Companions within the largest regulation companies could have devoted public relations employees who can tackle the work of growing podcast guesting methods to construct on their present status whereas additional growing title recognition and regulation agency visibility. For everybody else, showing because the professional visitor on a podcast whose content material has a transparent connection to your space of regulation is usually a extremely efficient software for undertaking the identical objectives, however you’ll seemingly have to do a lot of the work of vetting podcasts and pitching concepts for a visitor spot your self. You’ll clearly need to maximize your returns on these “non-billable” hours, so it pays to take a while upfront to think about what goes into an efficient technique for leveraging podcast guesting to develop your regulation agency.
How To Decide a Podcast
From time to time, an lawyer could also be fortunate sufficient to seek out {that a} podcaster is looking for them out as a result of the podcaster (or their programming/manufacturing staff) already acknowledges the lawyer’s experience and has a selected authorized matter in thoughts for presentation to the podcast viewers. This state of affairs could typically unfold when a podcast is growing an episode or collection on a topic with which a selected lawyer or regulation agency has substantial expertise.
Typically, nonetheless, the choice to strive podcasting as a software for growing consciousness of your regulation agency will seemingly come first, and will probably be as much as you to take the primary steps towards making your podcast debut a actuality. In that occasion, you will want to begin by selecting a podcast to which you’ll be able to pitch successfully, based mostly on the “match” between your authorized experience and the podcast’s themes and audience. Every scenario shall be distinctive, however there are a number of basic components most aspiring podcast visitors could discover useful to think about.
What To Look For: Viewers
For many individuals, their first intuition in figuring out a podcast the place they could wish to make a visitor look is to search for a program they themselves take heed to and recognize. It’s pure to “begin with what you understand,” however until the folks you’d most like to achieve are very very similar to your self, pitching to a podcast that you simply personally take heed to could not make sense.
Ask your self whether or not your precedence is to achieve different legal professionals vs. to place your title and experience in entrance of people that is perhaps occupied with hiring your regulation agency. Each objectives are legitimate, however they suggest totally different audiences and due to this fact totally different approaches to podcast choice. When you actually need to attain different attorneys to cement your skilled status, then a podcast aimed toward unpacking vital questions and challenges confronting the authorized occupation could also be price sending a pitch. When you primarily hope to teach folks within the teams from which your personal purchasers sometimes come, then chances are you’ll have to do some brainstorming to determine content material areas (and due to this fact podcasts) that get pleasure from reputation among the many represented teams.
You might also need to contemplate whether or not there are teams (outlined by age, by curiosity, by location, and so forth) that appear like a really perfect match to your regulation agency’s companies, however from which you get fewer purchasers than you suppose you must, or than you prefer to. Figuring out a podcast whose viewers has substantial overlap along with your base of potential purchasers is usually a extremely efficient technique for creating focused consciousness with the individuals who can “transfer the needle” when it comes to your regulation agency progress.
What To Look For: Topical Protection
There’s actually no level in growing a pitch to ship to a podcast’s programming employees as a result of the podcast’s viewers has a powerful overlap along with your potential shopper base if the podcast itself doesn’t constantly deal with matters you’ll be able to communicate to with authority. In some situations, you will have the duty of explaining, in your pitch, a authorized query that connects to a latest or (even higher) recurring theme for the podcast.
For instance, in the event you work in an property planning agency, then the nuances of tax planning or the particular particulars of state regulation regarding homestead property is perhaps helpful to the audiences of a monetary administration podcast. When you run a small household regulation apply, then the problems folks generally overlook in drafting their parenting agreements could also be of curiosity to the listeners of a podcast on parenting extra usually. Be sure you can clearly articulate how the data you provide addresses a necessity or curiosity of the podcast’s viewers, and purpose to attract specific connections between your material experience and the podcast’s typical programming.
What To Look For: Tone and Different Friends
“You can be identified by the corporate you retain,” because the saying goes. This isn’t an argument for snobbery however ensure that the podcast host is somebody whose professionalism you belief, and that this system’s (different) visitors are sometimes folks you are feeling snug being related to. Relying on the kind of regulation you apply and the best way you favor to place your agency, chances are you’ll not need to seem back-to-back with visitors identified for his or her excessive “sizzling takes,” or in a context the place the general discourse suggests a lax dedication to ethics. As a associated consideration, reviewing latest episodes to get a way of the professions and views represented by the choice of visitors also can assist to make clear whether or not a selected podcast is really a great wager to your pitch.
