Last updated on June 10th, 2021
Businesses often think of visual marketing when reaching out to the target audience. But the fact is that audio is now steadily moving up on the marketing strategy list. Most individual and corporate brands are spending a lot, therefore, on audio plans. Therefore, the business of podcasting is now booming as more and more brands intend to engage their audience through this medium. Designhill conducted a panel discussion that highlighted the growing status of podcasting as a marketing tool and shared the latest podcast strategies to stay ahead. Have a look!
Podcasting has gained even more importance during the current pandemic when the entire world is moving slowly and listening to audio platforms. The popularity of podcasts with people can be shown through data. According to some reports, revenue growth during 2020 slowed down only by 10%. Compared with the growth slump of more than 50% in 2019. This means that the pandemic has not downwardly impacted the podcasting business much. Not only that, marketing forecasts say that in 2021, the podcasting industry will register a growth of 45%. It will then be a $1 billion industry.
However, beginner podcasters need to learn their podcasting basics before they set out in this field. Remember that as a new podcaster, you have massive competition from thousands of podcasters. You need to stand out in so many ways to drive people’s attention.
To help podcasts know the nuances and what works the best in this industry, Designhill, the leading creative marketplace thought of taking the tips from the experts. So, the marketplace conducted a panel discussion on 18th March 2021 on the topic: The Business of Podcasting – Tips, Trends, and Strategies.
The guest speakers shared their experience of podcasting and gave tips on how to use this medium professionally to stand out. They advised on how to know the podcast listeners and allow data-driven decisions. The community also benefited from having the tips to monetize podcasts and finding niches. They also showed how to engage listeners.
About The Panelists
Billy Samoa
Billy Samoa is the co-founder and CEO of Podify. He is the creator and host of Inside Out, a show dedicated to revealing and dissecting life-changing insights and interviews. The show discusses best-selling authors, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders. He shares their most powerful insights and breaks them down so they can be applied to the lives of its audiences.
David Shriner
After 28 years as a highly skilled employee, David Shriner works for himself and has more control over his destiny. He is a thriving entrepreneur, podcaster and speaker guiding highly skilled professionals who are recovering from a late-career job loss. He lends help who yearn to impact the world with their knowledge and creativity by becoming successful consultants and coaches.
Jeremy Ryan Slate
Jeremy Ryan Slate is the founder of the Create Your Own Life podcast which studies the highest performers in the world. He studied literature at Oxford University and is a former champion powerlifter turned new media entrepreneur. He specializes in using podcasts and new media to create trust and opening leader status in iTunes.
Also, he was ranked number one in the business category and ranked 78 in the top 100. There he was named one of the top 26 podcasts for entrepreneurs to listen to in 2017 eating by CIO magazine. The Create Your Own Life podcast has been downloaded over 2.5 million times.
Joey Price
Joey Price is an award-winning human resources executive, business coach, thought leader, and professor. He is the founder of Jumpstart: HR, LLC, an HR consulting practice specifically for small businesses and startups. As the CEO of Jumpstart: HR, LLC, Joey Pricey innovates by creating HR solutions for small business owners and start-up founders who want to build better, more competitive businesses.
As a podcaster on the Business, Life, and Coffee show, Joey Pricey shares carefully curated conversations on personal finance, psychology, professional development, and business for emerging professionals and business owners alike.
Joey Pricey is a recent HR Executive Magazine Top 100 HR Tech Influencer, SHRM Top 30 Under 30 award winner, one of Forbes Magazine’s Kevin Kruse’s Top 100 Employee Engagement Experts in the World.
Thomas Cagley
Thomas Cagley is a consultant, speaker, author, coach, and agile guide who leads organizations and teams to unlock their inherent greatness. He has developed estimation models and has supported organizations developing classic and agile estimates.
Thomas Cagley is an internationally respected blogger and has co-authored Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools, and Techniques with Murali K. Chemuturi. Thomas Cagley penned the chapter titled “Agile Estimation Using Functional Metrics” in The IFPUG Guide to IT and Software Measurement. His certifications include CFPS, IT-CMF Tier 2 Certified Associate, CSM, SAFe SPC, TMMi Assessor, and TMMi Professional.
In this blog, we’ve shared the video and session’s transcript in the form of Q and As where the industry experts shared the latest podcast strategies that can help your business to grow 200%.
