To Podcast, Or Not To Podcast? That Is The Question.

After a full day of writing out commissioning briefs and plotting out new ideas for client's podcasts, it occurred to me that the thing I do most with podcast clients is decide if their idea is worth it or not.

So many times I've been asked to help business owners create podcasts to promote their brand and their idea is a little, well ... business like.

They come to me knowing past clients have gone on to be award nominated next to the likes of Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. Or their show has become a hit in the live podcast recording scene. Which is truly wonderful. But they struggle with the revelation that the only people that will listen to their podcast is their staff, during working hours. They find it hard to understand that their idea is not worthy of a Sunday afternoon binge and unfortunately, it's my job to tell them that.

That doesn't mean businesses shouldn't have a podcast though. They're a fantastic way to get your brand out there via one of the most powerful forms of marketing available to you. But only when done right.

How to make a podcast for your business, that's actually worth listening to.

First, you need to get out of your own head. Believe it or not, your audience aren't as excited about your business as you are. Usually businesses solve a problem with a product or service. A podcast should not be an audible sales pitch. Nor should it be a self congratulatory ego fest.

To make a podcast engaging, you need to consider who it's for. Then consider what they'd want to hear. By tapping into who your target audience is and what personality traits they have, you'll soon learn how to engage with them and make a binge worthy podcast that's shareable.

What's the end goal? It's totally ok for the end goal to raise your profile and the profile of the brand. But if it's not bringing any value to your listeners, either through education or entertainment, the latter being more successful, then why on earth should they listen?

Plan for success. Making a plan for each episode way in advance not only helps your podcast run smoothly, it also gives you a realistic view on how many episode you can create before you run out of ideas.

Guest spots or going solo. Are you going to have guests on your podcast? If so, what value are they giving your listener? If you're going it alone, the best thing to do is look for around 30 minutes per episode and plan each section and feature so you know you can fill that time with audio that's worth listening to.

Celebrities. Do you really need them? In case you haven't picked up on the underlying theme, I'll make this clearer. What value does a celebrity guest offer your audience? Yes they'll be impressed if you can bag an A-lister guest for a natter. But is it really relevant to your podcast? You also need to consider what value your podcast and its audience will offer the celebrity too. Whilst money talks, celebrities are more acutely aware of their personal brands and will question what your podcast can offer them too.

Budget. No you don't need hundreds of thousands of pounds to spend on top tech. But equally you need to spend a little to invest into future proofing the sound of the podcast. If you're doing it on a budget, make sure your room is silent and invest in a lavalier microphone. Or if you want to treat yourself, get a great quality mic. Shure are my personal favourites for microphones. Their quality is unrivalled. Any decent software out there can help clear up sound, so spend time learning how to produce your audio. It's time well spent and will ensure your listeners don't switch off because the breathing or background noise is awful to listen to.

Dedicated social media works wonders for a podcast. Yes you read that right. Give your podcast it's own social media page and crosslink your bio and the podcast's to compliment each other and lead listeners to your brand.

Fun features and topics. These are a great way to build a sense of familiarity with your audience. Features are also a great addition to any marketing strategy for your podcast too. Also if there is a regular topic that will work for your podcast, use it. Your audience will love it when you use regular features and topics, they will look forward to these sections of each episode.

If Shakespeare was still around, I'm sure he'd be asking the question, 'to podcast or not to podcast?'. The chances are he would be podcasting himself, because let's face it, everyone has a podcast these days.

These are only some of the questions I go through with clients on my Done With You Podcaster sessions. I also ask them of my Done For You Podcast PR clients too. Wether your podcast is a freshly scribbled down idea, which is where most of the best podcasts start. Or it's already existing and could do with a reformat or tweaks to its existing schedule, I ask these and many more questions with business and entertainment podcast clients.

Essentially you need to work out if you have enough content that offers value and entertainment in exchange for their time and effort listening to you. If you can't see it working long term for you, or you genuinely feel like you can't produce a podcast that's less business like, then fear not. You can always tap into the podcast world via sponsorship. Which is incidentally cheaper than creating a 48 episode long podcast that no one wants to listen to.

Speak Soon.

Carla Speight