What To Look For: Format and Frequency
Listening to some previous visitors can provide you a really feel for the general format of the podcast, in addition to who seems in it. Take the time to hear to some full episodes of any podcast you will have recognized as a great potential match. Take note of pacing: How lengthy does the host usually permit for a visitor to develop their ideas on a query earlier than transferring on to the following matter? How frequent are the opposite matter adjustments? How lengthy is every episode when aired? Are a number of visitors interviewed in every, or do episodes generally characteristic a number of brief conversations?
Very importantly, additionally, you will need to affirm how usually and the way recurrently new episodes are launched. Test any obtain or view numbers, in the event you can; a bigger viewers for the podcast clearly means a bigger potential platform to your experience, however well-established, already-popular podcasts with giant followings may additionally be tougher to pitch efficiently. Goal for a stability between visibility and your likelihood to craft a pitch that stands out amongst these acquired by the programming staff.
Put up-Pitch Protocol
When you obtain an immediate sure, nice! You’ll be able to coordinate with the podcast host (or their program growth employees, relying on the scale of their operation) to discover a date and ensure your speaking factors are ready to handle the core issues of the podcast viewers. When you obtain an instantaneous rejection, don[t let it discourage you; take the moment as an opportunity to review your pitch and look for ways to further refine your technique so that you can try again, with a different program. If a few days go by and you have received no response at all, there are a few “next steps” you can consider taking to secure your best chance at a podcast guesting spot.
You will probably want to plan to send more than one follow-up message. Similar to the email sequence you might send to a “warm” lead (but with different content), these messages can be staggered over a few weeks. Aim for a “soft” check-in to touch base (and put your name in the podcast host’s inbox again) about three to four days after your initial pitch. If more time passes and you still have not heard back, write a follow-up email reiterating the main points of your pitch and underscoring why you are eager to work with this podcast and how you think you can serve their audience. Aim to send this message somewhere between 10 to 15 days after your previous check-in. If this second message also gets no response, then let this particular podcast go (for now!) and look for an alternative program with which you think you might be a good fit.
Once You Land a Guesting Spot
Of course, getting a slot to appear on a podcast is only the beginning. You will also need to prepare comprehensively for the interview itself. While preparing for depositions has undoubtedly given you plenty of experience in anticipating as well as formulating tough questions, the informational and attentional demands of a podcast interview are quite different. Even if you and the podcast host review potential “leading” questions you plan to work from as the conversation develops naturally, on a podcast that accepts calls from listeners the potential range of questions may be less predictable than you would expect to find in a more controlled setting.
If you are appearing on the podcast because you submitted a pitch that was accepted, then the points you raised in that pitch will obviously be your first consideration. If you are fortunate enough to appear on a podcast by invitation, then the host and/or programming team will likely have specific topics they know they want to cover while you are on the show. Either way, you can put yourself in position to deliver a strong performance by asking the podcast’s programmers tailored questions about their listeners, based on the topics you expect to come up.
Take the time to find out if there are any particular points of law or procedural matters about which the individuals behind the podcast already know the audience consistently has questions about, and spend some time reviewing the details of case law and any technicalities that you often see tripping up lay people or your colleagues (depending on the podcast). You may also want to consider taking the time to prepare some hypothetical or anonymized examples that you can pull from as needed, so that you do not find yourself trying to avoid potentially compromising client confidentiality as you illustrate complex concepts and processes on the fly.
A Word on Podcast Guesting and Professional Ethics: The Advantages of Educational Content for Attorney Advertising
For many individuals working in the legal profession, one of the most compelling reasons for developing effective podcast guesting strategies is that attorneys tend to be somewhat limited in the techniques they can use for soliciting new clients. Obviously, law firms can and do run marketing campaigns of various kinds, but many of the more aggressive options for reaching out to potential clients that might apply in some other industries are off-limits to those engaged in the practice of law.
With podcast guest spots, you have the opportunity to enhance your law firm’s name recognition and foster associations between your name and genuine value, which in most cases will come in the form of helpful answers to questions members of the podcast’s audience actually have, and offering insights into perspectives they may never have considered. By contrast to the norms you may see with some other creative marketing models, in a podcast guesting strategy education, not self-promotion, is the name of the game. During your guest spot, keep the focus on providing thorough, helpful answers to the questions the podcast host raises or those that are called in by listeners. Approach your explanations as if you were teaching a class or helping a client understand crucial procedures. Demonstrate the expertise that makes you someone clients would want to work with and someone to whom colleagues might feel comfortable sending referrals, and leave it to the podcast host to underscore the source of the valuable information you have shared.
Annette Choti, Esq. is the founder of Law Quill, a legal digital marketing agency that helps growth-minded law firms increase their online visibility and convert more clients. She is also the author of “Click Magnet: The Ultimate Digital Marketing Guide for Law Firms” and Click Magnet Academy. Annette used to do professional comedy, which is not so far from the law if we are all being honest.