In the busy world of an attorney, the notion of starting a podcast can seem like a more unnecessary “to-do” item on an already overcrowded checklist. Even if there is a little time, it can seem to pale in value compared to racking up billable hours. But a law firm podcast is a great marketing idea that can be undertaken at a minimal financial cost.
The first benefit is the SEO lift that will come. Google now indexes podcasts, so the page you post your show on will start drawing in organic traffic. Reliable studies estimate your organic search visits will jump by 15 percent and your ranking on the important keywords you build your show around will leap as much as 50 percent.
The reason is that a lawyer podcast can do the same thing that blogging can. It establishes you as an authority source. A person capable of talking about a focused topic for 30 minutes or so is likely to know what they’re talking about—and a search engine is therefore likely to rank that content high in its organic search listings.
These first 2 benefits have search engine spiders as their audiences, but the benefits of podcasting are even greater for real-life human beings. As lawyers, you’ve heard all the jokes about your profession (and probably instigated several of them). A podcast gives you a chance to come across as you are, a real-life person yourself.
If you’ve got a sense of humor, showcase that. If you’re the one at the office with an encyclopedic knowledge of every detail, make sure that comes across. Let the audience see the person that your family and colleagues know. Then, when people see your firm’s advertisements, it won’t be stereotypical lawyer thoughts that enter their minds. This is what the marketing profession calls branding.
Podcasting can also go hand-in-hand with blogging. Not everyone reads articles, but those that don’t read often will listen. You can podcast about the same topics that you blog about, thereby making new content development more efficient. With podcasting, you can reach people on their commutes and other places where reading isn’t possible.
Once you’ve committed to your law firm podcast, there are a few steps you’ll want to take to make sure your best foot is put forward.
- Get a nice logo designed for the show. If you don’t have anyone on staff with graphic design skills, freelancers are easy enough to find at an affordable price.
- For distribution, get an Apple ID and put the show out on iTunes. This alone gets you a potentially massive audience and if you categorize your show correctly, people interested in the law can easily find it.
- Finally, set up Event Tracking on Google Analytics, so you have data on how many people download the show directly on your website.
