087: Why Podcast? Featuring Megan Dougherty of One Stone Creative

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Quick note before we get into today's show, we're doing another Takeover two part series, this time with the fantastic team behind the free time podcast, One Stone Creative. Hiring them this year in 2022 was one of the best things I have done in my business and for this show. And Megan, the co founder of One Stone Creative has recently launched their own podcast called the Business Podcast Blueprint. It's so good and I know that many of you either have a podcast or you're thinking about starting one that I asked her could we do a crossover and replay two episodes in particular that I found super helpful even though I've been at this over six years and play them here for all of you. So without further ado, I'm going to hand it over to Megan for this two part crossover series. I hope you enjoy and thank you so much for being here. Listening everybody.

A couple of years ago I was giving a presentation to a room full of financial advisory professionals. I started the presentation with a question, who here has a podcast? And about half the room raised their hand. And then I asked how many have a business goal for their podcast and listeners? There was not even one. And these are smart marketing savvy people who make great content and work with prestigious organizations, doing a great job and making a big impact in the world. And that goes to show you that the reason most companies start podcasts without goals isn't a foolish mistake of any kind. It's just because the industry is so new, most of the content out there doesn't really focus on business realities. So there isn't a framework by which to look at how you start a podcast strategically for your business. Now you are in a position to make your plans before you record your first episode. And that's what we're talking about today on the Business Podcast Blueprint. I'm Megan Doherty. Let's begin.

So if you or your colleagues are thinking about adding a podcast to your content marketing mix, then the very first thing you need to do is decide what role you want it to fill for your business. And this is a really important first step, because when you say it out loud, it sounds super logical, right? I mean, of course you set goals and expectations before you start a new project, but as I mentioned at the top, the truth is that a lot of people just kind of skip this bit. Now, a podcast is always going to provide benefits, but if they're not benefits that your company actually currently needs, then your time and resources might be better spent elsewhere. So let's say, for example, that I started a podcast, like many do, because it's what other people in the industry are doing. You know, I'll get some art made. I'm going to find some interesting people to have conversations with. I'll make what I think are some pretty great episodes, really good content that people should find valuable. It's going to go on our blog and our Spotify and Apple podcasts, and people are going to listen, and that's going to feel good. But after four or five months, I'm not going to be seeing a whole lot more than that. Maybe I'll enjoy it and I'll know that it's valuable somehow. Maybe traffic has increased a little bit or people seem to know me before we get on the phone, but I don't really have a clear idea about what is working or if there are things that could be working better. That's when I, like most podcasters, would probably just let the project fizzle out and start working on things that have a more clear cost to benefit relationship. But it really doesn't have to be that way. If happiness is when your outcomes exceed your expectations, podcast success is when your metrics report meaningful progress towards valuable goals. It's all about aligning what you want to happen with the work that you do. So there are two steps to making a right decision about that decision of whether or not a podcast is going to be a good fit for your business. The first is getting clear on what your specific goals for your company or department are. And the second is evaluating whether or not a podcast is the best or at least a pretty good way of meeting them. So what are your goals for the next six to 12 months? There's no need to get super, super detailed here. We're not talking about your financial forecast for the next quarter goals more like, you know, shorter sales cycle, less churn, more clients, consistent blog traffic, more JV partners, couple of new hires, more media mentions, less