Listening to podcasts became a thing last year. That has led to many entrepreneurs on the path to creating podcasts for business – shows that are related to what the company does but aren’t a direct promotion of its products or services.

It’s no wonder that many small businesses have gotten into the podcast niche. Nowadays, most people have listened to at least one podcast episode and many are dedicated fans of some shows like “The Joe Rogan Experience” (each episode is estimated to reach 11 million people) and the “Banter With Sapnap and Karl Jacobs”, which has now become the most popular podcast on Spotify.

That being said, many business owners are still doubtful of the impact that a podcast can have on their business. That’s why in this article we will explore the power of this new media outlet and why your company definitely needs to start one.

5 Reasons Why You Need Podcasts for Business

Podcasts are becoming increasingly popular these days. There’s a good reason for that. Podcasts are digitally offered, easy to enjoy, and offer a compelling way to receive information while doing other things simultaneously.

Most people I know listen to podcasts on their way to work, while working out at the gym, or during the weekend when they need to spend several hours cleaning and cooking for the week. Basically, these types of shows can be enjoyed any time of the day, where your body is busy doing something, but your mind is free and able to comprehend information.

Thanks to this sudden burst of interest, every small company now needs to add a podcast business plan to its marketing strategy. Let’s look at five reasons why.

1. Podcasts Help You Attract a High-Quality Customer Base

Attracting a bigger audience is certainly the main reason why all businesses need a marketing team. However, there’s a difference between the types of customers that we can attract with standard marketing practices such as SEO and email marketing and the ones we get from an outlet such as a small business podcast.

When starting an email marketing campaign, you also start with a particular goal in mind – getting more traffic to the website or increasing the conversion rate. That doesn’t apply when creating a podcast. By having podcasts for business, you aim to attract new customers by getting them to follow your brand’s content and become supporters of it. All in all, with the first strategy you’re aiming to get one click or one purchase more (without it needing to become a long-term relationship), while with podcasts you’re aiming to create a following that will continue supporting your company in the long run.

That is certainly a goal that can be achieved if you produce content that brings value to listeners. By doing so, you can help them perceive your business as not just a place that wants their money, but a place that gives them merit, which breeds customer loyalty.

2. Podcasts Can Bring in Profits

By having podcasts for business, you can definitely bring in a fresh wave of customers who had never heard of your brand before. This can happen even more easily if you start inviting guest speakers from different areas of life and interviewing them on the show. That way their audiences will also come to listen and thus get acquainted with your company.

Furthermore, there are plenty of examples for podcasts that have managed to bring in a ton of earnings. Let’s take a look at “Onward Nation.” It’s listened to worldwide and has a revenue of $2 million. That’s because by having a popular podcast show, you’re also able to attract advertisements. Other companies will want to be featured on an episode and are willing to pay for that. Over time, this can become a steady source of income that can certainly aid a small business.

3. Podcasts are Very Cost-effective

You can start a podcast without having to break the bank or spend all of your company’s marketing budget. In order to create an episode, you need a mic and hosting. As of right now a good quality microphone is worth around $70 – $100 on Amazon, while podcast hosting comes in around $20 per month. Combined, this is around $90 – $120 monthly cost, which is nothing compared to what you need to pay for other marketing tools.

4. Podcasts Easily Fit Into a Busy Schedule

When entrepreneurs hear about creating a podcast, a red flag comes up for them and it’s in the form of “I cannot fit that into my schedule; I just don’t have the time.” Now, that’s a fair concern; however, it’s a totally unnecessary one.

Creating a podcast doesn’t take forever and you don’t need to do it every day. Depending on how busy you are and how much money you can spend on the podcast, you can basically outsource the publishing, editing, booking guests, creating show notes, and promotion part of it all to your team. Afterward, all you have to do is show up and record the episode.

Not only that, but in order to keep a podcast going, you can simply post once a week, which gives you flexibility as to when you can find time for recording. Basically, creating a podcast show won’t take a lot more time than running any other type of marketing campaign.

5. Podcasts Give You an Authoritative Presence

By making a podcast that’s directly related to the industry in which your business operates, you’re able to demonstrate your expertise to potential customers. As podcasts are always in an audio format, you can use your speech-delivering skills to showcase your confidence in your knowledge and your enthusiasm about the company and what it makes, while at the same time delivering valuable information to your listeners.

