Should I Start a Podcast for My Business?

NOTE: This podcast was transcribed by an AI tool. Please forgive any typos or errors. SUMMARY KEYWORDS podcast, content, business, episode, listen, create, talk, audience, marketing, listeners, show notes, effort, topics, building, clients, roi, hear, long term, reason, growth SPEAKERS Erin Ollila Erin Ollila 00:04 Hey friends, welcome to the Talk Copy to Me podcast. Here we empower small business owners to step into the spotlight with their marketing and messaging. I’m your host, Erin Ollila. Let’s get started and talk coffee. Should I start a podcast for my business? That is a question that I have been asked me so many times since I started my own podcast. So many business owner, friends, colleagues, clients leads have asked me about the impact having a podcast for my business has had, do I find that I’ve gotten an ROI from having a podcast? Do I find that I’m getting more ideal leads? Or that I’m better nurturing the clients and leads that I have? And the answer to those are? Yes, yes. And yes, having a podcast has been completely transformational for my business. And while I thought I would start this podcast episode by telling you that yes, the answer is, yes, you should have a podcast for your business, I realized that answer doesn’t actually fit with my values. It doesn’t align with the ways that I like to teach marketing. So the truth? Or the best answer, I should say, to whether or not you should start a podcast for your business? Are the two little words that I love more than anything. And though Well, besides my children, and my husband, and my friends, they are the words, it depends. There are many reasons why podcasting isn’t the best marketing channel for you to get your messaging across. So if you’re on the fence, I want you to come to this episode with an open mind. I’m going to start today by talking about all of the reasons why podcasting is a super, super smart and strategic thing you can do for your business. But I will finish the episode talking about some of the reasons why podcasting may not be the best approach for you. And I really, really want you to listen to that. Because while podcasting has been great for my business, and while I love podcasting, I’m I mean, I’m completely obsessed with podcasting, if you’d like to know, the one thing I can tell you is it takes a ton of work, it is not a marketing channel that you can, half ass, let’s say it is something that you have to put effort in into whether or not you have a team that works with you. So for example, you may decide to start a podcast and and hire someone right off the bat to do the editing for you. That’s a great, that is a great idea. Because editing takes a little while for it to do some work. Or you may have a VA or a content creator that works for your business that is going to be doing social media post or show notes for your podcast. Awesome. Also takes a ton of the work off of your shoulders. But it still takes effort to have a podcast that is successful. So I only want you to go into podcasting if you’re ready to put in that effort. And the good news is, while I definitely just preached about the effort that goes into podcasting, it’s so rewarding. I don’t think I know a podcaster that has a like longer term running podcast that doesn’t love their show. Now, I’m sure you’ve seen other podcast hosts who have started a show had a long and successful show and decided to go on a hiatus or completely stop publishing to their podcast. And that doesn’t mean the show that they had wasn’t successful, it wasn’t strategic, and it didn’t bring them a ton of ROI into their business. It just means at this point in time, their show is not their major marketing concern. They may be doing other things within their business that might provide more value in this moment. And that’s because they’ve built up a catalogue of episodes that are still serving them in the long run. Because that’s the real beauty of podcasting. When you create podcast content, it does not serve you immediately and then stop serving you. It serves you long term. I can’t tell you how many times I check my stats only to see that some of the earliest episodes are still getting listened to. So to scroll backward and see that I’m still consistently getting new lessons to some of the earliest shows that I put out. That tells me the content I created was successful. It tells me that the content that is out out there is evergreen. If you’ve listened to the last series that we just did on content, you will know how evergreen content can serve your business for the long term, like the long term. But it tells me the content that I put out there is going to give value to my listeners for the long term. And that’s why I started this show, because I wanted to provide value, it was extremely important to me to do so. So let’s begin by talking about some of the benefits that starting a podcast can give to your business. Some of the most common ones include an increased brand visibility, building a loyal and engaged audience, the ability to share some thought leadership and industry experience with a larger audience than maybe what you currently have in this moment. So we’ll walk through those quickly. When it comes to building and increased brand visibility and authority, podcasting can help you establish yourself as an industry expert, and become more visible in a way that other mediums cannot do for you. I see so much effort being put into social media content. And you know, I’ve had a large series on this podcast about social media. So I don’t mean what I’m about to say to bash social media in any way. But with the amount of effort that I see put into a short term marketing strategy, I think a small percentage of that could be put into creating a longer