Podcasting for lawyers isn’t about building a massive consumer audience or chasing Joe Rogan numbers; it’s about supercharging your referral network and building broader authority in your niche. Here are three good reasons to bring your marketing up to broadcast level.
Try to get a lawyer to do something that can’t be billed to a client: Good luck!
Well, it’s maybe not all that bad, but the vast majority of attorneys are hooked on performing billable hourly work, to the exclusion of almost everything else. It makes sense — that’s the most direct way to make money.
Of course, that presumes that the clients you wish to bill will always repopulate; though, that’s far from a sure thing if you’re only relying on your good works, rather than committing to a marketing program. To paraphrase the Book of James, “faith without works” doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.
Now, traditional law firm marketing takes on a couple of forms. The first, yes, is “let my work speak for itself.” People are bound to come back for more and refer their friends. True, to an extent. However, if you rely solely on that, you’re betting on the long-term memory of former clients who are blistered by new information in a world in which scrolling has dimmed everything but our short-term memory.
In other words, you’ve got to remain top of mind.
The one way attorneys have traditionally accomplished that is to network (mostly with other lawyers, sometimes affiliated business owners) for referrals. Yeah, I bet you’re really good at that. But if networking is all you’re doing to generate new work, you’re, frankly, missing out on additional, viable pathways, more attuned to the modern world.
Consider the podcast, for example. Here are three reasons you should.
1. Podcasting Is Like Referral Marketing, on Steroids
To host a successful podcast, you don’t have to get numbers like Joe Rogan. (Yes, friends: Leave the ivermectin on the shelf.) Podcasting helps you to expand your message in a couple of ways — one fairly obvious, one less so.
You’re podcasting, in part, to build an audience, yes. But it’s not like you need to be producing a general-interest show. For one thing, you’re limited to taking clients in the jurisdictions in which you’re licensed to practice. For another thing, you only want the potential clients in that jurisdiction that fit your practice niche. Maximizing your reach for that audience is much less difficult than doing the same for a general-interest subject. And, for a podcaster who’d be looking to acquire high-intent consumers — those who would be ready to use, or refer, legal services — that’s a good thing.
The lesser-known value is that podcasting supercharges your existing networking strategy. Invite some of your best referral sources as podcast guests — you’ll optimize their reach, and they’ll be thankful and willing to promote their episode (thereby promoting your show by default). If that person is already sending referrals aggressively, a podcast appearance expands their ability and willingness to continue doing so. Just talking to someone on audio and video (which you do in your networking anyway ) is also far better than exposing your golf game to the public!
In this way, you can become a “micro influencer” in reaching your target audience of potential clients and referral sources.
2. Podcasting Allows You to Refine and Reflect Your Elevator Pitch
Since you’re focused on reaching a target audience, you can be very specific about your call to action, as you explore the studio space around the messaging you’d like to deploy on your show.
Yes, you can and should use the old “like and subscribe” tactic. That for sure makes sense to grow your niche following. But what if you also added to the broth a specific call to action for potential clients? As in, “This is our very specific practice area, contact us if you have a need.” (And let your guests do the same.) You can also point listeners to dedicated show resources like an ebook or an “ultimate guide” that can get you another touch on a potential client or referral. Or, go even further, and build a separate content page for the podcast, with a unique URL. Run ads for your own business, in addition to potential paid sponsors.
Producing useful content on your show helps build your domain authority, sure, but you can get a little bit more overt about selling as well — so long as you don’t overdo it.
3. Podcasting Is a Content Repurposing Juggernaut
Podcasts are still viewed as an audio medium by many, but that’s no longer the case.
At this point, YouTube, TikTok and Instagram (Reels) are such popular content platforms that it truly doesn’t make sense to launch a podcast unless you’re recording both audio and video.
Of course, that’s a boon for the dedicated repurposer and for your authority. What that means — beyond your ability to push your podcast content out into the social media sphere — is that each episode will deliver you a full audio track (including tracks for individual speakers), a full video recording (including for each participant) and a transcript with speaker diarization. At that point, you can repurpose that podcast recording into other content types, of whatever length and form your little heart desires. Thus, your podcast becomes a blog post, or several blog posts … or an audio clip … or a short video clip attached to a LinkedIn post.
Go on, get jiggy with it, Dr. Frankenstein.
Lowering the Friction Barrier: Studio Setup Without the Headaches
A common reason attorneys abandon podcasting isn’t a lack of ideas — it’s over-thinking the technology. You don’t need a professional recording studio. A reliable USB microphone, a simple HD webcam, clean lighting, and a remote recording platform like Riverside or SquadCast will put you light-years ahead of most legal content creators. Focus on clear audio and non-boring conversations with guests; the polish comes with consistency, not expensive gear. (Read podcast producer Evan Dicharry’s excellent rundown of recording equipment dos and don’ts in “Microphone Tips for Lawyers: The Ultimate Guide to Sounding Like a Premium Podcaster.“)
Broadcast-Ready?
In the classic film “O Brother, Where Art Thou,” Mississippi governor Menelaus ‘Pappy’ O’Daniel scolds his son, who suggests that he network in person rather than broadcasting via the radio: “We ain’t one-at-a-timing here . . . we’re mass-communicatin’!”
Update that sentiment from 1937, and you may just find yourself hosting your own podcast.
Podcasting for Lawyers FAQ
Image © iStockPhoto.com.
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