Is It Too Late To Begin A Podcast For Your Business?

Podcasts can be an amazing marketing tool that gives you more advertising and an integrated platform to promote your products and services. In the past decade, podcasts have grown from a niche hobby to a mainstream media channel. In line with this growth trajectory, superstar podcast creators have gained a lot; Take Joe Rogan, for example recently closed a $ 100 million deal to become exclusive to Spotify. And as consumer awareness rises, millions of people have visited the format to try and use it.

Related: Why You Should Use Blogs and Podcasts to Promote Your Business

If you are thinking of starting a podcast to market your business, there is still potential for your success. But there is a big problem in your way: the competition. What steps can you take to overcome it?

The benefits of podcasts

First, I’d like to talk about the benefits of a podcast for your business:

• Unlimited direction. You can start a podcast on almost anything. You could be talking about industry news. You could have regular interviews with influencers in or next to your area. You could even start your own niche and hobby podcast and get it loosely related to your business.
• Audience size. The biggest appeal of podcasting for most business owners is the sheer potential audience size. Currently there are estimated 120 million monthly podcast listeners. If you are one of the lucky creators who wins a huge audience, you could be speaking to millions of people on every episode.
• Tendency to grow. The scope of podcasting is already enormous and continues to grow. It is estimated that the number of American podcast listeners could rise to 164 million by 2023. Worldwide, the number of podcast listeners will be many times higher.
• Diversification of content. Podcasting is a great way to “Diversify” your content portfolio. Most business owners know that content marketing is one of the best ways to increase a brand’s visibility, attract traffic, and even make more sales. But simple written content is not enough to beat the competition and give you the support you need. With complementary channels such as podcasting and video streaming, you can reach more people and address more diverse interests.
• Low entry barrier. In addition, the barrier to entry for podcasts is quite low. You don’t need a PhD. You don’t need thousands of dollars of expensive equipment. Most of the time, all you need is a decent computer, a decent microphone, and some time. This is partly responsible for the explosion in podcast creation in recent years.

The competition problem

Podcasting can be of great use, but everyone else knows it too. Currently there are more than two million active podcasts, with more than 48 million episodes as of April 2021. Even if you only consider podcasts in your target niche, you are still competing with thousands to hundreds of thousands of direct competitors.

It is too late?

So is it “too late” to get into the podcasting game?

In a way, yes. You won’t be able to capitalize on the communications channel’s explosive growth as many media moguls did at the beginning of the platform’s history. And if you decide to take part in the game, you will struggle to stand out and gain your own loyal audience.

Related: Listen to the latest episode of Entrepreneur’s How Success Happens podcast

However, this is not a death sentence. It just means that you will need to employ additional strategies to cope with the increasing competition you will face.

That means:

• Take up a new topic. Consider covering a topic that no one has covered before. Do you have a subject that is not sufficiently represented in the podcast market? You may have to think beyond the confines of your current industry if you want something truly unique.
• Take a new perspective. When you find that the podcast market is saturated with people covering topics of interest to you, consider a new angle. If the top competitors in your chosen channel are solely focused on interviews, try creating more opinion pieces. If the top podcasts are all short and bite-sized, try something long form instead.
• Appeal to a demographic niche. Instead of brainstorming on a topic that no one has tried before, consider taking a topic that is currently on and tailoring it to an unusual or neglected demographic. Choosing a unique audience could help you gain relevance in a crowded space.
• Season things. It is possible to stand out and attract a loyal audience, even if you cover a common topic – as long as you offer something original and interesting. Entertain your audience, use a sarcastic tone, create an original character, or find another way to spice things up.

Podcasting could be a great way to promote your business and attract new customers – as long as you have a plan to deal with the incredible number of competitors that have popped up in the past few years. In the meantime, spend some time Listen to economic podcasts relevant for you as an entrepreneur. You might get an idea how to start your own. At least you’ll learn something new.