admin cost, just general goals that you could reasonably expect to see progress on in the next six months to a year. So if you're in a place where you can jot things down, write down three or four goals that you have for the next little while. And if you're not, just hold them in your mind as you continue to listen. Now that you've got the goals, we want to think about what podcasts can realistically do and see if there are any matches between what they can do and your short list of goals. If there are, that's fantastic. Next step we'll be thinking about the reality of podcasting and if you can work it into your business in a sustainable way. If what podcasts can do best or what they can realistically help you achieve don't match your goals for the next little while, you might want to pin the idea of podcasting for the time being. There are going to be other things that you can do for your business or department that are going to be more helpful in the short term. But I mean, of course, if you want to get started so that you can play the long game, I don't think anyone has ever felt sad or regretful that they have a large and robust life library of interesting content to draw upon. So now let's look at what podcasts can do for your business. And to do that, we've got to cover what the types of business podcasts are. So if you're seriously considering a business podcast, it's going to have one overarching kind of high level purpose or goal that is going to really impact the style of podcast that you choose to have. So the three types of podcasts that we typically see are business development, audience engagement and thought leadership, and that includes an educational style shows. So an honor rule mention does go to news or commentary, but those are a little beyond the scope of what we're talking about for most company podcasts. So looking at them a little more closely, a business development podcast is a podcast that exists primarily to help you grow your business, whether that's through networking or through lead nurturing or other things that we'll go into in a little more detail in a moment. The next type is an audience engagement podcast, which primarily exists to engage and provide content to an audience that you already have who's excited to get more content from you. And finally, we've got Thought Leadership Podcast, which are all about establishing yourself and your brand and your company as an authority, innovator and thought leader in the space. Now, whatever type of podcast is your overarching, you know, podcast archetype, you're going to get the benefits of all of them over time. And there's another benefit that you're going to get no matter what type of podcast you choose, which is content. There are podcasts that exist only as content engines, which is absolutely fabulous. They work perfectly. No matter what type of podcast you're running, you're going to get content out of it that you can repurpose and reuse throughout your business. And, and if that's what's in line with your goals, you don't actually need anything else. So does that sound good? It's important to have an overarching reason that you're going to be podcasting, a podcasting prime directive, if you will. A good way to think about it is that three main types of podcasts inform the style of podcast that's going to be the most effective for you, and the content generation aspect is going to cover a lot of the extra value that you get out of creating it. So if you want the benefits of thought leadership, for example, so if your podcast prime directive is about establishing thought leadership, then it doesn't make a lot of sense to spend all of your time talking to guests and spending all of the airspace shining a spotlight on them. That's a business development move. Whereas in thought leadership, you need to be highlighting your own authority, information and company a little more aggressively. So that's just kind of an example of how you might be thinking about the archetypes. And it isn't to say that you're not going to get the benefits from all of them once you choose one, but it's going to help you design and make decisions about who you should be talking to, what kind of content you should be creating, how you're going to promote it, what sort of guests you should have. It really is a filter to help you make those types of decisions. So now, within each of these specific high level podcast archetypes, there are different things you can optimize for to help you achieve. And I will tell you about all of those in just a moment.

