Podcasts are a great way to reach out to your community of prospects and clients.
You have so much latitude to explore the topics that both serve your audience and most interest you. You provide people with new perspectives. You introduce them to new ideas and personalities. You can even inspire.
Podcasts can be a great way to ease yourself Charlestown into other forms of marketing that require even more visibility, like video. It’s also a chance to explore how you talk about your own business and get really practiced at it.
Not many people have mastered the art of monetizing their podcast. So, think of a podcast as primarily an avenue of marketing, getting the word out about the value that you offer to an interested audience.
To get your own podcast up and running, here’s a checklist of things to do. It’s not that complicated, but you do have to prepare before you air your first episode!
Choose an enticing theme and title
Choose a theme for your podcast that draws attention. An eye-catching, even provocative theme will attract listeners.
To get the best return on your time and energy investment, be sure your theme aligns with your business and your marketing strategy. I chose impact for the Work Alchemy podcast, making a positive difference, because that’s the focusing point for all my work with my business coaching clients.
Plus, everyone has a different take on their own impact, so it becomes an interesting way to explore other businesses and other business people for both ideas and inspiration for my audience.
Scope out the title that best encapsulates what you’re covering in your podcast. Check out iTunes for other podcasts in your subject area to get ideas.
Combining intrigue with clarity is a good combination. For example, my podcast, Work Alchemy: The Impact Interviews has both the intriguing word, ‘Alchemy’ combined with clarity about the theme of impact and the fact that they are interviews.
Value high audio quality
There are so many podcasts out there now, for you to really stand out, you have to meet some minimum requirements to be heard.
Ensure the recording is high quality. Nothing makes a person click away faster than bad audio.
To achieve that, it’s likely that your episodes will require tweaking or further editing to get the best quality you can achieve. If you’re so inclined, you can do that yourself, or hire an audio technician to do the editing for you.
Hiring someone doesn’t have to be expensive. Ask around for who’s adept with the software to do the job for you. I was connected with my audio tech through my VA (virtual assistant). I’m not a techie, so that’s the approach I use.
Choose a reliable recording platform
Find a means to record your podcasts that is reliably clear. If you’re doing a solo podcast, or interviewing someone in person, you can use recording software built into most computers. I have a Mac, so I’ve used GarageBand for that purpose.
If you’re recording an interview with someone remotely, then you have several options. I use Skype, audio only to get the best possible strength of signal. Most people have Skype, so it’s not usually a big deal to arrange an interview that way.
You can also record over the phone using services like Audio Acrobat or a conference service, some of which are free. I’ve found phone interviews to be problematic, because people often use their cell phones for convenience. Depending on where they are, cell service doesn’t always give the best audio.