Starting a Podcast: Find Your Reason

If you are thinking about starting a podcast, or always wanted to have a podcast, you need to think about your WHY.

Figuring out why you want to start a podcast is crucial for your success. If you don’t have a clear reason for creating a podcast, you will get discouraged. And your podcast will eventually fade away.

There are many great reasons to start a podcast. Let’s dive into some of them.

Start a Podcast to Promote Your [Business – Book – Course – Brand – Insert your thing]

A podcast is a great way to promote something. It can be a marketing tool to increase your reach and impact. For instance, if your company offers software development services, you could start a podcast about software development.

Even with this WHY: promoting your business, you need to be very specific. What do you want the podcast to accomplish? Is it a tool to attract new customers? Or are you using the podcast to attract new employees? Each goal requires different content.

For attracting new customers, you might create episodes talking about projects your company did or talk to your clients about their experience.

To attract new employees, you could talk about software development in general, and how you do it at your company.

Whatever you are promoting, make sure that your content offers value to the people you want to listen to it. If there’s little or no value in your content, people won’t spend their valuable time on it.

Start a Podcast About Your Passion

Talking about the things that you are passionate about is a great reason for starting a podcast.

For instance, if you are a scuba diving enthusiast, you could start a podcast about that. (like the Scuba Obsessed podcast, hosted on Podhome).

Or if you are very interested in health and wellness, you can start a podcast about that. This helps you to learn more about the topic, meet incredible people in the field, and have amazing conversations. For instance, in my podcast 'Improving Barry,' which focuses on health, I experienced this firsthand. During the podcast, I learned amazing things about health, met incredible people, and interviewed world-renowned medical professionals.

Turning your passion into a podcast enables you:

·       To learn

·       Articulate your thoughts

·       Be creative

·       Connect with people

·       Have an impact on the world 

Start a Podcast to Build a Community

Your listeners opt-in to your content. They actively choose to listen. This makes them your exact target audience – if the topic of your podcast episodes is what you want to attract your audience with.

This is what makes a podcast a great way to build a community. A great example is the Podcasting 2.0 podcast. This show talks about podcasting, and the innovations and technology to make it more modern. The Podcasting 2.0 audience is very specific, but exactly the people that want to hear it.

Another example is the Bitcoin for Peace podcast, which talks about how Bitcoin can be used to create a world that is more fair, open and free. The show fosters a positive community of people around it, as listeners are interested in learning how Bitcoin can be used for good. That’s a great reason for a podcast.

Do not Start a Podcast for the Money

Making money should not be your main reason to create a podcast. Why? Because it probably won’t work and it doesn’t add value to your listeners.

There are only a few podcasters that are making significant amounts of money directly from their podcast. They can do this with ads, affiliate links or sponsorship (through Value 4 Value). And even if they do, it is probably not their primary reason for their podcast. It is a byproduct.

You making money doesn’t provide the listener with value. And if you don’t provide value, your listeners will not stay long term. It’s not a good enough reason for listeners to tune in.

Don’t get me wrong – it is fine to make money from your podcast. Just don’t expect to make a lot of money, it just doesn’t work that way.

That’s why it is vital to figure out why you want to create a podcast.

Conclusion: Should you Start a Podcast?

Absolutely! For the right reasons. Building a community, talking about your passion, or promoting your brand are some great reasons, and there are more.

If you listen to yourself and figure out WHY you want to create a podcast, you are halfway there.

And Podhome can make your podcast journey easier. You record and upload, we do the rest.

I would be honored to talk about your reason or help you find it. Reach me at barry@podhome.fm