How to start a podcast for your business

Should you start a podcast?

Making a podcast is an excellent way to market your business. Podcasting can be something you have fun doing that also brings customers to your small business.

The benefits of starting a podcast include both increasing awareness of your brand and increasing your organic reach. In simple terms, you will be able to attract people who are interested in what you talk about. They will get to know you as a business owner, and learn about you and what you do.

It is important to get more personal with your customers because that will increase their trust in your brand. People tend to trust a brand more when they get to know the people associated with it. Being able to listen to your podcast will give them a better understanding of you as a person. If you decide to hire someone else to record podcasts, they will associate that person with your brand too.

The tone of your podcast will determine your brand personality. Why is it important that you position yourself as a particular brand? Because that will determine whether you are attracting your ideal customers.

But you probably know the benefits of starting a podcast if you’re considering making one. With that, let’s jump right into the steps to start your podcast.

Steps to start a podcast 

1. Pick the main topic of discussion

Having a podcast means that you will have full creative freedom over the type of content you create, that's why it is crucial that you are intentional with it. First, you should choose what your podcast will generally be about.

The topic of your podcast can be broad, for example “fitness and wellness” or “home decor”. It should be related to the problem or an area of interest that your customers will look for. They may search for entertainment, or have questions that you can answer for them. Whatever it is, selecting a relevant topic for your business is the first step of making your podcast. It should make sense with the area of business that you operate in.

2. Select your target audience

How do you select a niche? Identify who your target audience is by looking closely at the type of customers you serve and hink about you the market. Considering who you are and your interests, who will you attract in this market? Who do you want to attract?

Choosing what kind of customer you cater to will determine a lot of other choices in solidifying your brand identity.

For example, Unicorn Factory's founder Connor has a YouTube channel. There, he focuses on creating content for solopreneurs who want to start a business using No-Code. The main goal of the channel is to provide value to his customers. If they are interested in getting even more value, Connor has courses that can help them achieve what they need. In that specific niche, his channel helped establish Connor as an expert. Therefore the niche that he chose for his YouTube is perfectly aligned with his business.

3. Decide on the podcast format 

Podcasts are made to follow a consistent structure. Choose yours after identifying who your customers are and what interests them. Here are a few elements to consider:

• Solo Episodes or Interviews

You can have a mix of the two, just keep in mind the different benefits that they have.

Solo episodes have you as the main narrator of the content. You will have the power to create a strong connection with your listeners. With the solo episodes, you are free to discuss anything that you want which makes recording your content fast and efficient.

Interviews on the other hand, help with exposure for your content because you have another creator with you and can attract fans of both of your brands. Adding another person also adds fun to the user experience, and exposes your audience to different opinions and backgrounds. Meeting more people can also be good for your business and growing your network. 

• Scripted or Non-scripted Content

Why do creators script their content? This is an excellent way to ensure that your content is clean and consistent with the theme of the episode. Adding af structure to the content creation process helps beginner creators not go off track. It is also helpful if you tend to get nervous in front of a camera. 

If you aren't a big fan of detailed scripts, make a general outline of the podcast episode. Then you can talk freely about the points that you’ve made prior. That will give you the wiggle room to express your thoughts naturally while providing some structure to the storytelling.

On the other hand, if you are comfortable around a camera (or a mic) and prefer to not have too many restrictions to your content, you can opt for non-scripted podcast making. The spontaneity that you achieve with this format can be compelling. Your audience will see your personality shine more and they might find that more entertaining.

• Entertaining, Emotional and Educational Content

Your content should be any of these three: educational, emotional, and entertaining. It’s up to you to determine the ratio the three in your content.

When you know what the main purpose of your podcast is, you can determine which of them describes your content more. Do you want to provide value for your customers? Perhaps, educational content might be just the fit. However, it doesn’t have to be boring. Sharing personal experiences or highlighting points of interest in your educational content adds flavor and makes content more digestible.

• How long should your episodes be?

On average, creators make 15 to 20-minute episodes on Spotify. Especially if you are a solopreneur, creating shorter content will make it possible for you to stay consistent while gaining the benefits of having a podcast. It is important to keep in mind that the average consumer now has a short attention span.

However, if you want your podcast to contain long educational interviews with industry experts, you can opt for 1-hour to 1.5-hour long episodes.

Anything in between can also work for your podcast, from 30 minutes to 45-minute episodes. This can be just the perfect equilibrium if you want to go into more detail with your content but not make it too long.

• Who is the host?

