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How to Run a Business Podcast That Stands Out

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How to Run a Business Podcast That Stands Out

Summary
  • There are well over 2 million podcasts available, and many of them focus on entrepreneurship and business
  • Most of these podcasts are interview shows too
  • If you want to run a business podcast that stands out, here are a few things you can do differently
  • There are various ways to shake up the traditional podcast episode format
  • Having guests on? Arrange episodes by topic, not by interviewee
  • Enhance your episodes and build trust with ongoing segments, clips, and contributions
  • Consider podcasting in themed seasons, rather than on a weekly treadmill
  • Why not bring on a producer to help get the best from your audio?
  • Or, use automated tools that’ll add an extra polish to your sound
  • Read on to get the full lowdown…

Podcasting has always been a growing medium. Every day, new shows are launched, and there are now well over 2 million podcasts available in iTunes/Apple Podcasts.

The motivations and ambitions of those who get into podcasting vary wildly. But for those prepared to put the time and work in, the rewards can be huge.

Business and industry podcasting is one corner of the medium where you’ll find many who are reaping the benefits of their content. This ranges from individuals working on side ventures outside of their day job hours, to multinational companies.

As more businesses move towards podcasting though, people are looking at ways to stand out and do something a bit more unique.

So, if you want to make a show for your own company or brand, what sort of things can you do to avoid becoming just another one of many?

Well, the purpose of this post is to provide you with ideas and suggestions that will help you run a business podcast that stands out from the crowd.

Rethink the Format

Let’s look at the most common type of podcast format right now.

  1. Intro music
  2. Presenter introduces show
  3. Interview – recorded online
  4. Presenter summarises and closes show
  5. Outro music

Firstly, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this format. In fact, this is the perfect structure for a majority of podcasters. Listeners are very used to it, it’s practical, doesn’t take too much time, and doesn’t require a big investment of time or money.

But if you really want to stand out, it’s going to be very hard to do that following this format. It’s just too common.

If you’re throwing in the added factor that you’re “an entrepreneur interviewing entrepreneurs about their journeys” too, then you really are entering a competition to be the best grain of sand on the beach.

What’s the alternative though? How do you run a business podcast with a format that stands out? There are a few things to think about here.

make a business podcastDecide Who the Authority Is

It may come as a shock to many, but not all podcasts are interview shows.

There are many benefits of running an interview show, but one big downside is that you’re never the true authority on your own show – your guests are.

I know it isn’t really as black and white as that, and that there’s a way of having in-depth conversations between two experts. But the standard interview approach isn’t going to set you apart from anyone else.

I’m not saying you need to stop having guests in order to stand out. But make sure it’s a conscious decision rather than something you’ve been led to believe is a necessity.

Interview Shows: Rework the Conversations

If you will be having guests on your show, consider throwing out the “linear interview” approach.

The conversations you record can be chopped up to fit the narrative of an episode, which immediately presents it as something that is a lot more planned and structured.

Here’s a hypothetical example. I want to make a business podcast, and I’m going to start with a season of 12 episodes.

For this, I line up 12 interviewees.

The “conventional” way of doing this is that each episode is an interview with 1 of these 12 guests.

The conversation takes the usual approach of asking them how they got started in what they do, what problems they overcame, how they became successful, and what advice they have for others.

This can work well, but there’s nothing unique about it. Especially if my guests are often interviewed on other podcasts where they’ll cover exactly the same ground.

Arrange by Topic, Not Guest

If I’m looking to run a business podcast that stands out, I might do things a little different. Instead of arranging episodes by guest, I come up with 12 topics.

Each topic is basically a question or themed set of questions. These will be similar to the questions asked in a “linear” interview, so you’ve got things like “problems you overcame,” and “advice for others.”

Then you can throw in things that are a bit different from the norm. Tim Ferris is a good example of this with his reoccurring questions like, “When was the last time you changed your mind about something?”, and “What would you put on a billboard?”.

In each interview, you ask the 12 guests your 12 questions, along with any follow-up questions around each.

The next stage is to produce your 12 episodes, which each focus on answering 1 question, and feature input from all 12 of your guests.

From a listener point of view, you’re creating a much better experience for them. Your show becomes easy to navigate, and appealing to folks in your target audience who discover the show in a search.

This really helps cut down on the fluff and irrelevant chatter that puts a lot of new listeners off and limits your growth in the long run.

how do you run a business podcast that stands out?

Solo Shows: Planning, Purpose, & Structure

Maybe instead of an interview or guest-based show, you’d like to do a predominately solo or co-hosted style instead.

For the average podcast, you can achieve this by having a few bullet points as a script, then hitting record, and just going for it.

