilities.  Because of the continuing advancements in technology, we are really only limited by our own imaginations!

If you haven’t set up a LinkedIn account yet, this is something you want to do.  It’s free and it will take you about 10 minutes.  Simply go to www.linkedin.com and sign up for a free account. 

I would love to be your first connection!  You can find me at http://www.linkedin.com/in/cindyspeaker .  I actually learned about linkedin after speaking at a conference.  One of the attendees, Ed Smith, was kind enough to write an unsolicited recommendation and sent me an invitation to connect.  I did.  It was that easy.

LinkedIn is the brainchild of Reid Hoffman.  He refers to the site as an opportunity for “relationship capital management (RCM).”  If you’ve heard of the Kevin Bacon concept of six degrees of separation, you will easily understand this.

Now, while you have a minute, sign up or leave a comment on this post with your name and email address and I’ll send you an invitation to get you started!

I picked up the New York Times the other day and on the front page there was an article entitled “Internet Giants Vie to Snap Up Web Ad Firms.”  It talked about the race among industry power players like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL to acquire small Internet advertising companies. 

NYT writer Miguel Helft states that “underlying the deals…is a transformation of the advertising world away from traditional media like television, radio and print.”  It is directly after that statement that chief executive of 360i, Bryan Wiener, makes the profound revelation that “we’ve reached a tipping point.”

How does this relate to the legal industry, and more specifically PI law?  How much time do you have?  LOL  The fact is the writing is on the wall.  Traditional mass media is experiencing diminished results with each passing month.  Replacing it in power and pervasiveness are targeted efforts to capture the vast niche audiences that turn to the Internet to assess credibility and make purchase decisions.

Bottomline:  it’s time to reallocate some of your traditional mass media advertising resources to the web.  Many opportunities exist in this arena so study it and choose your venues carefully.  Just don’t wait too long.