Transcript (Q/A): Here Is What The Experts Say On How You Should Conduct Your Business Of Podcasting Professionally
Designhill: How do you see the setting of podcasts with other content marketing types like blogs, videos, emails, etc.?
Pick the right channel
David Shriner: To start with content creation, pick a channel that is most comfortable for you. It should be the easiest for you to get started with. And then get comfortable and get proficient in that channel. Do not try to do everything all at once, otherwise, you will be overwhelmed. For me, I discovered fairly early on that podcasting worked well for me, so I stuck with it.
The other thing about podcasting compared to other types of content creation is audio storytelling has a very intimate quality. So, for an interview-based show mine, you can create an intimate conversation that you end up sharing with the world. And the video doesn’t quite do the same thing.
Designhill: How do you integrate podcast content into an already existing content marketing scheme?
Joey Price: A great series of questions. It is feasible to be on all of the content platforms. But the question is, should you be on those platforms? And the answer is probably no. So, I would take a look at, who are we in the business to serve? Where are we looking to find our market? Where are they already congregating and then figure out your platform and your attack from there?
Start with one theme
Now, here is how podcasting can be incorporated into your content marketing strategy. The podcast is a way for people to learn and trust our brand. It is also the way to share some free nuggets that might entice them to want to work with us. And, do not recreate the wheel. That is do not get some of our podcast content in bite-sized pieces for our content calendar.
So, you may see quotes and text on an Instagram page and video snippets on a Twitter feed. Also, a topic I was talking about on the podcast may turn into a longer-form article on LinkedIn. For me, time is valuable. And, you want to drill deep on an issue, as opposed to just being all over the map. Therefore, I will start with one theme, and then you will see it percolate through other pieces of content.
Designhill: What are the factors that a business considered while deciding and zeroing down on course offers a marketing content marketing funnel?
Thomas Cagley: It depends on who your audience is, and where they are consuming. So, content is king. But if you are trying to reach people that have no interest in podcasting, the C-level execs, many of them that I deal with, wouldn’t listen to a podcast unless it was for me.
So, independent podcasters can’t reach them. The practitioners consume a tonne of them. So again, the question is, who are you attempting to talk to that uses that as the driver.
Designhill: What factors other than the content contribute to the listenership of a podcast?
Billy Samoa: There are many factors at play. The last year has been unique. You touched on the content piece, and there is an influx of content. But audio content generally is in vogue, right now. Look at a platform Clubhouse, for example, which is a social, interactive audio platform. People are drawn to passive listening media. Their people can do other things while listening. And that creates a great way for us to gather information, and at the same time, do other things.
Designhill: What increases the listenership of a podcast, which essentially means how do you gain more listeners?
Billy Samoa: You have to know where your audience is. Where do they hang out? Are they on Reddit, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn? You can then hang out with them, and get to know them, and let them know that you exist. This is because, without that, they are not gonna be able to find you. And, fundamentally, the best podcasters are the ones that reach their audience. They know where their audience is, that is a big piece of it.
Another big piece of it is podcast listeners, who listen to podcasts. So if you go on other podcasts as I know, everyone on this stage does, guess what you are gonna be exposed to other audiences.
Designhill: How do you set a podcast apart in the vast landscape of shows that are already there?
Stand Out and Be Memorable
Jeremy Ryan Slate: First and foremost, you have to differentiate from what is out there. Because there are people that see one or two ways a show works. There they interview and ask a couple of questions. It is not different. So, there’s no reason that you are saying you stand out in your memory. Unless there is a particular reason that you are different, I wouldn’t consider starting a podcast.
But, take a look at what’s in the market and what other people are doing. Take a look at what interests you. But, I have an interview to show myself. I’m always telling people, I have an interview on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It is a content piece for me. It is usually something that I’m talking about.
So, people will come back to see what I have to say or see what my viewpoints are on things. If you do not give people that, then you are not giving yourself a way to stand out. So you want to give people a way to get you and understand you. Then, they can see how you are different because otherwise there’s no reason to start. You will be drowned out by a lot of the shows that are already out there.
Designhill: What are the costs associated with starting a podcast and what are some of the affordable podcast tools to start with?
Invest in good equipment
David Shriner: You need a good mic, a computer, good internet access, and audio quality. So you do not have to spend a lot of money on a microphone, but you do need a microphone. And if you have a show with guests, your guests also need to have good quality equipment. Again, it is not a lot of money. But these are amongst the basic things to start with your equipment.
