Is a Podcast Right for Your Organization?

Monica Pitts 0:00 Hello again. And welcome back to marketing with purpose. My name is Monica Pitts. And today I have with me Stacy Brock Meyer. And I invited her to hang out with me today because we get questions all the time about starting podcasts. I think it's because we have a podcast. Stacy Brockmeier 0:17 I think so too. I'm not sure it makes us experts on podcasts. But we get asked a lot of questions about them. Monica Pitts 0:23 I mean, we build a lot of websites, and we integrate podcasts with websites. So I guess that makes us an expert in that. So I thought we would hang out today and marinate in the answer to the question is a podcast right for your organization? And it's different? The answer is different for different organizations, right. So first, maybe we can talk through what the atmosphere for podcasting looks like, like, how many podcasts are there? What's the competition out there? Then we're going to give you a few questions that you can ask yourself to solidify your decision is a podcast right for you. And then last but not least, we're gonna give you some ideas. Because Stacy and I are ideas, people, we love coming up with ideas. And so we want to empower you to come up with some fun ideas that might work for a podcast for your organization. And here's the deal. If you answer the questions, and you're like, hey, a podcast is not right for me. still stick with us for those ideas. Because you can use these ideas in your social media. You can use it in your newsletters, you can use it on your blog. These are ideas that work everywhere in your regular recurring marketing. They do not just belong on a podcast. Podcasting is just a medium to distribute your regular content. Okay, folks? Yeah, I think I told you everything we're going to do now. So let's get to business. If you're a natural born marketer, You're one lucky son of a gun. If you're like most people, marketing, especially online marketing is about as appealing as standing in a police lineup. The may create team of creatives has transformed websites and digital marketing from craptastic to fantastic since 2005, our podcast marketing with purpose, make sense of marketing, so you can make purposeful decisions instead of carrying on with the same old crap you've been doing. And now your host, Monica Pitts, founder of may create with another episode on how to make your marketing not suck. Okay, so we're gonna start answering the question of is a podcast right for your organization by talking about what's going on in the podcasting universe right now. So starting back at the beginning of the podcasting universe, it turns out according to the internet, that podcasting started back in 2004. Stacy Brockmeier 2:49 What is insane about that is I had at that time, I had a Nokia brick phone, you know, like the snake one. In 2004. It was my very first phone, probably literally in 2004. I got it. Monica Pitts 3:02 Now, it's interesting that you associate podcasting with your phone, because I actually do have a statistic about how people listen to podcasts. And it turns out that 73% of podcast listeners listen on their smartphone. Stacy Brockmeier 3:20 I only listen to podcasts on my phone, because I do it in the car. Monica Pitts 3:24 Yes, haha. And 28% of US adults listen to podcasts while driving. Stacy Brockmeier 3:30 I don't know what parent has time to listen to them unless it's like after they go to bed and you're cleaning house or something like that. Monica Pitts 3:37 Every time I have a longish car trip that I'm either taking by myself or with my kids. I queue up all these podcasts to listen to. And then sometimes I think to myself, I really need to go on a car trip. So that way I can listen to some podcasts and like get my like, talk radio bucket filled. Stacy Brockmeier 3:55 Monica, we just spoke about the early days of podcasting, how many podcasts are there now? Monica Pitts 4:01 Oh, man, there are 550 No, let me look, let me look, I have the number it is 5 million. That seems like not a lot, actually. Because there are 600 million blogs. As of 2023. Stacy Brockmeier 4:18 I would very much say that podcasting is a new ish thing. Like things are just starting to roll out with podcasting. Monica Pitts 4:25 So jumping into content marketing, which is basically what podcasting is if you're doing it for a marketing purpose, and content marketing is releasing content. It's like writing a blog post, you're releasing content out to the internet, you do it regularly. So that way you can meet people on a regular basis and bring them back to do business with you. Right. So content marketing is a lot like network marketing, which is actually a business model, right? It's like the Mary Kay business model. So the people who really made money with Mary Kay are the people that started back when Mary Kay started in like 1963. But the people who started their blogs way back in the day, they still have this ever growing population of people coming into their websites through their blogs. And we started our blog back in 2008. So now we have, I don't probably like 17,000 visitors a month to our blog, because we've been blogging since then it's like a snowball effect, right. So getting in to podcasting now would actually be a super solid marketing decision, because there aren't