The Podcast Why

The biggest benefit of starting a guest focused podcast is that it can give you access to influencers and people who you personally look up to.

You should always be bringing on guests your listeners will benefit from.  From there, make sure they

• have a story to tell or something to teach that your audience will benefit from
• are someone that you personally have an interest in talking to

So keep in mind, there is a ton of competition in the guest focused podcast genre.  And the most highly sought after guests are probably targeting podcasts with the biggest reach.  

These would be podcasts with downloads that are highly concentrated within the top 1% of shows.

So how do you get traction for your own podcast to attract guests?

Let’s go over some tips for connecting with quality guests for your podcast that will help fulfill the potential of your concept.

Well-known guests are the easiest solution to attracting listeners. They have fans who consume everything they create.

The good news. There are famous people who are willing to appear on just about any podcast—no matter how small—while promoting a launch, like a new book, new film, new project, new business venture, even a new podcast. They make it a goal to be hyper prolific.

Build a system around identifying famous people who do this.

For authors, browse Amazon’s “coming soon” book list and make a list of authors.

Search podcast guests on big shows to see if they recently launched.

Use YouTube to find famous people who appear on smaller podcasts. Search “their name + podcasts” and see who shows up on smaller podcasts with small numbers of listeners.

Reach out to them to entice them to come onto your show

Highlight how their subject matter expertise overlaps your audience’s interests.

Always offer them as many podcast assets as possible.  Links to the show, customized artwork, three to four audio highlights, and a link to the transcription, just to name a few.  Get creative. 

Now use their appearance to hook other huge guests. Your first big-time guest acts as social proof that your show is worthwhile.

Let’s talk about what podcasting can do for your business in the next 12-months. Whether you’re B2C or B2B, we can create a content marketing strategy that will work for you.

Connect with me if you would like to talk more about this. My calendar is available on my Circle270Media Podcast Consultants business website at circle270media.com

Subscribe to my free daily Open The Mic Newsletter. It’s chock full of podcast news you may have missed, as well as social media, sales, and audio production tips, and insights on how to grow your business podcast.

Recorded in conjunction with Channel 511, in the Brewery District, downtown Columbus, OH.

Brett Johnson is the owner and lead consultant at Circle270Media Podcast Consultants. With over 35+ years of experience in Marketing, Content Creation, Audio Production/Recording and Broadcasting, the podcast consultants at Circle270Media strategically bring these strengths together for their business Podcast clients.

Email us at [email protected] to set up time to talk more about your new or established business podcast.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

There was a recent story published by Timber.fm’s Amanda Cupido about podcasting. Near the end of that piece, she interviews Gabe Bender, who is Google Podcast’s product lead. Bender hints to some big changes coming to Google Podcasts involving search and discovery. 

He didn’t specifically say what is coming up, let’s take a look between the lines of what he said.

Google will make features that are basically the same to what they have with YouTube. This means podcasts are going to become extremely searchable when a Google Search user (your potential listener) types in their search terms. Like Google video search results or YouTube search results. 

And, while you're using Google Podcasts to listen to your podcast, Google will be recommending more podcasts to you as you’re listening.  It will be very much like the ‘next up’ areas you see on YouTube.

Because Google will start to show podcast results in search, this will impact all listeners that use Google for search. Not just listeners that use Google Podcasts to listen to their favorite podcasts.

I don’t doubt Google will start to incorporate autotranscriptions they are already doing behind the scenes, to include podcasts in search results.  This autotranscription option is already available in the Chrome browser, when you change your accessibility options  A popup screen shows the real time transcription of any audio played in your Chrome browser. 

So Google will be taking search even deeper, based on what’s said IN your podcast, not just what’s written in your podcast descriptions, summaries and webpages.

The SEO concept of “page rank” will likely be applied to podcasts. That means the more external sources that reference your podcast, like web page backlinks, videos and video interviews, other podcasts mentions and podcast interviews, blog mentions, blog interviews, guest blogging—the higher your podcast will appear in search results for the topic that is referenced. This is SEO 101 for Google.

