“I turned my legal expertise into a brand that boosted my career, and you can too”

Like it or lump it, we’re all trying to enhance our attention. AI is everywhere. AI is everything.

To stand out, my biggest advice is that you narrow down the area of expertise you want to be known for and lean into that – your topic of influence or TOI.

Everything I do and focus on is linked to my TOI, and I use that to enhance my attention of economy.

The Legally Speaking Podcast

I work in legal recruitment, so when I started the Legally Speaking Podcast, I wanted to be known as an expert on my TOI: legal careers.

To do this, I needed to have something that separated me from other recruiters and in 2019, podcasting was still quite new.

When anyone searched for our show, first and foremost, we needed appropriate content linked to legal careers.

There’s lots of scope for that content to vary from legal technology to wellbeing, and career progression.

But, it all comes back to adding value to people who are trying to advance their career.

The podcast didn’t build an audience overnight – I had to consistently work hard to produce relevant and high-quality content.

Over 450 episodes later, Legally Speaking Podcast sits in the top 1% of podcasts globally, has a sponsorship with Clio, and has taken me to countries around the world.

Beyond that, it’s opened countless opportunities for my recruitment business.

Here’s how you can find similar success...

Find your topic of influence

Specific is terrific. When you’re thinking about what your TOI might be, try to summarise your expertise into just one or two words. 

Make relevant content

Once you’ve established your TOI, the next question is: how many things are you putting out into the world that are contributing to that topic of interest?

‘Hero hub help’ is one strategy that I use:

Hero stands for your ‘hero content’ – your standout moment. These main pieces of information sum up your work and tell a story about who you are and what you do. Facts tell; stories sell. Get connection from people by expressing your expertise through your unique story; whether that’s your personality, your legal journey, or your personal journey.

Hub content is what you regularly share week after week. These are the insights and updates that come from the majority of the work you do.

Help content is your how-tos. These are where you share advice and thoughts to help people learn from your expertise. With how-tos, it’s not about going viral, it’s about sharing helpful information that shows you’re an authority in your area.

Remember, these core principles aren’t unique to starting a podcast, they apply to any channel you’re using to build your personal brand.

On LinkedIn, I use the same approach, and the platform now recognises me as a ‘Top Voice’ – someone who they say, “consistently demonstrates expertise and leadership”.

You don’t have to do it alone

Whether you’re looking to start your own podcast, a blog, or just post more frequently on LinkedIn, it can be beneficial to collaborate with trusted networks and societies.

When we set up the podcast, we collaborated with the London Young Lawyers Group, who have a community of thousands of lawyers between zero-to-seven years’ post-qualification experience (PQE).

By inviting the presidents and the chairs of that society, giving them a positive experience, interviewing them and looking after them, we produced high-quality content and assets that both we and they could share once the episodes went live.

Once they shared the podcast in their newsletters and other channels, some of that audience decided to join my audience too. It’s a great way to acquire data to win networks and enhance your brand.

My advice would be to think about your trusted networks, societies, and organisations linked to your topic of influence, reach out to them, give them value and collaborate.

Through that journey, you will grow far faster rather than starting from scratch because ‘we’ is greater than ‘me’, and collaboration is domination.