While podcasts remain wildly popular and offer a great way to educate your company’s followers, the mere idea of podcasting can seem overwhelming to a busy leader. Not only must you consider branding and book guest speakers, but you also have to strategically plan informative topic ideas for each and every episode, not to mention troubleshoot any technical difficulties along the way.
Starting a podcast is quite an undertaking, but one that’s well worth the investment if your customers and clients tune in and share it. Thinking about creating a podcast to reach and engage with your target audiences? Follow these 15 essential podcasting tips from Forbes Coaches Council members to drive your business forward with one.
Forbes Coaches Council members offer their best podcasting tips for business leaders.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.1. Create An ‘Ideal Listener’ Avatar
As a business leader, creating a podcast is hard work. I launched my podcast less than a month ago. I would advise a business leader who is creating a podcast to create an “ideal listener” avatar to understand your listeners and deliver valuable content that they will want to hear. - Kimberly Buchanan, The Buchanan Group - Professional Coaching for Professional Women
2. Know Why You’re Doing It
Business leaders should determine their “why” for creating a podcast and listen to some podcasts that might be in the same genre to help assess the vision of their own. - Sandra Hill, New Horizen Coaching & Professional Growth Advancement
3. Be Authentically You
With everything online, building relationships online has never been this easy and challenging at the same time! The results are that more and more people are recognizing what is less than real and less than true. Be all of you, as that is where you are most confident, and this is how you build trust with your audience. - Charlotte D Blignaut, Emotion In Motion® and Your Hidden Genius™
4. Interview Other Podcasters
To build and grow an audience, make sure you interview podcasters with large audiences that are right-fit listeners for your show, and get on their programs too. I have two business podcasts, and the hardest thing is growing an audience cost-effectively. Bonus idea: Get a co-host with an audience! - Mike Koenigs, The Superpower Accelerator
Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches. Do I qualify?
5. Accept That Episode One Won’t Be Perfect
As someone who has been podcasting for 10 years, my best advice is to acknowledge that episode one will not be perfect. You cannot anticipate where every thorn is, and you need to start now. Also, don’t act “rigid” or “professional.” Podcasts are information and entertainment. Let your personality out and risk criticism. Podcasting rewards the different, not the boring. - Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
6. Get To Know Your Audience Intimately
The best podcasts focus on filling the needs of their listeners, with every aspect of the podcast focused on being of service. Before you begin, start by surveying your target demographic to ensure that your title, branding and topic selection will address the biggest questions they have in business. - Bri Seeley, Seeley Enterprises Inc.
7. Be Clear About The Value You Want To Bring
My best advice is for leaders to be clear about the value that they want to bring to their podcast audience. Once they do so, they will naturally attract great speakers with whom to execute their plan. Branding is a natural result of doing the first two tasks I mentioned. - Karan Rhodes, Shockingly Different Leadership
8. Never Quit
As a person with over 3 million podcast subscribers, I recommend never quitting. You’ll get better and get more listeners over time. Most podcasters quit, but the way to win is just to keep on podcasting. I did podcasts for six years before my show had legs and caught on. Just don’t quit. - Ryan Stewman, Break Free Academy
9. Know Your Audience’s ‘What’s In It For Me’
First, be completely clear on the purpose of your podcast and what it will achieve for its audience. Your audience needs to know from the start, “What is in it for me?” Once you are clear on this, share the “what is in it for me” widely and explicitly in all of your promotional branding and in the introduction to your podcast. - Simi Rayat, Wellbeing Face Ltd
10. Let Interesting Guests Talk You Up
Podcasts allow you to create and brand however you choose. I think the interview-style podcast is a great avenue to get yourself going. Booking interesting guests and asking great questions creates great content. Interviews also allow the guest to speak about you as the host, so you don’t have to talk about yourself. Let them speak to how great you are; it’ll mean more. - Jon Dwoskin, The Jon Dwoskin Experience
11. Commit To A Disciplined Purpose For A Year
Ask yourself why you want to create a podcast, then commit to that disciplined purpose for a year. My suggestion, if you do create a podcast, is to create a consistent schedule. Even if your schedule is once a month, build continuity into your show and don’t stop until you do a year’s worth of programming that lays out the core tenets of your show. At the end of that year, determine ways forward. - John M. O’Connor, Career Pro Inc.
12. Find A Niche Aligned With Your Expertise
When starting a podcast, scan the available content and find a niche that aligns with your expertise and passion. In the early stages, play around with different formats and find what fits with your style and what seems to resonate with listeners. As you get more comfortable and consistently release new, compelling content, people will tune in, and you can build your audience and impact. - Jonathan H. Westover, Ph.D, Utah Valley University & Human Capital Innovations, LLC
13. Take A Step-By-Step Approach
I believe in the success of a step-by-step approach. Right at the beginning, it’s all about trying things out and learning quickly. Do more of what the audience likes and change whatever doesn’t win a response. The reach increases with relevant, good content. It’s obvious: If the content is really entertaining, then it will resonate particularly well. - Michael Thiemann, Strategy-Lab™
14. Figure Out What People Need To Hear
With so many podcasts saturating the airwaves, what do people need to hear? You can have the best logo, cool speakers and an expensive microphone—but people come back for more when the content is good. It is also a good recommendation for the podcast owners to record themselves speaking. Is the conversation engaging? Is the tone of voice interesting? Are there many ums, ahs, so’s or buts? - Denise Russo, SAP
15. Be Relevant And Real
There are so many podcasts these days. Some are all business, others all heart. The successful ones incorporate both. Be relevant to today’s business climate; incorporate multiple angles; share the good, bad and ugly of the journey and provide value to listeners with each episode. Having hosts with personality helps too! - Miranda VonFricken, Miranda VonFricken - Masterminds & Personal Growth Coaching!