term brand visibility strategy, like podcasting, or blogging, or having a YouTube channel any of those methods or mediums I should say, any of those can give you a more long term ROI. So to be visible in our businesses, there’s many ways that we can approach it. We could guest on other people’s podcast and quick note, Erin Ollila 07:04 if you plan on guesting on podcast, I would love to point you in the direction of Angie Tru bloods podcast, which is called go pitch yourself. I don’t think it was my first podcast, it might have been one of my first business podcasts that I started to listen to regularly, even though I did listen to some before Angie show. But I don’t miss an episode. she publishes two episodes every month, and they are so good. And you just have to listen to all of them. So when you’re done here, and you’ve decided whether or not you’ll have your own podcast, head on over to NG Show, and then start learning about ways you can be more visible by being a podcast guest. Because regardless of whether you have your own show, but especially if you have your show, I think a lot of people forget that here. They think well, I already have a show. I don’t need to be on other people’s shows. You do. You do need to spread your knowledge far and wide. And guesting on people’s shows can super super help you to draw people to your own show, and to connect with new people who may not have found you on their own. We’ll put guesting aside for a moment we’ll talk back again about hosting, when you have your own show, you have the creative flexibility to choose the topics that you share. You can align those topics with your immediate and long term business goals. For example, planning your episodes so that they are connected to a launch that you’re having. So you’re doing some of that pre launch interest building so that when your launch happens, your audience is primed and excited to work with you. Moving past visibility, let’s talk about building that engaged audience. I cannot tell you how often I get emails or you know, maybe DMS, from people who have listened to the show and want to say thank you for something that they listened or explain how once they implemented something, how it changed, or improved things within their own business or for their own marketing. And I’m so grateful for that. Honestly, when I hear from that people are learning from and like this podcast, it just gives me the motivation to keep going and keep working so hard to continue to provide value to my audience. It’s really a two way street. It’s not just me and trying to market myself. It is knowing that I’m helping someone else and prove things for their own business. And that really drives me to just better myself and better this podcast as much as I can. And I think that there is this thing about podcasting that doesn’t get talked about enough. When it comes to that loyal audience. It’s it’s not the same medium as writing. You know, when you’re when you’re reading someone’s content. There is kind of a wall that’s put up between you and the author. You You know, when you hear someone’s voice about, they become a real or more real, obviously, because you know, as a writer, I am very real in all of the content that I create. But I think that when you can hear someone’s voice and listen to their, their tone, their inflection, you can, you can hear things like when they get excited about a topic, or when they’re more serious about something, it really builds a connection that could not have been built just in regular store FIDE written content. So the audience that you create, when you have your own podcast really helps you to cultivate a more interactive listener base, let’s say, and a listener base that does come back week after week, or however, you know, whatever your frequency in podcasting is, it does come back for more and more. So they become loyal, and they become cheerleaders, let’s say for your show, because they, they then share it with their networks. It’s a really, really nice universe podcasting, because the people who listen are great, great advocates for your growth, because they’re getting a value from your show. And I’ve kind of already talked about the thought leadership, you know, if it’s your podcast, you’re the boss, you get to decide what content you’re going to share. And with that, because obviously comes with responsibility that the thought leadership that you create is well thought out, its strategic, and it’s helpful. But you get to decide what you’re going to share of yourself and your business, so that you can give those insights and that knowledge to your audience. Those are probably the most popular benefits there. Obviously, more financial ROI is a huge one, I am asked pretty regularly like what’s the financial ROI to your podcast? Erin Ollila 12:02 How much do you spend on your show? Based on how much do you receive an income for your episodes? And I will tell you, I don’t know if I’d make the decision on whether you should have a podcast based on finances alone, because it is actually very tricky to determine the ROI, the financial ROI from a podcast I do in some of my forms for like New Client Onboarding, I’ll have a question that says like, how did you hear from us and podcast is listed as one of the ways that they’ve heard from us. Sometimes I do see people check that off. And that’s really exciting and cool to see that money coming into my business is because of my audience for this very show. But other times, I’ve had clients who I’ve worked with tell me months later, that they love my show. And throughout our conversation, I learned that they actually found me through their podcast player. And that’s something that I didn’t know when we were working together. So it’s tough to actually match exact financial ROI to your