Billy Samoa: A lot of times, there’s a misconception that starting to podcast costs a lot of money. It doesn’t necessarily cost a lot of money, you could edit it yourself. That takes time, but it doesn’t take money. Now you could outsource that to a company, there are plenty of them. But the reality is, you can do it all yourself. And, it doesn’t need to be the best mic ever. But any external mic is better than using your computer mic.
Make sure you use headphones and you invest in something that will help you record. I will advise if you are doing remote recordings using a platform Squadcast or Riverside. These will allow you to get great audio that is recorded locally. That will be even better than zoom because zoom just records over the internet. And it is just not as good quality. So, when you use a platform Squadcast to record your audio tracks locally, it gives you a better overall sound recording.
Repurpose your content
Other than that, the investment in time and how much you repurpose your content to other social media platforms. It just requires more time and then publishing it and writing your show notes. All of that is more labor cost as opposed to hard costs, buying the microphone.
Even having a really good area rug in the middle of a room gives us a sound someplace to stop. Because we are in a room and sound has a chance to bounce around. It just makes it hard to get a good recording.
Sound recording and mic technique matters
Billy Samoa: I will just add one quick thing because it is such a good point. For sound recording, there are three levels. The first one is your equipment. Everyone thinks about that. It is important, but I’m going to put that aside because any microphone is better than no microphone. The two other levels are your recording environment. Think about it this thick. Everything in front of you creates a cocoon of things that will block your sound waves. I have pillows all around me to block my sound. It is super ad hoc, but it helps to create a better recording environment.
The last thing is the mic technique. What I mean is get close to your microphones. People are talking way back here. It is not as good as getting right up in your mic, and listen closely and test and see how it sounds. So, again, your mic technique and the recording environment matters. Shut down fans and air conditioners, and all these other things that are creating a hum in the background. That is the recording environment and then of course your microphone.
So, that is something a lot of people could do. If you are with a guest, tell them to pick another room or maybe talk a little bit closer to your microphone.
Connection with guests is the key
Joey Price: The equipment matters less than you think it does. I know sometimes we can have analysis paralysis around. That is done I get this mic versus that mic. Do I spend a couple more dollars to get this level pop filter? Or, if they are viewing your podcast, the most important question that they are going to have is, do you have a connection with the guest? Do I have a connection with the person that they are interviewing? Also, do you want to focus your time on being transparent, being vulnerable?
Content should be engaging
The most important thing is to put together a show that people resonate with, that is the most important thing. Now, audio is the most important technical piece of it. Because you are in somebody’s ears for 30 minutes to two hours. You want to make sure that comes across clean. You can have the greatest sound you can record at the greatest Sound Studio.
But if you do not have a podcast, people who want to listen to it are not going to listen to it. So, just make sure that you have something engaging that captures your audience, and trumps everything else.
Jeremy Ryan Slate: That is being in people’s ears, which is vital. I am always listening to something in my earbuds. So, it is cheap software, but we have used it for six years now. But it is called all phonic, and it helps with sound leveling, even if you are doing it cheaply.
That is because when you listen to an episode, and the leveling is off, oh man, it is painful. Why is the music so loud? And why are the voices so low? And why are that guy ladder and that guy softer? So, if my listening experience is hard, but 11 bucks a month for 10 hours, but leveling, your sound is a game-changer.
Thomas Cagley: I use the desktop version. But especially if you are recording in chunks. I did several different segments, slammed them all together. And, the envelopes are different. That takes care of that.
Designhill: How does one go about researching the right guests?
Start with your network
David Shriner: It is really simple. Start with your network. Start with who is already in your network? The first thing is to ask people in your network that you think would be good guests to be on. After you have interviewed them, ask them who else they know who might be a good fit. You can say I would like to reach out to somebody with celebrity status in your field. Keep working with your network and you will reach people in your field fairly quickly.
One of the things that I found from being a podcaster is that most people want to talk about themselves. Doesn’t matter how well known or little known you are. Most people want to talk about themselves. Most people, whether they charge a lot of money for their speaking time or not, usually will say to be on a podcast.
It is important to have a content calendar. But if you are consistent and frequent, then potential guests will see that you are serious. It makes a big difference in whether people will say yes or not.
