Should you start a podcast?  

Is podcasting worth it? 

Is it just another thing on your list of things to do? 

ALL THE QUESTIONS.  

In this article I’m going to concentrate on the pros and cons of podcasting and whether or not it’s something that you should be adding to your marketing matrix.  Everyone could have a podcast but should you have a podcast and is it right for you?

Why podcasting is good for your business; 

1. It’s an intimate enviroment to communicate with your crowd – a lot of the time you are actually speaking directly into their ear. 
2. It’s a very easy medium of content – it’s easy to prepare & produce as well as being easy for your crowd to consume. 
3. It’s portable – people can listen to podcasts in many more places than they can watch a video or read a blog. 
4. It build credibility – having a podcast enhances your credibility 
5. It builds the know, like & trust factor – as you can cultivate a relationship where your crowd are consuming you on a regular basis. 
6. It gets you in a new search function & a new audience – people may find your podcast who have never come across you on any other platform before. 
7. Audio is an underused content medium – people readily seem to dismiss audio in the creation of their content but it’s super powerful and perhaps, arguably, a less saturated platform. 
8. It builds authority – so as your clients consume you more regularly they also get that opportunity to not only connect with your personality but they get to see the plethora of your knowledge and skill set.  
9. You don’t need to get dressed to produce one – yeah, I know, you don’t need your bra on to create a blog post but equally you don’t need to to create a podcast either. 
10. Increases traffic – you can drive traffic to your website from your podcast 
11. Increases Engagement – you can open the door to discussions about your podcast over on other social media platforms and drive people over to other platforms where you hang out. 
12. Shareable – it’s easy for your crowd to share episodes with friends/peers. 
13. They can be used to form additional content – you can transcribe the audio and use it as a blog or social posts or you can embed the podcast on your blog or you can turn the audio into video format to use in places like YouTube. 
14. I didn’t want to end on 13 so this is number 14! 

So, what’s the nitty gritty on this; 

Relationship Building 

You are talking in a more focused way to your crowd.  One sense is heightened to listen in, they aren’t distracted by both watching and listening and you can gain, arguable, a more attached experience.  It’s easy for your clients to take you places with them i.e. the dog walk, school run, to the gym, in the bath etc etc so you’re opening up new opportunities and times when you can have that connected time with your crowd. You can create a regularity that means that relationship continues to grow and flourish meaning that they get to know you better, see the depth of your expertise and your credibility becomes enhanced. 

It’s A Content Wonder

Not only can you reuse content you already have in order to create your podcast BUT you can also use your podcast content to create new content.  There’s nothing like a win/win now is there?! 

Increases The Numbers 

From website hits to social media followers to, ultimately, clients your podcast can be the bad boy of driving traffic and increasing the numbers in your business. 

New People 

It exposes you (not in that way, naughty!) to a new audience to engage and get involved in your business. 

It’s Easy & Cheap 

 It’s a super easy (despite what your head might be telling you right now) medium of content to create and distribute) and it’s a very affordable content type – you can host your podcast for a nominal amount of financial input. 

It’s important that you don’t make your podcast complicated on an arse ache! 

The downside of podcasting can be when people set themselves up to making it difficult BUT there’s stacks that you can do to ensure that it’s easy and fun. 

New episodes need recording constantly – perhaps batch record the content and hit it in a one-er or schedule time and themes for the content so you don’t feel like it’s a constant. 

Always need to come up with new ideas – re-use and recycle content that you already have, take a new slant on something you’ve discussed before, bring new stories to the same topic, add in some interviews. 

It’s another thing every single week – do your podcasts in seasons so that you can have focused season topics, marketing and production time and you can also then make sure you’re marrying the season into the thing that you are promoting at that time. 

It’s all dead techie – it’s not.  I pinky swear.  There’s really easy ways for you to produce your podcasts.