32% of Americans listen to podcasts at least once a month, and that figure is changing rapidly. Podcast episodes are easy for people to search, access, and listen to.
Listeners can find most podcasts for free on different platforms including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. With the industry evolving, these platforms make it easier and easier for listeners to access your episodes.
As a business, podcasts offer an easy barrier to entry, free marketing cost, and access to a wide audience for free.
The audio form of it on today’s modern-day radio, allows people to listen to your content as they go about their day, from doing daily chores to traveling, or even exercising.
Are you interested in using it to expand your business’s marketing reach? It’s relatively simple to start one and reach a brand-new market.
What you need to start a podcast:
Audio & sound equipment. Get a microphone and find a place to record one. Record episodes in a sound-proof room or quiet area.
Recording software. Choose how you are going to record and edit your podcast. Which software are you going to use to edit episodes?
Podcast hosting software. After each one is recorded, edited, and ready to go live, how will it be hosted and broadcast to your subscribers?
Brainstorm content theme. What’s the overarching theme or concept that will guide your episodes? People search for episodes related to certain themes, topics or ideas.
- What theme or idea does every episode relate back to?
- Will your episodes be conversational interviews, solo shows, or tell a story?
- What types of content will you produce? Do you want your episodes to be helpful and informative, inspirational, practical, or conversational?
Set a publishing schedule. How often will you publish podcast episodes? You might also want to create podcast “seasons” where after you publish a certain number of episodes, your podcast takes a scheduled break.
Create a marketing plan. After each episode is published, how will it be marketed? Use these ideas to promote episodes and help with content exposure, SEO, and authority-building:
- Repurpose the clips from podcast episodes into Instagram reels, Twitter audio, or YouTube videos.
- Highlights, takeaways, and timestamps from your podcast can be typed into “show notes” to be published on your blog or website for SEO purposes. You can also include links or resources mentioned in the episodes in your show notes.
- Create graphic images of inspirational or informative quotations from the episode and circulate them on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter.
- Interview other companies, businesses, or influencers in your industry and ask them to promote the episode when it’s live.
- Add keywords and search terms to your podcast titles and descriptions so that people can find your podcast when looking up a topic.
The podcast industry is growing rapidly, and it isn’t stopping. Platforms like Spotify are evolving with the industry, and now is the perfect time to start reaching a new audience with a podcast.
Overall, publishing podcasts build brand awareness with listeners. By listening to your episodes, they learn more about you and your company over time. There are some things – like emotions – that are best conveyed with words!
Cathleen Mancino is a Peak Performance Sales and Leadership Coach specializing in helping clients make impactful presentations that get clients motivated to make decisions!