as many podcasts to compete against, for attention. And so if you're thinking about blogging, and you're willing to compete with those 600 million blogs, then maybe if talking is easier for you, jumping on board to compete for attention, with 5 million podcasts isn't that big of a deal? It's actually probably a lot easier. Stacy Brockmeier 5:54 I know, for me, I'm not a writer naturally. So to sit down and record a podcast or to speak to someone is so much easier for me than it is like to sit down and write because I'll just basically stare at my screen for a while. And then I have to make Monica edit everything. Monica Pitts 6:11 I do edit everything or Elizabeth does. Yes. She's really good at it, too. But Stacy and I both have a background in education. So that makes sense. She was a teacher before she came to me. I have a minor in education. They taught us how to talk, really? Stacy Brockmeier 6:26 All those leadership classes paid off, for sure. Monica Pitts 6:29 So what's cool is people are very aware of podcasting. I think that you probably would not be asking yourself the question, should my organization be podcasting? If you weren't aware of it, right? In a recent survey completed by STATISTICA, do you think that's how you say it? Or do you think it's to Teesta? Stacy Brockmeier 6:49 STATISTICA sounds a little bit like a medication? Monica Pitts 6:53 Or it might sound like I just use the Spanish pronunciation of it. Yeah. Which would make sense because I am way better at pronouncing things in Spanish. Like by reading them than I am in English, Stacy Brockmeier 7:06 because they only have one sound. Oh, I Monica Pitts 7:08 don't know if something's have more than one sound. But yes, maybe read way more straightforward in it. You don't we just talked about this. I learned Spanish as an adult. And so since I learned it as a second language, I feel like I'm, I'm, I was better able to understand it as a conceptual hole. But we learn our native language as kids, and we learn it with our own accents. And so as I'm trying to teach my kids how to spell things, they're like, but that's not how we say crayon. That's not how we say milk. So they'll read it and it's Mia. Okay. And they're like, No, it should be BM E L. K. That's how we say it. I'm like, God, you're so right. And so we like we say it wrong, and it's just me. Okay, so that was a total bunny trail. But either way, so you know about podcasting. And here's the deal. So do 79% of other Americans, according to a recent survey in 2022, by sta Teesta. And it's growing. That's what's the interesting, like, it's, it's in its infancy, right. So they estimate that by 2024, we should have another 20% increase in listeners. So there should be around 100 million listeners in the US by 2024. Stacy Brockmeier 8:21 And each week, more Americans which the statistic is mind blowing, more Americans listen to podcasts than have Netflix accounts. I literally thought everyone on the planet maybe had a Netflix account, not the planet in the United States. Like Monica Pitts 8:38 we have kids, man Netflix is it came out before Disney plus, we had the habit, it's gold. My mom was always like, Hey, Monica, it's great. You've got Netflix, you can pick what your kids watch. When you were little, we just had to deal with whatever was on the TV. So don't be mad at the TV. It's great. You can use it to educate your kids. What's Stacy Brockmeier 8:56 really funny is that as my kids get more into watching sports and stuff, they're growing up. They're a little boys and they're getting bigger. The commercials, they do not understand the concept of commercials on like during a football game. So it's pretty funny. Monica Pitts 9:10 I use commercials for market research. I'm like, Ah, they're talking to humans over the age of 55. Look at that. Who knew? That's why I don't understand that commercial. Stacy Brockmeier 9:21 Speaking of ages 50% of people between the ages of 12 and 34. listen to podcasts. Monica Pitts 9:28 And 43% of the respondents to the statistics survey between the ages of 35 and 54 had listened to a podcast in the last month. Stacy Brockmeier 9:38 But the fastest growing audience for podcast is 55 and up. Monica Pitts 9:45 Now over 66% of the people that are listening to the podcast have a college degree a bachelor's or higher and an average annual household game income of $75,000 or more so why are we telling you these demographics because I want you to be thinking to yourself elf? Are these the people that I want to talk to in my marketing? Are these the people that I need to connect with in order to grow my organization? And if the answer is yes, then maybe a podcast might be the right thing for you. Now, I know we're just throwing all these stats at you. But I do have two more that I want you to consider. Before we get to those questions to ask yourself to determine if a podcast is right for your organization. Stacy Brockmeier 10:26 The United States accounts for nearly 50% Actually, 47.9% of podcast listeners, Monica Pitts 10:33 and 80% of listeners listen to all or most of every podcast episode that they start, which makes me feel so good as a podcaster that they're not just abandoning me, Stacy Brockmeier 10:45 I get married to my podcast, like I'm better a part of me. Monica Pitts 10:49 It's kind of like, you know, you made the