127: How to Create a Successful Business Podcast
A question I get asked all the time is: What makes a successful business podcast? There are a lot of factors that come into play, but first you have to figure out the purpose of your podcast and how it relates to your business. Once you have that down, there are steps you can take to make sure your podcast is succeeding in the way that you want it to.
If you’ve asked yourself if your podcast is successful and you’re either not sure or you know the answer is no, then I assure you that all hope is not lost. Just like anything else you do in life, nothing is set in stone. Be open to trying new ideas and strategies and making note of the results. It’s all one big experiment to find what works.
So today, I’m sharing some tips on how you can create a successful business podcast. We’ll talk about why you should stand out from the crowd, how to get your listeners to keep listening every week, how to create a deeper connection with your listeners, and more. If you want your podcast to grow your business and drive listeners to your products and services, keep reading, because these tips will help get you there.
Tip #1 | Don’t do what everyone else is doing
I really want to encourage you to be creative when it comes to your podcast. When I’m working with podcasters, the discussion always comes around to what their unique perspective is. Whether it’s the structure of the show, an interesting segment, your episode greeting or sign-off, or a question you ask your listeners, you have to find a way to stand out and find that thing that is creative and unique to you. This is what’s going to keep listeners engaged and create longevity. If we’re constantly trying to do what other people are doing or listening to all the voices out there telling us what we should be doing, we're going to end up creating something that is stale, stagnant, and not at all representative of who we are and what we do.
Tip #2 | Get your listeners to keep coming back again and again
The best way to keep listeners coming back to your show is to create content that they cannot get enough of. This is content that is not only aligned with our business goals and what we are trying to achieve, but also with what our listeners need and want from us in their journey. We can’t just pick topics out of the air and put them in our episodes and hope that they stick. We have to be intentional about creating content that addresses what our clients are struggling with.
I’ve talked about this before, but it bears repeating that I personally have struggled with this in the past with my podcast content. When I re-branded my business to Wild Home Podcasting, I did a lot of content around launching and a lot of content around starting a podcast. I noticed my podcast downloads started to decrease and everything became stale and my business wasn't growing. I wasn't attracting the clients that I wanted to attract and I also wasn't doing the work that I was excited about.
When we really started analyzing the podcast, one of the things that we noticed is that the clients that were coming to us didn't need help with the launching part. What they didn’t understand was how their podcast was going to support their business goals. And we realized that in only talking about launching, we were doing not only our listeners a great disservice, we were doing ourselves a disservice because we were setting ourselves up as an agency that only launched when what we wanted to be was an agency that worked on podcast strategy. When we aligned our content with what our clients needed to hear, it made a huge, night and day difference in my business.
Tip #3 | Create a deeper connection with your listeners
One of the things that we’ve found is that listeners are really craving a deeper connection with the hosts of the podcasts they listen to. And you might think that just because you’re on all the platforms that your listeners will know where to go to find you, but that’s not always the case. You want to be very clear and intentional on telling your listeners where to go to connect with you beyond the podcast.
There are several places you can direct your listeners to–a Facebook group, your email list, Instagram, etc. But whatever you choose, make sure you show up there consistently and you invite your listeners to join you there. Your listeners want to get to know you and they want to feel like they’re insiders, so create an exclusive place for them to hang out with you. This point of connection will let listeners get to know you as a real person because people want to know who they are buying from. If you are trying to have a successful podcast but you are not creating a way for people to connect with you, it's going to be really hard to grow and to keep inviting people back.
Tip #4 | You have to keep working on your podcast
Your podcast isn’t a slow cooker, you can’t set it and forget it! You can’t hit publish and think that’s where your participation ends. Your podcast is a work in progress. What you did four years ago isn’t necessarily going to be relevant today, at least not in the exact same way. You have to keep tweaking. The podcast industry is changing all the time and you can’t stay stagnant and expect your podcast and business to grow.
Stay curious about your podcast. Ask yourself questions about what is working and what isn’t. See which episodes your audience loved and why. Figure out why no one is subscribing to your email list. As you grow as a business owner, so will your podcast, and you have to bring it on the journey with you. Keep trying new things. When you get complacent is when you are going to start seeing little to no growth in your podcast.
Tip #5 | Think of your podcast as a marketing tool
Your podcast should be your main piece of marketing. So, share it! I feel like I should say that again: Share your podcast! Hitting publish isn’t enough. Talking about it once in your Instagram story isn’t enough. Share your podcast, direct people to it when they have questions, use it as part of your funnel, etc. You have to view your podcast as a member of your sales team or marketing team. Make sure it has a job and it is working for you. Your podcast has to meet your listeners where they're at and connect with them there. No one is going to listen to your podcast or buy what you offer if they don’t know about it.
If your business podcast doesn’t feel successful, remember that it doesn’t have to stay that way. Use the tips I’ve outlined today, make tweaks to your podcast, and watch it grow. You’ve got this!