Create a feel-good experience
Joey Price: When you think about the podcast listener that is tuning into your show, you want them to be a repeat listener. You may be the host, producer, moderator person, and control person setting the tone for the experience. Make sure that your experience feels just as good. Or, those other experiences feel just as good as that one episode.
That is because if you have this one dynamic interview with this one super celebrity guest, and then the rest of your episodes aren’t great. You may have a bump or spike in listeners because they are tuned into that name. But you won’t have people that tune into your brand for the long term.
Know interview dynamics
So, understand interview dynamics. Know how to navigate the conversation and transition in and out of things. Make sure that you are a good interviewer in general. Then, you could pick someone off the street and have them share a good and compelling story. You should not be relying only on your talent to carry it. They will thank you for making it an effortless interview.
Find something specific about them
Remember that it is about them and not you. So, if you find someone releasing a book, has a movie coming out, or something to promote, they are a great candidate. Also, when you reach out to them, do not make it all about you. Find something very specific about them that you can highlight. Try to think of something that they haven’t heard of before.
They mostly get the same compliment, because of some book they wrote, I love your book. So, compliment them on something different. For instance, read from their book and highlight a very specific part of it. Tell me why it was so impactful to you. Then, you could say something about your podcast to see if they have an interest in coming on.
Talk more about them
But again, make it more about them and less about you. With these people coming to your show, you start establishing yourself. You then create more of a credibility baseline for them to see that you are legitimate. They see that you have other people that you’ve interviewed. Then, they will say yes to you because they see that you’ve interviewed other people at their level. When that happens, you can start to highlight those people as well. You can say here are a few of my past interviews so that they know that you have interviewed some legit people.
Jeremy Ryan Slate: Joey Pricey and Billy Samoa made good points. I want to add to both of those points. First, Joey Price talked about having a celebrity guest on and you want to make sure you are a good interviewer. For our side, we can say that we are closing on 150 episodes. But I didn’t feel I was a good interviewer till I was around 200 podcasts. And it is something I’ve always worked on.
Listen to other podcasters
So, I have developed a method for myself around that. One of the things is finding other interviews people have done. Then, listen to how they communicate, because that is important. Find out things, pause while doing short and long answers. How do they tell stories? And that doesn’t mean you have to listen to the 10 interviews they’ve done. So, that has helped me in terms of preparation.
Then when we reached out to people, when I first started, I made a list of the top 100 people I most admired. We reached out to a lot of those people. So we had a lot of success in doing that. We had former CIA director David Shriner Petraeus on former Yankee Nick Swisher. I have tried to work with doing a lot of things and having great interviewing skills around that.
Do not duplicate content
David Shriner: I listen but I do not want to duplicate what’s been done before. When I hear answers, there’s something that I can extract from an answer. Then, I ask it in a new or unique way, I will. But it is a great point to understand who you are interviewing, and then you can understand your approach for that person based on hearing other interviews.
Jeremy Ryan Slate: How many times do you have a guest on and they do the same interview everywhere? Because everybody asks them the same questions. So, it is important to know who they are, what they do or do not talk about. For instance, I had Dale Earnhardt star Kelly on the show last year. She hates the question about what it is being a woman in racing? So I said, I know you hate being asked that question. I will ask you a different question about that. She kind of says, oh, I like you already. So, that is important.
Joey Price: We are here discussing the business of podcasting. So, in everything, we say you have to tie to will. How do I want this to increase either my brand or my corporate brand? When you bring a guest on, guests with less notoriety may be more likely to share your episode. You are looking for reach, to get more ears. What it is that you are doing for the podcast, but also the purpose of your business, too.
Interact with guests
And so all of your interactions matter. These interactions are not just when you are interacting with your guests on the show. But these include also about what is your guests’ onboarding process. Do you thank them afterward? Do you follow up with them in six months and say, hey, here’s what we’ve been working on. These are business development tools. So, make sure that you are thinking, how’s that going to impact your business? And how might this interaction if I do it wrong, negatively impact my business?
Talk about why you are meeting the guest
Jeremy Ryan Slate: When I reach out to somebody, I always talk about number one, the purpose of what I’m doing, why it matters to them. What they are doing matters to me. And then talk to people you probably had in the show. I would say the interview schedule includes. So, you can always find a way to get creative with how you are pitching.