There will be personalization, like YouTube. 

First, search results and the ‘next up’ area in Google Podcasts will take into account anything Google knows about what you listen to.  

Second, Google Podcasts will surround you with other people that listen to similar things so that it can suggest podcasts, or specific podcast episodes, to you that other people in your cluster listen to.  Think community.

Podcast search engine optimization.

If all this happens as Bender seems to suggest it will, a new kind of expertise will become important. Podcast search engine optimization. Just as SEO consultants today help companies get their web pages to appear organically higher in Google results, that’s where we at Circle270Media Podcast Consultants will be continuing to help podcasters appear organically higher in Google’s podcast search results. 

The methods will be similar: get on other podcasts shows and web pages to mention your show, and other references and links I mentioned earlier. 

Include searchable terms. Not just in episode summaries, but in the words you say during your show. And probably WHERE you mention those searchable terms within your episode.

This could amount to a huge overall of what you do with each and every podcast episode. Or at least a refinement of what you do, if you are already implementing an SEO strategy to your podcast and podcast content.

Let’s talk about what podcasting can do for your business in the next 12-months. Whether you’re B2C or B2B, we can create a content marketing strategy that will work for you.

Connect with me if you would like to talk more about this. My calendar is available on my Circle270Media Podcast Consultants business website at circle270media.com

Subscribe to my free daily Open The Mic Newsletter. It’s chock full of podcast news you may have missed, as well as social media, sales, and audio production tips, and insights on how to grow your business podcast.

Recorded in conjunction with Channel 511, in the Brewery District, downtown Columbus, OH.

Brett Johnson is the owner and lead consultant at Circle270Media Podcast Consultants. With over 35+ years of experience in Marketing, Content Creation, Audio Production/Recording and Broadcasting, the podcast consultants at Circle270Media strategically bring these strengths together for their business Podcast clients.

Email us at [email protected] to set up time to talk more about your new or established business podcast.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

How Do You Make a Business Podcast That Stands Out?

Podcasting continues to be a growing medium. Every day, new shows are launched. And as of this recording, there are now well over 2,000,000 podcasts available in Apple Podcasts. 

The motivations and ambitions of those who get into podcasting vary from person to person. But for those who put the time and work in, the rewards can be huge.

Business and industry podcasting is where you'll find many who are reaping the benefits of their content. This ranges from individuals working on side ventures outside of their day job, the side hustles, to multinational companies.

As more businesses move towards podcasting, people are looking at ways to stand out. To do something a bit more differently.

So, if you want to make a show for your own company or brand, what sorts of things should you do to avoid becoming just another one of the pack?

Let’s go over some ideas and suggestions that will help you make a business podcast that stands out, and attract your current and potential clients or customers to listen. 

Let’s take a look at the most common business podcast format

 

• Intro music
• The host introduces show
• Interview 
• Host summarizes and closes show, adds call(s) to action
• Outro music

There's absolutely nothing wrong with this format. In fact, this is the perfect structure for a majority of podcasters. Listeners are very used to it, it's practical. And it doesn't require a big investment of time or money with additional production elements.

But if you really want to stand out, it's going to be very hard to do that following this format. It's very common.

What's the alternative? Let’s go over an idea.

 Are you the authority, or your guest?

 

There are many benefits of running an interview show. The big downside is that you're never the true authority on your own show – your guests are.  An interview-style podcast, at its core, is a networking tool for you and your business.

You don’t need to stop having guests in order to stand out. But make sure it's a conscious decision rather than something you've been led to believe is a necessity. Understand what this style podcast is going to accomplish for you and your guest.

How about...

Reworking the Conversations

If you will be having guests on your show, consider throwing out the common intro, interview, outro cadence approach.

Let’s say you do want to make a business podcast, and you’re going to start with a season of 15 episodes.

And, you’ll be lining up 15 guests.

The “conventional” way of doing this is that each episode will be an interview with 1 of these 15 guests.

The conversation takes the usual approach. You ask them how they got started in what they do, what problems they overcame, how they became successful, and what advice they have for others. The typical flow of this interview format.