podcast. And I personally do not even though I say that you can podcast to a profit, let’s say, to print like business profit. I don’t think that financial ROI should be a main driver in starting a podcast for your business. Is it a benefit? Absolutely. But I don’t think it should necessarily be the decision maker to whether or not you should have your own show your business. Now, we’ve kind of talked about some of the main perks and reasons why you may want to start a show. But let’s talk about some of the things you should consider before doing the podcast. One, do you have an idea or a topic that your ideal audience cares about. And that is very important. If you do not have a potential listener base, do not waste your time here, look and do some market research as to where your audience is spending their time. It could be on social, it could be an email list. It could be blog content, video content, maybe they’re using YouTube or tic tock, figure out where people are to make sure that they’re going to show up for your content and then and then you show up for them in the medium that they like to be. However, don’t feel like that doesn’t mean your people aren’t listening to podcast, because there are so many individuals in this world who do listen to podcasts. I was just looking at statistics, which is a well regarded statistics site. And this is actually just for the United States. So for my global listeners, you know take this with a grain of salt. In 2006 only 22% of the adult population in the US was even aware of podcasting, but that number has grown so significantly that by last year, that figure had risen to 79% of the US population, being very aware of what podcasting was, with 82 million people listening to podcast two years ago, in 2022. Can you imagine at 2 million people listening to shows, I just read an article last month about in a podcast for truck truck drivers like long haul truck drivers. Now, here’s the thing. I’m not a long haul truck driver. So I have no interest in that show. But you better believe that the people who are are so interested because it is exactly what they do. And it pertains exactly to their business, their, their livelihood, their work, you know, their work that they do. Now, think about long haul truck drivers, they’re going to be driving for a long time, they need something to listen to. So not only are they just going to tune in, like once or twice, they’re going to binge that podcast, there are listeners for all shows. So you do have the opportunity to build up an audience, even if you think it may be a small subset of people who want to listen. Finally, another consideration that specifically relates to how I work with my podcast clients is you need to set a clear goal and objective for your podcast. If you do not have a clear goal, that guides your content strategy, all that you’re doing is creating content for zero reason at all. We you know, we just did an entire series on content. And if you haven’t listened, I highly recommend that you go back and listen to the last few episodes. Because it’s very important to me, I think I value time, so much being a solopreneur, who started her business shortly after having a baby and worked full time, not part time, not freelance but full time for myself, for seven over seven, but for seven full years, while not having any childcare. So in doing that, and in seeing the success that I’ve created for myself in my business, over those seven years that were a struggle, I will be honest. In doing that, I think the one thing I want to prevent other people from doing is wasting their time because time, to me is so valuable. So I say that because I do not want you to create content. When you don’t have the time to do so. Right? You need to know what your goals are upfront, and how you’re going to use the content for your business. If you’re podcasting for business and not for pleasure, you know, for example, if you want to have like a mystery show, or if you want to have a storytelling show, that is a whole different conversation. But if you want to have a podcast for your business, you need to be able to align your business goals and your business strategies with the marketing effort that you put into your podcast, and how you’re able to attract listeners and convert those listeners actually into paying clients or customers. If you don’t have that figured out. What are you doing? You’re you’re spending so much of your hard earned time on something that is not strategic. So I guess maybe this is one of those things that I should have said in the end. It’s very important to me when I work with my clients to advise them to make strategic decisions. So if you don’t have your your podcast goal aligned, wait to start your show until you know exactly the reason why you’re starting a podcast for your business. There are many, many ways why a business podcast can be helpful for you. We talked about things like visibility and thought leadership. But when you’re making this decision on should you start a podcast for your business, I want you to remember that when you have a podcast, you have a way that you can really bring a bit of your personality into your content that is more difficult to show up elsewhere. You know, like you hear me goofing up, sometimes I choose the wrong words on this show. Obviously I use words like um, or Oh, and I, I whenever I’m interviewing people, I’ve caught a verbal Tech, I always say Oh, I love that when I respond to the things that they say. But I think the beauty there is that you get to see me as a true fallible human. And it’s important to one of my business values, which is transparency and honesty to show up like myself. So when you start that podcast when you’re able to, you know, make those mistakes and, you know, have