Podcasting is a growing content platform with relatively little competition. While there are over a billion blogs in existence, there are currently fewer than 700,000 podcasts on the planet. Podcasting has been growing rapidly, and as a media format, it currently spans over 100 different languages across the world. However, not everyone is in a rush to start a podcast. Some people ask me what a podcast even is.
A podcast is like having your own radio show. You can interview people and share that content with your audience. The cool thing about podcasting is that by putting your episodes on places like Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and others, you can cultivate a tribe of listeners for your episodes.
There are plenty of ways to grow your audience, so why should you incorporate podcasting within your strategy?
Here are three great reasons why:
Podcasting Is About To Surge
Twenty-two percent of Americans listen to podcasts each week. The number of podcast listeners and their frequency has risen year after year (last year, U.S. podcast listenership went up from 124 million listeners to 144 million listeners). However, we are not even close to the golden age of podcasting, where podcasts will uproot radio.
This golden age is in the beginning stages, and there”™s still time to jump in. The golden age will be when more cars include built-in dashboards that allow drivers to easily access podcasts in a similar way that they currently surf on the radio. Some car brands have already incorporated this built-in dashboard within their newer models.
This development is critical because people 55 years and older who don”™t know as much about podcasting will soon see it as an option in their car dashboards. According to Marketing Land, 40% of people in the 12- to 24-year-old and 25- to 54-year-old demographics listen to podcasts monthly. The 55+ age group is the biggest opportunity for growth, as only 17% of this demographic listens to podcasts monthly. As more cars with built-in make podcasting easier for people to access, you can expect the continued trends of increased listenership across all age groups.
Get Clients
Podcasting is one of my favorite ways to get clients. Not only can you turn some of your listeners into clients, but you can also turn some of your guests into clients. One strategy professional podcasters use to gain more clients is to interview people who fit their customer avatar. Then, when these professional podcasters talk about their product or service, the guest gets interested.
I”™ve had many conversations after interviews where guests ask me questions about my podcast coaching and turn into clients. The discussions aren”™t sales calls, but if you mention what you do, some of your guests will ask you for more information about your services.
Even if a guest does not become a client, you”™re still producing valuable content for your audience. It”™s not like a sales call where experience is the only good thing about not converting a client.
You can get clients by interviewing people on your podcast and build long-lasting relationships in the process. Business connections are created, referral, and awareness of your brand are enriched.
Get More Exposure
When you create a podcast episode, you have a ton of content that you can repurpose. You can take clips from each episode and publish them on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and your other social networks.
You can publish the episode to your podcast feed and have that episode go to iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, and others.
One key advantage of podcasting is that you”™re not the only one promoting your content. When you interview a guest on your podcast, you now have a promotional team behind your episode. Each time a new episode goes live on one of my podcasts, I always reach out to the guest and encourage them to share the episode with their audiences.
You can only get so much exposure on your own. As soon as you interview people for your podcast, you”™ll build a network and know that someone else will be promoting the episode with you.
I encourage everyone to start their podcast. If you want to see if we can work together to start your podcast, grow it, and monetize with it, let”™s schedule a free strategy call at marcguberti.com/strategy.
Marc Guberti is a USA Today and WSJ bestselling author with over 100,000 online students. He is the host of “Breakthrough Success” podcast and radio show. He coaches content creators on how they can attract more traffic and boost revenue.