decision that you were going to watch a movie, and you start the movie and you're like, This is not I don't even I don't like this thing. But sometimes I keep watching it anyway, because I made the decision to watch the movie. Stacy Brockmeier 11:03 I'm not maybe quite that married to my podcast. If they're not good. I will stop listening to them, but produce a good podcast, and I'll stick with you forever. Monica Pitts 11:12 Yeah, but I'm also so remember when Ellis was born, and I discovered NPR, I had not hung out in any type of talk radio environment until I had my daughter Ellis 12 years ago. And I remember just sitting in the rocking chair, nursing her and finding NPR and there were people that would talk to me at any time of day and tell me stories. They were my best friends. And then when they were asking for money during their donation drive, I was like, Heck yeah, I'll call in and give you money. You people are like my best friends. You got me through nursing my baby. And then it was just hooked on audiobooks and talk radio and podcasts from then on, because it kept me company. They made me feel like I wasn't alone in the middle of the night. Stacy Brockmeier 11:57 It gives you this adult conversation, almost one sided but still Monica Pitts 12:02 Yes. And then when I don't know what to talk about with my husband at night, I turn on the sports radio on the way home from the office. So that way, I have conversation starters for dinner. Okay, so back on topic, the questions that I would like you to ask yourself to determine if you should actually have a podcast for your organization, because, of course, it's a great idea. And you know, and all these ideas, and I actually, you know, just talked about this the other day with you guys. Just because you have an idea doesn't mean that you need to run with it. Just because you hear an idea doesn't mean it's the right thing for you. And sometimes we actually need to check out from getting more ideas and just do the things that we've already made decisions about like don't get overwhelmed with it. All right. But the question I want you to ask yourself is, is talking a strength of yours, because your marketing efforts need to be a combination of your strengths, and your assets. So if you really hate talking, and it's just like one syllable stumbling over the top of one another, and you sit down in front of a microphone, and it makes you want to throw up, you probably don't need to do a podcast, it's probably not the right form of marketing for you that isn't, and if you can write maybe a blog is better for you instead. But also do know that anytime you sit down in front of a microphone for the first time, even if you are an accomplished public speaker, you'll freak out a little bit. So that's just part of the deal. Stacy Brockmeier 13:31 If you want to know what it's like, go back and listen to like the very first podcast I hosted with Monica is rough. Monica Pitts 13:37 We did so many starts and stops. Stacy Brockmeier 13:41 But we're better at it. Now. It is and I always tell people Monica Pitts 13:43 by like Episode 100, you're gonna be great. Heck, we felt like we had won an award this morning. Because when we went to set up our microphones, it only took us like two minutes. And it used to take us like an hour and a half to figure out how to get it all the work. So you learn and you grow along the way. Don't expect yourself to be perfect at first Done is better than perfect friends, everybody understands that you are where you are. So once you determine whether or not it's in your strengths zone, I want you to ask yourself, will it allow you to connect with the people that you need to in order to grow your organization? Stacy Brockmeier 14:19 Yep. Is your audience between 12 and 54 years old? And are they in the United States. Monica Pitts 14:24 And remember that the fastest growing audience of podcasting is 55 plus. So if you're trying to reach an older demographic, or people between the ages of say 35 and 55, you can connect with them through podcasting, you can meet new people this way. It's cool because unlike your blog, which you are only going to connect with people through Google, right people Google search, they find your blog. Now on podcasts, they are all distributed on different networks. So you have an additional way to connect with people through the network that your podcast is being distributed on. So Think of that kind of as like the radio station. And it's connecting with people that are on that network. And people search on those networks for things that you might be covering on your podcast. But you also get to connect with them through Google. So it's a double whammy, you get more connection through the podcast, than you might just get through your blog. Okay, so then the next question that I want you to ask yourself is, does your audience have a problem that they're trying to solve? Stacy Brockmeier 15:27 Of course they do. Every audience is trying to solve a problem of some kind. Monica Pitts 15:31 And I guess, if you just have stories to tell, and they're funny, I mean, comedy is the largest sector or category of podcasts out there. But on marketing with purpose, we always talk about how we're trying to connect with people through helping them solve their problems. That's our method of marketing. And