Thomas Cagley: One thing you should consider right is especially if you can arrange it over the past 15 years. I normally can talk to the person you are going to interview there before perhaps a call upfront. So, how they’ll answer questions, get a sense as to how they act. Or, have that sense at least a few minutes before you turn the recorder on.
Again, let them relax. I get some people that have never been on before. I get them to relax, but also understand how you will interact with them? Because you can hack a thing up pretty badly by interacting incorrectly with some.
Designhill: How does one crack the marketing part and grow that word of mouth and constantly reach?
Thomas Cagley: I leverage my guests as a medium is to expand. I also do a lot of professional speaking. So, given that I bring it up, I plant it with my clients. I use my nature and flow in the places that I go to virtually these days to make those connections and build the brain using mostly word of mouth. That works for me.
Help them promote your show
David Shriner: You shouldn’t have an expectation that your guests are going to promote your show. But you should make it easy for them to promote your show. And give them something about them. That will make them look great. So, if you have a repurposed piece of content, make it short, a sub-one minute is great if you can. That is where everything’s going whether the Instagram reels or YouTube shorts. It is all going short-form content, and makes it a soundbite that makes them look really good.
Then, use platforms like Click to Tweet. So, all I have to do is press a button and then they could tweet it. But again, think about it from their perspective. What would inspire them to want to share some of your content, the easier you can make it the better.
Joey Pricey: Use some practical ways that we do such as the quotes that the Individuals said on the show that stood out and resonated. Then, use their face. Put their face on the graphic. And people love to see billboards of themselves. So, make it look excellent.
Jeremy Ryan Slate: We do a lot of video teasers with captions and stuff on. I mean, those are great. They are powerful. We have some background music behind him, which comes out well. Because I know, to Billy Samoa’s point to just, here’s your link, your episode is live, Okay, cool. I will post this on Facebook, this on Instagram. A lot of those platforms down-rank links anyway, because they do not want you to leave the platform. So you have to also think of how I am going to work with you when I get here.
David Shriner: I’m just reiterating what some of the other panelists have already said. Make it easy for the guests. We send them a long email several times, which includes things that they can very easily share. So we do not just send them the link, we write content for every single episode. That is specific to the guests. It makes it easy for them to share.
Have realistic expectations
Joey Price: We are focusing on the guest. And that is a huge part of it, too. It is healthy to have realistic expectations of your growth pattern. If you are not President Obama and Bruce Springsteen, you are not going to have a million downloads from day one. But for us folks who go into this space without being a household name, we are going to grow one to one.
To send people individualized messages, remind them that you have a podcast. Let them know about it. Do not even assume that everybody knows what you are up to, and what you care about. So, you should always have that tactic on the ground. Invite people, let them know, and set realistic goals for your growth. Say that you want to have 100 downloads for your first episode, 500 for the fifth or 1000 for your 20th. Set those goals, and then ask yourself how are you going to get there. Then. implement the podcast strategies to get there.
Jeremy Ryan Slate: There are very few people that can have a show where they just sit and talk about anything for three hours. People listen to it. So, really try and create something that is about the people listening to you. And it is about helping them.
Designhill: What is the right way of getting onto an aggregator platform for podcasting and how to choose one?
Distribute RSS feed
Billy Samoa: It is quite simple. You host the show on a hosting platform. And then you take that RSS feed, and you distribute it to any of the directories. So, quite simply think of it from the perspective of you having a media file. In this case, the file is an mp3, which you upload to a host. It could be Libsyn, Buzzsprout, a Megaphone, and any number of hosts. They store your content and serve it up. Also, they provide you an RSS feed.
I like Buzzsprout because it is super simple for a beginner. You just plant that RSS feed into all of the directories Apple and Amazon and Spotify. It is super simple. The question is, once they are there, how do you then elevate them and promote them? And there are so many ways you can do that. You could create contests, talk to your friends and tell them about it.
Use word of mouth
But ultimately, you want to create something that people want to tell others about through word of mouth. Word of mouth is how your podcast will spread. So, how do you make content that people will want to talk about and share with their friends? And, if you can inspire them to do that, that is when your show will start to take off.
Joey Price: I get new podcasts and how I subscribe surely depends on the search function. This is because even today, a lot of the podcast platforms, their search, and recommendation features are a little spotty. So it is, hey, I was talking to somebody and they mentioned this or a podcast I already listened to promoting it on their podcast. So it is that organic one-to-one kind of reach.
