Why You Should Consider Starting a Podcast

Podcasting is making a comeback, and is rapidly becoming a popular marketing strategy. Whether you are a business owner looking for a way to increase business, a content creator who wants to build a brand, or even if you simply have a strong interest in a particular subject, you should consider starting your own.

Why? Simply put: it pays.

Need more convincing? Here are the top 3 reasons your business or brand should be hosting a podcast!

1. It drives traffic to your website!

Whatever your line of business is, podcasting is an affordable way to drive traffic to your website. Website content is crucial for increasing your SEO results and improving traffic to your site! With optimized keywords added to your podcast’s titles and descriptions, you can easily increase your organic SEO and site traffic numbers.

With the right content using the right keywords, you can get found by the right people and generate leads before you ever spend a dime on paid advertising like Google AdWords (now called Google Ads) or Facebook Ads.

2. It’s shareable!

Today’s Average Joe is actually quite smart and has all the tools to spend their time only in ways that suit them best. If you don’t add value to their lives (and quickly), you’re going to lose their interest every time.

Podcasting is an interesting, easy to consume and very shareable way to be heard. Especially when supplemented by video, people are much more willing to listen or watch something that they know has value to them (either in the form of entertainment or information) than they are to proactively click through your Facebook profile links, read a whole blog without knowing who you are or click a static, text-based advertisement.

Best of all, if they like it, it’s incredibly easy for them to send a link to a friend or post it on their social media… That’s grass-roots marketing at its best right there! A lot of businesses spend a lot of money wishing that would happen for them!

3. Keeps people coming back for more!

Building a relationship with your clients should be amongst your top priorities. Separate your business or brand from your competitors by giving yourself a voice – literally! Podcasting allows a business/brand to create a human interaction with clients and prospective customers by giving them the opportunity to learn about you and what you’re about.

This more personal approach encourages people to remember your name and keeps you “top of mind” when they’re thinking about your industry. If they like your content and/or they find you valuable to them, they’re very likely to continue coming back for that content, learning more about you and further encouraging that personal connection in the process.

For businesses, inspiring this type of trust and familiarity in your clients can be hands-down one of the most effective ways to generate more leads and increase sales.

4. Podcast numbers are on the rise!

Podcasts are consumed differently than blogs or videos. How so? Well, blogs and videos take up more time and they usually don’t have as much information. On the other hand, with podcasts, you are able to include more information, and people tend to listen to them for longer periods of time because they are not being interrupted.

In addition, people can easily incorporate a podcast into their daily lives, much like music or even audiobooks! People can put on a podcast during their morning/afternoon commute, workout, or house cleaning routine. That kind of easy, painless access is a big reason why people love it so much!

Podcasting is on the rise and people are hungry for content!

44% of Americans have listened to a podcast and 34% of people between the ages of 25 and 54 listen to monthly podcast.

There are listeners for every industry. The internet has revolutionized the way we consume information, and people are now searching, watching and listening for all their questions, interests and solutions to problems that they face. As long as you offer value by either being entertaining or informative, you’ve got yourself an audience.

For instance: if you’re a fitness coach, you can start a fitness and health podcast. There are millions of people out there who are trying to lose or gain weight, but don’t know where to start. Through your podcast, you can help those who are struggling by giving them tips on how to get started and educating them on healthy eating habits. Those tips are the value that you give your viewer, and you only need to take a quick look through social media to see how many people respond to that!

You can start a podcast if you’re a pop culture news junkie. Did you like that new show on Netflix? What about that new album everyone is talking about? Should Colton Underwood have given a rose to a different girl on the bachelor? Why or why not?

With so many people turning to the digital world for opinions, advice, education and information… There’s a place for you to be heard, no matter the topic.

Where to get started

We’ll be honest: podcasts are easy to create. You can easily crawl into your closet with your headphones and iPhone, and start recording your first podcast.

However, you’re not going to get good results if your content is low quality. Quality is one of the most important factors in making a successful podcast. Just as in traditional journalism, you need to establish trust and credibility before anyone will listen to you or take you seriously. In the digital world, people make snap decisions and will judge your content very quickly, so it’s important to start off on the right foot. Needless to say, poor sounding audio and low quality video does not inspire trust off the bat. Even if what you are talking about is very interesting and important, many people are likely to move on to the next podcast if they don’t immediately see you as someone worth listening to.

Working in a professional studio can help your content reach its maximum potential.

How so? Well, a studio will have:

• A larger space for you to work in
• Professionally designed and treated rooms
• High quality recording equipment
• The ability to livestream your podcast
• The best editing software
• Experienced individuals there for your support

… and best of all, you don’t have to worry about any of it! All you need to do is perform your show, and a studio will take care of the rest. That enables you to focus on what’s important: the content itself. All of this adds up to a picture of high quality production for your podcast – quality that encourages listeners and viewers to stay tuned, trust you, subscribe and continue coming back for what you have to say.