But, this doesn't really stand out. Especially if your guests are often interviewed on other podcasts. Where they’ll probably cover exactly the same ground, talking about their latest book, or their latest TED Talk.

Let’s consider an alternative.

A Season of Topics, Not Guests

Come up with 15 topics.

Each topic is basically a question, or themed set of questions. These will be similar to the questions asked in that common interview style, so you've got things like “problems you overcame,” and “advice for others.”

Then you can throw in things that are a bit different from the norm. 

“Which talent would you most like to have?”, and “What technology do you wish existed?”, for two examples.

In each interview, you ask the 15 guests your 15 questions, along with any follow-up questions.

Then, produce your 15 episodes. Each will focus on answering 1 question, and feature the answer from all 15 of your guests.

This can make a better listener experience. Your show will become easy to navigate. It will have an appeal to a younger target audience who may not have the patience for the full traditional interview experience. And offers better searchable and shareable content because it is designed around one question, from all of your guests.

Work with us to create your podcast

Let’s talk about what podcasting can do for your business in the next 12-months. Whether you’re B2C or B2B, we can create a content marketing strategy that will work for you.

Connect with me if you would like to talk more about this. My calendar is available on my Circle270Media Podcast Consultants business website at circle270media.com

Subscribe to my free daily Open The Mic Newsletter. It’s chock full of podcast news you may have missed, as well as social media, sales, and audio production tips, and insights on how to grow your business podcast.

Recorded in conjunction with Channel 511, in the Brewery District, downtown Columbus, OH.

Brett Johnson is the owner and lead consultant at Circle270Media Podcast Consultants. With over 35+ years of experience in Marketing, Content Creation, Audio Production/Recording and Broadcasting, the podcast consultants at Circle270Media strategically bring these strengths together for their business Podcast clients.

Email us at [email protected] to set up time to talk more about your new or established business podcast.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

Chances are, more of your podcast listeners than you even realize care a great deal about proper grammar.

Your podcast represents you, and how you speak. You want your podcast listeners to understand what you’re saying, to think you’re bright and competent.

But your weak word choice might be raising eyebrows and red flags. With the incorrect word choice, people might not actually know what you’re trying to say.

Here are 6 words you think you’re using correctly in your podcast but you may not be... 

Less/Fewer

Literally/Figuratively

Imply/Infer

Now's a good time to take another listen to your latest podcast episode and see how you are using your words. Do you have room to improve? Did you get your point across using the words you chose in that episode? Did you notice that you had to clarify your point more than one time?

As with anything you create, taking the time to speak grammatically correct as possible saves you time, and saves your listener time in understanding what points you are trying to convey.

Let’s talk about what podcasting can do for your business in the next 12-months. Whether you’re B2C or B2B, we can create a content marketing strategy that will work for you.

Connect with me if you would like to talk more about this. My calendar is available on my Circle270Media Podcast Consultants business website at circle270media.com

Subscribe to my free daily Open The Mic Newsletter. It’s chock full of podcast news you may have missed, as well as social media, sales, and audio production tips, and insights on how to grow your business podcast.

Recorded in conjunction with Channel 511, in the Brewery District, downtown Columbus, OH.

Brett Johnson is the owner and lead consultant at Circle270Media Podcast Consultants. With over 35+ years of experience in Marketing, Content Creation, Audio Production/Recording and Broadcasting, the podcast consultants at Circle270Media strategically bring these strengths together for their business Podcast clients.

Email us at [email protected] to set up time to talk more about your new or established business podcast.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

We are always looking for opportunities to increase our listenership for our podcasts, aren't we?

And I think we tend to forget to encourage our current listener base to be our advocates, to get other listeners, to get more listeners to your podcast.

We've come up with eight small steps to help you support your podcast without spending a dime.

Let’s talk about what podcasting can do for your business in the next 12-months. Whether you’re B2C or B2B, we can create a content marketing strategy that will work for you.

Connect with me if you would like to talk more about this. My calendar is available on my Circle270Media Podcast Consultants business website at circle270media.com.