Choosing the host of your podcast can be as important as choosing a brand personality. Through marketing communications, you will show your consumers what kind of voice your brand has. Your customers will start associating the host with your brand. 

It is important for you to select the right person to represent your business. Many small business owners host their podcasts themselves, which is actually a perfect opportunity to introduce yourself to the audience. The main point of your brand marketing is to convert fans to customers, which is a lot easier to do when you've built a personal connection with them.

• Who are the guests?

Why is it important to do your research before inviting someone to your podcast? Ultimately, the reason you’re inviting a guest in the first place is to increase your reach. You want to invite someone who has an audience that overlaps with yours. In the end, you are inviting people who can bring value to your channel, and vice versa. 

4. Build a podcast brand

Your podcast will be an extension of your brand and should represent your style and brand personality spot on. There are different elements that contribute to that, including developing your podcast logo or adding a music theme.

Your podcast brand is an extension of your business brand. Branding consists of many elements, and graphic design plays a major role in it. Having a great logo and theme for your podcast will help make your content memorable. Of course, if you already have a logo you can go ahead and use it in your designs.

You can even opt for building a landing page on your website for your podcast if you want to increase your following. Marketing your podcast through a web page will help you get more subscribers, built correctly. A converting landing page consists of spot-on descriptions, customer reviews, and a call-to-action. 

Additionally, you can hire freelance brand experts, logo designers or podcast editors who can help you to build your brand.

5. Develop your content plan

Why should anyone plan their content? The reason you're putting out great content is to achieve strategic goals. Increasing brand awareness, bringing more revenue, and making a marketing funnel are all goals that you can achieve with your podcast.

However, you can not successfully convert your audience without a proper strategy. What topics do you pick to talk about? How much of your content is sponsored? How do you approach it?

The easiest way to start this will be to write an outline for the first 20 episodes of your podcast. You can easily oversee your production plans and get a good overview of the direction that your podcast is taking. 

You can use different tools to organize your plan. Airtable or Notion are tools are widely used in content management and organizing workflows. You can check out our 7 MUST-HAVE Tools for Freelancers article to learn more about these tools. 

6. Get the equipment

You might think that you need a lot of new equipment to start producing your content. It can be intimidating to approach this process if you need big financial investments. But we believe that in order to start out, there's not that much you need to buy.

A starter pack for building a podcast includes: 

• Computer or laptop
• Microphone 
• Headphones

As you progress through your podcast-making journey, you might want to consider getting additional equipment that will help you polish the sounds or make them easier to record. But don’t let fear of buying new stuff stop you from starting out. Once you get a feel for what you actually need to record better quality content, you will go ahead and make informed purchases for your brand.

7. Edit your podcast

No matter how perfectly you planned out your podcast, it is likely that some mistakes will slip through. Edit your episode to remove unnecessary pauses, stutters and filler words. It is necessary to add intros and outros, as well as ad breaks and improve sound quality. Just like YouTube videos, editing is required to create the final product that is worth presenting to your audience.  

Some of the many software choices you can opt for are:

• Audacity
• Pro Tools
• Garage Band
• Riverside

Many creators seek help with podcast editing, as it is much less of a creative process. With modern software, it is easy to outsource this task to your virtual assistant. Or, if you want a more professional approach, you can hire freelancers who specialize in podcast making. You can choose to delegate this if you want to do more creative work.

8. Upload the first episode

You're done making your episode, so uploading it should be just the last step, right? Not yet. It is time to add some episode descriptions using SEO practices.

SEO plays a huge role in marketing your podcasts. In a nutshell, SEO or Search Engine Optimization helps search engines like Google determine what your content is about, by using keywords. Once you have the name of your podcast episode, and all of the keywords ready, it’s time to upload it to the platform of your choice.

Anchor is an excellent platform to use. It automatically distributes all of your podcast episodes to the big podcasting apps like Spotify and Apple. You also can share your podcast on Twitter, Reddit and other groups and forums where your targeted audience is. Additionally, if you have a mailing list, share your podcast with them too.

Congratulations, you started your podcast!

Conclusion 

How to start a podcast for your business?

1. Pick the main topic of discussion
2. Select your target audience
3. Decide on the podcast format
4. Build a podcast brand
5. Develop your content plan
6. Get the equipment 
7. Edit your podcast
8. Upload the first episode

Starting something new is never easy. However, it doesn’t mean it can’t be an exciting opportunity for you. Start small and start today, and you will see how you can build a whole marketing channel for your business while having a creative outlet.