Are you ready to build your podcast strategy, simplify your marketing, and finally make your podcast work for you? Join the Strategic Podcast Academy, my signature group program that’ll support you with monthly training, resources, and an amazing community!
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The Transcript for Podcast Your Business:
127: How to Create a Successful Business Podcast
[00:00:00] Caroline Hull I originally in my podcast journey, way back in the day, I listened to a lot of Serial, Lore, things like that. That's what I was accustomed to. And then of course, the big influencers, right? Who had podcasts that were getting millions of downloads. And when I started podcasting, I came at it as I have to sound like them, I have to be like them in order to have a successful podcast. And let me tell you, that did not equal podcast success at all.
[00:00:33] Are you ready to start a strategic podcast for your business and share your message in a way that feels wildly authentic? This is the place. Welcome to Podcast Your Business, where each week I share the strategy behind having a podcast that helps grow your business. I'm Caroline Hull, podcast manager, strategist and consultant, and I've seen the power a podcast can have for your business. Let's get started.
[00:01:02] When we talk about having a podcast for your business, a lot of times the question I will get asked is what makes a successful business podcast? And so I want to take some time today to dive into what makes a successful business podcast. And some things that you can work on to start having and feeling like you have a successful podcast for your business as well.
[00:01:31] Thank you so much for listening and welcome back to Podcast Your Business. We are gearing up this week and this month to start welcoming new members into our membership, the Strategic Podcast Academy. I am so excited about this. It's a place that I have just fallen in love with because I love doing the trainings every month, and everything we talk about in that membership is built around having a successful podcast for your business.
[00:02:06] And sometimes when we're talking about having a podcast for your business, it can get very overwhelming because when we think of podcast, we think of that traditional model that we all kind of came into podcasting knowing, right? So having a podcast that is structured a certain way, you know what I'm talking about. You hear it every podcast you listen to that kind of have a very specific flow. And then we also, you know, we hear ads, we hear a lot of call to action. There's all these things that we hear in kind of what I want to call traditional podcasts. And when I say traditional podcast, I'm not at all talking about a podcast that is built to convert listeners into leads for your business. I kind of separate those two out, and I think the reason I do that is because I originally in my podcast journey way back in the day, I listened to a lot of Serial, Lore, things like that. That's what I was accustomed to. And then of course, the big influencers, right? Who had podcasts that were getting millions of downloads. And when I started podcasting, I came at it as I have to sound like them, I have to be like them in order to have a successful podcast. And let me tell you, that did not equal podcast success at all. It really took some tweaking and fine tuning and realizing that I can do my own thing and be my own person and be my own podcaster. And that's actually what's going to make me shine even more.
[00:03:46] So the first thing I want to bring to your attention and encourage you to do is to be creative. Like I just said, like, don't do what everybody else is doing. You get to make decisions about your podcast and what you say and do. Nobody can tell you that. You know, one of the things that I love in my job when I'm working with podcasters is that the conversation always comes around to what is your unique perspective? What is something that you are going to bring to your podcast that's different, whether that's in the structure of the podcast, maybe there's an interesting segment. We have a client right now who has a podcast about the CPG food industry, and she does this great thing where she took something that they did in a physical space where they would ring a bell and she put that in her podcast. And it's actually one of my favorite things about her podcast is that it's this moment that connects the listener to her physical space, and that really is something that you can do in your own podcast as well, like find something that is unique. Maybe it's the greeting you do, maybe it's a sign off, maybe it's a question you ask your listeners, or maybe it's just how you approach the topic that you talk about.
[00:05:14] But you need to find that thing that is creative and unique to you. This is what is going to keep listeners engaged and create longevity. If we are constantly trying to do what other people are doing or, you know, listening to all the voices out there telling us what we should be doing, we're going to end up creating something that is stale and stagnant and not representative of who we are and what we do. And so you really need to make sure that you are bringing that unique perspective, that creativity, to your podcast, even if it is a podcast about the service you provide in your business, it can still be creative. And so try and find ways to spark that, to find that to incorporate that into your content.
[00:06:02] This is a big one. This might be my my biggest one that I feel like we talk about a lot here at Wild Home Podcasting and on the Podcast Your Business Podcast. But when we talk about a successful podcast, we are definitely talking about listeners who continue to come back for more. So how do we make sure that people are coming back? We are creating content that they just cannot get enough of. So this is content that is not only aligned with our business goals and what we are trying to achieve, but also with what our listeners need and want from us in their journey, right? So we're not just picking topics out of the air and putting them on our episode and hoping that they stick. We are actually thinking about, okay, what are our clients and our customers and the people that we're talking to online, what are they struggling with? When I think about the service that I provide and what we do, and I think about when people come to me and what things they're struggling with, when that happens, I can find so much. People really want to be seen and heard in your content. They want to listen to your podcast and be like, Yeah, that's me. That's something that I hear. This has been huge for me and the growth of not only my podcast but my business. And I've talked about this before, but it's definitely something that was so impactful to our bottom line that I just keep reiterating it.
