Podcasts have quickly become one of the go-to sources of information. We listen to them in the car, in waiting rooms, and while we’re working. About 22% of Americans have listened to a podcast in the last week.
They’re a great way to help you build your business, too. Think of the potential reach you have when you have a business podcast.
The only question left is how do you get started? Read on to find out the reasons why you’d start a business podcast and how you can get started.
Why Start a Podcast?
What can a podcast do for you as an entrepreneur? There are a whole host of benefits to starting a podcast. For starters, there’s the credibility factor. When you have a business podcast that’s successful, people will take you more seriously and look at you as an expert in your field.
The other reason why is that it’s pretty easy to start a podcast. It also gives you content that you can repurpose to other areas of your site.
For example, you can take your podcast content and transcribe them into blog posts. If you have enough high-quality podcasts, you can turn them into a book.
You can connect with others in your industry, too. When you have a podcast, you can reach out to other industry experts and have them on as podcast guests.
How to Start a Podcast That’s Successful
The key to starting a business podcast is that you should plan everything out in advance. These are the areas you want to focus on in the planning process.
Pick Your Area of Expertise
If you had to pick out an area of expertise, what would it be? You could say that you have a business podcast, but what part of the business?
You could take any part of running a business and create a niche about it. There are podcasts that cover manufacturing, startups, entrepreneurialism, Pinterest promotion, investing in businesses and more.
You want to pick your niche that is related to your business. Again, you want to position yourself as an industry expert.
What’s the Competition Like?
You’re not the only person that’s covering your chosen topic. Case in point, there are dozens of podcasts that are about knitting.
You’ll want to take some time to listen to the other podcasts in your industry. See what they do well, how they promote their podcasts, and what are the gaps that you can fill.
Map Out Topics and Interviews
Your next step is to take what you learned from the other podcasts and start filling in the gaps. You’re essentially creating your content calendar. Make a list of the topics that you know your listeners want to hear more about.
In this step, you’ll decide how often you’ll record a new podcast and how long they’ll be. Listeners prefer to have podcasts be about 16 minutes long. The longer your podcast is, the less likely they are to listen to it unless you’re delivering incredible value.
Podcasts are amazing ways to grow your business because you can use your podcast to interview industry experts. In your industry, think about the top people in your field and make a list of them.
Listen here for a podcast interview that features a renowned business turnaround expert.
You don’t want to go after the industry heavyweights right away as a new podcast. Start by interviewing people who aren’t heavyweights, but people who are well-respected and have a good following online.
These are people who are likely to say yes to your interview request and promote their appearance to their audience.
To Monetize Your Podcast or Not
You’ll want to address this question early on in the planning process. Monetizing your podcast is entirely possible through selling sponsorship spots.
You can also use the podcast to promote your own products or services. You do need to be careful not to be too salesy, which will turn off listeners.
In the very beginning, you want to focus on delivering as much value as possible to your listeners. That’s what’s going to get your podcast to grow.
When your podcast grows, you’ll have the leverage to be able to pursue those opportunities to monetize your podcast.
How Will You Promote Your Podcast?
You simply cannot just put your podcast online and hope that people will listen. They won’t. You need to have a promotional plan for your podcast.
The Cover Image
You can start with the cover image of the podcast. This is something simple that you can do that will draw attention to your podcast when people are searching for new content to listen to.
Think of it as reaching people who buy a bottle of wine based on the label. They don’t know anything about the product, but they’ll give it a try if the label looks cool.
Invest in Quality Equipment
The one big difference between decent and great podcasts is quality. If you listen to great podcasts, they all have a professional introduction, a tidbit between segments, and great sound.
If your podcast sounds like a 45 LP, no one will listen to the whole thing. You don’t want to sound like you recorded the podcast in your bathroom, either.
Fortunately, there are a lot of affordable options to get you started. If you a search for podcast recording kit, you’ll find that there are affordable options for less than $200.
Starting a Business Podcast Made Easy
When you start a business podcast, you can open up doors to entirely new audiences. It can help you deliver value to potential customers and position your business as a leader in your industry.
When you get started, you need to map out the plan for your podcast. Define what the goal is of the podcast, what you’ll talk about, and how you’ll get people to listen to it.
When you get enough listeners, you can focus on monetizing the podcast for an additional revenue stream.
Do you want more outstanding business tips? Visit the blog regularly for financial tips and articles to help you start a business.