Subscribe to my free daily Open The Mic Newsletter. It’s chock full of podcast news you may have missed, as well as social media, sales, and audio production tips, and insights on how to grow your business podcast.

Recorded in conjunction with Channel 511, in the Brewery District, downtown Columbus, OH.

Brett Johnson is the owner and lead consultant at Circle270Media Podcast Consultants. With over 35+ years of experience in Marketing, Content Creation, Audio Production/Recording and Broadcasting, the podcast consultants at Circle270Media strategically bring these strengths together for their business Podcast clients.

Email us at [email protected] to set up time to talk more about your new or established business podcast.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

Beyond optimizing your podcast episode title and description, consider creating a show summary on a blog or website and embedding the audio file within the page. 

Google appreciates the added context and will rank websites and blogs that incorporate multimedia higher than those that don’t. 

Transcribe episodes for the blog or to create additional content to promote the episode on social media or your website. Post the blog or episode summary page via social media.

Additionally, these transcriptions will become more and more important as The Podcast Index continues to grow, and hosting platforms implement the option Podcasting 2.0 Transcript Tag.

In short, depending on your podcast hosting platform, you can now import, add, edit and publish transcriptions, making it easier than ever to transcribe your podcast for accessibility, repurposing and SEO benefit.

Upload SRT (transcript) files from external services like Sonix or HappyScribe.

When posting each episode on social media, leverage hashtags, especially for Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Beyond industry-specific language, consider podcast-specific terms like #podcast, #podcasting, #podcastguest. 

Keep a running list on hashtags that you are using for social media posts for easy reference.  Specifically on LI, consider the hashtag suggestions that pop up when you create your post.

For visual platforms like Instagram and Pinterest, utilize behind-the-scenes images or video as teasers for upcoming (and archived) episodes. 

For YouTube, leverage playlists to combine relevant episodes. If your podcast is business-related consider posting teasers and episodes to LinkedIn, as well as support with LinkedIn articles.  Articles and your website blog articles will not conflict with SEO search.

Don’t forget marketing fundamentals when promoting your podcast. 

• Incorporate a link to your latest podcast or episode page in your email signature file. 
• Promote episodes in your newsletter. Create and incorporate a newsletter cadence that best helps exposure for each episode. This means get that newsletter sent within 72 hours of the podcast publishing date. 
• Promote your podcast website versus a specific podcast player like Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.  
• Provide pre-made promos to guests and partners to maximize reach. 

A more advanced strategy is to identify and engage super-listeners (evangelists). Bonus marketing ideas include exploring cross-promotional opportunities with other podcasters/shows.

For example, if your podcast is focused on your web design business.  You also work with a social media specialist as your go-to when your clients need organic or paid social media help. And she has a podcast as well.  Could your social media specialist provide a quick “news-like” one to two minute update about the latest happenings in social media within your podcast?  And could you offer a one to two minute update on best practices when it comes to website tactics.  You both get the benefit of cross-promotion with each other’s podcasts, while adding value to each other’s listeners.  

Creating and marketing a podcast does require a reasonable investment of time and money to do it right. The investment is typically much less than video, and podcasts have the added benefit of expanding into a relatively under-appreciated but fast-growing format: audio branding. Take advantage of the current excitement and growing consumption of podcasts to build your brand.

Want to learn more?  Be sure to sign up for my free daily Open The Mic newsletter. Each day is a different topic, from articles around the web on podcast monetization, podcast marketing, podcast audio production, the week’s podcast news, and our suggestions for your next 7 days of podcast listening.  

Subscribe to my free daily newsletter, mentioned in the podcast.

Let’s talk about what podcasting can do for your business in the next 12-months. Whether you’re B2C or B2B, we can create a content marketing strategy that will work for you.

Connect with me if you would like to talk more about this. My calendar is available on my Circle270Media Podcast Consultants business website at circle270media.com

Subscribe to my free daily Open The Mic Newsletter. It’s chock full of podcast news you may have missed, as well as social media, sales, and audio production tips, and insights on how to grow your business podcast.