If you don’t want to be the average podcast though, it’ll need a bit more thought and direction than that.

Ongoing Segments

One option is to split your episodes into segments that differ from each other, but all bring value to your listener.

These could be segments like a tip or lesson of the week, data breakdowns and analysis, or industry news.

This shows that your content is well planned and thought out, whilst at the same time giving a sense of familiarity and routine to long time listeners.

Clips & Contributions

You might not run interviews as such, but your show can benefit from having other voices in it from time to time.

This could range from vox-pops recorded at an industry event to listener contributions answering a specific question, or commenting on the subject of a previous episode.

Of course, it won’t be possible to get audience feedback in the early days before you’ve actually established an audience. But you can invite your team members, staff, or industry peers to record short clips that can be played on the show to get you up and running with something like this.

Music & Sound Effects

Laying a music track underneath a conversation for the sake of it is more likely to irritate rather than enhance.

But careful and selective placing of music amongst your content can really add an extra layer of polish to it.

Here’s how and where to find podcast music.

You can even use sound effects and ambience to demonstrate certain points, or set scenes for the listener in a “theatre of the mind” type way.

Like music, a “less is more” approach works better. Any sound effects should be used in a subtle and non-intrusive manner, and not be over the top or jarring. Unless you want the show to sound like a cartoon.

If you’ve little or no experience in mixing audio though, then it’s worth considering hiring a podcast producer. Even if you’re on a tight budget, you’d be surprised at how affordable podcast production can be.

Alternatively, you might try using a ‘podcast maker’ tool like Alitu. Alitu makes it easy to build episodes, add in music, and produce everything to a podcast industry-standard level loudness. You can even publish your show from inside the Alitu dashboard, so it’ll save you valuable time, too.

For more info on this tool, check out How to Make a Podcast With Alitu.

Stand Out With Your Sound

You or your guests can deliver brilliant insights and advice to the listener, but if it sounds like you recorded it on an old cassette whilst standing in a cave, this just isn’t going to cut it.

It’s outside the scope of this article to discuss how to get a good level of audio quality for your podcast, but the good news is that it isn’t difficult, and you don’t need to spend a fortune.

With the right gear, along with a bit of preparation and planning, you can achieve a high level of source sound quality.

Obviously, you have less control over your remote guests (if you’re actually running a show with guests) so you’ll need to be a bit more strict about who you invite on.

You can put some steps in place to veto potential interviewees though. Here are a couple of suggestions:

  1. Check if they’ve been on any other podcasts before, and if so, listen to how they sound.
  2. Do a “pre-call” with them where you can listen to their audio quality, as well as give them advice on their setup if necessary.
  3. Send them to our handy guide on how to be a great podcast guest.

Podcast in Seasons

Instead of running on the treadmill of releasing an episode every single week, you can consider running your podcast in seasons. There are a number of benefits of doing this.

Firstly, the type of podcast we’re discussing here is going to take more than your average podcast to create on a per-episode basis.

This means it’ll require some investment, be that in time or in money.

There’s also a benefit for the listener in taking the seasons approach. It can make the content better curated, easier to navigate, and seem more purposeful going forward.

It’s a whole subject of its own, so here’s a deeper dive into season-based podcasting if you’re looking for more insights and info on that front.

Invest In Your Content

I mentioned investing either time or money in your show. If you want to run a business podcast that really stands out in your niche, then you need to decide which one it’s going to be.

There’s a lot of hats to wear running a podcast like this, from planning the content and recording the audio, to picking out music, editing speech, and layering it all together.

If you can’t dedicate much time to podcasting, then the alternative is to work with a podcast producer who can help you create it.

In our Podcast Producer Directory you’ll find options to fit any need or budget.

Or, you might opt to automate and streamline editing and production yourself, using a tool like Alitu.

Let Alitu Take Care of Your Podcast Editing

Alitu is a tool that takes your recording, polishes it up, adds your music, and publishes the episode, all automatically.

Learn more about Alitu

How to Run a Business Podcast That Stands Out

Hopefully this guide has given you more than a few ideas on how to avoid becoming “just another business podcast”.

Of course, you don’t need to dive in and start doing all of this from day one. The most important thing is to get started. You need to find your feet with the entire process of planning, recording, and publishing.

Once you’ve learned the ropes, you can then start to tweak, hone, and improve.

And above all, you need to run a business podcast that’s sustainable. If you exhaust all of your resources (be that in time or money) then you’re inevitably going to quit. Consider hiring some pro-level podcast production help, or try out ‘Podcast Maker’ tool Alitu free for 7-days and see for yourself how much it’ll improve your workflow and sound!

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