Customers tend to trust companies who understand the industry more than they trust those who speak to them only through paid advertisements. That’s why a podcast is also an effective method to start establishing a brand following.

Steps To Creating Your Business Podcast

After learning that starting podcasts for business is worth your time, you’re probably wondering how to start a business podcast. Don’t worry; I have you covered. Let’s take a look at the steps you need to take in order to create a podcast show.

Step 1: Decide Who Your Target Audience Will Consist Of

When creating any type of content, you need to have an idea of who would want to consume it – something that in digital marketing is referred to as “target audience”. It’s crucial that you figure this out right at the start because if you don’t have an idea of who might listen to your podcast, it’s likely that no one will listen to it at all.

In order to identify your target listeners, determine answers to the three questions below:

• Who are your most dedicated customers?
• What problem do you solve for them?
• What type of content would be interesting for them?

Answering these questions is needed because it will give you a certain group that you have to create content for, especially in the beginning. Once the podcast gets enough traction, it’s likely to start getting other listeners that weren’t in your target audience.

Step 2: Choose a Format, Style, and Length For Your Podcast

There’s no guideline on how to create podcasts for business. You can choose from all sorts of formats and styles, depending on how much time you want to invest in the making of the show and how you can best express your ideas on the podcast.

Most business podcasts usually follow one of these two formats:

• Teaching format: where the host just takes a subject and dissects it
• Interviewing format: where there’s a guest in each episode and a specific subject is discussed through questions

Both of these formats can be successful; however, the interviewing format is a bit more time-consuming to do, since you need to plan ahead of time and book guests each week. In terms of length, my advice is to start with a shorter podcast of around 30 minutes. If the audience continues to be interested, you can move to a longer format.

Step 3: Create a Publishing Schedule

There’s no rule on how often you need to publish episodes in order for a podcast to be successful. However, it’s still important to have a posting schedule, so that your listeners know when to expect a new episode.

If you decide to post once a week, choose one day, let’s say Friday, and begin posting every Friday. That way, your audience will know when to expect content from you and this will help build excitement for them.

Of course, your posting schedule has to be aligned with the amount of free time you have – if you can’t commit to posting once a week, then try once every two weeks or once a month. Regardless of the frequency, you decide on, it’s good to inform your listeners about it at the start.

Step 4: Create Valuable Content

When it comes to capturing an audience, the most vital part of a podcast is the information that it gives to its listeners. In order for you to be able to create a successful podcast show, you need to ensure that you give your listeners valuable, actionable advice.

The main rules of podcasting for businesses are to teach, educate and advise. Don’t sell. If you try promoting a product during your show, it will very likely turn listeners off. Instead, try to incorporate themes that they might find interesting that are related to your business. Also, invite guests that can share valuable experiences and opinions, so that listeners can hear a viewpoint that’s different from yours. All in all, the entire goal of creating a podcast is letting your customer base see your knowledge firsthand and show the value that your company is willing to give, without asking for anything in return.

Step 5: Ensure Good Quality

Even if you produce the most interesting content on planet Earth, if the production quality is subpar, no one will want to listen to it. When people want to listen to a podcast, they want the full experience: catchy intro, high-quality sound, and show notes with timestamps so that they can skip to different parts of the conversation. In order to be able to deliver that to them, it’s very important to have a good team around you that will assist with editing the audio, adding music, cutting unnecessary parts, ensuring the equipment is working properly, and promoting the podcast once it’s published.

In order to do that, you don’t need to hire people that specialize in creating podcasts. Instead, you can train members of your marketing team to do the job, especially if you don’t plan on posting more than once per week.

Conclusion

Creating a podcast business model is a step that every entrepreneur needs to consider nowadays. As we get more and more immersed with technology, podcasts have become a preferred way to receive information for many people. That’s because they’re easy to consume, don’t require a lot of attention, and can be enjoyed while a person is immersed in other activities that don’t require their brain focus.

As a company, you can only benefit from having another media outlet that promotes your brand in an organic way. You can even think of podcasts for business as alternatives to traditional marketing content in the form of blog posts. Consider this: you create a blog for your company with the goal of providing potential customers with intriguing content so that they associate your brand with value. The same applies to podcasts: you create the show in order to give listeners the information they are interested in, while in return you get their appreciation for your business.