As you know, the Podcasting for Business Conference is fast approaching.
We’re preparing the networking events and the presentations and the emails and the broom and all of the goodies and our many expert speakers are working on their presentations. And are there ever some good ones this year? It’s going to be awesome.
As part of our prep for the conference every year, we ask all of the speakers a few different questions so that we’ve got detailed and dare I say, definitive resources on key podcasting topics for you. This year, one of the questions we asked the experts was…
What should a business owner think about before they start a podcast?
See, a lot of the people who come to the Podcasting for Business Conference are coming because they haven’t actually started their show yet, and they want to learn everything that they need to make sure that they make great investment and get a really good return on their podcast.
Even if you already have a podcast, if you’ve been podcasting for years, you should listen anyway because getting back into that beginner’s mindset of what you should think about and plan and consider before you start can help you make refinements to your show as it exists now.
Here is what the experts think you should keep in mind before you start a podcast — listen to the episode below or continue reading the blog post!
The Podcasting for Business Conference is happening this November — learn more about it here!
Watch The Video Version
Joni Deutsch
Senior VP of Podcasting, The Podglomerate
“The business owner should first know about their goals. They should have it written down. What are they hoping to gain from entering into the podcast space?
Whether those goals are audience-centric, maybe they are more qualitative goals or quantitative goals, maybe monetization goals in mind — anything that they want to gain from doing a limited run series, a long running weekly series, they need to have that out in front of them.
Aside from that, it’s also just recognizing you need to measure that. So whatever platform you’re utilizing for podcast hosting or analytics, you need to be sure you’re understanding what are the demographic information, the analytic information, the downloads, the plays, episode consumption completion you’re going to be getting from that.
Because it’s one thing to have a goal, it’s another to know how you’re going to be tracking that goal. So that way you know if you’re actually meeting it, exceeding it, or if you need to reframe how you’re working.”
Tom Fox
Founder of The Compliance Podcast Network
“What they need to do to start is figure out the type of podcast they want. Do they want to be a thought leader? Do they want to have audience relationships or relationship podcasts?
Do they want to have audience engagement podcasts? Do they want tp have a content podcast? Do they want to have a conversion podcast?
And once you determine the type of podcast you want based upon your business or your own personal preference, there’s no right or wrong here. It’s what you want for your business.
Once you’ve made that decision, you can follow a lot of other decisions that will help you get to the place you want.”
Kyla Denanyoh
Founder and Editor at KD Creative
“The most important thing you should think about before you start a podcast is to be honest with yourself about how much time you have.
When I started my podcast, I didn’t know anything about podcasting. In fact, I wanted to start a blog, and my husband’s like, why don’t make it a podcast?
It took me a really long time to figure out what was going on. But if you’re honest with yourself and you’re like, okay, I do have time to learn this, then you can watch all the YouTube videos, you can do some stuff.
You can figure it out if you really don’t have time, and that’s okay, but if you really don’t have time, hire a strategist. Hire a coach, hire an editor.
Most people don’t have natural talent. Maybe they enjoy running, but then a coach gets some from here to there. And maybe when you started your business, you hired a business coach, or you watched someone, or you followed someone, you didn’t do that on your own.
So why would you start a podcast on your own. So yes, you need to figure out how much time you have and then be honest about whether or not you want to figure out what to do, or if you really just want to start the podcast and let someone else handle all of the boring stuff.”
Mary Ann Faremouth
President and CEO, Faremouth & Company
“I think a business owner needs to think about what do they want to achieve?
What is their goal and how do they want to expand their platform and think about that seriously before you actually decide to do it.”
La’Vista Jones
Founder and CEO of 31 Marketplace
“If you are thinking about starting a podcast, one of the things I think that you need to think about is the cost — and I’m not talking about production per se, I’m talking about the cost of your time to do it.
When you’re thinking about all of the things that go into actually making a podcast a thing in the world and it being successful.
Are you willing to give up working with clients or saying no to speaking engagements to produce a podcast? Or is that something that you a team member can do?
So, calculating the cost for you professionally and how it will impact your business.”