We'll be right back just after this.

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Alright, now let's get specific about the different types of objectives that the different types of podcasts can help you achieve. So first, let's get into business development style Shows. Podcasts are a natural networking and conversation machine. At each stage of the process of creating a podcast, from booking a guest all the way to promoting your episode, you have the opportunity to build relationships with people who can help your business. There are so many touch points involved in running a podcast. An invitation, a confirmation, a tech check, the call itself, the thank you, the follow up. These are all opportunities for you to build the foundation of a relationship that can really make a big difference for your benefit. Let's start with business development. So podcasts are a natural networking and conversation machine. At each stage in the process of running a show, from inviting a guest to join you, to promoting the episode and sending follow ups, you have the opportunity to build relationships with people who can help your business. There are so many touch points when you're running a podcast, especially one that has guests. And most business development podcasts do have guests because their primary goal is to create those opportunities and help you build those relationships. So when you have all of these touch points like inviting someone to the show and following up and saying thank you afterwards, you can be using those opportunities to do things like lead generation or lead screening. Talking to someone and saying hey, would they be a good fit as a client or a potential partner, you're really networking at a high level. All of this face or ear time that you're getting with people that you can parlay into a relationship that can make a really big difference over time and so just straight networking. There are a lot of people who use their business development podcast just so that they know and become known in their industry. And that can be hugely valuable, even if it's not the easiest thing in the world to measure. Some people like to use their podcast as a selling opportunity. So before or maybe after the conversation that you record with a guest, if there's a great fit and it seems appropriate to bring it up, you can do so. Or maybe make an appointment for a time to talk about something that's a little more sales oriented. But if you have a wonderful conversation with someone and you've just given them the opportunity to talk about what they're passionate about and what they're good at, I mean, that's a really positive environment to talk about the benefits that you can provide and the services that you can offer. As long as it's done, of course, tastefully, not too aggressively. By the same token, you can also meet experts and influencers who might be really good joint venture partners or affiliate partners, or who might have access to networks of people who are your ideal clients. Maybe a relationship that starts with an interview with someone could turn out to you guest posting on their blog or being invited to speak at one of their events. And over time, what you'll really find is that this network that you're growing through your podcast and the touch points it provides you to reach out to the people that you're meeting, can really help you build the foundation of a very strong, robust professional network, which has probably never harmed anyone in the history of running businesses online or elsewhere. Something you'll also find, and this is kind of a tie in between business development and thought leadership, is that podcasts can work as part of a sales cycle and really cut down the time and the length of a sales cycle because the people who are listening to you, if they do happen to be leads, or even if you have salespeople on your team providing podcast episodes for people to listen to, those people are going to feel like they know you. And if they like what you're saying, they're probably going to be really excited to work with you because they've already gotten an example they know you. Knowing leads to liking and liking leads in business, often to buying. That's kind of the business development podcast. Again, just to review lead generation, networking, partnership and JV creation, influencer marketing, lead nurturing, and sales cycle shortening are some of the business development specific goals that you can get with the podcast. Next, let's talk about audience engagement podcasts, which again are all about connecting with an audience that you already have that is hungry for more content from you. And this can be super valuable if you do have a big audience. Maybe you're in between books or you're a popular, sought after speaker and people are always asking you for more, more and more. It's a really efficient way to deliver a lot of personal information, intimate feeling content at scale to a lot of different people. So the types of things this type of podcast can help you with the most are engaging and keeping you top of mind and your brand top of mind with your audience. You can test new ideas. Maybe you want to float the idea for a series you'd like to run or a book you'd like to write. It's a great way to, at a fairly low risk, low cost way, float something out there and see if it goes and if people like it, if people are responsive to it. You can also use your podcast as one of the free levels of content that you provide. Especially maybe if you've got membership area or paid programs or mastermind type groups. Having a free level of content and providing access to you and members of your team and the insight that you're going to provide can be a really good way to almost showcase, hey, if it's this good and this is the free stuff, what can I get, you know, when I become a paying member or a paying client of this company? So that can be really, really valuable. You can also, when you have a big audience listening to your podcast and talking about it, it's a great opportunity to promote different products and services that you offer. And one final goal that I really like with audience engagement style podcasts is if you do have a fairly captive audience or if your product or service requires a certain level of sophistication from your users. A podcast can be a really good way to teach necessary or useful skills and informations that will make people be a better client or a happier client because they have a better understanding of the industry and your product and services and how things work. This is often how you'll see internal company podcasts being used by really developing the internal culture by creating content that is just for members of an organization to learn about each