Getting Started with a Business Podcast

Podcasts have steadily gained popularity over the past few years. This is largely thanks to Apple Podcasts and Spotify having thousands of them readily available on your smartphone.

There’s pretty much a podcast out there for everyone. So, naturally businesses have joined the podcast world, looking for opportunities to boost their reach and promote their services. 

While there’s certainly a place for businesses in podcasting, the way you approach it is crucial. Stepping into podcasting with the sole goal of promoting yourself never ends well. You need a strategy before you start off and that’s what this post will help you with.

 

Why podcasts are great for businesses 

The great thing about podcasts is that most people can easily access them and they are a convenient way to digest information. Your audience doesn’t need to sit down and read a long blog post, they can just switch on a podcast while doing something else such as driving, exercising or cooking. 

From a business perspective, you can increase your reach, build trust with your audience and position yourself as an expert in your industry. 

Determine your value

Your value as a business may be a simple case of providing much-needed services but podcasting is another world entirely. You need to be able to provide additional value aside from your usual services. 

That information also needs to be useful or interesting, something that people will want to come back to. Overly promotional podcasts about your business generally don’t do well unless you’re already a massive, well-known brand. 

Wanting to promote yourself isn’t a bad thing, it just can’t be the only reason you’re doing this. What are you going to bring to the table to enrich your listeners’ lives? 

For example, if your business is a gym or related to health and fitness, you could create a podcast about healthy living, diet tips or exercise tips. 

 

Determine your audience

Before you start chatting away on your podcast, you also need to determine who it’s actually for. This means doing some market research and also looking at your customers. Who is this podcast designed to help? What does your audience want to hear?

It’s all too easy to create a podcast that’s interesting but doesn’t really appeal to your target business market. 

Choose your topics/niche

It may be tempting to cover lots of different topics but what your audience needs is consistency. Instead of trying to cover everything, choose a niche or a select few topics to cover during your podcasts. Explore these topics in detail and try not to sway too much from the subjects that people have subscribed for. 

 

Plan podcasts and schedule

The best podcasts are not just mindless rambling. It’s a good idea to have a podcast schedule and plan put in place so you can cover subjects in detail. Try to determine how often you will publish a podcast and how long they’ll typically be. 

Also spend some time determining your format. Is it going to be a CEO giving tips or will you feature interviews, have co-hosts or switch things up?

We hope these beginner podcast tips have helped. These are just some of the things to consider before investing your time in creating a podcast. Once you’re happy you have a solid plan, it’s time to decide on what equipment you’ll be using and where your podcast will be hosted (e.g. Spotify). 

 

Have you ever created a podcast or been interviewed on one? What other tips would you suggest for others? Let us know in the comments below.