Iris Goldfeder
CEO of GasStoneCreative
“The funny thing is for years, people were telling me, you need to have a podcast. And I said, no, I really never do.
I think one of the things that got me to do it was — what was really important to me was that I had a message and that I wasn’t just doing it to do it. That what I was doing was going to bring value to people and my guests will go on to be valued.
Because my podcast has guests and I have that engineered purposefully because I enjoy the back and forth and I bring out some really cool stuff that people normally wouldn’t talk about.
So, I have that gift but really, you need to think about who is your audience going to be. What is the purpose of your podcast. Why do you want to do it?
You also have to look at how you do it because it’s not just like, oh, I’m going to do a podcast, and you do a podcast. There’s a lot of technical stuff that goes into it
There’s things that you need to think about before you do it so think about all those.”
Marz Marcelo
Co-Founder & CEO of Certified Crucial
“As a business owner, something that you want to really consider is treating this podcast like a business.
This is another asset that you’re adding to your brand, and it’s something that can have incredible influence, especially if you wield it properly.”
Jeremy Enns
Founder of Podcast Marketing Academy
“The big thing here is thinking about what role is your podcast playing in your business. And I think a lot of times people want their podcasts to do everything and it’s really hard to make or if not impossible to create a show that actually does that.
And so I think you can create a show that is fantastic for sales but is never going to be a huge podcast, but it’s an accelerant within your business that turns people who find you elsewhere into customers much faster.
Or you could create a show that has the potential to go really big but it’s probably not going to be as effective a sales tool.
Picking one of those — it’s probably going to be on the spectrum between those and you don’t need to be hard to one side or the other — but thinking about upfront, what am I actually trying to do with this show?
That’s going to impact how you measure success, what metrics you’re tracking, whether that’s downloads or whether that’s sales and I think that just makes the whole process more rewarding.
But also, when you’re measuring the wrong metric, you’re like, oh, why don’t we have more listeners? But you’re actually getting a bunch of sales from it, and you’re like, yeah, this thing isn’t working, and it’s like, Hey, it’s actually working great.
It just brings everything into alignment.”
Racheal Cook
Founder of The CEO Collective
“Really get to know the ideal client that you are creating this podcast for, because it’s really easy to start a podcast or any type of content and be thinking more about the things you want to talk about.
But I work with a lot of entrepreneurs and small business owners who are experts in their work and when they start from where they are, their potential clients don’t always understand what they’re talking about.
It’s like they’re a level 10 expert and their potential clients are only a level two or level three. They’re very early on in their understanding of the type of work that you do.
It’s so important to meet people where they are and take the time to interview those potential clients, understand the language they use, understand what they are looking for —
because it’ll make sure that your content is connecting with them exactly where they are, and then help them cross that bridge to understanding why they should be working with you.”
David “Ledge” Ledgerwood
Managing Partner at Add1Zero
“Podcasting for business is really about ROI, but almost nobody that I talk to even thinks about what that means for them. They just know they want to have it.
So the most important thing a business owner should do before thinking about a podcast is how will I measure success and how does this fit into my omnichannel marketing strategy?”
Ana Xavier
Founder of The Podcast Space
“The most important thing that a business owner should consider before starting a podcast is really getting down to the question, which is, why am I doing this?
So many podcasters start shows without being able to understand what they want out of it and when it should be happening. So not knowing what you want out of your podcast is almost like getting in a car and not knowing what your destination will be.
Just that is a perfect way to start a show.”
Mary Chan
Founder of Organized Sound Productions
“Before a business owner should start a podcast, there’s a lot of things you really need to think about.
A lot of the times I’ve had a podcaster say, oh yeah, you know what? I can just buy a mic, plug it in. I’ll start talking. I’ll learn as I go. It’ll be okay — but the thing that I think people need to think about before they start is the why.
The why behind you’re doing it. Beyond the, I want to make money in my business. I want to grow an audience. Why? Why do you want to grow a business for growing that audience? Why do you want to make money in a business?
A podcast is going to be an extension of your brand, so it’s going to represent you.
So why are you publishing content episodes without a strong foundation of why you’re doing this? And it’s that emotional connection piece that you want to make with someone on your show?
We need to start with some foundations before we plug and play with that microphone.
