One billion users and growing at speed. The trajectory of demand for podcasting is upward and fast. Little wonder, NPR and so many social media luminaries are calling this the ‘Year of the Podcast’.

But perhaps you’re thinking: “Hang on, this is hardly new territory. Haven’t people have been podcasting for ions? And how come it has become flavour of the month after all these years? Good questions all.

Here’s what’s different and why this is no false dawn. It’s the meteoric growth in online content being consumed on mobile devices – and, with it, the appeal of audio on tap most anywhere you happen to be.

Think about it. Whether it’s bars, restaurants, shops, gyms, trains, planes, automobiles, walkers, runners, or even in your living room…how often do see people plugged in (with ear buds) when they’re out or in? All the time, right?

And recognising, building upon, and maybe even fueling this reality, smart phone manufacturers like Apple (who now included a podcast app you can’t remove in new iPhones) and even car manufacturers like BMW are making it easier for you to access live or downloaded audio any time you have the time to listen in.

So that’s all well and good.

But why should you care about podcasting as a speaker?

Here are 2 compelling reasons to get you started:

Greater Reach

A capacity to hugely extend the numbers of people who come to know of and benefit from your expert knowledge and a chance to deepen relationships with those already counted amongst your fans

Greater online attention

As a speaker, you get the opportunity to attract undivided attention from those you’d like to influence and to win hearts and mind. But what happens before and after you step up to the podium? Where and how, for example, do you pique, extend, or amplify offline discussions you spark online and vice versa?

Leveraged well, creating your own content via blogs – like this one and via guest posts elsewhere – or videos can really bolster awareness and regard for your expertise and inspire action. And here’s the thing – and this is not about one thing ahead of another here – podcasts can complement and amplify the results you achieve…

…Simply because we can multiply the dwell time people devote to your content. Instead of scanning a post for a moment or two, what would having 10, 20, or even 40 minutes of valued, personal ear time do for your ability to engage with your target audiences?

And that’s before you consider the win-win benefits of interviewing other experts in the creation of your podcast content – helping you to create interesting and valuable content to share with your communities and  those who follow the experts who collaborate with you…extending everyone’s reach and impact. Plus, you’ll open doors to so many other ways in which you can collaborate with your new friends.

But how do you go about tapping into the power of possibilities of podcasting and setting your efforts up to succeed? That’s the topic addressed in today’s expert interview, when I had the opportunity to chat with podcaster extraordinaire, speaker, author, founder of Smart Passive Income, and serial entrepreneur, Pat Flynn at a recent Social Media Marketing Week in San Diego.

In addition to checking out the awesome advice Pat shares in our conversation, be sure to circle back afterwards to check out Pat’s free series on how to get started in podcasting.

What It Takes to Tap into the Power and Possibilities of Podcasting

Listen in as we discuss:

• How podcasting can amplify your visibility as a speaker
• The secret to picking a winning theme for your podcasts
• Why it’s more than OK to put the word ‘pivot’ into a sentence
• What you can learn from Pat’s journey behind the microphone
• Why your content should feature stories ahead of details
• 3 Tactics to increase audience engagement and conversation
• What it really takes to create a great podcast (hint: it’s not about perfection)
• Why you must carve your own space versus follow from the off
• How podcasting can boost and amplify your successes in so many ways

Your Turn

Please share your thoughts, observations, and questions about podcasting.

If you haven’t already jumped, might this be the time you try podcasting and why?

Email

Name

Photo Credit: RapportCenter

Interview Transcript

Eamonn: Hello, this is Eamonn O’Brien and you’re so welcome to The Reluctant Speaker’s Club Expert Series. And coming up today, we’re going to talk about the power of podcasting and why it opens doors for you in terms of greater visibility and engagement with your audiences.

And we have an awesome guest in our expert’s chair today. It is Pat Flynn.

And Pat is the founder of Smart Passive Income, a blogger, a podcaster, and an author. And we’re thrilled to have you here today.

Pat: Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited.

Eamonn: Thank you. Tell me, Pat, now you’ve been involved in the podcasting arena for quite some time. And of course, you’re also a speaker.

Starting with speakers – who often times have great content which they make available to people maybe via blogs…

…Why should they consider podcasting as another way of reaching out to people? What does that do for you?

Pat: I mean, there are a lot of people who don’t want to read. There’s a lot of people who don’t have the time or the means to watch video. But there’s a lot of people, especially now, with how big podcasting is getting, I mean they’re putting podcasting applications in new vehicles now. BMWs have podcasting applications. The iPhone has a native podcast application now.

Eamonn: Which you can’t delete.