Recorded in conjunction with Channel 511, in the Brewery District, downtown Columbus, OH.

Brett Johnson is the owner and lead consultant at Circle270Media Podcast Consultants. With over 35+ years of experience in Marketing, Content Creation, Audio Production/Recording and Broadcasting, the podcast consultants at Circle270Media strategically bring these strengths together for their business Podcast clients.

Email us at [email protected] to set up time to talk more about your new or established business podcast.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

A small change with a big impact: no more “subscribe” as podcasting moves to “follow.”

Apple Podcasts will no longer be using the word “subscribe” in a few weeks. The new wording will be in iOS 14.5, which should be released later this March.

Listeners will be encouraged to “follow” their favorite podcasts instead. Apple, as usual with any changes they make in Apple Podcasts, will communicate with creators, and listeners, when this version of iOS is released.

It may seem like a small change, but it could dramatically affect the podcast industry. Tom Webster from Edison Research says 47% of people who don’t currently listen to podcasts think that 'subscribing’ to a podcast will cost money. 

Other larger podcast apps have already changed: Spotify and Audible use “follow”, Stitcher uses “+ follow”, and Amazon Music uses “♡ follow”. Meanwhile, Google Podcasts and Castbox use “+ Subscribe”, and Overcast and Castro uses “Subscribe”.

For fifteen years, the term, the action to 'subscribe’ has been confusing potential listeners. I still have people ask me about that to this day.

But that was the action we needed to encourage for listeners to understand how to “follow” our podcasts in Apple Podcasts. Hopefully, every podcast app to copy Spotify, Stitcher, Apple and Amazon by using 'follow.’

And it’s time for every podcaster to follow their lead. 

I would suggest as time goes on to edit any written reference using the term “subscribe” in blogs, show notes, etc. And moving forward, as of March 2021, use only the term “follow” with any reference to any podcast app.

Let’s talk about what podcasting can do for your business in the next 12-months. Whether you’re B2C or B2B, we can create a content marketing strategy that will work for you.

Connect with me if you would like to talk more about this. My calendar is available on my Circle270Media Podcast Consultants business website at circle270media.com

Subscribe to my free daily Open The Mic Newsletter. It’s chock full of podcast news you may have missed, as well as social media, sales, and audio production tips, and insights on how to grow your business podcast.

Recorded in conjunction with Channel 511, in the Brewery District, downtown Columbus, OH.

Brett Johnson is the owner and lead consultant at Circle270Media Podcast Consultants. With over 35+ years of experience in Marketing, Content Creation, Audio Production/Recording and Broadcasting, the podcast consultants at Circle270Media strategically bring these strengths together for their business Podcast clients.

Email us at [email protected] to set up time to talk more about your new or established business podcast.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

Respect Your Guest’s Knowledge And Time

So, let’s hit some basics first, to set the groundwork for being a great podcast interviewer.

There are basically two reasons to have guests on your podcast

1. for you - to network, to meet new people
2. for your listeners - with three objectives for your listeners - you need to educate, or entertain, or energize - or all three

Don’t Forget You Are Hosting A Show

To capture the attention of your audience and keep them engaged, present your podcast with energy.  Insert some power, emphasis and excitement into your voice.

Get the right balance, and they’ll hear a confident podcast host who is in control.  All the while you are calm, relaxed and conversational.

And that takes practice.

Practice Makes Better and Better - There’s Never Perfect

Practice will help you and the balance between sounding natural and performing while you're hosting a show.

Nobody likes the sound of their own voice. But as a host, listening back - or as broadcasters call it, listening to a sound check of your work - will help you improve much faster.  

And this also means getting feedback from non-family members.  Those that will give you TRUE feedback as a non-partisan listener.  You only get better with honest feedback.  Honesty will get you there quicker.

As a podcast show host, how do you become a great interviewer?

Note To Future Me - Master Your Podcast Interviewing Skills

I recently interviewed Mark Nuce on my Note To Future Me podcast. He’s a radio broadcast veteran of 30+ years. He is the news and public affairs director at North American Broadcasting, Incorporated in Columbus Ohio. What a better resource could there be than a veteran newscaster and news interviewer.

