Can you use a podcast to build your brand?

Voice Over: 00:00:00

Got dreams of being a professional podcaster, but have no idea what you're doing. This is impossible. That's about to change. A new kind of school. Welcome to the PodSchool podcast.

Rachel: 00:00:10

Hello. Welcome to the show.

Today's question is from Natalie, and if you would like to submit a question, you just need to head to the description of the episode and you'll find a link there that you can do just that. She has asked. I don't have an audience at all, and I want to use this podcast to build my brand. Is that possible?

It sure is, Natalie and I would argue that there is no better way to build your brand than, than with a podcast. This is, to me, like the absolute best medium.

If you want people to connect with you, understand you, get a sense of how you operate, know who, what you are and what you're about. Nothing builds that trust, that connection like sitting down and having a conversation with somebody.

And that is exactly what a podcast is, because the attention that people give your content, when they choose you and they sit there and they listen to you and they bring you into their lives and it's just you and them, that connection is incredible. And there is just no better way to convey you and who you are than through your own voice.

I've heard plenty of people over the years talking about how do I get myself into my website copy, you know, how do I make sure that I leap off the page? And it's like, you know, you don't have to worry about that.

When you're leaping off the microphone, you know, like into somebody's ears, you can tell, I would hope that I'm what kind of a person I am, I guess, or get a sense of how I think and how I operate.

The more you listen to this show, the more you understand my insight, my approach, my sort of thoughts about all of this stuff, and you get a better picture of who I am. And that is what brand building is all about.

So if that is what you are trying to do, then I would highly encourage, encourage you to start a podcast, because I truly think you can do it so brilliantly through this medium. And you can build trust through a podcast faster than any other way.

You could read thousands of words from somebody, but you will get a much better picture of that person by sitting down and in much shorter time. And that is what a podcast is. It really is like sitting down with somebody if you are doing it correctly.

And if you really are talking with your audience, not at them, but really to them, and having a conversation with them, the One caveat on that, I would say, is that it don't happen overnight. You sure can have somebody listen to your content and say, I like this person's vibe.

But they're not really going to build a connection with you and really get to know you and trust you until they've heard a lot of your content. And you've been consistent over time you've turned up, but you've also been consistently the type of person that you say you are over time.

So that relationship and that brand building exercise is not done in five minutes. I think the connection is built much quicker than reading words when you are talking to somebody.

But brand is all about longevity, it's about connection. It's all about those things that do take time to build. So you are going to have to stay at it.

But the great thing is that a podcast is a great base for other content.

So, you know, if you are doing your episode of your podcast, yes, you've got the audio there that people can listen to, but you've also potentially got snippets of video that you can share out on your social media that give an essence of you, both in audio and visual, so people can get a sense of how you speak, how you communicate, as well as what you say. So you get all of those visual cues as well. It gives you content to share out on other platforms.

So you can start to establish your authority and engage with people on different platforms in the world of the niche that you know. So it's a really good base point for creating the kind of massive amount of content that you have to create to build yourself as a brand.

Now, you mentioned in your question that you don't have an audience. That doesn't matter. Brand building doesn't need one. You are building that audience, building that brand from scratch with your podcast.

So that means, you know, if you don't have an audience already, that the promotion side of things is going to be a tougher road to climb because you're going to have to do a lot more of it to get your show out there. And that also means that it's going to probably take a lot longer than if you were starting from an existing base of people that already knew you.

Because if you've got that, you've already kind of built the brand, you know, you can always grow, evolve, expand, reach more people. But there is an existing brand there if you've got an audience.

So if you're starting from scratch, yeah, it's going to take a little longer for you to get yourself in front of people.

But having all of that content that you can generate out of this one podcast episode can be so helpful to get you in front of all of those people that you need to start to establish yourself in that way. You know, if you're creating this podcast, it really is the hub of your content.

And then everything that comes off that is about creating content that works on other platforms that can help you reflect your values, your expertise, can help you share stories that make you relatable and credible, and to help people connect with you. So that's really important if you think about that as a central thing.

And I think AI is a great tool to help you do that, because you got a transcript out of your podcast episode, you put that transcript into AI and it can give you a whole heap of ideas. Don't we copy and pasting those chatgpt things? Because Lord knows they love an EM Dash. And you can tell when something's been made by ChatGPT.

You got to go in there and write it and go, this is in my voice now.

But those kind of platforms can be so helpful just in terms of like, oh, actually that is a really good idea for a post off what I said that you might not have ever come up with or that it might have taken you hours to think about.

And you can just get a whole bunch of stuff spat out and you can go, great, now I'm editing and working with something, not working with a blank piece of paper, so that's really important.

And repurpose all that content if you're going to sit down in front of a microphone, even if you're doing something that's not in the teaching or expertise space, doesn't matter.

You can still use the transcript of that episode to pump out content that can help you reach people on other platforms, whether it's quotes or ideas for blog posts or newsletter.

If it's like SEO suggestions to make sure that your content is searchable so that people are finding you even if they're not listening to your podcast. All of that kind of stuff is stuff that you need to help build your brand.

If you are an expert and you do have a business, well, then the content might generate ideas for league lead magnets or services you could offer or courses or products or any of that kind of stuff. It's all this incredible, incredibly fertile ground to grow. All of this other stuff that is essential if you're going to to build a brand.

So that's why I find that podcasting is so exciting in, in this way. Because there's so much that it can do and build.

And that connection that you get with people by sitting them is just the most incredible connection if you are talking to them directly and they are really getting a sense of you and who you are. So I would encourage you to just get started. You know, we can sort of sit there and go, maybe I need some audience to like build the audience start.

I can't tell you how many podcasters start with zero listeners and the build begins from there. So it doesn't matter that you don't have an audience. The only way you'll find one is by getting yourself out there.

And it's a brilliant way to do that.

And if you are consistently showing up with high quality content and connecting with your audience, speaking directly to them, that audience will come. So good luck with it. Exciting. Really exciting. If that is your goal with starting a podcast, then you can be in no better place to do that.

Thank you so much for your question, Natalie. If you have one, just head to the description of the episode.

And if you want a bit more help with your podcast, then make sure you head to podschool.com.au to check out my online podcasting course.

Or if you're just like, I want to start this thing and I want to buy some equipment, then there is a link in the description of the episode to my equipment guide, which will tell you how to do just that. I'll see you next week.

Voice Over: 00:08:25

That's all for today.