Should Your Small Business Have A Podcast?

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In This Episode

It seems these days that everywhere you look a new podcast is popping up.  It’s to the point now that there are over 1 million podcasts currently available.  And that number continues to grow.  Even fake people have podcasts…Ron Burgundy anyone?  So the question we pondered today during the show is, should your small business have a podcast?

Was it just us, or did your mother also say to you, “If everyone else is jumping off a bridge does that mean you should jump as well?”  Well, swap out the “jumping off a bridge” with “launch a podcast” and think about how you would respond to your mom.  OK, maybe a podcast isn’t life or death, but it could add some life to your business…or it could be a big distraction.

Some things to consider before deciding to launch a podcast:

  • Why: are you clear on why you want to do a podcast? What are you hoping to achieve with it?  Share some knowledge?  Gain some fame?  Promote a cause?  Make some money…on advertising or your base business?  Something else?
  • Commitment/Discipline: do you have time in your schedule each week to dedicate to a podcast? Time to prepare, record, edit, and then post it?  We had the benefit of being live on the radio for the first 4 years of our podcast.  One of the biggest things that provided for us was the discipline to continue creating a show each week.  Of the million plus podcasts out there, most don’t have more than a few dozen episodes.  Just like small businesses themselves, many podcasts get started but most fail.
  • Knowledge: are you an expert in the topics you’re planning to discuss on your podcast? Or will it be something you have to dedicate a lot of time to research?
  • Entertaining: while your audience may not be as bloodthirsty as the Romans in the movie Gladiator, you should still learn from Russell Crowe’s character Maximus that this audience wants to be entertained or they will tune you out. You don’t have to be a standup comic to host a podcast, although that doesn’t hurt, you want to be entertaining for your audience.  So what does that “entertainment” look and sound like for you?
  • Brand: do you know what your brand is? Is it fun, relaxed, playful, serious?  One thing you’ll likely agree is that you have to be yourself with a podcast.  Your audience will know if you’re trying to fake it or aren’t being genuine.  So you’ll want to be clear on this before starting your podcast.

So we aren’t here to tell you that you should or shouldn’t have a podcast.  We’re hoping to give you some of the questions to consider before launching into one based on our 6+ years of experience with producing a weekly podcast.  Hopefully you’ll find the show today helpful!

People, Companies and Resources We Mentioned in the Show

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