The four key areas that we talked about to master podcast interviewing include: 1) homework and research 2) planning 3) flexibility 4) listening

Those 4 areas are key to becoming a great podcast interviewer.

Respect Your Guest’s Knowledge And Time

Respecting the Guest’s Knowledge

Research, research, research.

“Know” about your targeted guest BEFORE making contact. We have never had so much information at our fingertips to access anyone’s information as we do today.

Check out their website. 

• There you may find links to personal and company blogs
• Your guest might have a blog on their personal website, write on their business’s blog, or contribute to other blogs as well.

Check out all of their social media channels. 

• Twitter’s advanced search makes it easy to filter by the number of likes as well as the number of retweets and any keyword or phrase. 
• LinkedIn profiles. If the professional background of your guest is of interest, their LinkedIn profile will come in handy. You can also dig into their “Activity” to find what they’ve been posting about.
• Find out who they may be connected to via social media. There may be someone you know, you may have in common. 

If they have a podcast, or have been on podcasts as a guest, listen to a few episodes - especially ones you have an interest in. Here are a couple of easy ways to search podcasts.

• Listen Notes describes itself as a search engine for podcasts. This makes it easy to dig up past guest appearances your potential guest has made on other podcasts.
• PodChaser also allows you to search for someone and pull up a curated list of their guest appearances.
• If your potential guest is active on Quora, searching through their past answers can give you some good ideas for questions to ask since you can see how they would respond.

All of this information will be used to curate “the ask” email (and more).  

When you can relate to your potential guest that you know who they are with specific examples, and why they would be a good guest for your podcast listeners, you increase the likelihood of the interview.

Respecting The Guest’s Time

Be respectful of how you schedule a recording time with your guest.  In addition to the Knowledge items I just mentioned, recognize that your guest’s timetable is NOT your timetable.  

A highly sought after guest is probably very protective of their time.  They may allow only one or two interviews per week (maybe per month), on a specific day, at a specific time.

Here are two likely ways you are going to get your potential guest on the calendar to interview.

1 - Once you’ve made contact with the potential guest, you can offer a link to your calendar so they have the option to pick a day and time.  To do this, look into a calendar integration app with a quick link back to your base calendar, like Calendly, Savvycal or TidyCal. 

If you aren’t familiar, apps like this control your availability preferences. You share your link via an email or embed it on your website. They pick a time and the event is added to your calendar.

With a scheduling tool like these, you can generate personalized scheduling links for each and every guest with just a few clicks. You can prefill your guest’s name, so that all it takes is just a couple of clicks to book a time with you.

2 - What is probably going to happen, the potential guest will send you their calendar link to pick an available date and time on THEIR calendar.  Respect The Guest’s Time - don’t push for a time that’s convenient for you. Pick a date and time based on THEIR availability.

After a date and time has been established, here’s the opportunity for more professional communication.

Provide a Guest Page with essential details, such as contact and recording information. And following the posting of the episode, it will provide podcast assets. The Guest Page eliminates email confusion, or missed emails.

The Guest Page should include

• The link you will be using to record the interview. Or if you are recording in a studio with them, information about the studio. 
• The outline of best practices to ensure the interview will sound the best it can.
• If your interview is over Zoom or another virtual meeting app, this outline would include suggestions for mic options, internet connection (wifi vs ethernet), if the interview will be recorded on video as well, and your contact information if anything goes wrong during the interview.
• If you are inviting your guest to be with you in-studio to be interviewed, this outline would include the address of the recording studio, parking availability, will there be pictures taken, and what to expect when you enter the building.
• After the episode is published, this page would include episode show notes, link to transcript, links provided by your hosting platform, or better, your website, and several pull quotes that the guest can use to promote the episode to share in email newsletter and social media. 

This next opportunity for communication varies from podcaster to podcaster.  

Some will say don’t do this, some will say do.  I go with the “do.”  Send the guest an itemized agenda of what the episode will be about. 

