We love audio, and in today's episode we are going to run you through exactly why we think audio is the future of content marketing. Speaking of which, we have been running the Beyond Billables podcast for over a year now. Head on over to our website and have a listen to our conversations with lawyers and former lawyers who have achieved great stuff. You can also hear for yourself whether you also think audio is the future.

• It's personal
  • Audio gives content marketing a personal touch
  • By talking in your own voice to listeners, they are able to connect with you on a deeper level than reading a blog post. You can share your ideas, experiences, and give your audience an insight into your personal and/or business journey.
  • People are more likely to use a product or contract someone who they feel as though they can connect with
• It's flexible
  • Audio is awesome because it's flexible.
  • People live busy lives now and recreational reading is steadily becoming a thing of the past.
  • For example, think about how much people listen to podcasts when they are driving, walking, shopping etc.
• It gets cut through
• It's popular
  • The fact that audio is personal and flexible makes it popular
  • Looking at a computer screen has become exhausting for many users, and podcasts represent a refreshing alternative.
• It's memorable
  • Rather than using your eyes, you use your ears; there are silences, pauses, and genuine human voices rather than words and images on a screen
  • This makes for a more memorable experience
  • It's like having a conversation with a friend, rather than being spoon-fed a whole heap of information from a computer screen.

Advertising in all it's forms is all about engaging with users who are actively searching, TODAY, for your service. This makes it incredibly valuable (and at times costly) but is only one part of your brand strategy. So, in today's episode we are discussing Facebook advertising, and how to use this ads to grow your contacts.

• Facebook ads to valuable lead generation
  • Lead generation is a marketing process where you capture interest in your products and services
  • It is a way to take a target audience from an introduction to your products and services, and guide them through your sales funnel
  • The first step of lead generation is the initial attraction, something of which can be achieved by using Facebook ads
  • Facebook lead generation ads are a way for you as an advertiser or business owner to collect information from your potential customers and "warm" them up
  • Facebook has over 1.7 billion monthly active users (http://newsroom.fb.com/company-info/), which is a huge opportunity for you to share your business and services. Whatever business you are in, it is likely that all or at least a large portion of your audience is using the network.
• It takes experimentation over time and lots and lots of testing
  • Facebook advertising (actually, advertising in general), is a constant experiment, and it take's a long time and a lot of different consistent testing to achieve your lead generation goals.
• How much is a new email address worth to you if they are a potential client?
  • Remember that each email address of prospective clients is potentially worth thousands of dollars, and you only need a handful of clients to make a lot of money that you weren't making beforehand
• What is your strategy to nurture them and grow your list?
  • think about hiring a marketer, staying consistent on social media, sending leads promotions etc.
  • There are a variety of different ways to nurture your leads, but you have to think specifically about what you would want if you were in the shoes of the potential client
• What do you have to look out for
  • low open rates
  • high unsubscribe
  • spikes in ad costs
  • high cost to conversion

Growing a great Facebook Business page is a key ingredient of any sensible content marketing strategy. Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world. It has a very broad demography using it which means for broad based marketing and engagement it's a great option. It means that you can do some targeted advertising and promotion on the platform that delivers real results paid and unpaid. The sophistication of the targeted advertising on Facebook is exceptional. The flexibility Facebook offers is amazing and the reality is everyone has eyes on Facebook even if it's a personal presence.

Many law firms and professional services businesses do a great job on Facebook. It's a very effective marketing tool if done right. Note the key point, "if done right". The reality is that of not done right it can work against you too. But for now we thought we would outline 6 steps to building an engaging and effective Facebook Business page.

Your content marketing strategy should always use mediums that can give you an edge over your competition. If you are using a medium or platform that your competition isn't that means you have an edge. The other key part is to make quality content consistently but the other big factor to take into account is how you get more eyes on your content and grow your audience.

One of the most effective content strategies to think about is audio and podcasting. Audio offer an amazing way to deliver highly personalised and quality content to your audience in a very efficient way. It can also be consumed passively which means your audience can be driving or commuting or even sitting at their desks at work and be consuming your audio content whilst doing something else. In today's marketing landscape with so much content for people to consume you are in stiff competition for eyeballs. So why not try their ears and distract them even more! Seriously though engagement levels for audio and podcasts are out of sight so this is an area we think more professional services businesses should be operating in.

So what are some of the ways you can use audio to drive your business development strategy moving forward and what are some of the advantages of audio compared to other ways of delivering content.

Content marketing especially in the legal industry can be difficult to get right and in traditional practice models it can take some trial and error to get it right. But remember the overall objective with content is to make it compelling and engaging so that your audience actually consumes it.

For law firms in particular there are myriad considerations around messaging and voice and tone as well as ethical considerations about how you approach your marketing. The good news is there are more options for law firms now than ever in terms of approaches to content marketing but it still requires a good deal of work to deliver on the quality. As mentioned in previous posts we have written the other secret ingredient is consistency.

So how do you create content that your clients will love?

Being a business or firm owner can be a hard slog. Most of us do a great job to keeping up appearances and from the outside things might look like smooth sailing but for those of us that have taken the leap into entrepreneurship understand all too well how difficult it can be. This week we wanted to write a few words about this journey and make the point that no matter how hard things get or how hard you are being on yourself, remember that you are doing great in the bigger picture. The reality is when you are in business, especially for solo practitioners or business owners the pressure can build up and the reality is the buck stops with you.

Instagram is a visual delight and you can see just how much effort people put into creating amazing photos and graphics to capture the attention of their audience and stand out. But what is often overlooked on Instagram is how important your captions are. There are a number of reasons why it's important to get your captions right. Not least of which is that the Google machine keeps track of all of your content and this affects your Google rankings. On Instagram, while you lead with an image, the nuts and bolts of your message is in the caption and is what followers read and engage with. But beyond the SEO aspect, it also reflects on you and your business or brand how you communicate.

Here are six tips for attention grabbing captions on Instagram.

Instagram is one of the most popular and engaging social media platforms and is increasingly being used by law firms, legal tech companies and businesses of all sizes. Being image focussed, Instagram offers you the chance to show an insight into your business that is hard to match against other platforms. We are huge fans of Instagram and it has done wonders for our business and Mike's personal life! Engagement levels are fantastic but there are some pit falls worth noting. We've certainly had hits and misses ourselves so thought we would share them with you to save you the same pain we endured! So what are some of the key mistakes people make with their Instagram strategy and approach?

Today we are focussing on networking and our specific tips to help you break the ice at your next networking event. If you're sitting there thinking "mmm networking is really not my strong point", head on over to our blog where we have written about How to Get Over Your Fear of Networking.  

Networking and making a concerted effort to connect and grow your professional network can all too often fall by the wayside especially as business and firm owners get busy. But the other big reason is many just don't see the value of connection and the amazing short and long terms bottom line result it can lead to in your business.

So we though we would put together a little outline of how to prepare, plan and execute a consistent strategy to cover off your networking efforts and make it as easy as possible.