your own turns of phrases and things like About on a show, you get to kind of showcase a different element of who you are. And it’s really exciting because you will find that you’re getting feedback or you’re attracting people for that very reason. So having a show, if you’re trying to make this decision can not only give you the financial ROI can not only help you with your visibility efforts, but it can also help you really kind of start to like, I don’t know, claim your presence, let’s say it not just show up with offers, and not just show up as someone who can be of service to others, but show up as that full whole human, you know, the the person who is fallible, the person who is multifaceted, the person with opinions, right? Like, I want you to stake your claim if you want to have a podcast, because you have to make decisions on what you talk about. And you’re going to do things like make claims, and stand firm in those claims. And you’re going to want to be silly in potentially, or serious potentially, and having that podcast is a way to better showcase that personality part of your business than just your ordinary writing. Erin Ollila 21:18 Hey, there, Erin here, if you are at all interested in starting your own podcast, I have a new and limited time offer for you. I am currently offering podcast content strategy intensives, for people who either are going to start a brand new podcast and want to make sure that they’re doing it successfully, or for the people who already have a show and know that they need to hyper focus their content, so that it’s more aligned to you know, attract the right audience, as well as convert that audience into paying customers. So if you’re at all interested, you need to check out the show notes or the podcast description. So you can find out exactly how to get on my calendar by the end of the month. So you can help me test out this new offer and make it absolutely perfect for all future buyers and for your podcast. Erin Ollila 22:17 You know, and I’ve been talking a lot about podcasting as like a primary marketing effort. But I think it would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the idea that podcasting is one element of your marketing. And it works really well when you pair it with other marketing efforts. So for example, that at this present exact moment in time, my show the podcast and the episodes that I create are kind of like the the main piece of my marketing puzzle. And I drill down from each episode as to other types of content I’m creating, kind of think of it as that like the Russian doll set where you have that large outer doll, but eventually you can keep opening them and opening them to get to that smallest one on the inside. So I start most of my marketing efforts with a podcast episode, where I’m able to determine what content I’d like to create and you know, obviously, how it is strategic to my business. From the content that I create. Within my podcast episode, I create additional social media content, such as audio grams, video grams carousel post, static post, text only post leaving, that’s it. Yeah. But anyway, so I create social media content based on my episodes. And I am a huge advocate for repurposing content. So that means that not only do I just post once when a show goes live, but I am consistently and regularly posting the previous shows within my social media channels into well into the future. So that way, they’re always going to be promoted. Additionally, besides social, whatever I create for my contest. Additionally, besides social, whatever content I create for the podcast, also becomes email content for the week. I usually send one to two emails to my list every week. And one of those are always related to the topic that we’re talking about on the podcast. Now let’s move it to written content. Every podcast episode gets its own individual podcast show notes on my website that are highly optimized for SEO purposes. So that way, I’m not only attracting podcast listeners, but I’m attracting your average ordinary, you know, internet searcher who may find me because they’re looking for the content I’ve created. added. In addition to the podcast show notes, I am now starting to create complimentary blog post about the same or similar topics to each episode. So the people who do find me via the internet, who are not interested in listening to podcast, can consume my content, when it’s written for him if they’d rather read a blog post, let’s say. And finally, every podcast episode, while in truth, I really have not done this very much at all, I keep saying I’m going to spend more time doing this. But I do take some of the podcast content that I’ve created, and use the video for my YouTube channel. Look at all of the effort that could have been separate, let’s say, you know, I could be creating emails that I have to ideate new topics for every single week that are not related to my show, I could be ID ating social media content that is not related, I could be creating video content, I could be writing blog content, and having to ideate for all of those places. Not only is it just mentally, mentally taxing and overwhelming, but it’s just, it’s, it’s unable to actually be successful or happen unless you have the money or have a team who can do these things for you. So by focusing on the podcast, I can accomplish all of those marketing goals, and create content for all of those channels. When I just focus on one key element, that key element being this podcast. So I think maybe that’s another reason why I value my show so much. Because I look back at the work that I did for the first five years of my business, and I and you better believe I was coming up with email topics, I would say weekly, but the reason I’m not gonna say weekly is because I didn’t actually