You can listen to a podcast whilst doing a whole host of things, for example when exercising, cleaning the house and on your commute to work. It’s so different to watching TV, a YouTube video or scrolling on Instagram as these activities take your full focus and attention, and it’s easy to get distracted from the things you maybe should be doing. With a podcast, the audio is portable and easy to listen to at your convenience on the go or at home. They also enrich your time, rather than hinder it. When I listen to an educational podcast on my way to work, I could have learnt 10 new things before arriving at the office, how great is that?

So, from a business perspective, if you like to give your clients or customers information about your business / industry or you have a topic to discuss, a podcast could be a great way to offer this information in a fun and easy to digest way which you may have previously done in a blogpost, newsletter or via social media.

In the same way you can build an audience via a blog or on social media, if an individual really enjoys the content of your podcast or sees lots of value in it they’ll keep coming back and perhaps tell a friend or two. If you register on platforms such as iTunes or Stitcher people can search and find you through the platform too! Once they are a loyal listener it’s quite easy to convert your audience into potential customers or clients if you wish to.

At the same time as growing your audience, you can also grow your business network by inviting other industry specialists / experts to be a guest on your podcast adding additional value to your offering. Having a guest can also bring new audiences to your podcast if they promote the fact that they are joining you for a guest spot. If you would like to tap into new industries or widen your community, this can be a great avenue to open up these lines of conversation.

The great thing about starting up a podcast is the low financial risk. To purchase the equipment needed to start a podcast will cost in the region of a couple hundred pounds. You’ll need microphones, headphones, a recording device and memory card to record each episode. When it comes to editing there’s a couple of different directions you can go – you can either keep it in house or outsource to a podcast agency like us!

You can monetize your podcast in several ways, depending on the size of your audience this can take a little bit of time to build however if you already have a fairly reasonable audience on something like social media this can be a fairly quick process! So, the three main avenues for generating money from your podcast are…
1. Sponsors - Once you have a large enough audience you can charge other businesses to be mentioned on your podcast.
2. Promote your own products or services - Whilst your podcast may be for entertainment or education you can talk about your services or products to your audience to convert them from a listener to a customer.
3. Affiliate Links – If your audience are really interested in your recommendations affiliate links are really handy to earn commission every time someone clicks your links and decides to buy!

Being able to talk about your industry and share tips, advice and information consistently on your podcast will help position you as an authority in your industry in the same way as writing a regular blog or a book on your chosen subject. If you wish to establish yourself as an expert in your field a podcast is a great way to do this and you’ll find this can open up opportunities to speak at conferences and events or if you are looking to progress into mentoring, coaching or consulting in your field these opportunities may be possible too, especially if listeners ask lots of questions and engage in wanting to know more.

There are loads of reasons why you should start a podcast and lots of ways to make it a valuable part of your business to generate income, grow your audience and establish yourself as an expert. So, if you have a topic you feel really passionate about and would love to share that passion with an audience, a podcast could be great for you! The most important thing about a podcast is to make sure you have fun with it and enjoy it.

If you would like to start a podcast but not sure where to begin, check out our case study of the Dewing Grain Podcast which we produce here and get in touch!