Constant Content : Legal Ghostwriting & Content : Janet Raasch : Copy for Lawyers & Attorneys, Law Firm Business Development

Here is part four of my article on broadcast journalism for lawyers and law firms:

Using the Internet, lawyers and law firms can bypass the traditional mainstream media entirely and self-broadcast their own video and audio – on their own Web sites or on sites that accept user-generated broadcast content.

 

When lawyers appear on television or radio, law firms can post links on their Web sites or blogs or even request the files for posting.  In addition, using inexpensive equipment and applications, they can easily create their own video and audio podcasts for download from law firm Web sites.  It helps to have a good video/audio editor on staff.  In this day and age, no lawyer presentation should go unrecorded.  Law firms can also “broadcast” these reputation-building podcasts to clients and prospects via email alerts.

 

Once created, law-firm-generated video and audio can also be posted on a wealth of online content sites, which provide automatic RSS feeds that attract search engines.  (RSS should also be added to any of your own Web site content.) 

 

The line between print, broadcast and online news has become increasingly blurred.  Print publications host audio and video on the Web sites – some of it generated by professionals and some of it contributed by “citizen journalists.”  Television and radio station Web sites also include text and photographs.

 

A law firm, for example, that cannot get the local TV station to cover the opening of its remodeled lobby can now make its own video and post in on the station’s well-optimized Web site.

 

All modern media sites host blogs by their reporters, which can include links to video and audio.  All of them offer versions for mobile devices.  All of them offer subscriptions via Facebook, Twitter, RSS, email or text.  All of them accept user contributions.

 

Law-firm-produced video and audio can also be easily posted on a wide range of social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Martindale-Hubbell Connected.  It can be added to social content sites like JDSupra, Legal OnRamp and HubStreet.  Legal Talk Network is a “talk radio” vehicle for lawyers and law firms.  Savvy lawyers and law firms are even posting their own videos (and broadcast ads) on YouTube.

 

Finally, use Twitter to send out a short notification and a link every time you appear in the traditional broadcast media or self-broadcast your own video and audio content.

 

Be that lawyer!  By consistently and carefully pitching, catching and self-promoting -- using traditional and online broadcast media -- lawyers and law firms can optimize search engine results and successfully spread the word about their professional expertise.

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Lawyers and law firms:  Broadcast your expertise, build your reputation

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Here is part three of my article on broadcast journalsim for lawyers and law firms:

 

In the case of a breaking news stories, news directors and reporters often come to you – looking for a comment (if you are directly involved in the story) or background (if you are an expert in a particular subject area).

 

If you are involved in a newsworthy event, understand that “no comment” is a terrible response to a media inquiry – especially if you are captured fleeing on camera with your hand in front of your face.  If the case or matter is truly newsworthy, the story will appear with or without your input.  Strategize with your client and, with the client’s permission, make sure that your client’s point of view is included in a dignified fashion in the report.

 

If you are asked to provide background on breaking news in which you have no direct involvement, it is usually because you have let the stations know ahead of time that you are an expert, are available to comment, and can speak coherently and intelligently in front of a camera or microphone.  Do not be afraid to make this contact.  Broadcast reporters are always interested in deepening their pool of qualified legal experts.

 

It never hurts to be on-site, either.  When terror suspect Najibullah Zazi was inside the Denver Federal Courthouse, hundreds of reporters were waiting outside for hours in the frigid winter weather.  Local lawyer and media commentator Craig Silverman was not sitting behind his desk waiting for the phone to ring.  Instead, he braved the weather to circulate in the crowd of local, national and international reporters.  As a result, his face and voice were all over the evening news.

 

Be aware of a major change in the way modern news directors and reporters “catch” their stories and expert commentators in the Internet age – Google and other search engines.  According to recent reports, 85 percent of all reporters use Google on a daily basis.  If you want the call to comment on a particular legal development, your name must show up in Google results for the keywords used by a researching reporter.

Here is a link to the complete article:

Lawyers and law firms:  Broadcast your expertise, build your reputation

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