You’ve chosen podcasting as a way to promote your practice, share subject matter expertise, and grow your business. You may even have a few recorded episodes in the pipeline (perhaps after reading the first article in this series last month.) Now what?

No matter how dynamic or captivating your show might be, podcasting is not a build-it-and-they-will-come proposition. Like any other marketing activity, it requires a sustainable strategic plan focused on the target audience you want to attract.

WHERE SHOULD YOUR PODCAST LIVE?

Every podcast needs a hosting platform, which is the place where you upload episodes and make them available to your audience. Fortunately, you have options.

You could self-host your podcast. WordPress, Squarespace, Podpage, and other website builders let you add a podcast plug-in or template to an existing site, or you can create a standalone website for your podcast with its own domain. While this checks the box for giving your show a home, it can require technical know-how and generally won’t deliver episodes to directory services like Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music (formerly Google Podcasts), and Stitcher — which is essential for increasing your audience.

Alternatively, there are all-in-one platforms that host your show, generate an RSS feed to distribute episodes, and syndicate them through the big podcasting directories. They let you customize your podcast site with graphics and branding, add bios for you and your guests, connect with social media, invite visitors to subscribe, and collect reviews and ratings. Plus, they’re very affordable: free subscriptions for outlets like Buzzsprout, Podbean, and Spotify for Podcasters may be sufficient for your early needs, and paid subscriptions offering additional tools run $30 per month or less.

PACKAGING YOUR PODCAST FOR DISTRIBUTION

Your podcast now has a home from which you can share your wisdom with the world, and you know the directories where it should be shared. But there’s still work to do to prepare it for syndication and make it easier to find and more user-friendly.

Properly naming each episode is critical. If your show addresses probate litigation, constitutional issues, or real property transactions, refrain from being cagey or overly clever; instead, include “will contests,” “freedom of speech,” or “commercial real estate leases” in the title. If you have a guest, add their name to the title as well. Think like future audience members who don’t know you but are looking for specific answers, information, or experts.

Next, describe each episode with show notes, a summary that will pique interest. You will also need to transcribe each podcast episode to create a text-based version. Google, Bing, and other search engines index transcripts and serve up your show in response to matching keyword queries. Thanks to the democratization of technology and the prevalence of artificial intelligence, the tools you may have started using for production and hosting — Descript, Buzzsprout, etc. — include automated transcription. Don’t expect 100% accuracy or perfect formatting, but the time saved far outweighs the time you may spend doing cleanup.

For interview or discussion-oriented podcasts, spotlight your guests with a brief bio and photo. After all, they invested their time and knowledge. When you honor them with some extra attention, they will be more likely to share the episode with their social media followers and other connections, drawing more eyes and ears to your show.

PROMOTING YOUR PODCAST

Creating exposure for your podcast is a push-pull effort consisting of passive and active steps.

The push part involves attracting an audience that’s largely unknown to you in the hopes that they will tune in. Hosting platforms and syndication tools handle the heavy lifting for you by automatically distributing shows to the major directories and ensuring subscribers receive new episodes.

Unless your show goes viral and enjoys far-reaching, self-perpetuating popularity, you shoulder at least some of the burden for the pull part — bringing people in and developing your audience. There are various tactics for this, many of which you may already use to market your practice or firm.

Let’s start with your website. Call out the podcast in your bio and specifically mention you’re the host. If you have a blog or news page, announce the podcast launch and create a post for each new episode. You can repurpose existing elements (carefully crafted titles, show notes, transcripts, etc.) to streamline the process and if you’re using a hosting service, it may generate a media player to embed in the post. Depending on the size of your firm and your role there, consider highlighting the podcast on the homepage with a link to where it’s hosted.

Many podcasters create social media pages for their shows on LinkedIn, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. These offer yet another set of platforms to share episodes and, more importantly, engage with your audience and repost other content. Even if you don’t have accounts for your podcast, you should definitely make it a routine to post new episodes to your own social media channels. Give a quick summary, tag your guest’s name and organization, and include the link to where people can listen.

While many podcasts are audio only, that doesn’t mean you should ignore visual elements, especially for social media. A photo of you in a studio or a screenshot of you and a guest is great for teasing an upcoming show or in a follow-up post after its release. You can also produce audiograms, which are short clips from the show with animated captions that play in someone’s social media feed, even if the sound is muted. And don’t be shy about recycling social media posts about podcast episodes a week, a month, or a year later, especially for shows with evergreen content and long-lasting appeal.

Enlisting colleagues to share your social media posts capitalizes on their connections to amplify the reach exponentially. Politely ask guests to post or share your posts to their connections, tagging you in a caption or comment.

Email can also be effective for inviting people to listen or look at your podcast. Services such as Constant Contact and MailChimp are efficient for reaching a large group with one customized message, a worthy option if you and your firm maintain a central contact database or as you grow a subscriber list. But don’t overlook the power of sending one-to-one emails from Outlook or Gmail to important and influential connections; the personal touch often makes a more meaningful impression.

And the list goes on. Incorporate an embedded link to your podcast in your email signature block. Tell people you host a podcast in your speaker and author bios for articles and presentations. Add your podcast name and web address to your business cards. If you’re proud of the episodes you produce, let people know!

MAINTAINING YOUR PODCASTING MOMENTUM (AND HAVING FUN)

At some point, your enthusiasm may wane, putting your show at risk for podfading. It’s been said that it takes creators 10 episodes to become comfortable with the recording and production process, yet an estimated 90% of podcasters don’t last more than three episodes.¹ The secret to sustaining your stamina is strict adherence to a schedule. If you tell your audience you’ll drop new episodes weekly, monthly, or somewhere in between, you need to keep your promise. When you don’t, it’s not just the podcast’s brand that gets tarnished.

An editorial calendar is where you plan and schedule episodes in advance and ensure a regular cadence. With a bit of foresight and advanced planning, you can build a cushion of four to five shows to let yourself breathe easier.

Your hosting platform should have a dashboard showing how your podcast is performing, including the number of website visits and downloaded episodes; most of the big directories offer other audience metrics. If a particular topic generates more buzz than others, consider a follow-up show or invite your guest back for another conversation. Google Analytics may give you further insight into your audience’s demographics, which might warrant changes to your approach or subject matter focus.

You may be the chief content officer of your podcast, but you don’t have to make all the decisions. When in doubt, ask your audience to offer suggestions for topics and guests, either during an episode or on social media. Guests are also wonderful resources, so tap into their experience on your show to help you generate ideas.

A podcast won’t make you rich and there are better ways to bring in new clients, so inject some fun into your regimen. If you want to boost your podcast’s awareness or grow your subscriber list, have a contest by pulling a random name from all the people who leave a comment under a social media post, become a new subscriber by a certain date, or write a review. Announce the winner, tag them in a post, and send them a Starbucks gift card, a book written and signed by one of your guests, or an appearance on a future show. If an upcoming trial, vacation, or holiday disrupts your production schedule, re-release a top-performing episode or pull excerpts from several shows into a greatest hits compilation. Ask a colleague or former guest to co-host an episode or switch things up and have them interview you.

One last piece of advice: enjoy the ride! If you make it past the statistical podfading hump, you may discover that you’re not only a capable creator, but that podcasting entertains you, fulfills you, and makes you a better attorney and counselor. The satisfaction and pleasure you experience will become evident to your audience, too.