that's how we feel not like yucky salespeople, and like, awesome people helping others along on their journey. That's what marketing the purpose is. So our podcasts are made to help people solve problems, and I believe that your podcast could do the same thing. And then you have to ask yourself, do you offer solutions to those problems that your audience has? And you? Of course you do? Like, of course you do. It doesn't matter what kind of organization you are, you have a service, and you help people solve their problem with that service, right? I mean, I think it's logical. So, yes. Stacy Brockmeier 16:27 So Monica, why wouldn't somebody start a podcast? Monica Pitts 16:30 Okay, well, what if you hate talking? That's the thing. That's definitely a thing. If you're just snowed in with a bunch of other stuff, or also like, so time could be an issue. But then, also, if what you're doing in your marketing is really, really working, and you're not interested in talking in front of a microphone, then I would not do it. Because what you're doing is working, you don't need to change it. You don't just you don't need to add a podcast just for the sake of having a podcast. That's not what marketing is about. Marketing is about figuring out what works for you, and doing it. So if what you're doing is working right now, you don't need to change. Stacy Brockmeier 17:08 So what if my topics already covered? Monica Pitts 17:10 Oh, well, that's okay. Because you're going to cover it in a different way. And you're going to use different words, tell different stories that are going to connect with people. And not everybody connects with everyone in the same way. I mean, think about how many marketing podcasts there are and hear people listen to ours. Right? And it's just because we are ourselves. And maybe they connect with us, right? Stacy Brockmeier 17:33 I think another thing that people might ask is, what if I'm not techie? Monica Pitts 17:37 Oh, that is, that's tricky. So here's the deal, though. If you're not techie, just know that there are tons of free YouTube videos that you can watch that will tell you exactly how to do what. And there are also courses out online that you can pay for that people will take you through step by step, everything that you need to do to start your podcast down to picking your topics, picking your microphone, setting up exactly what equipment, there's people that will teach you how to do this. So if you can make a monetary investment in it, to not have to learn how to do it on your own, you can have somebody hold your hand all the way through it, and it won't be so scary anymore. Stacy Brockmeier 18:14 Well, I think one thing, too, is like, we have a lot of people that record their podcasts through, like zoom. So you don't necessarily have to know how to use all the software because you can do a zoom podcast, and then pay for a service that mixes your podcast down for you. Yeah, Monica Pitts 18:30 that's another point. So in podcasting, there's a lot of different pieces of it that you can outsource, like Stacey just said, so if you want to pay somebody to clean up your audio and make it sound better, that service is available, if you want to pay somebody to transcribe it for you. That service is available. There's all kinds of different little things you can do that aren't. They aren't super, super expensive. Like, I think it's $60 a podcast to have somebody go through and transcribe it for you. That's not so bad. You know, like, I think that's most Yeah. So there's all kinds of different contractors out there that can help you with the tech part, if that's something that is holding you back from starting your podcast. Stacy Brockmeier 19:14 So once people get beyond the tech part of this, I feel like the next question is, what do I share? Yeah, Monica Pitts 19:23 okay, well, I have all kinds of ideas, and I know that you do too. So I feel like one thing that any business or organization can share and benefit from is success stories because you want people to feel empowered, and find the solutions that you offer. You want to show them how the problems that you help them solve and how the way that you help them solve those problems is going to change their lives and make their lives better. So success stories are always a really strong anchor for almost any podcast. Stacy Brockmeier 19:57 I love a good podcast that interview someone One, that's my favorite kind of podcast to listen to, because you get to learn about all kinds of different topics. And specific to this topic is a podcast right for your organization. I have learned about so many nonprofits across the country, I mean, one that always stands out to me as there is a music program in an inner city, neighborhood in LA. And that, like I took a deep dive down into like all of their stuff, because I learned about them on a podcast. Monica Pitts 20:32 That's super fun. I know that whenever I travel somewhere, I look for podcasts about those regions. And I like to learn about the businesses that are there, I like to learn about the cities that I might see the culture that they have. And so I spend a lot of time in podcasts, listening and learning about the place where I'm going. Another thing that I think that businesses and nonprofits alike can do is highlight people in phases of their journey. So Steve