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Hosting your own podcast is perhaps one of the fastest ways to increase your expert status and gain backstage access to the biggest names in your industry.
You may not think of yourself as the next big radio personality; however, it’s never been easier or more effective to produce your very own podcast, or Internet radio programming, than it is today.
In doing so, you can instantly tap the lure of the interview, a tool that has served journalists from publications large and small for many years. The only difference is that now anyone can use this draw to get in front of authors, industry leaders and even prospects. You’ll also automatically produce a library of valuable content to use in many ways.
For instance, you could combine six to eight podcast interviews and promote them as bonus content, free for anyone who buys a particular product from your company. You could bundle podcasts related to a specific topic and make them part of one of your products, or transcribe the interviews and use them as articles or blog posts for your company.
Creating content opportunities, such as expert interviews, is also a great way to formalize relationships with strategic partners.
Some cynics might argue that you’re just wasting your time if your podcast only reaches a handful of people. But if you produce good content, people will eventually find it and pass it around, and I would argue that the access to your prospective interviewees alone makes podcasting worth the time.
Who should you interview?
The answer to that question will depend greatly on your marketing objectives and industry, of course, but expand your thinking here.
Who are the thought leaders in your industry? What about in your town? Which strategic partners could you convince to share their wisdom? Which, prospective big customer would like to tell their story? Which famous, innovative or creative person would impress your customers and prospects?
Are you starting to get the picture here? Possessing a library of interviews with smart folks in your industry can be a huge competitive advantage.
Once you get the hang of doing podcast interviews, you can even create a series of audio success stories chronicling your work and featuring your customers. These stories could include interviews with a number of your best clients in which they tell their success stories using your products or services, or simply profile their businesses in a way that would help people understand the kinds of businesses you work with.
How to get started
The good news is that you don’t have to invest in all kinds of studio equipment to produce an interview series of passable quality. Creating your podcast involves several elements, which I list below along with some suggestions for tools and services to explore for each. This type of podcast setup is geared toward the do-it-yourselfer on a budget, though you can certainly invest in professional software and tools, and even hire audio engineers to add polish to your recordings.
Step one: Record
To record your interviews, you will need a decent microphone and recording software for your computer. If you are doing phone interviews (which I recommend for ease and convenience), you can use SkypeIn, a free service that provides you with a phone number for your guest to call. This way you will be able to record the call without having to transfer it to your computer.
By using a low-cost Skype add-on called Call Recorder, you can record the call directly to your computer using the Skype interface. Call Recorder has a handy option that allows you to split the tracks in the call so that when it comes time to edit the recording, you have much greater flexibility if there are volume or quality differences between your voice and your guest’s.
I use a Blue Snowball USB microphone and Bose head phones, but you might also consider the Beheringer Podcastudio Firewire or USB Bundle, and add a condenser mic, preamp and mixer for better sound recording.
Step two: Edit
You may want to edit your interviews for length or add music and sound effects. GarageBand, a Mac program, is adequate for this purpose. GarageBand allows you to fully edit your recordings, including splicing interviews together, cutting out portions for length, editing out unwanted content, and adding commercial messages, music or pre-recorded introductions. Many PC users like a free program called Audacity. Both programs also compress audio recordings into the preferred MP3 format.
Many podcasters also use sound editing plug-ins such as BBE D82 Sonic Maximizer to add clarity and definition to each track.
Step three: Host
Even compressed MP3 recordings can be rather large, so it’s a good idea to use a media-hosting service, which allows you to upload and store your MP3 recordings as well as providing the streaming bandwidth required for people to listen to the episodes online. Some also provide services that track and provide statistics and create embeddable online audio players and web pages complete with show notes for posting your episodes. The size of your MP3 recordings may not be an issue if your podcast isn’t heavily streamed or downloaded, but I like to use a hosting service called Libsyn, which is inexpensive and streams thousands of plays effortlessly.
If you are publishing your recordings to a web page or blog, Libsyn also makes it easy to create a player for your site, so visitors can listen to your recording directly from your page.
Step four: Promote
You’ll want to let the world know about your interviews, and one of the easiest ways to do that is to use blogging software such as WordPress to describe each show and provide a link to the recording (you can see how I promote the Duct Tape Marketing podcast here).
A further advantage to using blogging software is that it automatically produces an RSS feed that can be read and retrieved by podcast directories and, more important, iTunes. (This way, people can get your shows on their iPods, iPads and smart phones.)
Another powerful step is to create transcripts of your recordings and offer them as additional content in and around your audio, or as a separate downloadable content feature. There are many local companies that provide transcription services; one fast and economical option is CastingWords.
Once you get your recording and posting system set up, you will find that a podcast can provide a tremendous return on your investment.
John Jantsch is a marketing and digital technology coach, award-winning social media publisher, and author of Duct Tape Marketing and The Referral Engine. |
