In a rapidly changing digital landscape, marketing agencies need to be ahead of the curve. Providing a diverse range of high-quality content is an integral part of a sustainable competitive advantage — but agencies also need to be frugal and clever with where and how they invest their time, money and energy.
Although blogs are still very popular, audiences are somewhat limited in how they can consume them — you can’t read a blog at the gym or while driving, for instance. With this in mind, podcasting is a great way for agencies to connect with their audience and personify the brand while simultaneously diversifying their content channels, thus allowing audiences to engage with content in their preferred manner.
This post details everything you need to know to start a podcast — from the equipment and technical aspects to the promotion and distribution.
Why Start a Podcast?
There’s a plethora of research to back up my own personal belief in the power of podcasting. Edison Research’s 2016 Infinite Dial study showed a significant year-over-year increase in podcast listenership, with monthly listenership increasing from 17% to 21%. Research in the UK and Europe has also shown an uptick in the popularity of podcasts, with the Winter 2016 Rajar Midas Audio Survey reporting 4.7 million podcast listeners.
While these statistics are promising, let’s be clear from the start: Podcasts don’t typically open the floodgates in terms of leads. However, as a lead nurturing content channel, they’re incredibly powerful. Much like having an established blog with a good following, having an established podcast can help you to stand out as a thought leader in your industry — which will then help you generate leads.
Podcasting is by no means a quick fix; you need to be willing to put time into building it up the same way you would a blog. But if you can dedicate the time and effort, it can be incredibly rewarding in terms of increased engagement with your existing customer base and also in elevating your agency’s visibility and reputation.
How Agencies Can Start a Podcast
Equipment
Some people would have you believe that in order to podcast, you need to have a full recording studio setup, complete with expensive, difficult-to-use equipment — but that’s not the case at all. You could start a podcast this very second just using your cell phone and a free SoundCloud account! It really is that simple, so don’t be deterred by overthinking things the technical side of things.
If you’re going to be podcasting regularly, I would advise investing in a USB microphone. A Blue Yeti works perfectly fine and isn’t too expensive at approximately $130. If you visited the podcast booths at INBOUND 2016, you’ll have seen them first-hand. These and other USB microphones plug right into your computer without the need for a pre-amp to control/convert the voltage — necessary to connect some of the higher-end microphones, like a Rode NT1A.
If you’ll be conducting interviews for your podcast, the Zoom H1 portable recorder, featuring built-in unidirectional microphones, is a lightweight option to carry in your bag or your briefcase. It retails for approximately $100 — not exactly breaking the bank.
Content
Now that you have your equipment ready to record, what should you talk about in your podcast? A while ago I came up with what I call the “C.A.S.T” content creation model, which stands for Content, Audience, Subject Matter, and Time.
Here’s how it works: The Content should be relevant to your Audience; your Audience should be able to relate to the Subject Matter; the Subject Matter should be Timely (and preferably, Timeless). You know your customer persona well — put yourself in their shoes, think about what they would…
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