5 Ways Podcasts Can Grow Your Business & Brand

I started my podcast towards the end of 2017 in the unbelievably crowded & saturated space of human potential & self development. Keep in mind, I am a 21 year old who previously did not have any sort of a brand online prior. I’m not 60 years old filled with life experience for most people to consider to be a significant player in this specific industry.

I still have a long way to go but my podcast routinely climbs the top rankings of my industry with the who’s who of titans I learn from on a regular basis like Gary Vaynerchuk, Tim Ferriss, Jordan Harbinger and many others. 

When my podcast hit the global top 100 and today has been listened to millions of times it got me thinking, who else can do this? The answer is anybody who puts in enough time & energy. I began to notice some “side-effects” of having a high ranking podcast like brand association with the biggest brands, more exposure & credibility to my business, speaking engagements and massive corporations hiring me to train their employees & executives on podcasting. 

Some of my clients that I work with have already become the Top 10 podcast in their niche and more importantly have expanded their business from increased sales and venturing off into new territory with a new offensive podcast marketing weapon. 

We are living in a great time in human history where podcasting is still not as saturated as it will be in the future and poses a great opportunity for those looking for a sustainable relatively low-cost marketing death star to point at potential clients, sales, and industry influence. 

1. Independence From Social Media (Algorithms)

Social media is awesome and one of the largest opportunities for consistent growth today organically & paid advertising. However, if I’ve learned anything it’s that things change all the time. Never be at the whim of a social media company’s algorithm change. Many people relied on Facebook’s organic reach for their content and proudly boasted large numbers of views which translate into sales. Today that channel is almost effectively non existent unless you are talking about Facebook paid advertising. 

I don’t want that to happen to me or any of my clients. That’s why when somebody subscribes to a podcast, it is a completely different media channel and as long as you are creating valuable content. Podcast subscribers are very loyal and will get a notification to listen to your podcast EVERY SINGLE TIME an episode goes live. 

According to the latest industry data 88% of podcast subscribers listen to most or all the episodes. 79% listen to a podcast episode immediately, 55% listen within 24 hours and believe it or not 61% made a purchase resulting from a podcast.

2. Intertwined Easy Content Pyramid 

A key element to understand is that when your business organization or even a personal brand starts a podcast, it’s not a separate thing you are doing here on the side. My favorite part about hosting a podcast is that it makes content creation on every other platform so much easier and streamlined. 

What do I mean? Record a podcast with a guest. Upload audio files on podcast platform. Repurpose the podcast episode into a 60 second video snippet to upload on social media, perhaps revolving a specific idea to generate inbound sales for me. You can even then take an episode or a collection of them and transform it into an article and write it up on LinkedIn, Medium and your blog. 

Repurpose the knowledge of your interviews & collaborations or podcast episodes in the form of articles, infographics, videos, press, etc.

3. Attention Span & Memorability 

Do you remember the 16th Instagram post you saw today? Probably not. 

But, what about that 40 minute podcast interview you listened to on your drive to work today? Much more likely to remember & even take action based on a specific nugget that was heard.

I began to realize podcasting was something special when I began to receive these long and deeply personal messages and emails from my listeners. When you use a technology like podcasting to scale your voice or knowledge to other people’s ears around the world…it completely changes the relationship you have with them unattainable from any other medium with the exception of someone who has time to watch long videos. 

Here's even what's better 80% of podcast listeners typically listen to the most or all of a podcast. If that’s not amazing in the age of the claimed “gold fish” attention span in 2019 I don’t know what’s a better communication media. On top of that 94% of podcast listeners are active on at least one social media channel and are more likely to follow brands & companies on social media. 

4. Passive Content Consumption 

Video is regarded as the king of content, and for good reason. But, what about the people who can't necessarily take the time out to stop what they're doing and watch your video? Many of us have down time to lend an ear while we're active like at the gym, driving, commuting, on a plane, etc. A key important lesson I’ve learned is you must go to where people go. 

If your organization already produces videos for a marketing strategy, some may be stripped only to audio and uploaded as a podcast. Many reputable brands and companies already do this to repurpose their content for the podcast audio world. 

Just take a look at the statistics of where people listen to a podcast: 

49% of podcast listening is done at home. 22% listen while driving, 11% listen while at work, 4% while riding public transportation, 4% listen while working out, 3% while walking around and 7% listen in other situations.

5. Brand (Borrowed) Equity or Credibility

Last but certainly not least, hosting a podcast enables you to associate yourself with the best of the best. When I recorded a conversation with Seth Godin, Ed Mylett, Gretchen Rubin my brand online took a completely different turn for me. Nobody knows who I am but they know who I’ve had on as a guest.

Granted, recording a single interview with one person will not make your career but showing up again and again and working your way up the pyramid will also propel you to the top eventually. Just think about it, all of the BIGGEST personal brands in history with the MOST influence have their own show and routinely interview awesome people.

Oprah Winfrey ….. Tim Ferriss …. Gary Vaynerchuk just to name a few. 

Associating yourself and collaborating with the top players in your industry or field builds your own brand as a side effect. Why not just invite them to collaborate normally? Because that’s what everyone else is doing or asking them for “15 minutes to pick your brain” is a terrible approach. But if you say Hey! I host a podcast and would love to have you share your wisdom to my audience with (list number of listeners / subscribers) there is much GREATER likelihood of the person saying yes for mutual benefit. 

If you need any assistance or help...don't hesitate to reach out!

Send me a message on LinkedIn or email me [email protected]

Listen to the Humans 2.0 Podcast

If you’re looking for a technological self-development podcast that focuses all about the human experience transformation in this 21st-century world, you should definitely check out my podcast, Humans 2.0 

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You can Listen to my podcast, Humans 2.0 on iTunes, Spotify, Google, Stitcher Radio, iHeart Radio or YouTube.