Today we’re talking all about why you should start a podcast…
And of course, maybe why you shouldn’t.
This is a pretty popular topic these days, especially as audio marketing is growing in popularity.
This is happening for a number of different reasons.
The main one is the fact that it’s just so easy now to go out there and consume audio marketing.
Especially as you and your customers and clients become busier and busier…
After all, it’s hard to read a blog or watch a video when you’re driving in the car.
(At least, you really shouldn’t be…)
And it’s hard to do these things when you’re on the treadmill or lifting weights at the gym
(Again, you really shouldn’t be…)
And if you’re doing housework or yardwork, or you’re going for a run… again, kind of hard to watch a video and read a blog.
But with audio, well you can multitask with audio.
You can have it going into your ears as you keep your hands free, and you’re free to do almost anything else.
And this is the reason that people–especially busy people–are tending to gravitate more towards audio content now than ever before.
But I’m getting ahead of myself; we’ll get to that in just a second.
First, let’s cover the big topic of why you should NOT start a podcast.
There’s a ton of advice out there, and everybody’s preaching about why you need to start a podcast (myself included).
But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right choice for you or your business.
First of all, when it comes to content marketing and creating content in general, you have a number of different options available:
You have the text-based content, like a blog or an article or a book…
You’ve got video content, like YouTube or any other medium that requires people to watch to get the full level of engagement out of it…
And then of course you’ve got audio content, which is gonna be any time that you’re listening to something like an audiobook or a podcast, or radio…
The beauty of having these different content modalities available is it allows you to choose which one is best suited for you.
Because at the end of the day, the best type of content marketing is the type that you’re actually gonna want to create and you’re actually gonna commit to.
This means if you simply hate writing, well then obviously text-based marketing isn’t going to be the best one for you.
and if the thought of being on video sounds overwhelming or terrifying, then obviously you’re not gonna want to stick with the video marketing strategy.
And that’ll bring us to the last point of:
If you simply hate the way your voice sounds, or you hate talking, or you hate interviewing people, audio content or doing a podcast isn’t gonna be the best choice for your business.
Let’s move in to why you SHOULD start a podcast, if you can get yourself over the hurdles of getting out there and recording some audio content.
The number one reason why you probably want to start a podcast is because it is incredibly underpriced attention.
What this means is when we compare podcasting to other forms of marketing…
Whether it’s content marketing or paid media like Facebook ads or YouTube ads…
The cost to get your message to your audience is incredibly cheap.
Obviously there are costs involved; like the time it takes to record a podcast, and all the editing and mastering…all the work that goes into that type of thing.
But when you consider all those costs, it’s still really cheap to get it into your customers ears.
Especially when you start to consider the length of time that someone normally listens to a podcast.
They’re normally spending 3-5 minutes reading a blog or 5 or 6 minutes watching a video…
But they tend to listen to a podcast for 10, 20, even up to an hour at a time.
Simply put, that type of attention from your customer or client is simply unavailable almost anywhere else.
And certainly not for the cost involved.
So moving onto point number two,
We covered this briefly before, but I really want to reiterate it here:
Audio is one of the preferred types of content for really busy people, for all of the obvious reasons.
Specifically because you can listen to audio content when you’re doing all those other things, including at the gym and commuting.
So this makes it a great way to market to an audience that wouldn’t otherwise necessarily spend time.
So again, one more tool to add to your toolkit.
The next reason why you’d want to start a podcast is they are incredibly easy to consume for your listeners.
Pretty much everyone has a phone these days, and most phones come equipped with a podcast app preinstalled.
This means you pretty much have a direct line from your content right to your customers or clients.
Even when we consider other apps like audiobooks, there tends to be one more step involved
But with a podcast app, you’re gonna be able to upload your content to a podcast host, and it’ll be directly downloaded to your customer’s device when they’re subscribed.
And then of course, like I mentioned, they can consumer it whenever they want easily and quickly.
Alright, moving along to point number 4:
It’s a very strong authority signal.
After all, the barriers to entry and starting a podcast are still kinda there.
It does take a little bit of work, and it does take a bit of effort.
And of course, like all content marketing, you’re gonna need something to say and you’re gonna need to say it well.
So for this reason, when you’ve got a podcast and when you’ve got one that’s been professionally installed and professionally designed, it’s a good authority signal.
Proving you’re an expert and proving you know what you’re talking about.
And anytime you have a chance to leverage an authority boosting signal like that, I suggest you take it.
After all, it’ll do nothing but good things for your brand, your business, and your revenue overall.
Reason number 5 is because it’s like networking gasoline.
Essentially, when you have a podcast, it’s giving you a platform to reach out to other experts, authors, influencers, celebrities, and popular people in your industry.
Basically you can go out there and provide them something with value in exchange for their time by levering their message across your platform.
In fact, using this method has been the biggest way that having a podcast in my arsenal has added to my revenue.
It’s also been a massive tool in allowing me to connect with other like-minded professionals like myself and reach out to other influencers from a position of give, rather than ask.
So if there’s ever anyone you’ve wanted to reach out to and get on their radar, a podcast is an excellent way to do it.
Point number 6 why you would want to start a podcast is because podcasts are incredibly versatile.
What this means is you can record a video, say, for your podcast, and then you can strip the audio from it…
You can then take that audio, have it transcribed, and it turns into text.
And of course, you can take all of that and have it chopped up into little social media posts.
So from that one short episode, you’ve got all sorts of different media.
This means that you can leverage that podcast interview across YouTube and across other leveraging platforms.
You can put it on any social media channel you like, whether it’s Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn…
And you could even create little quote cards, or memes, or photos from it, and turn those into Instagram posts.
Basically, you can do a lot of damage with one little podcast.
Point number 7 is that audio content is continuing to increase in popularity and consumption by your market.
Whether we’re talking about podcasts, or Spotify ads, or Alexa skills, audio content is quickly growing in popularity, as I touched on before.
This means, now is the perfect time to jump on this trend and to ride the wave ahead of the curve.
The future of audio marketing is very friendly, which means now is the perfect time to get in and double down on really honing your skills and entrenching your podcast into the ears and into the lives of your customers and clients.
Now, one final point before we sign off here:
Starting a podcast is not super easy.
There are some things that you’re going to need to learn, including distribution, and hosting, and editing, and all the things that go into running an audio program.
That said, it is incredibly worthwhile, and these barriers to entry are actually a really good thing.
Because anytime you’ve got some barriers to entry, it keeps the amateurs out and makes room for the professionals (just like you!) to take advantage and leverage this powerful tool in your business.
