As podcasting explodes a medium, more and more companies are launching their own shows. Should you start a podcast for your business? I’ve helped launched one and had the “should we or shouldn’t we” discussion with several other companies. There is a lot that goes into doing it right in a sustained fashion, so it’s not an easy decision.
The Benefits of Podcasts for Marketers
There’s a reason why so many businesses are launching podcasts all of a sudden. There are a multitude benefits on many fronts including brand awareness, SEO, customer trust and loyalty, brand advocacy and even customer acquisition.
High Quality Brand Interactions at Scale
Brand awareness grows as the result of the interactions prospects and customers have with your brand. The higher the quality of these interactions, the less of them you need to achieve the same result. Unfortunately, most of the ways customers interact with your brand are quick and impersonal.
Wouldn’t you love to be able to sit down with each of your customers and prospects 1:1? Unless you’re in a business where you have a small handful of clients, this just isn’t possible. Podcasts represent a cheap and easy way to almost get there. And it scales infinitely. Once you’ve recorded and published your episode, your reach is only limited by your ability to attract listeners.
The reason podcasts are so powerful is simple. You have the listener’s full attention for an extended period of time. People listen to podcasts when they’re busy but are able to at least listen to something: commuting, working out at the gym, going for their daily walk, vacuuming, mowing the lawn and on and on. All of these time consuming, relatively mindless activities are perfect for podcast listening.
Effortless Link Building
For small and even many medium sized businesses, link building is hard. Even if you’re producing great content, if no one is finding it then no one is linking to it. Backlinks continue to be the single most important signal Google uses to determine search engine results, so they matter, a LOT.
Launching a podcast is a really easy way to get some links. The platforms that you distribute your podcast to will all generate a profile page for your show, which in most cases will include a link to your website. There are lots of other sites dedicated to podcasting – many of them will also pick up your profile, and link to your site. You can also embed links in show descriptions.
Many of the sites will tag your links as “no follow”, and some won’t even recognize them as URLs, but many won’t. If you already have a healthy backlink profile this may not be worth your time. But if you’re still trying to get some traction with SEO, launching a podcasting could be a huge win.
To Know You is to Trust You, Hopefully
Very few brand interactions allow prospects or customers to get to really know you. Because of this, customer service reps and salespeople play outsized roles in how a given prospect or customer feels about most brands. Podcasts can definitely change that. By putting the right brand ambassador on a show, you can very efficiently make a big impression on a big audience. Of course this can backfire, choose your on air talent wisely.
Grow (and Arm) Your Advocate Army
If you’re reading this article you probably already have a group of loyal customers who like your product or service and recommend it to others. These are the people most likely to listen to your show in its early days. Assuming you do a great job with the show, these relationships will flourish. Your new fangirls and fanboys will seek you out at conferences asking for selfies and posting them on social media.
These brand advocates are incredibly valuable on their own, and can be leveraged in myriad ways for product feedback and in your marketing. Filling their heads with your stories and ideas arms them with everything they need to take your brand out into the world, spreading the good word to people who know and trust them.
A Proper Introduction
Your podcast is not just another way for new people to find you. Overnight your content will be indexed by the likes of iTunes, Google Podcasts and Stitcher after all. It is that, but it’s also you putting your best foot forward during that critical first impression.
Instead of finding your brand via a paid search ad or a biased blog post written by some money hungry affiliate blogger, they are finding you at your very best. Your unbiased self, able to express yourself completely. Unencumbered by time limitations. And by the way, they are likely finding you because your show answers a question they’re asking. It quite literally doesn’t get much better than that, does it?
Is Podcasting Right For Your Brand?
Now that we’ve made a strong case for the benefits of podcasts for marketers, you’re probably excited to get started. Before you get too far down the path though, let’s talk about what it’s going to take. It’s harder than you think, and just like adopting a puppy, you don’t want to regret your decision three months later. They require a lot of care and feeding, and you probably don’t want to become attached to a show if it’s not something you’re going to enjoy.
Do You Have the Time to Devote?