David Shriner: Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most important marketing strategies for podcasts.
Designhill: How to re-strategize the entire monetizing of the podcast?
Jeremy Ryan Slate: There was an old South Park episode back in 2007 when YouTube first got popular. They all thought you just get on YouTube and you make all this money. So, it was called the magical internet money. People have the same idea about podcasting. They think they make a podcast and get their ad there and make money off advertising. That is the wrong strategy.
This is because less than 1% of shows are making a sustainable large income off advertising. When you are doing affiliate deals and joint ventures, it is a great idea. If your guests have something to sell and share, you should make a percentage. That is one strategy you should be looking at.
The other thing is that look at your podcast as the PR vehicle on the storefront for everything else you are doing. It creates trust, networking, and it helps you build that audience. The podcast in itself is a vehicle to promote your business. I do not see it unless you are one of those names that everybody recognizes. That is a business in itself.
Take podcast as a business tool
David Shriner: As you think about monetization, think less about sponsorship and advertising. Think more about how to use this as a business development tool for my business. So, your guest may be a coach, a consultant, or your potential client. Or, maybe your audience is your potential client. This is a creative way to think about your podcast as a way to generate revenue for your business.
I will say if you have a very niche show, meaning you have a very targeted audience, you can potentially get a sponsor. That is because then you go to a sponsor and say, here’s my audience. They know that their core demographic and your core demographic are aligned. Then, they may blow you some money, but do not expect to retire off of a single sponsorship. With having a targeted and specific audience, you have a higher chance of attracting people who want to invest in your show. They know they’ll reach that specific audience.
Podcasting is for long term
Lastly, it is a long-term game with a podcast. You may be going to start a podcast, and in a few months want it monetized. But that is unlikely to happen. Imagine taking your podcast, imagine throwing it in the ocean. You have to get a specific listener. There is no clear distribution channel like YouTube.
In podcasting, you have to connect your podcast with the listener. And that legwork to connect those dots is on you and creating something that people will want to share with others to find those listeners. Again, it takes time. You got to do super impressive podcasting, 800 plus episodes. That is the kind of long-term vision you must have to be successful as a podcaster.
David Shriner: People do business with people they know and trust. A podcast is a great medium to build that knowledge, ability, and trust with your audience. And that will strengthen your core business. So think about podcasting as a long-term effort.
I have been podcasting for seven years. I have also produced many hundreds of episodes and am approaching 700 at this point. It is a way to build that connection with your audience so that they are more likely to feel comfortable buying stuff from you that you already sell.
Pay attention to clients
Thomas Cagley: So, I agree that it is long-term. But the real core of where it helps the business is actually in terms of clients. I can track at least half a dozen good clients back. Then, I can say, hey, you are that voice and the guy. And that connection was ability. It was someone that they said, oh, what you are talking about was able to generate revenue to the business. So, think long-term, and this is not hitting the lottery.
Joey Price: I feel the rookie here because I have got 280 episodes across five years. We’ve done a once-a-week cadence. But I learned that we should do some reimagining with our podcast. So fun times for us in a couple of months. However, some of the best podcasters that monetize have a consistent funnel. This is the same funnel that they are putting people into from the podcast.
So, I really like Joey Price Solomon. She is the influencer podcaster or something like that. In every show, she is promoting digital courses. That puts people into a sales funnel, where they can then be sold coaching, digital products, etc.
Sometimes the monetization of your podcast is not directly from the ads or is not directly sponsored episodes. All that is great. But, it is how you move people forward to spend with you. That is going to be a big way. Because I said, we are not. We’re not Joey Price Rogan. But even we consume Joey Price Rogan’s content for free.
The podcast was Netflix before Netflix because they were choosing when they spent their time with you. They are devoting their time to you. And so it is a great tool to build that trust and credibility on another person’s terms. But you always have to ask. What is the next step? How are we going to get people from the podcast to be more immersed in our ecosystem?
Offer something valuable free
David Shriner: Give something of value away for free, that you can point to as a lead magnet. You give something away of value that people will want. There is no better PR and way to ingratiate yourself in the lives of other people. That is because they hear that vibration of your voice. They connect with it, and then they gain to have that trust. That is such a powerful thing to capitalize on if you have something that you could give them. And then, they are in your funnel there, you now can do anything with them. That could be business-related.
