Supercharge Your Business With A Podcast

You’ve heard the buzz. Everybody and their mother is starting a podcast. And you can’t help but wonder...Should you start one, too, to help grow your business? Is it worth trying to find the time and energy for ONE MORE THING?

You actually wouldn’t be crazy to consider it. As of 2019, 51% of people in America have listened to a podcast, up from 44% in 2018. Not only is podcasting growing, but it also has the ability to reach people in a way that other forms of media can’t.

Not only are people listening at home, in the car, while doing the dishes, or walking the dog, but the quality of that listening is also greater than with other forms of media, such as scrolling social media.

“Podcasting connects with people in a more personal—even more intimate—way than blogging, radio, video, and more.”

—Daniel J. Lewis of The Audacity to Podcast

While starting and continuing to produce a podcast does require more time and effort than just writing a blog post, it is definitely worth considering if you are growing a small business. Here are ten impressive ways a podcast can grow your business.

1. Expand Your Client Base

Not everybody is on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Having your own podcast can help you reach new people. Not only have 165 million people in America listened to a podcast, but these are also people who are more likely to be well educated, affluent, and very active on social media.

What’s not to like about reaching more people who can buy your products and services? 

Through your podcast, you can grow your email list by offering a freebie or opt-in that they get when they join your list. And you are growing a list of people who really do want to hear from you, as you’ll see below.

2. Increase Connection And Trust

With a podcast, you become more than a “business”—you are a real person. Because podcasting is such an intimate form of connection, literally like having someone talking into your ear, it is a fantastic way to create a loyal following of people who know, like, and trust you.

They feel like they really know you, and they have a good idea of who you are and what you have to offer. Listening to you talking to them develops trust, and people are more likely to purchase from and do business with people they feel like they know and trust.

3. Directly Promote Your Own Products And Services

You can directly promote sales of your products or services. You can sponsor your own podcast with a brief ad that directs people to a landing page where they can buy from you. No need to pay someone else for advertising! What’s not to like about that?

You can also have a series of episodes that lead up to a product launch. In her highly successful podcast, Online Marketing Made Easy, Amy Porterfield discusses how providing content is a great pre-launch strategy. And one way to do that is through a series of podcast episodes.

A podcast is a way to give fantastic free content to your people and also help them become more aware of how you can help them. With a free opt-in, your podcast can help them solve a problem, or take the very first step of solving a problem, and then you can show them that you can help them with the full transformation through your paid products and services which you mention and link to in your show notes.

4. Connect With Influencers

If you have an interview show, you can intentionally choose guests that you would like to connect with in order to grow your business. When you connect with people with a similar audience to yours, you grow your reach, because their audience will want to listen to your show as well. 

You also never know how these connections may serve you in business and life in the future. Having a conversation in a podcast episode can lead to ongoing relationships that may offer opportunities for collaboration in the future. 

Being a guest on other people’s shows is another great way to connect with influencers and get more listeners for your own podcast as well.

5. Improve Your Public Speaking Skills

Showing up consistently to produce a podcast will undoubtedly improve your public speaking skills. And the ability to speak to a group and simply communicate better is a huge asset to your business. You may even find the courage to step out and start speaking to people live and in person at events, which is another great way to grow your business.

6. Gain Clarity About Your Brand

As you produce weekly or bi-weekly content for your podcast, you will gain greater clarity about your brand. You will get better at communicating the story of how you help your clients. Your clients will be able to really understand who you are and how you can help them. And that’s where it’s at, baby.

7. Create A Community

Podcast listeners feel like they’re part of something, and you can invite them to join you in an online community based on the podcast. Create a Facebook group where they can discuss the topics in the episodes and connect with you and each other. 

This will also allow you to get to know your clients better. When you know their needs better, you will be better equipped to meet them. You’ll also be better able to speak their language, which you will learn through their communication within the Facebook group.

8. Increase Revenue Through Sponsorships

You can also make money through paid sponsorships for your show, or even just through affiliate relationships. Of course, it’s a good idea to make sure that whatever you are promoting is a good fit for your listeners. You might not want to promote bras on your podcast about fishing, for example.

9. Be A Podcast Guest

Not sure you’re ready to go all-in on your own podcast? Don’t fret! Being a guest on others’ podcasts is another way your business can capitalize on podcasts. Being interviewed on podcasts has some incredible business benefits.

As a guest, you have the opportunity to share your expertise, and build trust with a new audience. Forging relationships with podcast hosts is an amazing way to grow your network of influence.

Bonus Tip! Maximize your podcast guest appearance by following our guide on How To Be An In-Demand Podcast Guest so other podcast hosts, bloggers, and event producers notice you. One well-executed podcast interview can lead to unlimited opportunities! isn’t that exciting?

Definitely make sure to tell them where to find you online and on social media. Having a special offer just for listeners of that podcast is a great idea, too. You can create a landing page where they need to opt into your email list to get their freebie, and then you’re actively growing your email list and giving value at the same time.

10. Content To The Max

A podcast is more than just an audio file—it is a fertile resource for many different types of content. You can turn every podcast episode into a blog post, quote graphics, visual graphics, YouTube videos, and audio snippets.

Your episode topics can also be repurposed into Facebook Lives and Instagram Stories. A series of episodes might become an ebook, an online course, a free download, or fodder for a mastermind—the opportunities are endless!

Reality Check:

Creating and your own podcast and producing episodes consistently does involve work, commitment, and financial investment that varies depending on how much of the work you do yourself. Don’t let the work overwhelm or discourage you if we have convinced you of the many business benefits that are possible through podcasting. There are many repetitive tasks in the podcast production and promotion cycle that can be outsourced to make it manageable.

Despite the time and financial commitment, podcasting is an impressive marketing platform to grow your small business. By intimately and authentically connecting with your audience, podcasting can not only reach people in a powerful way, it truly can supercharge your small business.

Are you thinking about starting a podcast to supercharge your small business? Or do you already have one? Share your podcast with us, and we will share it on social media. :)