4. Why podcast interviews can be great for building your business

I teach business owners – whether they work in healthcare, financial services, real estate, or many other fields – how to appear in the media as an expert to build your business. And when most business owners and experts approach me about the media – and maybe even when you think of the media to get more customers, clients and patients, they think of TV. Maybe radio after that, especially for people wanting to grow locally.

But in a lot of ways, podcasts represent a potential goldmine for you, especially compared to these other types of media.

Podcasts are a huge form of entertainment and education in our society today. 90 million Americans have listened to a podcast in the last month.

Podcasts allow you to target your ideal customer or client specifically.

While there are some podcasts that are specific for a particular city, that’s the exception rather than the rule. If you are trying to sell more houses in Topeka, Kansas, you probably won’t find a podcast on real estate in Topeka.

But you can appear on a podcast for real estate agents, lending you credibility and positioning you as an expert in real estate.

You can use that appearance by promoting it on your social media, or posting a link or the actual audio on your site.

Potential customers and clients will be more likely to recognize your authority and expertise – in real estate, in this example – and want to work with you or hire you.

Even when podcasts have a small number of listeners for each episode – maybe in the hundreds – those are people who care deeply about your industry and your expertise.

Podcasts are a one-on-one medium.

Instead of TV, where a family or group of people watch, you are connecting with each listener individually.

Think about the last time you listened to a podcast. Maybe you were at the gym, or on a walk, or driving to work or home from work, running errands – whatever.

I’m talking to you right now, or at least it feels like I am talking to you one-on-one.

That podcast host and guest are talking to you. It’s a very intimate medium, and for that reason very powerful.

Appearing on a podcast is much easier than creating your own content.

Now I feel strongly that you want to be seen as an influencer in your industry, and so you should be regularly creating your own content and sharing it.

Writing weekly blog posts
Writing guest articles for prominent online publications in your field
Doing live social media video streams
Hosting your own podcast
And many other ways to get your ideas out into the world

But those take a lot more work than you sharing your tips and tricks and advice in a 20- to 40-minute podcast interview.

You know your field and topics backwards and forwards. It’s what you do day in and day out in your business. So the preparation time will probably be minimal.

You build a relationship with the podcast host.

That relationship could turn into referrals for customers and clients or entry into a network of other podcast hosts and influencers in that field.

The podcast host will likely give the listeners easy ways to find you.

With TV, you probably won’t get to promote your business at all. Now I’ll explain in another podcast how you can promote your business on TV, but it’s more indirect.

With radio, you probably will be allowed to promote yourself and your business at the end of the interview. But people are listening to radio in their cars mostly, and they won’t be able to write down your website or phone number. By the time they get home, they may have forgotten about it. Plus, it’s audio only, so they can’t “see” your website address or phone number.

With podcasts, the host will often put links to your site and social media in the description of the episode that appears on your phone. Or at the very least, he or she will put links to you in the show notes on the podcast website and encourage listeners to go there and reach out to you. The host will probably include your bio and business information and key tips you shared. Those direct links and information are invaluable.

You can promote your products and services.

Like I did with my book, you can explain clearly what you do to help people in your industry.

A listener might hear you, like what you have to say and how you explain it, and decide to hire you or work with you.

You can’t sell on TV or radio. That’s a cardinal sin.

But you can educate them, tell stories about problems you’ve helped people overcome, give them ideas for how to tackle a problem themselves.

Then because they like you, they will be inclined to go further with you.

But even if you don’t pitch your services directly, you can offer a free giveaway to listeners.
Free coaching call
E-book with some tips to overcome a problem
A discount
And so many other ideas

These giveaways can be tied to having them sign up for your mailing list, where you can send them regular content – furthering your authority and expertise – and occasionally pitch your products or services.

And again, because these podcasts are so niche and targeted for a particular industry, you have warm leads who want what you offer. These warm leads are much harder to get through any other media.

Now please remember, that just like my website, my coaching and everywhere else, that I am not giving business, financial, legal, medical or any other kind of advice here. Talk to a professional for advice specific to your situation.

If you want to learn more…if you want more customers, more clients, more patients, you want to make more money, you want to be recognized as THE expert in your industry, or you even want people you don’t even know to come up to you at the gym or in the grocery store, thanking you for helping them, I can help you become a Media PRO.

Sign up for a FREE 30-minute media strategy session with me. We will see where you are and what you’re trying to achieve in your business, and then plan some strategies for you to get more media interviews and appearances to achieve all those goals and far more.

Also, pick up my FREE eBook – The Media PROS Interview Checklist, offering you a handy reference full of tips to shine in your next media interview or appearance so they keep asking you back, over and over.

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