If you’re going to do a good job with your show, you’re going to need to make time to do it right. Very few people are going to want to listen to your ill-prepared hot takes on today’s topics. There are a lot of shows out there to choose from. To compete you’re going to need to put some work in.
As a rule of thumb, expect to spend three or four minutes prepping for every minute of published show content. This means that you should be spending at least three hours prepping for a 60 minute segment. There are plenty of shows that don’t, and it is glaringly obvious.
Recording is the easy part, but you’re going to spend roughly twice as long as each episode doing it. That’s a non-trivial time investment, and adds up even more if you need to travel to meet your co-host or interview subject.
Depending on the topic, post production can take as long as your prep work did. And don’t skimp here. Crisp audio, elegant transitions and well curated content can take your show from good to great and dramatically change your show’s growth rate.
Finally, distributing and promoting each episode is the last thing you want to cut corners on. You need to make sure the description captures all of the topics that were covered. This will help people who are searching for those topics find your show. An episode-specific featured image is a must-have in my opinion. Listeners wading through new episodes are much more likely to pay attention if you’re not reusing the same image every time. And make sure you’re leveraging your earned media for each and every show. It takes a lot of convincing to get someone to get someone to give your show a try. Don’t expect them to find it on their own.
I recommend planning on an 8 to 1 ratio when estimating the time investment needed for a podcast. This means that you should be setting aside 8 hours a week to support a weekly 60 minute show. You don’t have to do all the work yourself, but you do need to make sure you’re clearing the time from your schedule and lining up the necessary resources.
Are You Cut Out For Podcasting?
Marketers and business owners generally don’t lack confidence. That’s usually a good thing, but it leads to some poor choices when it comes to on-air talent. Let’s talk about the ingredients that make for a good podcast host.
Just like some people have a “face fit for radio”, you may have a “voice fit for blogging”. Most of us hate the sound of our recorded voice, so you may need help from an unbiased 3rd party to help you decide. I suggest recording a test segment and running it by someone who’s comfortable giving you honest feedback.
No matter how well you prepare, things will never go the way you expected. Your co-host or the person you’re interviewing will inevitably throw you multiple curve balls per episode. Are you quick on your feet? Are you good at changing the subject when needed? Is it easy for you to admit you don’t know something gracefully? If not, this may not be the job for you.
Successful podcast hosts also generally have some kind of “it factor”. They’re the type of people who others gravitate to at parties. They’re good storytellers. They’re charismatic. They ask great questions. They are great conversationalists and put words together naturally. We all know people like this in your lives. Is that you? If not, it’s probably better to admit that now than to wonder why your audience isn’t growing four months down the line.
Can You Build An Audience?
Once your show is out in the wild your rate of growth is largely dependent on the size of the audience your content appeals to and the quality of the episodes. However, early on your ability to attract ears depends on your ability to give it that first push. If you don’t have a big social media following, an email list or some other platform to leverage you need to ask yourself where it’s going to come from. You might be able to buy your way in, but that’s by no means a sure thing.
Make sure you have a credible plan for promoting your show its early days. If you do a great job early it will eventually take off on its own, but getting there will be hard if you don’t already have access to a large audience.
Can You Deliver Great Content on the Reg?
You’re probably bubbling with content ideas at this stage. That’s awesome! But will your well of ideas still be producing in week 26? Or week 43? As someone who’s been on the hook to deliver content on a weekly basis for many years, I’m here to tell you that dry spells are both common and painful. If you can’t sit down and come up with 20 or 30 good show ideas right now, this might not be right for you. There’s nothing worse than recording a show that even you’re bored with. Listeners will flee in droves.
Wrapping Up
Podcasts represent a very compelling opportunity for brands to generate ultra high quality interactions with customers and prospects at scale. Myriad benefits await those with the capability and resources to deliver a high quality show to the right audience. Just make sure that you understand what it’s going to take and don’t cut corners.
Did I miss anything important? Disagree with anything. Hit me up in the comments with your thoughts!