What does success mean to you?
Part of that foundation is knowing that success. Everyone is going to have a different version of success. So you need to know why that is important for you, because when you know that, you’ll speak in such a different way behind the mic, you’ve got your purpose.
Back in my radio days, I used to work in radio for about 20 years, and I would coach voices and people would come in, usually small business owners voicing their commercials and then they’re like, oh, I’m so nervous.
And then they read like this, and then it just sounds like they’re reading.
But when you know your why, it’s not going to be about what you’re saying, it’s how you’re going to say it, because you’ll smile. And when people are nervous, when you smile, that nervousness disappears because you can always hear a smile through the microphone.
So know your why before you start a podcast.”
Brienne Hennessy
Founder of Your Vocal Vitality
“For those of you who are speaking via podcast, remember, if you’re nervous, if you’re unsure about what you want to say —the fact that you can go to that level of knowing your content, trusting and believing in what you’re bringing to the table, that’s what will carry through.
So continue to allow yourself grace to be heard and also practice along the way.”
Andrea Klunder
Founder of The Creative Impostor Studios
“It’s super important for business owners to think about, who is your audience?
What are they going to get out of listening to or watching your podcast? And most importantly, what are you as the business owner hoping to get out of this experience?”
Mellissa Green
Empathy-Driven Universal Content Optimizer
“Making sure that whoever the podcast host is has buttons that are clearly labeled, because if it just says button, that’s not going to tell a screen reader anything.
It has to say “playing”, “mute”, “volume up” and “down”. And then the volumes, the percentage is need to be labeled. So you have to be able to find a host that is either willing to do it or has already done it.
It would be a code label it needs to match the actual label.
The royalty free music — if you’re using music on your podcast, you need to be able to find a host where the buttons are labeled and you can find the tracks. I use Epidemic Sound and they’ve been very responsive when I would go email them and say, Hey, these download buttons are not labeled or this button on this track, it doesn’t say play, it just says button.
They’ve been responsive and ever since I contacted them, everything they come up with as far as adding new features or different things that have been accessible, they’ve been labeled correctly, then I’m like, okay, I’m gonna stick with that.”
Hazel-Ann Butcher
AI Data Solutions, Serene AI
“Before jumping into podcasting, take a minute to think it through. Ask yourself, what’s your goal? Who are you talking to? Can you stick to a regular schedule?
It’s not just about having great ideas, but you need a plan to keep those ideas going. So of course, there’s the practical stuff such as making sure you have decent equipment and figuring out how to get your content out there.
Think about how you can make your content work harder for you in the long run. Ultimately it’s about creating something that keeps giving value long after you hit publish.”
Cheryl Lau
The Thought Leader Club Podcast
“For business owners who are starting out their podcasts, one thing to think about is on one hand, creativity and self-expression, it matters. Contributing to your industry, adding value to your people, it matters.
But if you’re also running a business, your podcast is intended to support the business that you’re building. Then it’s also important to think about how is your podcast adding to your business.
Is it positioning your offers or services through the podcast? Because what I often see a lot of business owners do, especially if they have a podcast, is they lean too heavily into the storytelling, being creative, expressing themselves on that end of the scale — so much so that a lot of listeners don’t even realize, huh, I can actually work with this person or this person can actually help me.
That’s one thing to really think about, but it’s not all doom and gloom because if you want to leverage your podcast for your business, this is the event you want to be at.”
Dan Bennett
Founder of Video for Entrepreneurs
“When I think about people being interested in starting a podcast and what I might warn them against or tell them to be ready for is that it’s an A to Z production.
Coming from film and television and working a lot of large corporate and government contracting in my past, you have to have an A to Z process or else things fall apart really quickly.
85% of any great show, any great production, any great piece of entertainment that you absorb — 85% of it that makes it great happens before the camera ever hits record.
And so I would warn people that the research you put in the questions, the onboarding of a potential guest, all those things make that little part where you’re actually on the screen asking questions and having a good time so much better.
And the better you get at the first 85% the more impactful the last 15% will be.”
Simona Constantini
Founder and CEO of VOLT Productions ”Before you take the plunge and start your podcast, you need to know who you’re talking to. Who is it that’s going to be listening to this show?