[00:07:43] When we rebranded to Wild Home Podcasting from my old business name, which was Caroline Creates Podcast, which actually was a holdover from my days as a stationery designer. When we rebranded, I did a lot of content around launching and a lot of content around starting a podcast, and my podcast downloads started to decrease and everything just kind of got stale. My business got stale. I wasn't growing. I wasn't attracting the clients that I wanted to attract. And I also wasn't doing the work that I was excited about. And when we really started analyzing and thinking about rebranding the podcast, one of the things that we had noticed is that clients that were coming to us and people that we were talking to, they didn't need help with the launching part. Now we do offer a launch package and we do help people launch their podcasts. But at the same time, those people, when they come to us ready to launch, they already have a pretty solid podcast idea. What they don't understand is how the podcast is going to support their business goals and work for their business. And we realized that in only talking about launching, we were doing not only our listeners a great disservice, we were doing ourselves a disservice because we were setting ourselves up as an agency that only launched when what we wanted to be was an agency that worked on podcast strategy.
[00:09:16] And so when we aligned that content, when we really looked at the pain points and the things that our listeners and our customers and potential clients were struggling with, it was like night and day for my podcast and my business. Because not only did my podcast start getting more downloads and attracting listeners that I feel like could be clients one day, I did in fact book clients just from my podcast, but it revolutionized my business because I am so passionate about podcast strategy as you all know, because you listen to the podcast every day and you hear me talk about it. But I didn't always talk about it. And when we realigned the content for the podcast, it informed our content everywhere, right? Because we're repurposing that content, we're using it in other places. We use the podcast as our main piece of content. And so it was like night and day. Everything started changing when we started focusing on that, because what we realized is that we were now focusing on the thing that people really needed to hear from us that they resonated with. And I was so passionate in sharing it and talking about it that that came out. And so that's what is going to keep people coming back for more is having that online content, having it be such a thing that people feel seen and heard and they say, Oh, they get it, they understand me. I want to listen to more. I want to come back and listen to more. And then I want to click on this thing they're offering, and then I want to book a service, right? It's like a domino effect. And so that is a huge one that I will talk about forever is having content that is aligned.
[00:10:59] Did you know that your podcast can be so much more than a hobby? It can be a way for you to attract your ideal client and establish yourself as an authority in your field. But you need a strategy. And that's why we've created the Strategic Podcast Academy, a monthly membership designed to help you build a strategy for your podcast. You can grow your business and get off the content creation hamster wheel with support from myself and a community of like minded podcasters, you will create a strategic plan for your podcast and start implementing impactful changes during our time in the monthly membership, we're going to cover topics such as customer path planning, content planning for sales, podcast SEO, creating connection with your listeners, email marketing for your podcast, and so much more. So if you are an online business owner, coach, consultant or service provider, and you're ready to have a podcast that supports your business, then the Strategic Podcast Academy is for you. Head to wildhomepodcasting.com/membership to join today.
[00:12:06] Now this is another one that I think is overlooked a lot with podcasters, especially business podcasters, because we feel like we're everywhere. I don't know about you all, but I feel like I'm in all the places. I definitely have simplified. I am not, you know, I am on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, you know, all the places, right? And so we automatically think, okay, well, everybody knows how to connect with me because I'm everywhere. But one of the things that we have found is that listeners really are craving a deeper connection with the hosts of the podcasts they listen to. This is like right up our alley as business owners. And so you need to figure out a way for listeners to connect with you, be on the podcast and it doesn't have to be something super exclusive like a Facebook group. It could just be come and hang out with me on Instagram. That's where I hang out. That's where you get more of me. But it needs to be really clear how your listeners are going to connect with you.
[00:13:13] That connection point is also a really big part of how we get people from point A to point B, and that's what's going to make your podcast more successful because we want to give listeners like we want them to feel like they're insiders, right? You know, not only are they on our Instagram listening to our podcast, but now they're in our email newsletter, which is, you know, for insiders. You want to create kind of like an exclusive place for them to come hang out. And again, like for me, that's Instagram. Instagram is where you get more or a different version of me, not a different version, but bite sized chunks of information that are related to my podcast. And if you want to connect and comment, that's where you go. And the other place to go is to go to my newsletter. And this is very clear to my audience. I ask them for their feedback. I welcome them to email me, to connect with me. And I think that's really, really important because not only now does it give them a point of connection, but it also makes you a real person and it makes you human. And we want to have a connection with the people that we buy from. I know for me, I like to get on people's email list. If they have a podcast, I want to go listen to it. I want to really get to know who they are before I purchase or sign up for the group program or mastermind. And so that's a huge piece of this. And so if you are trying to have a successful podcast but you are not creating a way for people to get to know you more and connect with you, it's going to be really hard to grow and to keep inviting people back.
