7 Hidden Competitive Advantages Of Podcasting (That Have Nothing To Do With Downloads Or Monetization Strategies) - The Podcast Industry Report With Paul Colligan Episode #110

7 hidden competitive advantages of Podcasting it's the Podcast industry report episode 110 show notes, links, conversation and more at the podcastreport.com 110 don't need a podcast. No worries. There were companies once who didn't need a website either. Maybe another way to put this is some of the biggest advantages of podcasting have nothing to do with download numbers or monetization strategies. Yes, the biggest advantage of podcasting are really independent of how many people listen to it or how many people download. That's one of the amazing things about this technology and this industry and that's what I want to set up on this show. It has been a crazy year. Podcast growth has exploded. I think it's going to continue on more next year. Certainly taking more and more clients on. About to shut the doors on all that. Everyone's podcasting, everyone's debating podcasting and those who aren't debating podcasting right now in a position where I don't need it. And one of the things I want to do in this episode is for anyone, if you're considering not podcasting, if you're considering podcasting, if you're considering wondering why was I podcasting in the first place, I want to chat to the competitive advantages that really have nothing to do with the downloads. That's today's episode. Those of you don't know. My name is Paul Culligan, big fan of the industry, more than a decade of podcasting and podcast production, author of a number of number one books at Amazon about podcasting, new media and for the day job I run a boutique podcasting consultancy. Some amazing clients, clients you've probably heard of some of them. Season three is the industry report and I want to show you how to reach more with your message, how to profit more from your content by understanding the industry that you're playing in. That's the purpose of this show. So a podcast that has competitive advantages that have nothing to do with downloads or listens or monetization strategies. Yes, there are. There are seven things that a podcast gives you that are pretty fantastic. I want to hit all of these in this episode. I would love conversation from you. If you head out to the podcastreport.com110 there's a place to make comments. If you head out to the podcastreport.com Twitter or/Facebook, we can chat about this on social and I will put a link to I'm having the designer put together really cool graphics mean that you can put up on the wall and give you Some further inspiration, if you will. But let's get to these number one bragging rights now. Yes, obviously, if you can get a number one podcast, that's fantastic. If you can chart, that's fantastic, all things you want to do. But even if you can't, you have bragging rights when you release a podcast. All in line with what I call the association triad. Now, what's the association triad? It's the three things key to podcasting that puts you in a better position with your customer based on what it is that you're doing. Number one, you are now on the contraption that they love. See, it's not the fact that you're on their iPhone now, 80% of them, that is the iPhone. So you definitely want to think about that there. But for them who love their Android, you're there. For them who love their Windows Phone, you are there. For them who love their Kindle Fire, you are there. For them who love, you know, listening to podcasts on the big Apple tv, you are there. See, you are associated with the contraption that they love. That's an association that you can leverage. That's an association that gives you bragging rights regardless, again, of even if they listen. The company they look to. Everyone these days is looking to a company to make their life easier, to make their life better. Some are looking to Google to make sense of all the data. Some are looking to Microsoft because they've already been there. Some are looking to Apple for inspiration. Some are even looking to Tesla. All of them have the way a way to bring this content. You are Microsoft's, even though it's tunein, even though it's pretty thin, even though it's pretty lame, you're on the default podcast delivery. Google. Sign yourself up with Google. And for those Android users, you're there. Apple, obviously, itunes, you're there. Amazon is going to come out soon. There's already some stuff with their little speak to device. I won't speak to her name because if I say her name, I it'll go off and you'll hear it during the recording of this because she's right here in the studio with me. But the fact of the matter is their podcast platform is coming soon as well. Not only are you on the contraption that they love, but you are working with the company that they look to to make sense out of all this. And then finally, you are representing the control they deserve. See these people who say, go to your computer, boot up the screen, watch this video. Now you're telling somebody what they need to go, where they need to go, what they need to look at, what they need to do. Podcasting has always been the time, the device, and the location of their choosing. So that's the control that they deserve, that's the control that they get, and that's the control that you can associate yourself with. Say it bluntly. Look, those other guys make you come to the website. I'm not going to. I'm going to come to you. The other guys make you do this, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to come to you. The association, triad, bragging rights, the contraption. They love the company, they look to the control they deserve. That's just number one. Number two, expanded choices. Here's the deal. If your audience has the time, the device, and the location of their choosing, they are going to go to you more than they're going to go to the other guy who doesn't have the expanded choice set that you do. There's a reason it's easier to listen to a podcast than a radio station on a Tesla. Think about it. When you give your customer more choices, they are going to be happier with you. Even if they continue to go the old way, just knowing that they have the options makes them feel better. I've been speaking for years about the fact that I can get breakfast at McDonald's during the day. Still haven't. But the fact that it's there makes me feel different about McDonald's. Number one, bragging rights. Number two, expanded choices. Number three. This is huge real estate. Oh, man, the web is getting crowded, people. YouTube is getting crowded. All these things are getting crowded. Every time you get a chance to expand your real estate, you should do that. Expanding real estate on the phone. Even if they never listen to your podcast, but you subscribe, your logo is there, your company is there. The idea of you is there. They're tablets. People love their tablets. As Christmas. Coming up, more and more tablets. Tablets, tablets, tablets. You can be there. And not just in the podcast app, but if you got yourself an app, you can do that. If you're on multiple podcast apps, you can do that. You've got options for the phone, you've got options for the tablet, you've got options for the television. People listening to podcasts, people consuming podcasts, people watching podcasts. More and more on the television, you can be there. And even in the car. Yes, the Tesla. Fancy. Not everybody has a Tesla, but the fact of the matter is auto play, carplay, all the different devices now, all the new cars have some sort of integration. Be it Stitcher, be it Microsoft, be it Amazon, be it Apple, doesn't care. Be there, be everywhere. Now you got more