)If you've been in marketing for long enough, it almost feels like everyone has a podcast. A cliche has been forming for a few years now that if you are probably not successful unless you've got your own one. 

Its gotten to the point where there is even a viral music video and song on Tiktok named "Another white guy with a podcast". 

I'm aware of this stuff.

I'm aware that right now, there are over 5 million podcasts in circulation with over 70 million episodes and that is just Spotify alone.

I'm old enough to not make emotive decisions based on ego and to be methodical in my research.  I'm smart enough to know that I'm not Joe Rogan, I'm not a True Crime expert and my subject of choice (marketing your business on a shoestring) has been broadcast already in a bunch of different forms.

So why then, did I start one?

Spotify Podcast Charts (https://podcastcharts.byspotify.com/ )

I mentioned research in the paragraph above and I've researched this topic fairly extensively (extensively for a marketing person anyway!).   Here is a summary of what I've found the following;

The Basic Statistics

Estimated Podcasts in Existence: 5 million
Estimated Blog Sites in Excistence:  600 million
Estimated Active Bloggers in the USA: 31 million

Production Factors

Time for Stu to Write a Blog Article:  1 hour, start to finish including graphics, editng and publishing
Time for Stu to Create a Podcast Episode:  2-3 hours including editing, publishing
Cost of Setting Up a Blog Page:  2 hours of edit time on existing website
Cost of Setting Up a Podcast: Equipment setup, equipment training, Editing software setup, edting training, production and distrubtion setup and training.

When you look at the factors above, you soon realise why that on average, most new podcasts do not get past episode 6.  You see, consistently creating a podcast is a lot harder than most people think so the numbers are skewed.  A HUGE proportion of the podcasts on Spotify are no longer active and a huge number of those who launch, do not execute a launch promotonal programme accross a bunch of different channels.  

So for me, the podcast market is actually still in its infancy and the opportunity is still strong, for those who take it seriously.

Did I mention also, that the audience for Podcasts is still growing?

Check out this graph from : https://www.thepodcasthost.com/listening/podcast-industry-st...

Where else in marketing do you see such steady audience growth combined with failure for competition to stay the course?  

I'll tell you where - you saw this type of situation in the first decade of YouTube, the first decade of Facebook and yes, the first decide of Blogs. 

Another Big Reason Is...

Replication of content.

For me, one of the big challenges that podcast hosts have does not exist.  Many of them run out of guests and they run out of ideas.  Me on the other hand, I'm writing twice weekly blog articles, two books and interviewing people weekly.  I have an abundance of material and by being smart about the process that I create this material, the podcast becomes an incredible way to redistribute something to a different audience.

You see I'll be recording my podcasts on StreamYard and will be publshing the video on YouTube, on my website, transcribed as a Blog, sliced into pieces and used on TikTok, Reels, Shorts and Facebook prior to the audio track being uploaded as a poddy. 

This method maximises the return on the creative, production and logistics by maxing out the number of humans that get to recieve it.

Speaking of return on production investment, one thing that I love about blogs and poddys is that they're...

Searchabable Forever

That social post that you are super proud of that attracted a bunch of followers.  What is it doing for you now?  Its probably hiding beneath an ocean of competing content and being held back by the social algos.

With Podcasts, as with blogs, your content stays on the platfor waiting to be discovered and consumed, many years into the future.  If you get your niche right and you use the right search terms in your podcast content (and also in your audio), then your podcast is going to keep bringing you fresh new ears into the future. 

But not only will it be there forever, but it will also add to your authority.

Authority Matters

The concept of authority driven personal branding is a bit of a contentious one and I'll touch upon that as its own blog topic, but the bare basics are this.

As a social species, we are sub-consciously driven to seek out and listen to those people in our community who hold authority.  A common way that we seek this is to watch for people who hold positions where we can see that other people like ourselves are paying attention to what that person has to say.

This is why people will naturally stop and listen to someone who is speaking in pubic and who has a huge crowd gathered around them.  This is true for YouTube Channels, Social Media Channels and queues outside Apple stores.

You could argue that with such a fantastic product, Steve Jobs never really needed to have stores.  But what Steve knew, was that they were a highly visual marketing channel that gave Apple a massive, indisputable, jump on social status. 

Steve knew that Apple stores would increase their brand authority.

I know that a successful, relevant and useful podcast will increase mine.

There's another reason, which a lot of people overlook.  In part, it is born out of the magic of authority, and in part, its borne out of the desire for others to gain their own social status.

It is...

Social Influence

What I mean by this is, that by hosting a successful, easy to understand and relevant podcast,  I can now influence others in my space to connect and partner with me. This includes the following;

- Getting access to well respected and interesting guests (which end up part of my other marketing too)

- Being interviewed on other people's podcasts

- Getting access to thought-leaders for speaking engagements (not just for my podcast)

In a nutshell, by having the authority that a podcast creates, you get access to more people's valuable time and their even more valuable networks and audiences.  

If you do this ethically, consistently and by leading with giving value to these people first - the whole thing creates a cycle that in-turn helps the podcast grow.

But the most important reason is...

If you know about marketing in 2023, then the stuff that I've talked about is all fairly common sense.  But what I've missed that I think is the most vital reason behind why I've decided to invest time and energy for my own podcast is this.

I love listening to people.

I love chatting with people.

I love asking intersting questions.

I love to get inside the heads of people and discover the sweet, gooey centre.

And this is the reason why I am confident that I'll get past episode 6, and then hopefully episode 600.  

Thanks for reading and I hope you join me for the launch of my podcast by subscribing to the list here, where I'll be announcing the launch.

Thank you!

PS:  I just you and everyone to know that I never use chatGPT or any A.I. tools to write my blog articles.  Every single word on this page originates from one place, my brain.  

I'm not 'anti-AI', but I am pro-originality. 

I encourage people to use AI for research and ideas generation and discourage people to using it to write the script, the blog or the post.  This is my viewpoint, you are totally open to yours.