Pat: Which you cannot delete. And there are now over a billion subscribers to different podcasts. Apple just announced this. So you’re going to reach people who you would’ve never reached before.

And if you’re a speaker, I mean, that’s your own element. You’re speaking. And imagine a room with 100 people in it. That’s a great presentation that you can give and change 100 people’s lives. But imagine you being in a room with tens of thousands of people. A stadium full of people. That’s what you can achieve easily with a podcast without having to go to a location besides wherever you’re recording. Maybe it’s your home office or a studio.

And the people who are listening are doing what they want when they want. And they’re listening to you in their lives not at an event that they have to spend money into and travel to. But they’re listening to you in their own time; in the car, on a commute, on a walk, at the gym. And so you’re able to put your brand and your voice into their head at moments in their life when other people…

Eamonn: You actually got air time.

Pat: Yeah, absolutely.

Eamonn: Which is very, very important. Now obviously, when you started out, you were influenced, I know, by listening to other podcasts.

Pat: Yes.

Eamonn: How did you pick what it was that you wanted to speak about?

Pat: Well, I knew who my audience was. And that’s the most important thing. You have to understand what it is they like. And if you don’t know, then you ask. You talk to them. And that’s a thing, I think, a lot of people in all areas of business need to do more of.

Talk to your customers and see what they want. They’re going to tell you. And then it’s just about getting started. And then getting feedback from those same people on how things are going. And often times, you’re going to find out that you did some things right which is great. Keep doing those.

Eamonn: Sure. Yeah.

Pat: And you’re going to find out that you’ve done some things maybe not so right in which you should adjust and pivot.

Eamonn: I like that word. In fact, as a social media market world, and we’ve been talking about the importance of being open to pivoting. Where sometimes, you know, you start in a certain direction and then maybe you switch down the line. But in terms of what you have become known for, and how you cultivated that, tell me about that journey. Tell me about, are you consciously aiming to be known for something?

Pat: I mean I am now…because I’ve seen the impact doing that has had on people’s lives. And I’m here to change lives and lead by example.

But when I first started, I just wanted to show whoever was interested that you can build an online business in an honest and transparent way.

And now, I’ve been put on this platform that people kind of see me as the leader in this space which was never the intention. But now that I’m here, I want to own it because I feel like I know what I can do to help change people’s lives in that way.

Eamonn: Yeah, so you picked a lane that you like.

Pat: Oh yeah.

Eamonn: And you know what it is that you want to share with people. Tell me about, because I’ve heard you speak about this in the past, the importance of storytelling to you when you’re creating podcasts.

Pat: Human beings are, we’re just sort of geared to listen to stories. When somebody tells a story, our brains do something weird where we just put ourselves in that situation. We pay more attention. And you can truly get people to engage with you and understand exactly the feelings, and the emotions, and everything that’s going through when you’re telling a story. So if you have facts to share, that’s great. Facts are important. But share those facts in and around a story. It’s going to make a bigger impact and be more memorable too.

Eamonn: Yes, yes.

Pat: I mean, when we’re little kids, our parents read stories to us. I mean, they were telling stories before language was created through cave paintings. You know?

Eamonn: Well, that’s been around forever. In fact, it’s how we got meaning. If you can explain it to me in a story, I’m more likely to be involved. And I can say, “Well, what’s going to happen next? What’s going to happen? What would I do in that situation?” And often times, when people are listening to your posts, that’s exactly what they’ll be doing.

Pat: Absolutely.

Eamonn: So like “What Pat is talking about, this has happened to me. I went through that situation.” And now they can  transform that idea into something else.

Tell me though, beyond the stories and that, in terms of engaging conversation. So, you know, you have the podcast. In terms of encouraging people to take the conversation further and doing something more on the back of that, what do you do to make sure that happens?

Pat: Well, I have a show beyond the normal show that I have, Smart Passive Income, called Ask Pat. Now that’s one is really easy because what I do is I feature a voice mail question from the audience. And then I answer. And at the end, I say, “Hey if you want to continue this conversation, use the #askpat302, or whatever that show is. I mean you end up, anybody who has an opinion about that will share that on Twitter which is really cool.

Now me and Chris Ducker from ChrisDucker.com, we started a podcast recently called One Day Business Breakthrough.

Eamonn: Oh, I didn’t know that. Okay.

Pat: We did. And what’s really cool about that, and what we’re really proud about, is that when we started it we also formed a Facebook group.

Eamonn: Yes.

Pat: And we say, “Hey, here’s episode one. Here’s me and Chris’s opinion on it. If you want to share and continue this conversation, go to OnedayABC.com/community.”

