You’re thinking about starting a podcast, but you’re not exactly sure why. Maybe you see your friends and competitors podcasting, but you don’t know how to define the benefits or how to  make the case for podcasting to your team.

Well, we can help you.

Over the past three years, we’ve had hundreds of conversations with prospective podcasters and, long before we get to the topic of how to start a podcast, we always start with why to start a podcast. Most companies have a general idea or one or two goals, but they don’t understand the numerous ways podcasting can impact their business.

So, let’s go over the top reasons businesses choose podcasting.

1. Top of Funnel Marketing. Podcasting is a free and easily accessible medium, and businesses have the opportunity to build and cultivate an audience from the top of the funnel—free podcasting—all the way through to paid offerings. With podcasts, businesses establish and amplify their expertise, and prospective customers become comfortable with the idea of working together. 
2. Build an Evergreen Platform for Timely Calls-to-Action.  Our clients are creating content that will be valuable to their listeners today, a month from now and several years from now—it’s evergreen. Every day, our longer-running podcasts like Weddings for Real and High Octane Leadership have listeners finding episodes from years ago that can improve their businesses today. This library of content further establishes continued brand awareness, and here’s the amazing thing: those episodes from years ago, through dynamic advertising, can provide current calls-to-action. For example, when Donald Thompson wants to let people know about his new book, “Underestimated,” he can place ads about the book on every single episode—even the ones from three years ago. And when that ad needs to be replaced with DEI Navigator from The Diversity Movement or how to tune-in to a conference where he’s speaking, he can make that change any time. Dynamic ads CTAs include:
   1. “We’re hiring! Join our amazing team. Positions available include…”
   2. “We have a new book out. You can find it at…”
   3. “We’ll be in Orlando for CompanyFest in January and we hope to see you there. Sign up at…”
   4. “We’re running a holiday special, 20% off…” 
3. Recruiting and Team Building. Some of our clients have the specific goal of finding the best talent. With podcasting, recruits have the opportunity to get a sense of the company’s expertise, messaging and culture, and the best candidates will have done their homework. So, when they bring up the podcast and you can have a conversation about the episodes, you’ve likely found someone who will be engaged, interested and serious about working with you.  You can also get creative with involving team members with the podcast, maybe even a dynamic ad that’s an Employee of the Month feature. Not to mention, you could bring your team on as guests to the show.
4. Networking and Business Development. Podcasting is an easy way to find potential partners and clients. When you have a podcast, you have an instant conversation starter. Think about all the LinkedIn messages you get that fall on the spectrum of cringey, irrelevant and annoying. They list out everything the company does, and then give you a link to their calendar. You have no idea who the person is, and you don’t have time for a pitch. Hard pass—no time for that. However, what you do have time for is guesting on a podcast. If that LinkedIn connection came attached with a, “Hey, I saw your article on how artificial intelligence is impacting eCommerce, and I’d love to have you on my podcast to chat about it…” well that’s a different story. When the guest books, that simple LinkedIn message turns into an in-depth conversation, and that LinkedIn message shifts from annoying to flattering, and you likely have a new connection, podcast guest and potential partner or client. 
5. Value-add for Sponsors. Some of our clients already have sponsors they work with. If you pick up a copy of Raleigh Magazine, along with the great articles from Melissa, Lauren and the team, you’ll find ads throughout. With a podcast, RM provides another opportunity for current advertisers to get in front of the RM audience and a new outlet for new advertisers to join in.
6. Repurposeable content engine. This is a big one for our clients who have previously struggled with consistently producing content for all of the platforms on which they need to have a presence. With podcasting, you not only get the finished audio product on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, etc., you also the video from the recording and a transcript, too. All of a sudden, that one podcast episode can be repurposed for:
   1. Your website / blog post
   2. Full-length video on YouTube
   3. Video clips for LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook
   4. Videos for Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok
   5. Articles on partner websites, like this article on WRAL Techwire
   6. Your email newsletter
   7. Future books, courses, training videos, keynotes…so many possibilities

So those are the most common reasons we hear for why to start a podcast. You probably have two or three that resonate with you, or maybe it’s the whole list.  

But that’s not all! Here are some bonus why’s: 

1. Impact Lives. Many of our podcasts have a mission to catalyze change. Whether that’s a goal of changing one life, like The One Lost Ministry, or affecting systemic change, like Moving the Needle, our podcasters have a chance to truly make a difference because podcasting is available to anyone.
2. Raise speaker demand. Some of our podcasters are individuals who are building their personal brands, and one of their overarching goals is to raise demand for speaking. Whether that’s just starting out and getting on the first stages, or raising their rates from $10K to $20K, podcasting gives the speaker a chance to get in front of more conference decision makers.
3. Have fun with in-person events. Adding a podcast component to an in-person event is fun and energizing for everyone involved. We’ve recently held live, in-person recordings on the roof of American Underground, at the new Glasshouse Kitchen in RTP and on the roof of The Durham Hotel. The visuals are stunning, and the audience gets to experience something unique. 
   

   April Johnson, Sonja Ebron, Tony Wilkins, and Naya Powell on top of The Durham Hotel

   

   Hannah Weisberg and Sara Abernethy at Glasshouse Kitchen RTP

   

   Greg Hedgepeth, Donald Thompson, and Dezbee McDaniel on the roof of American Underground

4. Have real conversations. This one seems obvious, but it shouldn’t be downplayed. Having discussions with industry thought leaders, being introduced to new ideas, and truly being engaged in the moment is an uplifting experience and can break you out of your day-to-day same-old, same-old. For many of our clients, podcast interviews are a highlight of their week. It’s more of a get-to-do part of the job rather than a have-to-do.

Alright, that’s all for now. There are probably many more reasons, and if you have reasons for podcasting that are NOT on this list, we’d love to hear from you. 

And if you’re interested in talking through your goals for your podcast or next steps on how to put your podcast in motion, let’s chat soon.