Vanderbilt and Marketing for Law Firms, Part II

As mentioned in my last post, those in the marketing for law firms field can learn from the example of Vanderbilt University (whose football team is now ranked # 13 in the AP poll).  As profiled in the Vanderbilt View article that I referenced, Vandy has jumped effectively into the world of social media.  The recent emphasis has been on using online video.  In the past, Vanderbilt would wait for the networks to call about interviews and video content.  In today's Web 2.0 world, however, Vandy is producing its own video clips and publishing them through iTunes, the Vanderbilt Web site, and on such sites as YouTube.

Vandy was a pioneer among universities launching their own YouTube channels.  At   http://www.youtube.com/user/VanderbiltUniversity, users can subscribe to such playlists as VUCast (a weekly newscast from Vandy), Live from Blair (concerts from Vanderbilt's Blair School of Music), Vanderbilt Medical News, etc.  VUCast is a weekly video show about events, research, and news about Vanderbilt.  The show can be streamed from YouTube, downloaded at iTunes U, or watched on the Vanderbilt website.

Vanderbilt's promotion of itself through online video should be of interest in the marketing for attorneys space.  In the same way that law firms might have in the past waited for an interview or call from the media, law firms and lawyers can now be more proactive in producing and distributing their own videos - on their law firm websites, on video sharing sites like YouTube, and through iTunes.  As part of its internet marketing for attorneys, why couldn't a law firm establish its own YouTube channel and allow users to subscribe to various playlists like a TaxLawCast, an EnvironmentalLawCast, etc.?  Some law firms have already established their own YouTube channels and are flooding the Internet with videos.  The key is distribution: making such videos available on as many channels as possible, including YouTube, iTunes, other content-sharing sites, etc.  Internet marketing for lawyers has become fertile ground for syndication.

I welcome your comments below.