Podcasting has entered the mainstream. More than one-third (37%) of Americans age 12 and over listen to podcasts at least every month and 24% listen weekly, according to Edison Research. Given that this data is from a report published last March, you can be assured the numbers today are higher.
My colleague Brandon Glenn wrote an excellent post in May 2018 offering tips to healthcare professionals who may be appearing as guests on a podcast. While that advice still stands, these days your company may be considering launching a podcast of its own.
That’s what one of Amendola’s clients recently did. And that client, the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress (F4CP), has done an outstanding job! F4CP is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public about the benefits of chiropractic care.
Its podcast, Adjusted Reality, debuted in late December and had 1,000 downloads in the first five days. In a world where most podcasts don’t survive past seven episodes, that’s an extremely successful launch.
So what did F4CP do right? A bunch of things.
They have an engaging, upbeat host in Dr. Sherry McAllister. They settled on a format that works for them (interview). They snagged high-profile guests for their first three episodes, including Dr. Deepak Chopra.
And they have a clever name for the podcast. (Actually, Amendola VP Tara Stultz gets credit for coming up with the title Adjusted Reality, while an F4CP intern came through with the equally clever tagline, “Trusted by the Adjusted.”)
There are other things F4CP did well, including a smart launch strategy and effective promotion. But what I want to focus on in this post is the most important element of all in ensuring your podcast can attract and build an audience: quality content.
Podcasts are no different than any other medium of communication. If you have nothing to say, or don’t know what to say, you are doomed to failure.
The good news is that your business already should know what it wants to communicate, and it also should know its target audience. Both of those will help you devise a winning content formula for a podcast.
It’s also critical to tie your podcast content strategy to your business strategy. That should be easy.
You want to raise awareness of your brand in your target audience. You want to position your company as a thought leader and trusted source of information.
And you want to establish a relationship with your target audience. All of these eventually will pay off in revenue and business growth.
Podcasts are particularly effective in helping establish relationships and positioning yourself as a thought leader because they are a very human form of communication. The voice is a powerful instrument for connecting with other people.
We’ve all been drawn in by charismatic speakers, whether we heard them in person, on the radio, or television. Podcasts also leverage the power of the human voice.
But only if that voice has something to say that resonates with your intended audience! Which gets back to your content.
Your podcast can’t be a sales pitch. All that will accomplish is to drive away listeners.
Instead you want to address their needs and concerns in a way that is helpful to them. In other words, provide value. That’s the same strategy you would use in crafting a thought-leadership piece or an op-ed.
Podcasts are a dynamic way to reach your target audience. They can be a lot of work, but there’s a real payoff when you realize you’re making a connection with people and building a reputation as a trusted authority. But it all starts with your content strategy.