email my list weekly, because I never knew what to talk to them about. I was coming up with new blog topics all the time. With the podcast, I am able to look long term look at my business goals for the immediate future for the near future and for the long term future and create content that serves me in all of those periods of time. So having a show has really guided all of my marketing efforts. Erin Ollila 27:24 Now let’s talk about growth for a second, when I mentioned podcast growth, most of you are likely thinking about audience growth. And sure, having a podcast will definitely grow your audience. It widens your network to a new group of people who don’t know you. Why? Well, some of those reasons are things like natural SEO that is built into podcast players like you know, Apple and Spotify. Another part of it is the algorithm. So it’s like when you listen to a show. And if you’re looking at the native player, like Apple podcast, for example, underneath it shows you other podcasts that are related to the topic that you could try out or listen. That is another reason your audience gets widened and grows from having a podcast because of things like you know, natural SEO as well as algorithm suggestions. And the people that they are suggesting to come listen to your show are actually already podcast listeners, which kind of makes it better because you’re not trying to convince a new GPU audience to enjoy the podcasting medium. You’re quote unquote, preaching to people who are already podcast listeners, and get the value of this type of marketing channel because they enjoy receiving their information by listening to it in a podcast. So sure, you will grow your audience when it comes to your listenership. But I know if you’re listening to this show, and you do marketing for your business, you’re probably like, but what about audience growth? When it comes to things like email less like, I want you talking about conversions, Aaron, I want to convert these people. You can. But I don’t want you to use this again, as the focus of your decision making. It’s very similar to the financial ROI. It’s definitely easier to track who of your listeners join your list using things like UTM codes and other type of marketing analytics, you know, even if it’s something really easy, like a specific lead capture form that is only shared within your podcast descriptions so that you know that’s how people are coming onto your list. Sure, that is great. And it is a perk of having a business, but it’s not like a deciding factor. If you want list growth and you don’t really care how you get it there are much easier ways to grow an email list than to create a ton of audio content. But I do really want to focus on the pro of growth in a different lens. One of the biggest blessings of having a podcast is the network of individuals I’ve interviewed. And I’ve got to tell you, I have met the most wonderful people, podcasting, whether they were on my show or whether I was a guest on their show, I’ve really just been so fortunate to make the connections that I have. And I, I think that when we talk about growth, I really want you to consider network growth, collaborative growth, the growth that you build, when it comes to collaborative measures, or growing your network is pretty vast, like, you don’t know who the next person that you meet, is that could connect you to the next client that could connect you the next customer that could connect you to an investor in your business, or it could connect you to a new staff member, right? The people that we meet in the business world are very transformative. And I think that in one way, that has to totally been the case when it comes to podcasting for business. Specifically, I talk about this with other podcast friends. And it’s interesting to see how people have benefited from the growth of their network, when it comes to either who they’ve interviewed or who has interviewed them. I see so often people then joining together to do a workshop, or to promote their the other partner on their email list. I see so often people who are connecting a client to a service provider. So there’s actually a lot that goes on behind the scenes that a normal listener would never know about, because it takes the relationship building when the mics not on to make some of that special magic happen. So I definitely didn’t think I would pose that as being one of the reasons why you should podcast for your business. But I think that is something that I don’t know is maybe not that obvious. But it’s also it’s been vital to me. But if you’re waiting for me to tell you why podcasting may not be the best decision, I think I would look at mostly at the investment. I don’t mean financial investment. In fact, a perk of podcasting is there, there’s an extremely low barrier to being a podcaster. I purchased a boom stand and a mic because I knew that I would be fidgeting with any other mic maybe if I had to hold it or if it were on my desk. And I think I probably spent under $150 for the boom stand and the mic. But I have friends who have started podcasts on their phone, and it was still great. So you don’t need many things to have a podcast. And you can really get started very easily and and do well with podcasting without investing a lot of money. But when I talk about like the investment, I think I mean mostly the time and energy investment that goes into podcasting. Like I said, it takes hours upon hours to edit or prepare for, or create promotional content for episodes. You may only hear a 30 to 50 minute episode that I release. But let’s say it could take five or six hours to get that 30 or 5030 to 50 minute episode. Because I am sourcing guest I am communicating with guest I am creating the episode outlines I’m coming up with questions for