McClaren talks about the success path, you have different milestones along the way to your ultimate vision of success. Even if we haven't fully defined it, all of us have a success path for our clients to go through. And I feel like in your podcast, you can highlight people in different phases of the journey, because you want to connect with people in different phases of their success path, it's sometimes hard if you're undergoing a huge transformation, to be able to see yourself on the other side, you want to connect with people who are where you're at. And so some ideas for that, or some examples of that, I should say, would be you could follow a family through a journey throughout a year. So for example, let's say that you are an Autism Treatment Facility, you could champion a family throughout the year and show the milestones and progress that they make as a family, both their child and treatment and how the family interacts with them at home, and the outcomes at the end of the year. And then families beginning treatment could identify families in the middle of the year treatment could identify and people at the end of the year could also identify and then they don't have to meet a new character every single time, they can connect with a family as they go through the journey throughout the year. And that would be really fun. Another example would be if you were a women's center, and you have women coming from a bad situation at home and coming into your shelter, there's different phases of success that those individuals are going to go through that your organization is going to help them through. So think through what those phases might be. And then see if you could find ways that are non obtrusive, obtrusive and safe right to share the different parts of the journey, because it would be really difficult. imagining myself coming from this bad home situation all the way through to I'm an independent person, I'm not threatened anymore, I am paying my own rent, and I have a job and I'm a successful person in my own eyes, from where I'm at today. So instead, you can show those, those little successes along the way. And then they can identify with someone in each phase of their journey, because you don't want them to get discouraged. You want them to keep going. And sometimes we need to show those small wins to make sure that people can attach to that small win as much as to the big win, and keep going through it. Stacy Brockmeier 23:38 Another idea that we had was to interview experts. And so I think this one is an interesting one, because along with the things that you provide that help people solve problems, there's other challenges that are either peripheral or directly related to what you're solving. And so bringing in other experts where other people can get more resources. And think through another point of view, I think is a wonderful option for content. And it Monica Pitts 24:07 allows you to network with other people and give back to other organizations that you might want people to know about. I always feel like it's a great way to give back to the people that you also support by inviting them to be on your podcast and and featuring them as an expert so they can meet people. Stacy Brockmeier 24:24 And oftentimes those people will have a reciprocal relationship with you and they'll invite you on their podcast and then you get to touch their audience to or at the Monica Pitts 24:33 very least they'll share your podcasts on social media or email their audience about it so that way, you get some mutual benefit from the interview. Another purpose that I can see podcasts really catching on and this one, it pulls at your heartstrings a lot more. But I have spoken to multiple nonprofits who I feel like they should start a podcast almost like a support group. Something I was going to support groups is, well, it, you have to make the decision that you're going to show up and be there in person. And that is a big step. It's a scary step. It's like physically admitting and being willing to show up and show people your face to say, I'm going through this. And when you put it in a podcast, you can reach those people who are going through it and need a support group. And they are not willing to take that step yet. So you can connect them with people who are going through the same challenges that they're going through, and help them understand that they're not alone. And I could see this being especially beneficial to people who are, say, breast cancer survivors, or people who have went through infertility treatment, and maybe had a successful outcome at the end outcome. Meaning, baby, yeah. I use weird like business terms. And then I'm like, wait a second, I mean, baby, like they had a baby at the end of it. So I like the letting them know that they're not alone. But I do feel like if these stories are rooted in a light at the end of the tunnel, they went through this. And then at the end of their journey, the outcome was successful. That's the type of stories I feel like we should share, because we want to let people know that, hey, I went through this too. And now I'm okay. And that's things are hard, and we made it through. Now, if you are an arts or culture organization, you might consider sharing your history, I have thought it would be so fun to go interview, I call them the