Podcasts have never been more popular than they are today There are around 2,000,000 podcasts in the world and about 48 million episodes when I last checked a few months back
Superflow Podcast
There are around 2,000,000 podcasts in the world and about 48 million episodes when I last checked a few months back
I launched my podcast back in 2019. We did 8 episodes then. High quality, top individuals from marketing, business, growth from around the world.
And then launched Season 2 in 2021. We’ve published 10 episodes and are ready with another 7.
I’ve learned a bunch over these 25 episodes. We’re going for a hundred of these in total over the next 1 year.
And as I started becoming more public due to the podcast, I kept getting and still get questions like:
"Why would you launch or even continue with your own podcast with all this competition? Who would even listen to your podcast? You barely have views or subscribers!"
So, here’s the deal:
For the big-production podcasters & media biggies, the play is simple: create content for a specific audience that will attract tons of listeners. It's an impressions game for them.
They push their way to be popular in a category (through brand partnerships, influencer marketing & just generally throwing a bunch on ads) and make money through sponsorships or ad placements later - along with soaring valuations.
But that's just probably the top 15 of each category. So let's say around 1500-2000 podcasts that dominate.
Can the same apply to smaller creators?
Of course not.
Why?
Because our angles are different.
Hear me out.
I’ll give you 3 angles with which to view your podcast endeavours.
We're talking life-changing potential, even if you have a few episodes with very few listeners.
So:
Key Angle 1: Building relationships
It's not flashy, it is not sexy, it's not world-dominating, but that one connection can spark a new opportunity.
Approach your podcasting journey as a way to build great relationships with other, successful, people in your space.
This is one of the biggest reasons why having your own podcast can be extremely rewarding.
And you’ll be surprised how many really successful people don’t mind coming on a podcast that has less views or a small audience.
Why?
Because who doesn’t like being interviewed & of course most of them know the value of a small, deeply engaged audience (even if it’s just 10 people)
Key Angle 2: Richer, deeper connection with your key early supporters
While it’s great to build personal 1:1 relationships with your guests, your audience will be a key part of your journey.
Now, this doesn’t happen overnight. Especially if you don’t have a strong background in an industry or haven’t done something ‘worth talking about’
Your early adopters are key to building momentum in your journey and it’s important to connect with them not just for views (in a passive way) but more deeply, with interactions that go beyond just transactional (in a pro-active way).
Another way to look at this is - your audience on one platform, let’s say Twitter, will get to know you much better if they could see who this person really is
That creates a bond that both you and your audience will enjoy as time goes on
Here’s the bonus: That one listener can be someone from a major company you're looking to sign up for ;)
Key Angle 3: Finding your voice
You see all these confident, good-looking, truth-bomb dropping folks on the internet?
Yeah - they didn’t get there with just 1 video.
It’s taken them a bunch of weak attempts to finally get around to sounding, looking and performing the way they do.
And it’s important to find that voice in public/internet.
Now you could do short form content but I’ve found podcasts as a great way to do this.
Mainly because you spend so much time in front of the camera and the microphone.
It’s almost impossible to fake it for that long.
So, eventually, you’re forced to drop all pretense and just go with who you are, naturally.
Conclusion:
And the long term effect of podcasting in general?
It’ll keep compounding till the platform's algorithms keep recommending it to new people. In case something else goes viral from your profile - people will see this too.
Oh, and of course - the repurposing of the content. Using long form content as a way to generate short form content by slicing it up.
Take your content game to the next level with that.
And how much does it all cost?
If you do it yourself through Listnr or Zencastr or even Zoom, a small 10-15$ fee will be enough. If you want to outsource it, you can get someone to do the post-production for 20-50$ per episode.
Now that's just ridiculous, right? The potential upside is massive vs the investment.
I would highly recommend launching your own podcast!
Do it now if you have ever considered one! Get on it!
Harlaksh is an entrepreneur, currently the Founder of @GoSuperflow (twitter) and host of the Superflow Podcast
Twitter: twitter.com/harlakshS
Website: harlakshsingh.com
Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXW0cgMDifF6JGqLYveiWZA
About Ananay Batra
Founder and CEO @ Listnr Inc