Think about it - even when you interview for a job you know what the questions will be, for the most part.  Why NOT offer up a soft agenda for the interview.  Again, Respect The Guest’s Time.

Bonus tips for Respect The Guest’s Knowledge

Note To Future Me - how to be a better host interviewer

Engage With Open-Ended Questioning

Ask open-ended questions. This can be harder than you realize, and take some discipline as an interviewer. 

Open-ended questions require a response with more depth. They also are helpful in learning about a person or a situation. Here are some example questions…

• What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned about…?
• What’s your key piece of advice on …?
• What keeps you interested in…?

Listen Carefully

Listening sounds obvious, but it’s a common mistake.

Sometimes, we get so focused on asking questions from our prepared list that we miss important points made by our guests during the interview. Then, the natural flow seems awkward, and we even ask questions that have already been answered.

To help, reduce nearby distractions. Focus on your guests, not the next question. 

Here are some handy tips to help you listen more carefully…

Don’t interrupt your guest when they are speaking. 

That, to me, is the biggest mistake to make as a podcast host. It usually falls in the line that the host wants to add something “they did as well” that the guest just mentioned, or had the same thought or revelation, or the event happened to them as well.  It can easily come off as one-upping your guest. 

If a followup question comes to mind, write it down to ask after your guest has finished.

Don’t give verbal agreements to every statement that they make. 

Nodding your head is more than enough to let your interviewee know you are listening.

Ask for Stories

Storytelling drastically changes the way our brains work. And listeners love a good story. This goes back to your research, research, research.  Know that your guest can give a story about a certain situation. 

If you want to persuade and entertain your audience, ask your guests questions to include stories about their experiences. Those memorable moments will capture your listener’s attention and build a relationship with the audience.

Remember to give listeners insight they never expected. 

To hone your skills, listen to other interview podcasts. Listen to them from the interviewer perspective.

Respect Your Guest’s Knowledge And Time

• Research
• Prep your guest for the interview
• Personalize your scheduling link
• Create a guest and podcast assets page
• Professionally follow up

Thanks to Joe Pardo and everyone at the Independent Podcast Conference for allowing me to speak with during the Social Media Promotion Free Live Virtual Podcast Conference! February 20, 2021.

Let’s talk about what podcasting can do for your business in the next 12-months. Whether you’re B2C or B2B, we can create a content marketing strategy that will work for you.

Connect with me if you would like to talk more about this. My calendar is available on my Circle270Media Podcast Consultants business website at circle270media.com

Subscribe to my free daily Open The Mic Newsletter. It’s chock full of podcast news you may have missed, as well as social media, sales, and audio production tips, and insights on how to grow your business podcast.

Recorded in conjunction with Channel 511, in the Brewery District, downtown Columbus, OH.

Brett Johnson is the owner and lead consultant at Circle270Media Podcast Consultants. With over 35+ years of experience in Marketing, Content Creation, Audio Production/Recording and Broadcasting, the podcast consultants at Circle270Media strategically bring these strengths together for their business Podcast clients.

Email us at [email protected] to set up time to talk more about your new or established business podcast.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

If 2020 was nothing else, it was a whole lot more, it was a year of growth in podcasting.

The podcast industry’s efforts to reach a wider spectrum of listeners are paying off. An analysis of the podcast audience by Nielsen Podcast Buying Power Service finds the medium’s listeners are now more diverse than the population overall, despite a growing reach that is bringing in a greater number of listeners of all age groups.

Nielsen reports 41% of monthly podcast listeners aged 18 and older are non-white. That includes 19% who identify as Hispanic and 13% that are Black. That compares to the overall U.S. population that is 34% non-white.

Several podcast publishers have made special efforts to appeal to non-White audiences.  iHeartMedia is launching a podcast network targeting the Latinx community, as they say, will be a top priority in 2021 after the launch of The Black Effect Podcast Network in 2020. It earlier set a goal of investing half of its new shows from diverse creators in 2020 and beyond, including women, African-Americans and Hispanics.

