Over the past couple of years, you’ve probably been in a meeting or two where someone on the team brings up podcasting. “We should be podcasting!” they say with excitement. 

And why not? Everyone seems to have a list of podcasts that they recommend to you, and the popularity of podcast listening is growing every day. And with some decent equipment, there are no barriers to entry to start up a podcast.  If over 700,000 people have already figured out how to podcast, surely your team can too.

So the idea gets greenlit to be researched further and to come up with a concept.  You’re excited about the endless possibilities and the ability to get your message out there in a different format! 

But then business happens. You’re putting out fires, improving the customer experience, running trainings, and marketing your business in media that you know will have an impact on the bottom line.

Doubts creep in. Who would host the podcast? What are the goals? What if we run out of content?  Who’s the audience? Are they really going to listen? Do we do ads? Do we need to build a studio?

That one-time great idea, “We should be podcasting!” quickly fades into “Didn’t you bring that up already?” a few months later.

So let’s fix that. Let’s start with why “We should be podcasting! IS a great idea, and then we’ll get into a few basic tips on how to get started.

Here are 6 reasons why businesses SHOULD be podcasting:

Establish Your Expertise. You know your stuff. You know you know your stuff. But do your clients know for sure that you know your stuff?  Podcasting makes it easy to show that you have the industry knowledge to make current clients realize they made the right decision, and make potential clients wonder why they haven’t been working with you already. Think about the following potential podcasts:

• The pediatrician who podcasts on frequent questions parents ask (“Should I try chiropractic care for my kids?”, “When will my child sleep through the night?”,  “How do I teach my child to be polite?”, “What are the risks of using antibiotics too frequently?”).  
• The lawyer who podcasts on the intricacies of interesting cases and digs deeper than what the media provides (Why did the Supreme Court rule the way they did in Roe v Wade, Miranda v Arizona, Brown v Board…, What were the arguments of the McDonald’s Coffee Case that led to millions awarded)
• The travel agent who interviews clients on the places they’ve been (Tell me about your trip to Bora Bora and what you would do differently…)

Every one of those potential podcasts would show expertise. In nearly every industry, podcasting can be a way to show why clients SHOULD be working with you.  Plus, if you’re looking to expand your personal or company brand into teaching, speaking, or consulting opportunities, podcasting provides a means for that path as well.

Tell Your Story. You have a website with an about section. You have a Facebook page and other social media. Both of these allow you to tell your carefully crafted story about the history of the company. Which is great, you need that. But with podcasting, you have an opportunity to tell your story over a long period of time. With every episode, you’ll tell stories about the time you solved that one client’s problem, or that critical conversation you had with an employee, or that one time the company went out to karaoke.  These stories humanize your business and make it attractive and fun to both clients and potential employees.

Build Company Morale. With a branded podcast, you have the opportunity to – and probably should – involve your employees. They are likely experts at what they do as well, and bringing them on to share that expertise is an easy way to build loyalty and camaraderie.  Or, if you’re a larger company, you could even create an entire podcast that’s devoted to profiling your employees. Each week, a new employee is profiled so the whole company learns more about that person. Employees would listen, learn something about their colleagues, and all of a sudden you will have created a huge potential recruiting tool.

Networking & Actual Conversations with Interesting People. One of the quickest ways to build listenership of a podcast is to bring on guests.  And those guests tend to be people in your field who you respect, and who you’ve probably had some passing conversations with at networking events or trade shows, but you’ve never sat down with them for an extended conversation and really had the chance to get to know them.  With podcasting, you’ll sit down for an hour or so with the person who wrote that book, or who gave that great presentation at that seminar last month, or that CEO who you’ve always wanted to talk to but never really had a reason. With podcasting, now you do.

Introduce New Categories, Product Launches, Or Opportunities. Want to let everyone know about a new product you have coming out? Or that you’re hiring, and you don’t want to go through job boards or recruiters?  Or that you’re putting together a seminar and would like the listeners to attend? With podcasting, you already have the audience to easily get the word out, and you don’t necessarily have to pay other channels to let your clients know what’s going on in your business.

Create Evergreen Content. The podcast episodes that you create will be around for years, and your clients will seek out topics covered from old episodes. Plus, podcast content can be repurposed into blog posts, pull-quotes, video content, and social media posts.  Getting your podcast out there on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Google Podcasts, and all of the podcast apps is great, but there are so many more opportunities to use that content to get in front of your audience.

So as a business, is podcasting right for you?  You’re the expert. Your audience could be listening to your advice, direction and perspective. The question is, are you going to take advantage of this platform?  Or leave the leverage to your competitors?

Now I promised a few simple steps to get started in podcasting.

1. Figure out the main goal. Is it to showcase your expertise and build demand for your product or service? Is it to have conversations with potential clients that you wouldn’t have in a normal sales setting? Is it to sell ads?  Having this goal as a guiding light throughout the podcasting process is key to success. It’s easy to fill air space, but you need to remember WHY you’re having the conversation.
2. Know your audience. When you’re recording, who are you really talking to?  Is it potential employees? Is it your current clients? Is it students?
3. Just Get Started!  Go find some guests! Hit the record button. Figure out what your podcast is all about. You know all the reasons why (see reasons above). 

And if this all overwhelming, give us a call at 919-260-0759 or email us at info@earfluence.com!