guests, we’re collaborating, collaborating to figure out if there needs to be something added to my questions. I am asking them for personal information professional information to use as part of my promotion for the show. I am then recording the episode with them. We may be doing extra work like you know pausing and stopping and re recording things if there are any mistakes made. We are then editing the episode. And once the episodes are done, we need to master the episode. And once the mastering is done, and the audio part is complete, we then create podcast show notes, we create additional blog content, we create the social media, graphics as well as all of the copy that goes with that. We upload that into our you know, social media scheduler. And then when the episode is live, I try as hard as I can to actually like connect with guest a check in with the guests to share all of the promotional content with them so they can share it with their network. And like I mentioned, I’m constantly re sharing old episodes. So that’s an example and I think you can understand how it takes hours again for one episode. So if you work five or six hours a day that’s one intro hire workday just to publish a 30 minute episode. Again, you can do this fast and dirty. Like I said, I have friends who they record on their phone. And they publish it right away to anchor without doing any editing, and they don’t write show notes and things like that. I, if you’re going to do this for your business, I do not recommend not being strategic, absolutely record how you’d like publish where you’d like. But I think that like investing in some content that goes along with your shownotes, especially when it comes to optimization and conversions is very important. So if you don’t have the time investment that you can put into podcasting, I wouldn’t do it at this moment. If you don’t know, if you don’t feel competent in your topic, let’s say you’ve decided to have a podcast about a specific niche. And you feel as if you have some more learning to do around that niche. I think maybe I’d put the podcast idea on hold until you’re until you’re feeling confident that you can present whatever that information is to your audience. Another reason you might might not want to have a podcast is if you are over booked. I am all for creating content, and I am all for attracting new clients. But if you can’t manage your current workload, or let’s say you’re onboarding employees, because you’re so overbooked and overwhelmed. Now is not the time to jump into a massive project, like launching a podcast. So I guess those are most of my reasons why I would not launch or put a podcast on hold. But overall, I will say I will probably never change my mind on this that starting a podcast was one of the absolute best things that I did for my business. If not for the ROI and not for the you know, exciting things that have come from this podcast, it’s even been great personally, to show myself that I can commit to something and I can be consistent with it. And I can put in, you know, an excellent experience. You know, sometimes like this week, I Erin Ollila 37:07 had a late episode, I’m fallible. So don’t think that I think I’m not I am a completely average ordinary woman who makes mistakes. But just knowing that I am nearing my 100th episode right now. And that I will be hitting two years of podcasting in just a couple of months. And the entire time almost I’ve done weekly shows, it’s been really nice for me to to give myself gold stars in that I have been putting in the effort. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to let me know. And just again, as a reminder, I have a beta offer for people who need help with their podcast content strategy, both for people who are considering launching a podcast, we haven’t done it yet. And they just want to make sure that they start on the right foot, and that they’re prepared and their content is aligned for conversions. And for people who currently have shows and want to, you know, reprioritize the content that they’re sharing, to match it up with the sales that they’re having, or focus on SEO so that they’re attracting people into their business and not just necessarily listeners to the show. So don’t forget about that. The offer i is just launching today. And honestly, I think it’s gonna go really, really quick. If you want it, get on it. Now it’s only 50% deposit to do the VIP experience, I will leave the link in the show notes. Once they’re all taken up. Again, I promise this will be a live offer. I’ll put it on my website, I will let you know on the show when it is live. And anyone can grab it. And I just really look forward to helping you get your podcast as a marketing channel to benefit your business. Because you know, if I have said it 500 times in the episode I might as well say 501 I’m so fortunate for this show. And for the relationships I’ve built with you as a listener, I guess maybe now’s a good time to say, hey, if you’re listening to the end of this episode, I would love a review. I feel like I haven’t asked for reviews in a while and I could use them. They really help podcasters one, let a new audience know that it’s a good show, and to train the algorithm to share us with a new audience. So yeah, leave a review. Thank you for listening. And if you want to start our podcast for your business, definitely weigh the options but just know I love podcasting. All right, I’ll see you next week when we talk coffee and podcasting. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Top copy to me. If you enjoyed spending your time with me today. I would be so honored if you could subscribe to the show and leave a review. Want to continue the conversation. Head on over to Instagram and follow me at Erin Ollila. Until next time friends