Meet your audience where they’re at, and then find out the biggest questions that they have for you and make those your first three episodes.”
Hector Santiesteban
Founder and CEO of Amplafy Media
“It’s important for business owners to think about how quickly they want the podcast to start producing revenue.
Some shows need to produce quicker than others, and those have different strategies.”
Mick “The Doctor of Digital” Smith
Business Development Director, Amplifi Labs
“A number of things I think that are really important for a business owner — of course, I encourage every business to have a podcast in the first place, but there’s my 2 cents.
But I think you want to think about goals and strategy. How does this fit into the remainder of your business and everything else that you do? I think you want to have a target audience, which is really important.
Make sure that you get through the content planning and know what content you’re going to present and when. Have the resources and commitment to be able to start a podcast.
I have some technical considerations as well too. Do you have the right equipment? Are you doing everything that you should be doing?
Branding and marketing is really important. Make sure that you are standing out and look different than anybody else.
There are legal and compliance issues. Who owns the recordings? Where are they going? Do you get the approval, the authorization of those people that are a part of your podcast?
Competition and differentiation. Who’s in your space? Are you different from them? Are you doing the same old thing? You want to make sure that you are different than everybody else.
Is there a long-term sustainability? Are you going to be able to do this or is this a flash in the pan? You want to be able to keep on going.
Is there a monetization potential for what you are doing? Because there really should be. Do you have the expertise and credibility? Last but not least, integration with the marketing.
I’ve worked with podcast owners before or business owners to start a podcast. These are the things that I think you want to keep into consideration.”
Rayna Rokicki
Founder of Ladies First Digital Media
“When a business owner is starting a podcast, they really want to be intentional with their goals for the podcast.
If you are an entrepreneur who wants to grow their business with the podcast, you have to align up this idea of expert positioning in order to grow your brand, to make sure people get to know, like, and trust you.
You don’t want to always be doing interviews. You’re want to share your expertise, show how you teach people, how you coach them, and from that, you’ll grow a loyal fan base and people will be super excited to start working with you.”
Tahjma Vanburen
Founder of iMoves Management
“Before starting a podcast, you’re going to want to think about how are you going to build podcasting into your business model.
It’s not a separate marketing tool. It’s 100% baked into how do you make money and how do you build your content.”
Final Thoughts
That is a whole lot of good advice.
If you’re in the planning stages or in the I’ve started, but I need to make changes stage, then you know what to do. Pick some advice, look at your show, review it, and start making changes.
Of course, track everything that you do so you can validate what works and what doesn’t.
If you don’t have your ticket to the Podcasting for Business Conference yet, you can get it here and you are not going to want to miss this one.
As always, it’s all virtual and all recorded, and the recordings are included in your ticket price. You’re going to have access for an entire year, so don’t stress out if you can’t attend absolutely everything. We know you can’t. You’ve got a job!
Podcasting for Business – The Book
In case you haven’t gotten it yet, my book Podcasting for Business: How to Create a Show That Makes a Bottom Line Difference for Your Company, is available now!
If you think your podcast should be a little bit more profitable (or a lot more profitable), I highly recommend that you check it out.
There’s going to be some great information there for you.
Podcasting for Business Conference 2024
We’ve got over a dozen expert presentations, expert Q&A, panel discussions, workshops, and lots and lots of networking opportunities.
It’s happening from November 13th to 15th this year. Learn more about PFBCon here.
Be A Guest on The Company Show
Do you have a podcast that’s making a major difference in your business or know one that is? Fill out this contact form and let us know about it.
We’d love to have you here for an episode like this one!
Need A Podcast?
As always, this is Megan Dougherty, and The Company Show was made possible by the team at One Stone Creative.
If you know a business owner that you think should have a podcast, do us a favor and send them to podcastingforbusiness.com!
Key Quotes
“Why am I doing this?” – Ana Xavier
“What does success mean to you?” – Mary Chan
Resources
One Stone Creative | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
- Order the book, Podcasting for Business
Learn about what other business podcasters are doing:
Learn more about the speakers of PFBCon 2024 here.