[00:14:55] The other thing, and this is something that has become very important to me as my business is growing, as I am growing as a person and a business owner, is that you need to be constantly working on your podcast. There's that old adage, you know, if you build it, they will come. And I think that a lot of podcasters get stuck in this mindset of if I publish the episode, they will listen and they stick to that and they just keep doing it. They keep publishing an episode and nothing changes and nothing improves and nothing is tweaked, and so there's no growth. Your podcast is a work in progress. The podcast industry is changing all the time. The marketing is changing all the time. Online business is changing all the time. So if you are doing something with your podcast today that you were doing four years ago and your downloads are decreasing and you're wondering why, that's a huge problem.
[00:16:02] Growth only comes from progress, right? You have to keep working on it. You have to keep improving. You have to keep saying, okay, why didn't this episode go over well with my audience? What didn't I do right here? Why didn't this guest episode get as many downloads as I thought it would? Or why haven't I had any newsletter sign ups from my podcast? You have to be able to look at your podcast and ask yourself these questions and be willing to make tweaks and changes. My podcast does not look at all what it used to look like. It's not the same podcast from three years ago. It is not the same podcast from two years ago. And that is because, as I have grown as a business owner, as my business has evolved, my podcast has come with me. I've brought it with me on this journey. I've adapted it to the new versions of us or to the evolved versions of us. Right? And I know that as we continue to grow and change, the podcast is going to continue to grow and change. When you get complacent is when you are going to start seeing little to no growth in your podcast. You have to try new things.
[00:17:19] I think I mentioned that the podcast industry is constantly changing and it is. Seven years ago you could post an episode and get hundreds of downloads easy. Little to no marketing, right? Because the podcast industry was so new, people were so excited about it. Now it does take a little bit of work, but that effort is worth it because when people listen to your podcast, which is long form content, they get to know you and your beliefs and your services and how you help people in a deeper way than they do just a snippet on Instagram, right? You all get so much more out of this podcast than you would a reel that I post on Instagram. Now, don't get me wrong, I love reels. They have their place, they have their purpose. But a podcast is so much more than that. But because the industry has changed, it does take a little bit.
[00:18:11] And one of those big things that I encourage everyone to do is if if you're going to have a podcast, have it be your main piece of marketing. Share it. Share it more than once or redirect people back to it. Use it as part of a funnel. But you have to grow and evolve with, like I said, your business and the industry and marketing and all of those things.
[00:18:37] If your podcast is feeling stuck, if it's feeling like it's not growing. Ask yourself, Have I updated it? Have I made any tweaks and changes? Do I still have the same description from five years ago? You know, little things like that can make such a huge difference in your podcast growth and so don't get complacent. Having a successful podcast for your business is really all about these things, but also looking at your podcast with a different mindset. You have to look at your podcast as a member of your sales team, as a member of your marketing team, you know, make sure it has a job and it is working from you and it's constantly learning and it's constantly meeting your listeners where they're at and connecting with them. None of this is hard. None of this is labor intensive. This is all just podcast strategy. This is moving from a publish an episode and hope they all come to I'm going to publish this episode and I'm going to make sure they come right. It's a different mindset. It's taking a growth mindset approach to your podcast and not being afraid to try new things, to try something different, to do an episode that's a hot take and that you're worried about publishing to maybe building a Facebook group if that feels right for you.
[00:20:10] You know, you've got to take risks sometimes and you've got to not be afraid to jump and try something and see how it works. In my business right now, we are in a phase. We are trying some new things because it was time to evolve and grow. And so I'm excited to see where the podcast goes with this as well. And you know, one of the best places to do that is in the Strategic Podcast Academy, and this is a membership that I have that's monthly, and we do trainings each month that are designed to help you get into this growth mindset for your podcast, to help you get into the strategic mindset for your podcast so you can start thinking about it as an employee, so you can start thinking about it as this massive, amazing marketing tool that can help you grow your business. I definitely want to grow my podcast, but I also really want to grow my business. And so for me, if my podcast is helping me on that journey, then it is successful. And that's all I want for you is to have a successful business podcast as well.
[00:21:19] Thank you so much for listening. I'm going to go get a drink of water now. Let me know if this episode resonated with you. You can head over to Instagram and DM me or comment on the episode post that I will post in the feed and I'd love to know what you want to hear more about as we keep going on our journey through podcast strategy. See you next week.
[00:21:43] Thank you for listening to Podcast Your Business. For more podcasting tips, follow us on Instagram at wildhomepodcasting. If you are ready to launch, up level, or grow your podcast, head to wildhomepodcasting.com to get started today.
