Today we’re going to chat about starting a podcast. I’m going to give you my unfiltered experience after being on air now for over 13 months. Can you believe it’s been that long? We’re going to cover the pros, the cons, the good, the bad, and all the little details that go on behind the scenes. My hope is that this will give you a better idea of whether or not you should start a podcast or it should even be on your radar for the future.
I’m going to take you through why I decided to start one, what the process was, why it’s worked well for me, and even what I don’t love about it.
How it started
I started this podcast back in February of 2023. It had really been on my mind for about a year prior. I knew that I wanted to start one, I just didn’t know when. Finally, I bit the bullet and I was like, “let’s just do this and let’s do this the simplest way that I know how”. That was my true north for starting this podcast: Keep it simple. I really stuck with a super simple framework around starting it and that worked well for me.
Start a podcast with desire and intention
I think it’s important to understand that having a desire to start a podcast is essential. If you’re considering it because it feels like you should, or people want you to – that’s just not good enough. Do YOU want to start a podcast? I had a desire to do it from the beginning. I wanted to do it. It felt exciting to me. If I didn’t, I would not be talking to you guys today because there’s lots of different ways that you can grow your business, and podcasting does not need to be one of them. This is a big commitment and it only works if you follow a system and stay consistent. Like most marketing endeavors, it’s not effective if you’re sporadic with it.
Building Authority
One of the reasons that I felt like my podcast would be a really great thing for my business and my brand was the authority I knew it would build. When I see that someone has a podcast, it instantly legitimizes them and gives them authority. Obviously, there’s other things that go into being an authority online, but if I find a podcast and they have a hundred plus episodes or they’ve been airing episodes for over a couple of years or so, I automatically have a different level of trust with that person because it shows consistency. Then, if every episode that I listen to is amazing and I love it, then obviously that builds authority even more. There’s a certain level of authority that comes with podcasting and I really wanted that for my business.
Funneling ideal clients
I also wanted another way to funnel ideal clients into my offers. This is what you should be thinking about if you are going to start a podcast. How does this actually put people into my offers, how does it warm up my ideal clients? How does it get them ready to buy, how does it build trust with them?
This is my way of building trust with you. This is my way of humanizing myself and getting to know you. I know not every listener is going to buy from me, obviously, but it definitely helps and supports the business and the brand overall. Think about your vision for the future and where a podcast would fit into that vision.
The value of repurposing podcast content
I also wanted the repurposing capabilities that a podcast provides. That was kind of low on the list, but I knew that I could take the podcast and spread that content out into a lot of different social media channels that I’m on. I could create emails and posts and reels and stories, and it would just be a really great source of original content from me. It has just been a game changer to have a really good, long-form, fresh piece of content every single week without fail.
Starting your podcast
Depending on what your budget is and depending on your time bank I would recommend working with a podcast manager right off the bat rather than starting it by yourself. Both of them can bring success depending on what you want or need. For me, I hired somebody to do it.
You need to know that there are some systems that have to be set up. Aside from Apple, you know, there’s different places to host your podcast. There’s different places to record your podcast. You will need to source different opinions so that you know exactly where and how your podcast will be hosted. From there, we created a podcast page on my website, decided on the name, and the graphics for the podcast cover, came up with a game plan for the frequency of recording and posting, and set up systems for how I was going to be creating my shows. needed to answer questions like, would the episodes be super long? Would they be short and sweet? You need to consider all aspects of how you want it to run.
Why the podcast has worked really well.
Based on the feedback that I’ve gotten, it’s working really well. I’ve booked clients through the podcast. I’ve had people tagging me on Instagram saying they’re listening and they love it. I have warm leads that I know they’re listening to it as well. Although podcast ROI can be hard to calculate, all the signs tell me that it’s adding to my revenue.
Here are the main reasons that it’s working for me:
I’ve been really clear on my objective
My main objective for this podcast is to grow my business, to very intentionally push ideal clients into my offers, and specifically to Grow Business and Marketing Academy. Right from the beginning, I knew my main goal wasn’t just to add educational value. It was specific. I ask myself weekly: “How does this support my offers?”. Having a very clear objective for this podcast has really helped me and my team stay focused.
Consistency
It’s also worked well because I’m consistent. Consistency builds trust with my audience. Nobody’s wondering if Peggy’s going to release an episode on Tuesday. Every single Tuesday, you get a new episode.
I have an existing audience.
Besides whether or not you actually desire to do it and all of the other things I’ve covered above, you need to figure out how people are going to find your podcast. This is a huge consideration.. If you have a small audience and if that small audience is not super engaged, starting a podcast is not going to do anything for you. Look at the audience that you have and think about how you’re going to bring people to the podcast.
I don’t overcomplicate
I don’t overthink the topics for the episodes, don’t overthink bringing on guests. We set the system, we do the things and I don’t overcomplicate it. I’m also not trying to be somebody that I’m not. I want to show up as I am. I want to attract real people and real business owners who want big results but aren’t necessarily looking for mega-business influencers.
Challenges of measuring podcast success
It is hard to measure the success of the podcast sometimes. As I talked about above, there are certain markers that help us gauge success, like if people are talking about it, sharing it, sending emails or DMs. I can tell how many downloads we had but not how many people are listening. If you’re listening to this right now and you’ve regularly listened to the podcast, you have no idea what it would mean if you just shot me a DM or an email. I’d love to hear from you. Ratings and shares are always, always appreciated as well!
Based on where I’m at in business right now, my goals, my objectives, my big vision, a podcast works perfectly and fits in perfectly. If you feel like you’re in that space, it might be a good time to start one (or if you’re already podcasting, send me your link! I want to listen!)
