Cross selling is an elusive goal for law firms. The idea is simple: To interest clients that are using one practice area in using a second or third area. But the devil is in the details, and most cross-selling plans fail as soon as they meet one of several common objections.
As a result, to paraphrase Mark Twain, everyone talks about cross selling, but nobody is doing anything about it.
We often perceive a negative outcome in a legal case or a discredited witness in a trial to be a crisis, and we react principally to the danger attached to that concept. Our response at these times can make the crucial difference between success and failure. With every crisis, we must make a concerted effort to discover the opportunities inherent.
High-tech online tactics have been trotted out before, although never in relation to a Supreme Court nomination.
Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you always should." Never has that saying had more meaning than when it comes to Internet advertising. True, this new avenue for advertising has helped some companies exponentially increase their business, but the methods for "re-directing" prospective customers have come under great scrutiny by the courts in the last 6 months. Recent decisions warn that keyword advertising through paid placements such as "Sponsored" or "Featured" ads could lead you directly to the defendant's table in federal court.
Recent developments of note in the Internet industry. This month:
FCC Requires VoIP to Clean up Its 911 Act
House Votes to Eliminate Spyware
Intermix Settles Adware Suit with Spitzer
Despite their negative public images, Internet pop-up ads and unsolicited commercial e-mail (spam) have transfigured marketing. Like spam, Internet pop-ups can be lawful if they are not deceptive.
The Internet has provided an unprecedented opportunity for individuals to disseminate information widely at a very low cost. This means that virtually anybody who wants to distribute a message can do so.
It is this sense of empowerment that may drive individuals to spend the time and energy to create sites devoted to complaints about a particular product, service, company, organization, or individual. Frequently these sites employ trademarks owned by their targets, sometimes in the site's domain name itself, and always in the text of the site. Internet search engines pick these references up, so that the gripe sites often turn up side-by-side with official corporate sites in response to Internet searches.
Preliminary estimates of first-quarter e-commerce activity from the U.S. Census Bureau show a continued rise in the value of services and goods procured and exchanged online or by other electronic conduits.
A complete listing of everything in this issue.
Recent cases you need to know.