old timers that hang out down at the coffee shop or at the McDonald's every morning. And just ask them, hey, what was this town like back in the day? I think you could also interview local artists and talk to them just spur discussion about different types of art, or even the journey that your community has gone through from an arts perspective. You can even talk about, hey, we put up this huge statue in the downtown area. What did that look like? What was the process? So you're just telling a story about your community and allowing people to rally around it and find community through that conversation? Now, I when we started this right, we asked you could you help people solve their problems? Like is that something that you do? And we haven't even addressed that yet? And I think that that is probably the biggest cornerstone for our podcast. Stacy Brockmeier 27:31 Monica, I know personally, you like through having Quimby listen to a lot of dog training podcast. Oh, my Monica Pitts 27:39 goodness, you have no idea because Quimby's a small dog. And I've only had big dogs. And I was freaked out about getting a small dog because I didn't want to have a crazy yapping creature that was trying to dominate everybody in my house. And I thought maybe it was just the dogs. And it turned out through listening to four hours worth of podcasts, I realized that it was actually the humans. Stacy Brockmeier 28:02 I know we've both listened to a million parenting podcasts because we like to be progressive in our parenting and think about how we're doing it and try to do it better every day. So definitely some problem solving there. Monica Pitts 28:16 And I think even if you had anything to share, if you have gardening tips, let's say that you're an urban agriculture organization, you can share with people gardening tips, even as you are teaching volunteers to come in and garden on your farm. What are the things that you teach those volunteers? And could you share that with the general public and in that way, be facilitating the values and the beliefs of your organization and bringing more people into you that you need to meet because they will support your cause. Stacy Brockmeier 28:46 I love to digging in the dirt. It's my favorite. Monica Pitts 28:49 We love dirt digging, man. So many plants between Stacy and I see I grow things you can't eat. And Stacy grows things that you can eat. That's the difference between our gardens. Stacy Brockmeier 29:01 So many things you can eat. I'm so excited. It's like almost time. Monica Pitts 29:05 I cannot grow anything that you eat. I literally kill them. I don't know why do you remember Stacy Brockmeier 29:10 the time that I forgot to pick the zucchini and I brought it in and then we dressed it up with a bass and stuff. It was Monica Pitts 29:16 huge. It was like a child it was like the size of your arm like it was so big. But even if you are an Audubon Society, and you could give people birdwatching tips or hiking tips, traveling tips, like whatever it is, you help people solve problems every day. So think about the conversations that you have with the people you interact with on a daily basis in your organization, and connect with people who have those same problems because here's the deal. Connecting with them will help you grow your organization because you are going to connect with people who have the same values and mission that you do. They are working towards solving the same problems that you help people solve. And even if they're not in your area, that does not mean they're not going to donate to it. Okay, so those were our suggestions for you, Stacey. Before we close up anything else you want to tell these folks about podcasting? Stacy Brockmeier 30:09 I think just remember what Monica said podcasting is not for everybody. But you can reach a lot of people through podcasting. And if you start one, now you're getting in, in the infancy of podcasting, and you can make a real impact if it is right for you. Monica Pitts 30:25 Because everybody, and every organization shouldn't say everybody, every organization should be publishing some type of recurring content, whether it's a blog, or your social media content, or a podcast, whatever it is, you need to consistently be publishing content for your audience to draw people in. And maybe a podcast is right for you. Hopefully, by listening to this episode, and asking yourself these questions, hearing these statistics and also the inspirational ideas that Stacy and I came up with, you can potentially see yourself podcasting or you've rolled it out and hey, no is a decision. I like I like no. Stacy Brockmeier 31:05 I like definite decisions. They make me so happy. Monica Pitts 31:08 Okay, friends, well, if you enjoyed this podcast, or if you learned a thing or two, consider leaving us a review because that helps us meet more individuals and organizations just like you and help them learn to market with purpose. So thank you so much for listening. And until next time, go forth and mark it with purpose. Thanks again for listening to marketing with purpose head over to May create.com MAYE. Cr ea t.com Yeah, you heard me right, and a y e create.com. For podcast notes and more resources to grow your business. Don't let your marketing suck. Get your pride on market with purpose. Transcribed by https://otter.ai