At LooseKeys we’re big fans of podcasts, not only listening to them but we’re also producers of them as well. Brad has been creating podcasts since 2004 with his first one being ChiHooka.
Over the past couple decades, the podcast market has matured, and we’re starting to see everyone from college kids to entrepreneurs to big business get into the space. Why? Podcasts save us time!
With a speaker or headphones, a podcast can be consumed anywhere, doing chores around the house, in a car, riding a bike, working, or even on the run. You can’t do that with written content or even video, but podcasts are almost frictionless to your audience.
Even though a podcast is a one-sided medium, it helps with building productive relationships with the listeners. It gives the feeling that the listener knows the person who is speaking. When you listen to a podcast for a month or even a year, you get pretty familiar with the host, almost at a friend level but they have no idea who you are. This familiarity creates a bizarre dynamic where now the listener trusts the host on a friend level meaning that whatever they talk about or even sell, there is the rationale that “well I know this person, so I believe them.” Daily vlogging can have the same sort of impact, but for the most part, viewers are savvy to the body language and editing.
So a well put together podcast helps encourage listeners to be associated with a brand. Which in turn, leads to improved conversion. Now, that’s POWER!
Getting started with audio is also a much easier task than video. All you need is a device to record on if that’s your phone or computer. You don’t need a fancy microphone or recording booth at first. DON’T OVERTHINK IT!
Having good audio is essential in the long run, but over the years with compressed mp3s, Snapchat, Anchor and so on, we understand not everything is going to sound as well polished as an NPR show. Not understanding audio equipment can add stress when you’re first starting. We all start someplace and not only will you want to up your production value over time but you’ll also improve as a communicator.
Doing anything over and over again, if it’s audio, video, cooking or working out, you get better, stronger and become a star.
“Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.” — Malcolm Gladwell
Being an exceptional communicator is a fantastic skill to have in life, and starting a podcast helps you get there. Not only is it going to help your business with conversions but it will help you to promote better and sell it moving forward.
If you’re still on the fence about the power of podcasting because you look at iTunes and the top shows are from the big media outlets, know that you can still penetrate the space. Sure, podcasting has been around for a couple of decades, and talk radio isn’t new, but there is even less competition in podcasting then you think. Currently, we have over 36% of the worldwide population listening to podcasts, that is a growing but tiny percentage of people, especially when you look at how many people are consuming written content on the internet.
You’re going to have a hard time competing with written content against the big boys, you don’t have the resources available, you might have a unique take, but you’ll just get buried in the vast amount of content produced daily. The budget that some of these brands and networks have to create video content would make your draw drop. That’s one reason we saw FOX News do so well in the early 2000’s; they spent a lot of money on graphics adding to that production value, making you want to watch and not just listen to what their pundits had to say.
Production value can lend credibility to companies just starting out.
Sure, you can spend the money to market your podcast and pay cash to get great equipment, but if you’re not talking about something anyone cares about, it won’t matter. The subject matter is what’s essential when podcasting, all that extra stuff adds production value but if it’s not interesting, then no one will listen anyway.
When looking for a new podcast, someone is going to jump on iTunes or Google Music and search for the subject they want. Podcasts are ranked here, but you don’t get watch numbers like on YouTube, just reviews. A new podcast about investing has just as good of a chance to get listened to as the one CNBC is creating. And you know what’s interesting, most people are going to podcasts because they want something that isn’t the mainstream media, they want a different perspective, something more real like themselves. Something they can relate to more.
People like to listen to podcasts because they have something in common with the host(s) and the subject matter the speaker is talking about on the show.
Podcasting can have a massive impact on your business or brand. And guess what, it’s FUN! You can’t always assume you understand how someone is finding their way to your brand and it’s essential to have a foothold wherever the customer is spending their time.
At LooseKeys we recently started a podcast, this wasn’t to sell anyone on our skills or to convince businesses that we are animation gods. No, it was a way for us to add more of a face to the team and let other animators and small studios know that we all face the same struggles.
By building a podcast for LooseKeys, we give more people an insight into what’s happening at our studio. Sharing animations we do is excellent, but we’re not producing a new animation every day to share, so it’s easy for people to forget about us. A podcast helps make sure we’re on the top of someone’s mind when they think of animation in Chicago.
We all have a voice and podcasting is going to continue to grow with devices likes Google Home and Amazon Alexa. Hit record and get started!