The Nielsen data shows no ethnic group has grown at a faster pace than Hispanics, with the number of podcast listeners among that demo growing six-times since 2010. Podcasting’s reach among Hispanics has increased from 1.1 million to 6.8 million among those who said they had listened to a podcast in the past 30 days.

Businesses take note. The data reveals that Black and Hispanic podcast listeners were more likely to report visiting a retail location that they heard advertised in a podcast than were Whites. And both Black and Hispanic podcast listeners were more prone to have called a telephone number they heard mentioned in a podcast ad.

All this leads up to the main reason for this podcast episode.  We are proud to announce that Circle270Media Podcast Consultants are partnering with a new podcast called Level Up And Thrive. This podcast will be hosted by Yasmine Robles, owner of Robles Designs ("Creators of drool-worthy websites for small business hell-bent on taking over the world").

As she explains in this episode of TriVillage Chamber Partnership’s Business Inspires podcast, the focus will be on the LatinX business community in and around Central Ohio.

We are targeting February 2021 as the launch month.  We will keep you updated on our websites, Note To Future Me, and Circle270Media.com.

Let’s talk about what podcasting can do for your business in the next 12-months. Whether you’re B2C or B2B, we can create a content marketing strategy that will work for you.

Connect with me if you would like to talk more about this. My calendar is available on my Circle270Media Podcast Consultants business website at circle270media.com

Subscribe to my free daily Open The Mic Newsletter. It’s chock full of podcast news you may have missed, as well as social media, sales, and audio production tips, and insights on how to grow your business podcast.

Recorded in conjunction with Channel 511, in the Brewery District, downtown Columbus, OH.

Brett Johnson is the owner and lead consultant at Circle270Media Podcast Consultants. With over 35+ years of experience in Marketing, Content Creation, Audio Production/Recording and Broadcasting, the podcast consultants at Circle270Media strategically bring these strengths together for their business Podcast clients.

Email us at [email protected] to set up time to talk more about your new or established business podcast.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

As we all know, podcast networks are helpful for both listeners and content creators alike.

I got to talk to Press Play Podcast Network's owner Chase Smith back in 2013, actually, specifically the end of May of 2019.

He was nice enough to carve out a little bit of his holiday time to talk to me in this episode about the growth that they've seen in this podcast network.

I think it's just an extremely interesting journey of creating this podcast network. The the ups and downs, the team development that's gone into it as well. His, as well as some unique qualities of this network, that both he and I don't see it in any other network.

It was really nice to be able to connect with him, get him on tape to do this interview, and get an insider view of the pros and cons of a podcast network.

But also see what the benefits are for a podcast or to be part of a podcast network. Or if you've ever had thoughts about creating a network on your own.

Chase has some really good insights about that.

The Press Play Podcast Network exists to empower hosts and create high quality, professionally sounding, engaging content for its listeners. At P3, we pride ourselves in helping bring your vision to reality by providing you with the proper tools and support to make your show a success. Whether you are a podcast veteran or diving into the medium for the first time, we will walk along side you and help get your show on the air.

As Chase mentions, if you want to contact him, the best way would be to submit your question, or podcast idea, to them via their website.

Let’s talk about what podcasting can do for your business in the next 12-months. Whether you’re B2C or B2B, we can create a content marketing strategy that will work for you.

Connect with me if you would like to talk more about this. My calendar is available on my Circle270Media Podcast Consultants business website at circle270media.com

Subscribe to my free daily Open The Mic Newsletter. It’s chock full of podcast news you may have missed, as well as social media, sales, and audio production tips, and insights on how to grow your business podcast.

Recorded in conjunction with Channel 511, in the Brewery District, downtown Columbus, OH.

Brett Johnson is the owner and lead consultant at Circle270Media Podcast Consultants. With over 35+ years of experience in Marketing, Content Creation, Audio Production/Recording and Broadcasting, the podcast consultants at Circle270Media strategically bring these strengths together for their business Podcast clients.

Email us at [email protected] to set up time to talk more about your new or established business podcast.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy