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Podcasting
AS A PROFESSIONAL PODCAST PRODUCER and voiceover talent, I’ve had a front row seat as the podcast industry has evolved significantly over the past several years. At this point, most people are at least somewhat familiar with podcasts, and a significant percentage of the population are active listeners of one or more podcasts on a regular basis.
The entertainment value of podcasting is here to stay and its growing steadily every year. We know that more and more organizations are using podcasts as part of their marketing mix, but are podcasts a viable option to put into your organization’s learning mix? I believe they are, and here’s why.
Using podcasting as part of your company’s marketing mix not only provides a level of differentiation from your competitors—one of the key ingredients in an effective marketing campaign—but it’s also an innovative way to get into the earbuds of your target market. In this multitasking world we now live in, people are consuming information in audio form at an increasing rate. For the same reasons that podcasts are effective in marketing, they can also be effective in getting into the earbuds of your company’s learners.
Speaking directly to your target audience while they’re driving to work, running on the treadmill at the gym, cleaning the house, or walking the dog is convenient and uses a medium they’re very familiar with.
History and Recent Trends in Podcasting
The world of podcasting has seen an unprecedented level of change in recent years. The advent of connected cars and smart speakers in homes has made it much easier for podcast listeners to access the content they want when they want it.
Before we get into some of the statistics involved in podcasting, let’s quickly discuss what podcasts actually are. Podcasts are digitally released audio segments that are aggregated via an RSS feed to the end-user’s listening app of choice. It’s like listening to your favorite radio shows, but being able to pick and choose specific shows from any station you want to subscribe to, and then listening to them whenever you want.
Edison Research has indicated that over the past decade, regular podcast listeners have grown from being a niche community to almost a third of all Americans. Podcast listeners are consuming more than six hours of podcasts per week and the trends are continuing to move upward.
With more than 700,000 free podcasts now available, and with companies such as Spotify, Pandora, iHeart, and Google taking an active role in the podcasting world—joining iTunes (now known as Apple Podcasts)—it certainly isn’t hype to say that podcasting is here to stay and shows no signs of slowing down.
When we look back on the growth of podcasting over the past 10 to 15 years, we can see some key pivotal moments that moved the ball forward:
• In 2005, podcasts were added to the iTunes store.
• In 2007, Apple launched the first iPhone. Then five years later, in 2012, Apple created the podcast app, which gave iPhone users access to thousands of podcasts. Many view this as the point when podcasting began its steady rise to where it is today.
• In 2015, smart technology was added to automobiles that allowed drivers to connect their phones to their car’s entertainment systems and listen to podcasts easily when driving. Shortly thereafter, the launch of smart speakers for the home further eased the ability to listen to podcasts on demand.
Individuals, organizations, and companies soon began to explore how this medium could be used to communicate with their target audience. New areas of use began to emerge, and podcasting has become part of the discussion in many marketing and branding decisions. Whether it’s learning departments creating content that can be listened to on the job, individuals creating content and building an audience, small and large businesses creating branded podcasts designed to appeal to their target consumer, or companies creating internal podcasts to communicate with their workforce and stakeholders, the use of podcasting continues to evolve.
Within the learning community, podcasting is certainly worth paying attention to. As companies continue to strive for more innovative ways to communicate learning and development concepts, the ability to speak directly to learners through their earbuds using a medium that they are accustomed to just makes sense. It’s incumbent upon leaders in the learning community to fully explore and cultivate this growing trend of on-demand content and ensure that the community fully utilizes the benefits it provides.
To begin, let’s look at the formats of podcasts you could produce, and then focus on how to apply them to learning.
Podcast Formats
There are many formats of podcasts, but the three most common are solo, interviews, and multi-host shows.
The Solo Podcast
This type of podcast is the most popular among podcast producers, but it’s generally least popular among listeners. The solo podcast relies on the knowledge and personality of one person who creates a podcast week in and week out on topics they believe will resonate with their audience. It’s the easiest to produce because you control your own schedule. Want to record at 3 a.m.? You can. Want to talk about your day yesterday? No problem, you’re the expert. The challenge with solo podcasts is that listeners can quickly tire of the same voice and the same personality.
The Interview
This type of podcast tends to be very popular among listeners and attractive to producers. The upside of the interview podcasts is that if you can land the right people to interview, their experiences and knowledge can be very valuable to your audience. The challenge is that it requires a great deal of program management. The host needs to schedule guests, coordinate times, and research the guest’s background.
The Multi-Host Show
This type of podcast has two or more hosts that contribute to the content of the show. The chemistry between the hosts can be an asset to the show, and having the hosts share different experiences and perspectives can appeal to a broader audience. Scheduling is not as easy as the solo podcast, but it is easier than the interview podcast.
Podcasts for Internal or External Audiences
Next, let’s take a look at how podcasts can be categorized by audience—internal or external—and examine how each might be applicable to the L&D space.
Internal Podcasts
Internal podcasts are created by a company or organization and intended to be used exclusively within the organization by employees and stakeholders. You won’t find an internal podcast on iTunes or Spotify—they aren’t created for mass consumption by the public. They are typically password protected and may contain proprietary information.
The advantage of creating an internal podcast is that it allows an organization to do several things:
• Engage employees and stakeholders using a medium they’re familiar with to disseminate information in a unique way.
• Bring a large organization closer together by sharing interviews, stories, and information, and allowing employees to connect with people they may never have a chance to meet otherwise.
One of my clients works for a large international company in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry. Her podcast concept was to interview employees and stakeholders from the company to bring their workforce closer together. The decision makers signed off on the concept and the internal podcast has taken off and been a huge success.
An internal podcast is also an innovative way to help facilitate learning within an organization. Curating training in audio form allows employees to use their down time (commuting to work, for example) to listen to a training module or new sales strategy rollout. The possibilities are endless!
I recently spoke at an ATD International Conference & EXPO with my co-presenter. Standing in front of 200-plus learning professionals, we asked this question: “How many of you listen to podcasts?” About 90 percent of the audience raised their hands. We then asked this question: “How many of you are using podcasts in support of your internal learning programs?” Five, maybe 10 hands were raised.
When asked why they listen to podcasts, the audience’s answers were not surprising. They said podcasts were educational, entertaining, interesting, convenient, and contained content they couldn’t find elsewhere. In short, podcasts are everything we would want in a learning event.
Why then don’t we use podcasting more inside our corporate learning functions? I’m sure there are many answers to that question, but the most common is that while many people know how to listen to a podcast, very few understand how to create one.
Creating Podcasts for Internal Learning
Hopefully the wheels are already turning. You see yourself and maybe other hosts doing an internal podcast, highlighting upcoming learning programs, sharing learning content, and talking directly to your audience. Or maybe you envision yourself interviewing various people inside your organization who could enhance your learning campaigns. Whatever you decide, here are some tips on how to make your internal learning podcast a reality.
Getting Started
The first thing you want to do is get the right technology. You shouldn’t just record yourself on your phone and send everyone an email of your recording. Take some time to identify and acquire technology that will help make your podcast sound professional. Most of my clients use a Blue Yeti microphone that is connected to their laptops. It’s not too expensive and helps produce the quality they need to sound professional. You’ll also want to use headphones to ensure the sound of your co-host or guest isn’t picked up on your mic. Any headphones that can plug into your Yeti microphone will work. Finally, while not necessary, use soundproofing foam panels to surround the microphone if possible. This helps to reduce echo and saves you the cost of creating a soundproof studio.
Once you have the technology, you’re ready to start podcasting. Follow the next steps to get your internal podcast off the ground.
Create Your Brand
Like your internal newsletters, learning programs, or websites, your podcast should have a name. Pick something that lets people know it’s internal and gives your audience an idea of what to expect if they listen. Is this a podcast for sellers? Managers? Learning professionals? Consider using their roles in the title. Next, decide on your format. In my opinion the co-host format is best for internal podcasts. You have a backup in case you are out of the office and flexibility in case you don’t find someone to interview. Finally, decide on general topics you want to cover and find music you can use for the intro. (Tip: Be sure you have a license to use the music. There are plenty of royalty-free music sites available where you can select your intro.)
Set Up Your Web Hosting Environment
Before you record your podcast, you’ll want to decide on where you are going to host it. Unlike public podcasts, you’ll want your internal podcasts to be secure. Ideally you identify a service that not only provides password-protected access for your podcast, but also supports single sign-on. This will help keep the podcasts for your employees’ ears only. No need to let your competitors listen in to your latest strategies and learning initiatives.
You also want to be sure that the hosting service provides your listeners with a positive user experience. Are the podcasts easy to access via a phone? Can you create a website in the platform to store archived podcasts and make it easy to listen to old ones? Is the platform mobile friendly, and is it easy to share podcasts internally? These are just a few questions you should consider when selecting a podcasting platform.
Start Production
Now you’re ready to record. You’ve lined up your first guest, settled on a topic, and found a co-host. These steps will help you produce professional sounding podcasts:
1. Determine the topics for your first three to four episodes.
2. Set dates and times to interview people if you plan to have guests.
3. Write out the points you want to cover and the questions you want to ask or that you want your co-host to ask if you are the subject matter expert.
4. Rehearse an episode to get comfortable with the recording process.
5. Listen to the recording and take notes on ways to improve the actual episode.
Record three or four episodes using this process. A good best practice is to have your guest record their voice directly into their laptop. This will give you a higher-quality recording that can be easily edited and added to your recording in your podcast platform or editing software. After receiving your guest’s recording, the last step is to edit your recordings together and listen to the finished result. This is important. Did you hear a dog barking? Does the volume change from one speaker to the next? Did you forget to edit out a speaking error? It takes extra time, but listening to the finished product before you publish is a crucial step in producing a professional sounding podcast.
Go Live!
Once you have three to four complete podcast episodes, you’re ready to publish to your platform. Data shows that when people first see a podcast series, they are more likely to return to listen to future episodes if they see more than one or two available episodes. By publishing three or four when people first see your site, they will walk away with more than one show to listen to and are more likely to subscribe to your channel for future shows. When creating an internal podcast, building an audience may not be as pressing a concern if the podcast is required listening. However, if you want your learners to listen regularly, creating engaging content and releasing that content on a predictable schedule can help them incorporate your podcast episodes into their working routine.
The data also shows that in the first two months of podcasting, you should publish an episode once a week. This frequency helps fine-tune your podcasting skills, increases your library of podcasts, and helps build your audience quickly. After the first two months, you can decide on a cadence that works for you and your program, but you should strive for a podcast at least once every two weeks. Remember that consistency is key. You want your episodes released on a predictable schedule so your listeners can incorporate them into their daily routine. For example, if a new episode is released every Monday morning at 3 a.m., then your learners can make listening part of their daily commute that day, because they know a new episode will be ready when they wake up to start their week.
Market Your Podcasts and Maintain the Program
At this point the hard work of creating and launching your podcast has been done and you are now in maintenance mode. As with any learning program you’ll want to be sure to evaluate the podcasts by seeking feedback from your audience and making changes to improve the listener experience and engagement. You’ll also want to market your podcasts to your target audiences. Send them emails or post links to episodes inside internal social platforms. Ask stakeholders to include links in their internal newsletters and other employee communications.
You should always be on the lookout for a potential guest, co-host, and topic for discussion. Launching a new learning program? Invite the instructional designer. Reorganizing your learning function? Invite the CLO. Once you’re up and running, you’ll see plenty of opportunities to provide relevant content to help your listeners perform their jobs. They can’t watch videos, webinars, or take e-learning courses while commuting to work, driving to customer locations, or working out, but they can listen to a podcast.
Podcasting for External Branding
Now that you know how to create and distribute a podcast to internal learners and listeners, the second option to explore is creating or sponsoring an external podcast. This is the form you’re probably most familiar with—they’re the ones on iTunes, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Spotify, and so on, intended for mass consumption.
But why would an organization want to create or sponsor an external podcast, and what benefit would this have to internal learners within the organization? Would people really want to listen to a podcast about a very specific product or offering? Probably not, but let’s unpack this option from a different perspective.
Every organization that sells a product or service typically has a target consumer whom they market to. That target consumer, in addition to buying the product or service offered, often has lifestyle similarities with others in the target market of that organization.
Organizations also have a corporate culture that is part of their identity, and to a certain extent, it’s also part of the identity of those who work within the organization. Creating an external podcast that appeals to the target market of the organization as well as the learners within the organization could be a win-win situation.
For example, I suspect that a company that sells outdoor hiking gear, like Patagonia, has a target consumer who most likely loves the outdoors, has a concern for the environment, eats healthy, enjoys exercising, likes to travel off the beaten path, and appreciates friends and family. I also suspect that many of the employees within the Patagonia organization are working there in some part because of how they identify with the corporate culture that Patagonia has created.
In this case, creating or sponsoring an external podcast that appeals to that target consumer and the internal learner wouldn’t have to be exclusively about backpacks and coats. Rather, it could be about all the topics that are of interest to the target consumer who ultimately buys the products the company sells, as well as the internal learner who is in tune with the corporate culture.
And guess what? It just so happens that Patagonia sponsors a podcast called Dirtbag Diaries, which, according to its website, is a “grassroots podcast dedicated to the sometimes serious, often humorous stories from wild places… . a collaboration between writers, photographers, artists, and listeners to produce the types of stories that rarely find homes in the glossy pages of magazines.” If you’re part of the Patagonia tribe, whether as a consumer or the internal workforce, I think you might be interested in a podcast with that description.
Make sense? I hope so! Here are a few other reasons to create or sponsor an external podcast for your company:
• It’s an amazing way to engage your target customer in the topics they are most interested in. By doing this you create a stronger sense of community around your company and build trust within your customer base. This sense of community could also strengthen the culture and morale inside the workplace by building a brand identity that both customers and employees can participate in and relate to.
• It provides a unique and differentiating way for you to build your brand by whispering in your target consumer’s ears on a regular basis, and it makes learning fun, so listening to the latest info on a product or initiative within the organization doesn’t really feel like work.
Another great example of this is Death Wish Coffee, a company that exploded after winning a contest to have an ad produced and aired on the Super Bowl. (It started in my hometown by the way and the coffee is amazing!) The company created a podcast that isn’t actually about coffee at all—instead it discusses topics and interviews people whom its target market and employee workforce is interested in. The show’s tagline is “What fuels you?” By utilizing this podcast in their marketing mix, Death Wish Coffee is building its brand, engaging its best supporters, cultivating its internal corporate culture, establishing trust, and solidifying its sense of community by providing its target market with information they’re interested in through a communication medium they’re familiar with. Brilliant!
And yet another example is the podcast Fortune Favors the Bold sponsored by Mastercard. On this podcast, the host explores the way we think about money—a huge topic in today’s volatile economy. It appeals to individuals and companies seeking more financial control and creativity in their lives and businesses. Notice that while the podcast isn’t specifically about credit cards, it is, in some ways, about financial education and savvy.
What Mastercard has done is tap into the interests of its target customer. During the show, Mastercard is mentioned as the sponsor and on every episode Mastercard’s target customer is hearing Mastercard whispered in their ear along with the great content that keeps them tuning in episode after episode. So, when that listener is ready to expand their business or seek financial assistance, who do you think they might be inclined to use to facilitate their needs? You guessed it!
Conclusion
If you’ve been wondering whether podcasting makes sense for your company, I hope these examples and this chapter have cleared the way for you to begin considering taking advantage of this exploding industry.
If you work for or run a large organization, consider creating an internal podcast to bring your workforce closer together and communicate information via an innovative and unique audio medium. If you work for or own a small business (or large!) and are looking for a differentiating advantage in the marketplace, consider creating an external podcast focusing on the topics and people your target market customers and employees are interested in. This will help build your company identity, create a sense of community, strengthen your internal corporate culture, and establish continued trust in your brand.
The bottom line is that podcasts are here to stay, and making them a part of your learning and culture not only makes sense, it’s also a heck of a lot of fun!