Go for a flat rate advertising
Billy Samoa was talking about advertising and its CPM model or cost per 1000. So, a lot of companies pay it $15 to $18 per 1000 downloads. If you are not getting 1000 downloads, you won’t make $15 to $18 per episode. So, you can do flat rate advertising. But you can say, alright, how much am I willing to do to make $75 for this episode. That is because, at the same time, you are gonna water down your content a little bit by bringing in an ad.
So you decide what that value is and get a company that will find it valuable. You can reach out to them about staying that it is $75 for this episode when doing flat-rate advertising.
Consider membership sites
I will touch briefly on some that we haven’t mentioned in those membership sites like Patreon. I know they work for a lot of podcasters out there. That is the reason why it didn’t work for my brand is that you essentially have to put someone on it to run it. And we are focused on clients. A podcast is a marketing tool. It is an entity in and of itself. It works when you are looking to have an entity of itself.
But surely, you may have a small paying tribe of 10 to 100 people who are willing to contribute, 5 to 50 bucks a month. You are creating your little ecosystem of the impact that is likely scalable. That is because maybe you are just releasing episodes a week early. Maybe you are getting face time with your team, or the other people that are subscribing. So it is beneficial.
Those sites do not work for us at this moment, but Kev on stage has a pet Patreon and it is working pretty well for him. Another thing to consider in the business of podcasting is the membership sites, where you get something behind a paywall. People will pay for that value if it is good enough.
Designhill: What are the advantages of a podcast over video?
Joey Price: I take video very seriously. I invest in it. But what we have found is that even people that produce podcasts, videos, but it is squirreled away in another tab. So they are not watching it. The value of video is that you can later repurpose it for other things.
So through your social media clips, if you need to demonstrate, or you do product reviews, maybe videos helpful.
The audio market is big and better
But the video market, by far and large, is not as big as the audio market. And you have to think about how people consume podcasts and where they consume them. Video requires a lot of bandwidth. Some people are downloading and putting on their phones. If they do not have higher internet speeds, you have to be conscious of that. You are going to be taking up a huge file for them. So audio is better for now. But maybe, the video will show its pros later.
Thomas Cagley: I surveyed my listeners a couple of times early on and found that most of them were consuming while commuting. The video would probably be bad if they were audio. And so therefore we’ve stayed with audio.
Designhill: How do you measure the impact of your podcast?
Downloads do not matter much
David Shriner: I take issue with people that focus on several downloads. Because when I’m asked the question about how many downloads do our shows have? The answer I usually give is, why are downloads important to you? And the answer that I hear generally does not support questioning the number of downloads.
Know why to want to start a podcast
So, you need to think about why a podcast is important to you and what would success look to you? And then how would you measure success? We have been talking a lot about how podcasts can support an existing business? And if that is your primary reason, then how would you measure increased success in your business as a result of your podcast?
You are going to create a whole new network of influencers who have been guests on your show, which wouldn’t come about without the podcast. And that has nothing to do with the number of downloads. So, think about what’s important, for why you are starting the show or why you are continuing to host the show. That will give you some clues as to what’s important.
Getting the results
Jeremy Ryan Slate: I have Google Alert set up for my name in quotation marks. I do in quotation marks, you do not get relevant things. So, we are getting social mentions and call-outs in different places. People are talking to me and contacting me. If I have never had to pitch for speaking gigs. We have always got them from people I have met through the show. I am continuing to make an impact by continuing to talk to people and connect with people. That is how I measure the impact of it.
Designhill: How should the new podcasters juggle through the biggies and make them awkward themselves?
Jeremy Ryan Slate: These big platforms are going to be rudely awakened. Spotify has already seen this with what they were hoping for in stock price and stuff. It is a very community-driven and a very individual-driven platform. And what they are trying to do is make podcasting something it is not. Something that is driven by big companies and by big brands. This is driven by individual creators.
So, no matter how hard they push that, they are going to have a lot of trouble trying to do that. Because if you look at what happened with I Heart Radio, they do their rewards every year where they give awards to themselves and their friends. I do not listen to any of those shows. So, it is really about being community-driven. And that is what we’re going to continue to see honestly.
It is a personal broadcast
Joey Price: A podcast is a personal broadcast, podcast, that is what personal broadcast. So, scaling that at large and taking that outside of that one-to-one listener, it could come back to bite those larger brands. What does this do for the individual? It validates the medium of podcasting. This is because obviously, there won’t be this significant investment. There would not be these mergers, and acquisitions, in a space where there was no future.
