
If you believe that starting a podcast might be a good move for you and/or your company, you’re in good company. Many companies and entrepreneurs are taking advantage of the fact that a good podcast can create loyal audiences and a successful platform for your brand and business.
Many people want to start a show but don’t know where to start.
In my opinion, if you are considering starting a podcast, one of the first things you need to ask yourself is:
What in the world will I talk about?
To try and answer this question, I will walk you through my thought process as I decided to launch my award-winning Construction Industry Podcast back in August of 2011.
The first thing to consider is to have a podcast on a topic in which you have some knowledge. In other words, why not start a podcast talking about something you know deeply about?
That approach works for a wide variety of circumstances – perhaps even in most cases. For example, my friend Dustin Harzler has a great podcast in which he shares his knowledge on the blogging platform WordPress. He has thousands of attentive listeners who want to learn more about WordPress. Another example is my other friend Cliff Ravenscraft, who is an authority when it comes to podcasting. Cliff has a ridiculously popular podcast about podcasting.
In my case, this approach didn’t really work.
In my company, in my 9-5 job, I am responsible for the design and installation of monitoring systems for construction projects. We are experts in construction cameras, time-lapse video creation, and all the equipment that goes along with it.
The problem is, if I had created a show around that topic, the only people interested in learning more about that would be my competitors. I would not be reaching my target market with a show about construction cameras. Dustin and Cliff, on the other hand, want to reach people who are interested in WordPress and podcasting, so talking about their expertise works really well for them.
So my thought was: whose eyes did I want on my brand? What is my target market interested in?
The answer to that question almost automatically tells you what kind of show you should produce.
Remontech (my company) serves the construction owner, the entity that is sponsoring the project. Our clients are usually in the construction sector, but not are not necessarily construction professionals. They are project managers, directors, business people who are dealing with construction and trying to learn more about the industry. Sometimes these individuals may feel a little inadequate, because the are constantly dealing with contractors, architects, subcontractors, who have their own jargon. It’s easy to feel like an outsider sometimes.
So I decided to create a show for them. In the Construction Industry Podcast, I interview experts in the construction sector and cover topics which are construction-related. But as I do that, I keep it accessible for those who are trying to learn more about the construction sector.
In short, you have two approaches when starting a podcast for your business:
- If your knowledge is what your target market is interested in, have a show about that. You will be able to shine as an expert and create confidence in your audience that you are the man/woman for the job.
- If it is NOT your knowledge that will reach your target market, think about what it is they are interested in and provide that content to them.
Do you have a podcast? What is it about and how did you come up with the idea? I’d love to know.