Legal Podcast Bolsters Law School Admissions Program
Founded in 1900, Stetson University College of Law has the longest lineage of any law school in Florida. Located on a unique and beautiful historical Mediterranean Revival style campus in Gulfport, the school is ranked #1 in the nation for its trial advocacy program and #3 for legal writing by U.S. News and World Report.
Since 2015, Big Sea has worked with Stetson’s admissions department to draw more and better-qualified applicants each year. Through a smart digital marketing strategy that focuses on targeted messaging, keyword-rich content production, and conversion optimization, Stetson has seen boosts in prospective student contacts, email open rates, total applications, and average applicant LSAT scores.
Standing out from the crowd
In early 2022, we approached Stetson with a new strategy to create a true differentiator in the recruitment field: a monthly podcast. Called Real Cases, the podcast features interviews with Stetson professors, students, and recent alumni highlighting the school’s strengths and linking them to engaging legal issues of interest to prospective students.
Our specific objectives for the podcast included:
- Building an emotional connection between prospective students and Stetson by providing a humanizing, engaging touchpoint in the recruitment process.
- Positioning Stetson as an innovative leader in legal education.
- Generating quality leads from prospective students with higher LSAT scores.
- Driving organic website traffic through additional keyword-rich content.
Coordinating a new production schedule
Creating a new podcast from the bottom up meant establishing clear lines of communication between client and agency to find student and faculty interview subjects. It also meant coordinating a tight production schedule linking together background research, online interviews, content marketing, audio production, ad copy, graphic design, and social media promotion – all managed by Big Sea.
A library of engaging content
By April 2022, the podcast was launched with four episodes available on Stetson’s website and on popular podcasting platforms such as Apple and Spotify.
By the end of the year, Stetson had accumulated a library of 10 episodes supplementing Stetson’s admissions materials with in-depth interviews and anecdotes that help prospective students learn from law grads and faculty and plan their own journeys to become practitioners.
For students trying to learn about the culture of the schools to which they’re applying, or looking to get to know the faculty with whom they might work, the podcast is an invaluable resource in the awareness and consideration phases of their application process.
The Results
A year and a half later, Real Cases is in its second season, with 16 episodes and counting linked on the admissions page and advertised on Stetson’s social channels using ad copy and creative promotional graphics that Big Sea develops.
This growing library of materials is available 24/7 for prospective students who want to learn more about the school and the faculty.
The second season of the podcast has proven to propel growth for the law school:
- 2,349 total lifetime downloads
- 26% increase in total sessions in the last year
- 17% increase in session time
With organic promotion the only method of sharing this content, every new episode sees:
- 40 downloads in the first 7 days
- 73 downloads in 30 days (46% increase)
- 101 downloads in 90 days (28% increase)
- 181 downloads average total per episode (24% increase)
Stetson Law’s podcast is a trendsetter for other law school admissions programs. As the school’s overall and individual program rankings continue to rise, new prospective students in the consideration phase have an ample library of content available to introduce them to Stetson’s award-winning programs and faculty members. The podcast also provides a platform for Stetson to anticipate and speak to the needs and concerns of new applying cohorts.
Our team is constantly looking for new and innovative ways to reach prospective students and distinguish Stetson Law from other law schools. Through our partnership with Big Sea, we have found that podcasts are an exciting new way to connect with prospective students. Big Sea has led us through this new terrain.
Our Stetson Law Real Cases podcasts are designed to inform and educate around an array of timely legal topics and issues that provide insight into state, national, and regional legal landscapes as well as share more about the Stetson Law community of educators, students, and thinkers. – Karla Davis-Jamison, Assistant Dean for Enrollment Management, Stetson University College of Law
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