Podcasters Across Borders - Taking Your Initiatives to the Next Level

Podcasters Across Borders
Kingston, June 24, 2007

Taking Your Initiatives to the Next Level
Terry Fallis, Kate Morgan and Ian Hull

Terry Fallis - Thornley Fallis

• started Inside PR podcast (Joseph Thornley was already blogging)
• doesn't script heavily; decides in advance what they want to talk about, but these are topics they have been talking about for a while
• weekly show that comes out at the same time every week
• familiar format, which they change up periodically
• has done various things to promote the podcast; recently created a Facebook page
• if you build it, people don't necessarily come. You have to promote it.
• has had 25-30 speaking engagements to speak on social media even though he has only been podcasting for a year

Ian Hull - Hull & Hull LLP

• no sales pitch behind why they did it
• bought into Terry's model
• one podcast for core group of lawyers who send them work - snippets they know will be helpful
  
• co-hosts with his partner in his firm
• other podcast for the general public for a broader audience
• before podcasts came into their world - being a good colleague, giving back - law of the Internet: if you give something for free, it will come back to you ten-fold
• did not want to add anything else to their day. They were doing it twice a week; it was becoming overwhelming. Changed to sell the idea to the other 15 lawyers in their firm, now they are all podcasting.
• they don't want to just be on a treadmill keeping the business running; they want to do something interesting
• a year ago, 14 listeners; now up around 100
• trying to showcase their passion
• getting 1200 hits on their blog in any given week; started blogging because they had to; all lawyers take turns blogging
• subjects e.g. how to do a will challenge trial
• Hull & Hull TV - new addition - public friendly area of their marketing
  
• but they keep going back to the initial model of the podcast and keep building on it
• now have a book - another "feed"
• newsletter - sent out 4 times a year, often referred to in their podcast - taught to them by Terry Fallis; the podcast set up by Kate Morgan
• plant the seeds: book, Tv - eventually they will get 2-3 new listeners to the podcast
• in the field: they don't share - competitors are not going to tell people to listen to their podcast
• originally sent out iPods to 150 people (no discount from Apple!) - most people gave them away - pre-loaded so that lawyers would not have to learn how to use iTunes, offered to re-load for them - some people have iTunes for personal, another for business

Kate Morgan - Podwise

• started working with Hull & Hull LLP on marketing
• started from scratch learning what podcasting is
• can use it as a distribution channel to get out whatever information you want to distribute
• need to be talking about something important to you
• sharing legal knowledge, not legal advice, to other lawyers
• conveys credibility - separates them from other lawyers who are not working in this space
• leveraging this into more business, more speaking engagements
• if you meet someone in an off-line context, you are more likely to listen to their podcast
• if you are looking for legal advice, you are more likely to consult with someone you are familiar with
• it all works together
• they are looking to highlight their legal skills
• all comments they get are very personal law-related comments from the public - people are desperate for this advice - a direct path to looking for real legal advice that people are willing to pay for - people are hungry for knowledge and advice

Terry Fallis also recently self-published a novel, The Best Laid Plans, which he put out as a podcast - started in January and finished in May. Half his listeners are from Podiobooks.com. A lot more listeners than he expected, some from outside Canada. Book will be coming out in print form in 6-8 weeks. Hopes the podcast will build a bigger audience for his novel. He started a Facebook group for it which he uses to communicate with the people who have been listening.