other, to figure out what's going on in the company, to stay abreast of company news. This type of audience engagement podcast can work really, really well within companies. So again, to kind of sum up the audience engagement type of goals that this type of podcast can really help you get, it's engagement with an audience you have, testing new ideas, providing a free level of content in part of your sales funnel, promoting your products and services, and teaching necessary or useful skills to a somewhat captive or at least really highly interested audience. Now, let's talk about thought leadership podcast. This is one of the more popular types of podcasts, especially in B2B. Everyone wants to be well known in their industry and seen as a serious thinker who's innovating and is an authority in the space. That's incredibly valuable. You know, your professional reputation in the industry and a podcast can be really, really helpful for that. So specifically, some of the things that a thought leadership podcast are going to do, if you need more media mentions, if you want people to be talking about the things that you're saying, well, then doing solo episodes with controversial takes can be a really good way to get talked about in the news. Maybe you're looking for backlinks and you want to be referenced and cited in journals, in newspapers and publications, on other people's blogs. Having a podcast that is a focal point for people to talk about is a great way to do that. And if you are spending this time, you know, developing ideas and exploring them, maybe with experts who are also in your field or in related fields, that can result in invitations to conferences, to speak at events, to speak at companies, maybe to become members of boards. There's a lot of ways you can kind of leverage the attention that you're going to get as a thought leadership style podcaster. This is one I mentioned a little bit as we were talking about the business development as well, increased sales and inquiries are very much a possibility with a thought leadership style podcast. If you're talking about things that are highly specific to your niche or to your particular target market, and you are saying things that no one else is, that's going to be a desirable feature for you and for your company. So again, a thought leadership style podcast, media mentions, backlinks, conference and other invitations, increased sales, and inquiries for your business. So that's most of the list so far. But I do want to talk about some of the goals that the content inherent in any podcast are going to bring to your business. Because, you know, not everything is about sales. Sometimes it's about, you know, just having a regularly updated blog and being able to take advantage of the SEO that is associated with that. Maybe it's going to help you provide content that you can send out as press releases or guest post on other places. Maybe it's going to help you fill your social media calendars and always have something new and interesting to talk about and share with people. And maybe you can use the different parts of your podcast to segment or whole conversations or whole solo episodes really directly in your sales process. That content can be super easily reused to help nurture leads along the buying process. And you can also use your podcast to help develop the content you need for larger projects like books or courses that you want to develop over time. That takes a little bit of planning in advance, but it's really, really exciting and a lot of fun when it does work. And if that's a particular interest to you, please do reach out. Because we love turning podcasts into books and books into podcasts. Both ways works really, really well. So again, any type of high level podcast category that you're going to be using, whether it's business development, audience engagement, or thought leadership, you're always going to be getting content which can help with your blog, with your SEO, with guest posts, with social media, with your sales materials, and with bigger long term projects. So all of those together, all of the different specific goals that podcasts are really good at, if those match what you're looking for to achieve for your business or your department, or kind of your personal work within your company in the next six months to a year, then a podcast can be a really good efficient way to get a lot of different benefit, a lot of different content in a reasonably or comparatively short amount of time compared to other things. Look at the specific goals that you have, think about the goals that you have, and you listen to this episode again if you need to. If your goals are what we've talked about in this episode that podcasts can do, then it's probably going to be a pretty good bet that you are going to see a lot of success and be really happy with the investment that you make in a podcast for your company. Now, if your goals are not among what we've talked about, then you might still get value even. Even if it's just the pleasure of talking to people and making content out of making one. But there's probably also going to be better ways for you to spend your time and your money to reach your more immediate goals. Right now, I mean, the best time to start a podcast like Planting a Tree is ages ago. The second best time is now. But the third best time is when it makes sense for your business. There's no point, especially if time and money are tight, investing in something that is, you know, it's a longer game. You don't see an immediate return from podcasts for the most part, although sometimes you can. There are always exceptions to every rule. So we've got an ebook that takes you through this thinking process and then goes on to outline the realities of podcasting within your company. You know the time and the money and the work that it's really going to take once you get into it. So if you think that might be useful, you'll find a link to it in the show notes of this episode. Or you can just visit onestonecreative.net where you will find it on the homepage. Next week I'm going to be talking to one Stone Creative co founder Audra Casino all about the power of story and how either as a host or a guest, you can use stories to communicate more clearly and more effectively.

So the business podcast Blueprint is created by the whole team at onestone Creative. It is written and hosted by me, Megan Doherty in collaboration with co founder Audrey Casino. The show is edited by Irwin Galino and Jensen Galino, managed by Darla Fields. Any notes and assets are created by Hazel Anne Lafortune. Find out how you can start or hand off a company podcast@onestonecreative.net that's o n e stonecreative.net.

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