Eamonn: That’s fantastic.

Pat: “And we can engage there.”

Eamonn: Yeah, because the community is really important. And people will engage.

Pat: Right. Oh, yeah.

Eamonn: And then they’ll get all their friends involved.

Pat: Some of the best content has not been from me and Chris. It has been from the community getting involved and continuing those conversations, asking deeper questions.

Eamonn: So for people who want to get involved in podcasting. So when speakers who say, “Oh I must get around to this.” What would you say are the two or three most important things? If you do nothing else, get this done because this will set you up.

Pat: Sure. Well, first of all, if I may do a little plug for my podcast editorial.

Eamonn: Yes. Of course, yeah.

Pat: It’s free. No opt into to follow.

Eamonn: Exactly. We will have a link.

Pat: Thank you. So that’s, www.podcastingtutorial.com. I created that because there was nothing there to help me when I started.

Eamonn: Yes.

Pat: And that’s helped tens of thousands of people.

Eamonn: Yeah, fast tracking again.

Pat: Yeah. But beyond that, you know, knowing that you don’t need to be perfect is the most important thing. I remember recording my very first episode three times because I wanted it to be perfect. And I wasted so much time. I actually scripted everything I was going to say for that second go around. And it was just, I sounded like a robot. Then I just said, “You know what? I’m just going to go.” And it was okay. And I can’t listen to it now because it was just terrible. But it got me started.

And the more I did it, the better I got. And the more I learned about what my audience wanted, and the more I applied that. So just get started and don’t worry about being perfect.

And then in terms of the show itself, make sure that the audio quality is great. Get the right equipment and then, again, at www.podcastingtutorial.com will tell you all about stuff. But if the audio is bad, even if the content is the best in the world, nobody’s gonna to listen to it.

Eamonn: Exactly. And you can’t fix it.

Pat: Right.

Eamonn: And that’s as important in the video-casting side of things, is audio.

Pat: Exactly.

Eamonn: Great picture, no sound, not so much.

Pat: Yeah.

Eamonn: Dreadful things people must avoid. What would be top of your no-no list? Don’t go there.

Pat: Don’t copy another show. Don’t interview the same people. I mean, you can if you feel like they’re important for your audience to know. And don’t do what you think you should do. Do what you know you should do for your audience. You know, a lot of times, we create shows about topics that we think other people are interested in but we’re not sure. But again, take your content based on what your audience needs. I think that’s important. But again, going back to what I was saying earlier, don’t copy another person’s show. You’re putting all this time, and effort, and hard work into it. You need to do what you can to stand out.

Eamonn: Yeah, exactly

Pat: And there may be podcasters out there that are doing amazing things. And you can adopt some things. You can get inspiration from them.

But if you copy someone else, you’re always going to be second place. At least.

Eamonn: You’re exactly right. You’re clearly a fan of Oscar Wilde. He said 150 years ago, “Be yourself, everyone else is taken.”

Pat: Yeah. Exactly.

Eamonn: So just, finally then, this has been a terrific interview. And I do appreciate you taking the time to do this. What is the one thing that you have learned over a number of years of podcasting and creating videos that you wish you knew long ago that you would like to share?

Pat: Sure. Well, I wish I knew just how much it would improve all other aspects of my life. The podcast has given me so much confidence. It has been a stepping stone to me. And not just with getting on stage, which is obviously correlated with speaking, and presenting, and keeping people engaged, and telling stories, and things like that. But it has also opened up so many new opportunities with the different people I’ve met. Both through who I’ve interviewed and I’ve become good friends with people who I’ve reached out to interview who I may not have ever reached if I didn’t have a podcast. You know what I mean?

Eamonn: Oh sure. Yeah.

Pat: And also the opportunities of people who have listened. I’ve been able to get into Hollywood a little bit and do some background and stuff. Stuff that I’ve always wanted to do because I just randomly mentioned that on episode once and a producer heard that. And I worked with him on something. And in return, he put me on as a background in a movie which has been a life goal of mine which is really cool.

Eamonn: That’s wonderful. That has clearly opened a lot of doors.

Pat: Yeah, absolutely. Book deal potentials, and agents coming and knocking on my door. I mean, if I knew that that was going to be the case, I would have started earlier.

Eamonn: Yeah, started earlier. Well thank you so much for joining with me today, Pat. I really appreciate it.

And if you’d like to know more about Pat, please check out the links below. He is an outstanding man on this topic and a great resource.

And thank you for listening to The Reluctant Speaker’s Club Expert Series. Until the next time, happy speaking.