There are individuals who have got their brand, got a corporate brand, who are swimming upstream. They should jump in, start swimming, build their reach along the way. You will get where you need to go.
Podcast will cost less
David Shriner: Also, keep in mind that podcasting is going to become cheaper and easier to do in the future. It is about personal broadcasting. In the other creative media fields and streaming videos, there is no consolidation of them all. Streaming video is going to fewer and fewer platforms while the number of platforms is increasing. Technology makes it easier for more platforms to be available. It will make it easier for individual creators to connect with their audience.
Thomas Cagley: 10 more years from now you will turn the corner and it will be owned by all large companies. So I disagree with all of my fellow panelists, I suspect. Look at other technologies. You go through this phase where the individuals blow out. We did this with the internet. Then, about halfway through that cycle. It all consolidates down to a large, small number of organizations creating their oligopoly. Then, we go through a period where they exist, and then something new happens.
So, we are somewhere in the late stage of this blowing up. It won’t stay there forever, it will consolidate down. Governments will force it to consolidate them just because they want to control the message. All of this happens over and over in history.
Joey Price: I can only speak for America. Because of our laws and things I know we’ve got an international audience tuning in. But we live in a space where there’s free speech and there’s a lot of pride in our liberties. Podcasting is a medium where organic content that a person is creating.
Podcasting is about selling voices
It is not that you are selling telecom and data packages. You are essentially selling voices, views, and opinions. And it is such a stark contrast. Look at the news media, folks are running away from CNN and Fox to the independent podcasting voices. These voices will share the news in either a neutral voice or in a voice that resonates with them more.
So podcasting is a unique space, where what’s being sold and bought is different. I still do not think that those big brands have nailed down, what is the pricing model that makes this good for us? A lot of these mergers and business moves have been built to get subscribers to a platform. And then even advertising, may or may not be a good play for those big groups. So I do not think it is going to go the way of other things, but time will tell.
Voice is the future
David Shriner: I will just say that voice is for sure the future. And there will be a lot more ways for people to hear voices, Clubhouse is a great example. All the social media platforms are following suit. I’m very active at Clubhouse. The delivery mechanism could change. I probably agree more with Thomas that ultimately, let us follow the money.
There should be a delivery mechanism that will allow people to get paid. And there are standalone platforms that exist today. There will be a fight to see who survives. I believe that but none of us know for sure. But, Spotify wants to create its content much like Netflix wants to create its content. So, I do see that being the model that would make the most sense.
Even Clubhouse is a distribution channel. So, I will be blunt about this. I have the least experience upon this stage as I have been podcasting since 2019 only. I have barely done 100 episodes. But, I have spent over the last 75 days more time behind the mic podcasting doing Clubhouse. I host very large rooms with 1000s of people that come through the rooms. It is because of the distribution model that exists because of Clubhouse. So, my reach has grown exponentially because of a platform. But it is an audio platform.
Designhill: What would be your advice to the newbies who are starting podcasts and want to be consistent?
Thomas Cagley: Just start podcasting.
Joey Price: I would just say, sometimes when we get into marketing or are getting in front of a camera, we try to hide our uniqueness. But, what’s going to rally people around you is your uniqueness. So bring your full self and you will be surprised at who is going to rock with you.
David Shriner: Know your intention. What does success look like? Why are you doing this? And the more the better. And then I would suggest making your title boring and descriptive. When I say that what I mean is do not try to get too clever or cutesy with your title. When they see your title, they know exactly what your show is about. That is a great way for you to get instant, more likely that people will click on it and say, I want to listen.
So, keep these useful tips in mind while starting your podcasting business. Revisit your strategies to drive the attention of your target audience and make the necessary improvements.
Meanwhile, you need impressive visuals to make an impact on your audience that comes from listening to podcasts on your website. Your website design, logo, brochures, business cards, etc visual identities must stand out.
So, visit Designhill to get your visuals like a logo done professionally. You can launch your design contest at this marketplace to get a winning design that speaks for your brand personality.
Wrapping Up
The business of podcasting is huge today during the pandemic crisis as audio clips engage people more today. But podcasting experts want you to first identify your target audience and pick your guests accordingly. Know why you want to start podcasting and offer something valuable to the listeners.
