Does your dog need a podcast?

Not yet, but you do!

Just like every entrepreneur and businessperson needs a book as their business card, every business needs a Podcast to tell its story with regular, audible frequency.

Podcasts are Worth Money (Maybe)

In fact, some companies even try to build entire stand-alone businesses based on a podcast. I came across one of these in a recent round of funding pitches that came to my group of Angel Investors.

In a world of free content, I am skeptical that a podcast by itself is a strong business model, which is why I did not invest. But, seeing the investor interest encouraged me to roll out The Financial Futurist podcast.

Three Reasons to Have a Podcast.

After having done episodes every week for over two months, I now believe a podcast can be a great addition and marketing tool to any pre-existing business. After all, I’ve seen this in my own business over the past quarter.

Here are three reasons why:

1.)   A podcast is a great way to reach out to your clients and potential clients.

Clients like to hear from you. For some of my clients, it’s emails, and for others it’s calls or text. But, I don’t have the time to call all of my clients every week. Few executives do! But a podcast presents the opportunity to share your thoughts in short bursts.

2.)   A podcast can be done easily and cheaply – if you do it the right way.

Your individual recording situation will likely dictate which microphone is likely to work best in your situation. But microphones are relatively cheap now. And the good news is, that even if you need to try a couple of microphones before you get it right. Don't be too dogged about choosing the perfect mic on the first try. I tried a few microphones before finding one I like. Just be sure to keep your costs low!

3.)   A podcast gets you mental real estate, and people think of you – leading to new business.

I read an article about 15 years ago in the New Yorker about the salaries of actors on TV sitcoms and talk shows. The main premise was that the more well known a person was, the more they could make, because they occupied more "mental real estate." Today buzzword addicts and marketing gurus will use the newer term "top of mind" instead. But they mean the same thing: Someone is thinking of you! And this is good for business.

If no one is thinking of you, then it will be tougher to sell your product. But if you are on their minds, taking up that valuable mental real estate, they will be more likely to do business with you and buy from you.

So what does that all mean? It means you need a podcast!

Podcast Tips and Tricks

Now that you know three good reasons why you need a professional podcast, let me share three tips that I’ve learned in the past quarter:

1.)   Dogs and Duration

My dog is cute and should probably have an Instagram. But she just makes a lot of grunting noises, so I wager that her podcast wouldn’t be that great. Of course, if you don’t keep your podcast short and snappy, people might rather listen to a dog grunting. And, you want them to listen – and tune in for future podcast episodes.

2.)   People are the Problem

A number of podcasts focus on interviewing experts. These are a complete pain in the butt. Really. There might be up to a half a dozen people in the planning process, so it can be a total nightmare, coordinating pre-podcast calls, the dial in, the topics, and then there's the actual podcast itself, which is at greater risk of technical difficulties.

The good news is that you don’t have to interview people on your podcast. And some people do podcasts where, as experts, they talk about stuff they know about. This is what I do. It’s easy. I may interview people at some point. But there is a ratio between business and B.S. -- and coordinating multiple peoples’ busy schedules is just too much B.S. to get a podcast off the ground.

3.)   Scripting Helps, but Editing Helps More

The first podcasts I did, I winged it a bit. They required a lot of editing, but sounded good in the end. Better, is when I script out roughly what I’m going to say. Sometimes, I write out entire paragraphs or segments of the podcast. As long as you can keep your energy up and not sound monotone, then scripting will get you a solid podcast fast.

Scripting (at least partially) is totally worth it. After all, less scripting means more editing. And you will definitely need to do more editing if you don't use a script.

Looking Ahead

Podcasts are going to become an even more important component of brand building and content marketing in the future. And who knows...maybe my dog will finally get one, too!

If you want more information on starting your own podcast or on setting up a full-blown content marketing strategy, email me at [email protected]

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• Check out the Financial Futurist Podcasts: https://soundcloud.com/financialfuturist
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Best,

- Jason Schenker

Tags: #podcast #marketing #entrepreneurship #entrepreneur #financialfuturist #futureofwork #automation #robots #robotics #jobsforrobots #tech #disruption #jobs #workforce

Jason Schenker is the author of multiple books, including Commodity Prices 101, Recession-Proof, Electing Recession, and Jobs for Robots. He is ranked the world's leading financial market futurist, and he is a columnist for Bloomberg Prophets. Jason Schenker is the President of Prestige Economics and the Chairman of The Futurist Institute.  He is also the driving voice behind The Financial Futurist podcast.