Welcome to episode 12 of Dreamchasers!
Keri Roberts is a Creative Brand Strategist and Podcast Host. In the last 5 years, she outgrew her dance studio into fulltime podcasting, starting with ‘Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary’ things. It’s rated in the top 10-15% of Podcasts in the Self-Improvement Genre.
The perfect person to talk to about how a podcast could benefit a small business brand!
In this episode, we cover the 3 valuable things a podcast can bring you, simple ways to start, why you should love what you do, why you shouldn’t feel pressured to do what’s popular, and some tips about your audience.
Dreamchasers is the interview series for people who want human marketing on a zero budget. I’m your host, Dominic de Souza. Listen in for tips and insights, for 15 minutes a week. It’s the dreamers who make the future. Chase yours.
Summary & Notes
Brand. Market. Sell.
A lot of companies try to force the sale, and get frustrated that it doesn’t work. The answer is to go back and work through the brand, and then the sale is a lot easier.
While there are a ton of options out there to market your brand, podcasting is a good one.
The top 3 benefits of a podcast are:
- Relationships, the friendships that can come from the active listening, and looking for a way to provide value or help to the person.
- An easy way to get content, that can be turned into video or text. It can also allow for consistent content, which is valuable for any brand.
- The research that you get from doing these interviews can often surprise you, and open up new opportunities.
Being genuine about helping others and learning from others through conversation is key. Try ending your calls with: “Is there anything I do for you? Anyone I can connect you with? “
It’s a longer game, but makes it much easier to retain people, and have them refer you. Sales are much easier.
Keri’s Background
Even as a child, Keri loved interacting with people on the phone. It turns out that people are often more truthful over the phone than other media.
She ran a dance studio for 7 years, and had been listening to podcasts for a long time. She was meeting so many amazing people who craved an opportunity to have their story told. So she started her own podcast.
Early on, she was random about it. And then realized how much she loved it. Today, she devotes 3 days a week to it. Companies approach her for her help with strategy, assembling guests, and improving their ability to connect.
She runs the strategy and co-hosting for ‘Inside Voice,’ the podcast for Voice Summit, and it ranks top 8 podcasts in voice tech. It’s a very small world right now in podcast content.
If you’re interested in starting a podcast:
Keri recommends starting just one episode. If you do like the experience, then come back and work through the strategy. Identify your reason for doing it, so that you’re honest about your expectations.
Ask someone you know who is running a podcast, and invite them to be your first guest. It’s just testing the waters. If you’re really interested in a certain niche, you’ll need to know who you want to talk to.
- Start with something, and then test it out.
- Find out how you felt, how they did.
- Do one, do a few.
- Then re-evaluate, evaluate the experience, and go from there.
Keri is big about doing what you like to do. Podcasts work for her as a person – loving the interaction, and the chatting. Do you feel alive when you do it?
Don’t feel pressured to follow what’s popular if it’s not for your personality type.
Gimlet is a highly-produced type of show. There are interview style shows. Roundtables. Solo episodes.
There’s no right or wrong. Go back to what you like, what you’re about, what do you want to be doing. You could even hire someone else if it’s valuable, but not your thing.
Building an audience
Keri constantly talks about it, posts about on social networks, tags appropriately. She often invites guests to like and share, and provides links to everything they’ll need.
100 dedicated listeners who want to be a part of your community is far more valuable than 100,000 who switch off after the first 5 minutes.
Building an audience could be just a 100 people. 25 strangers listening to an episode of yours is an amazing thing. The important thing is to find a very specific niche. Go small and deep, and it’s much better.
Takeaway: Value vs Volume?
If you’re a small business, you don’t actually want or need massive, volume. You want the right kinds of leads and connections, because your time is limited.
Often, podcasts want to interview popular people. But more often than not, the people who aren’t as popular or famous actually bring in more listenership, because you’re giving them a platform.
They’re so excited that you’ve shown them they matter, and are worth listening to, that they’ll share it with friends and coworkers.