real estate. Yes. Bragging rights, expanded choice in real estate. Nothing to do with even how many times they download. Number four is huge. Number four is really important. Number four is a testing machine. Your podcast should be a testing machine. What do I mean by that? This is where you go, where you share concepts with your audience. You find out what really resonates, what really connects with them, what doesn't really connect with them. When you do a podcast episode about something you think is key, and you hear cricket's back, ah, wasn't as key as you thought it was. But then you do a podcast about a topic that you think maybe your company, your audience is satiated with, and oh, my goodness, they keep responding, they keep talking about that episode. You've learned things. The testing machine is huge. This whole idea of the association triad, the contraption, they love the company, they look to the control they deserve. That's new to this episode. This is something that I'm testing on this very episode based on your response. And please, I'd love to hear social media. The PodcastReport.com Twitter. Tell me about the Association Triad. ThePodcastReport.com Facebook. Tell me about the association triad. Even the PodcastReport.com 110. Go ahead and let me know what you think. Testing machine's huge. Number five, social food. Oh, man, the stuff people. It absolutely amazes me that people will pay money for tools that will distribute on social. Someone else's quote, someone else's agenda, someone else's idea, someone else's concept. That's fine. People are allowed to have agendas, ideas and concepts and purposes. But the fact of the matter is, my job is not to promote them. My job is to promote me. My job is to promote my company. And the second I start sharing, you know, Thomas Edison quotes or something like that, it is sad. But the problem is we don't know what to talk about in social. We get nervous about social. Well, when you got podcasts, you got these ideas, you got these rips. You know, the fact I said it earlier, there's a reason it's easier to listen to a podcast than a radio station and a Tesla. That's something to share on social. Some of the biggest advantages of podcasting have nothing to do with download numbers or monetization strategies. That's perfect to share social. Don't need a podcast. No worries. There were companies once who didn't need a website either. Social. See, I'm generating social food all the time by doing my podcast. It's a beautiful thing. Last week we talked about the content marketing machine. This is part of that. Your podcast should make social food the next one. Number six is the favor generator. Man, interview people to get favors later. Now you only interview people that serve your audience. You only bring out messages that serve your audience. But once you do that, when you bring people on, the chance of them integrating with you more, interacting with you more, returning the favor when it's time for you to do that, it's great. And boy, use that combination of testing machine and favor generator to work with your audience to find out what other products and services and partners they're interested in and find that you're at a really good place. Then finally, the last benefit that gets some press, but I want to give it some more, is the fact that the podcast gives you the ability to find your true voice. We are in an age where the voice makes the difference. There are a lot of companies who will do X. We are picking the company that resonates the most with our voice. It actually goes back to that bragging rights thing. The company they look to, the company they look to is based on the voice of that company. And when we make websites from templates and press releases from fill in the blanks and copy from other people, sometimes it's hard to find our voice. The fact of the matter is we can find our voice here. Every episode I do with the podcast report, I realize that my goal, I said at the beginning, reach more with your message, profit more from your content, understand the industry that you're playing in. I realize more and more as I do this show the importance of these three things. I realize the voice. I find out what works. I hear back from you on the things that matter. The four M's. Oh, everybody loves the four M's. It'd be interesting to see if this whole triad idea comes in there as well. But the fact of the matter is podcasters are able to find their voice by doing these shows, and that does more for your company than you can ever imagine. And here's the thing. Yes, it's great to try out your voice and get the Twitter responses and get the Facebook responses and get the comments, the website and all those things. But the fact of the matter is, 90% of the work, when you just speak out loud, you understand some things. When you just put together the show notes and the outlines for what you are doing, you Understand some things just by practicing this. Even if you made a podcast that nobody ever listened to, it would still be an amazing tool for finding your true voice. So those are the seven the bragging rights, the association triad, expanded choices, time device, location. They're choosing real estate, phone, tablets, television, cars. An amazing testing machine lets you figure out what works and doesn't. Social food. Now you have something to say on social. You don't look like an idiot sharing your lunch. The favor generator. As you work with other people and you start collecting favors, it's okay, it's good, it's solid. And then finally, last but not least, your true voice. I'm getting my designer to develop a graphic for these seven points. It's the type of thing that you want to put in color, put up on your wall. If you head out to the podcastreport.com 110, you can give me your email address and we will get that to you the second it is released. I'm looking right now at an almost perfect version of it. We're going to make a couple of changes and then we'll get that out to you. That's@the podcastreport.com 110. What do you do with this information? We'll ponder it. Consider it. First of all, all of these things are very real. If you're not leveraging, I don't care where you are in the podcasting space, I don't care if you have no episodes out or 5,000 episodes out. If you're not leveraging bragging rights, expanded choices, real est state testing machine, social food, favor generation and true voice, you can bring that to your existing podcast. Perhaps, maybe you haven't launched your podcast yet and you've been listening to me for 110 episodes and you're wondering what's there. And maybe you're worried about the numbers, maybe you're worried about the noise. Well, the fact of the matter is these seven things don't matter to downloads, don't matter to monetization strategies, don't matter to anything. You get all these things the day you start podcasting. And that is exactly what what I want you to do. Thank you so much for listening to the podcast report. This has been episode 11 0. Show notes, links, conversation, the ability to grab the graphic again at the podcast report.com forward/110. If you haven't yet subscribed to the show, please do so. That's where the action is. It comes to you automatically. That's one of the powers of podcasting again so that you can grab it at the time, the device, the place, the location of your choosing. You can do that at the podcast report.com iTunes or Stitcher or Tunein or wherever you happen to get your podcast. I don't care because I want to be associated with the contraption you love. I want to be associated with the company that you look to, and I certainly want to give you the control that you deserve. Thanks so much. We'll chat next week. Bye.