How To Start And Grow A Podcast

 How To Start And Grow A Podcast

Founder and CEO of DealRoom, a project management solution and virtual data room for complex financial transactions.

getty

The rise in popularity of podcasts over the last five to 10 years has given influencers, commentators and industry professionals across the board an opportunity to voice their opinions and share lessons of their own accord. With their popularity rising, and now that they're more accessible than radio shows for many listeners, podcasts are taking over the streaming world. 

Maybe you’ve been thinking about getting in the podcast game for a while now but don’t know where to start. Or maybe you’re just curious about how one would go about the process of hosting their own podcast. Whatever it is, I want to share how I built my podcast from the ground up and grew it into a popular M&A podcast.

The Beginning

My podcast began as exploratory, informative phone calls with industry professionals back in 2014. I wanted to learn more about the world of M&A, so I conducted phone interviews with people in my network, asking questions and getting advice on how to navigate the landscape. After talking to a friend in the marketing world, he suggested that I record the calls and post them for others to listen to. “It’s called a podcast, and they’re the next big thing,” I remember him saying. At the time, I had absolutely no idea what a podcast was. I followed his advice, though, and began posting my phone calls for others to learn from. Before I knew it, a small following started to grow.

The trick is choosing a topic, industry or unique niche that you find extremely interesting or are knowledgeable about. The goal should be to entertain or to educate, whether you are doing so or you are finding guests to do so. If you have a genuine interest in what you’re talking about, the listeners will be much more likely to also take interest in what you’re saying.

The Middle

After about a year or so, I realized I needed to up my production quality. You may need to invest a nice sum of money in audio equipment, but truth be told, it’s relatively simple to acquire and to learn. You don’t need to be an audio engineer or an expert editor to produce good content. I bought a good-quality microphone off the internet, hired a freelance editor, and added a personalized introduction and outro to my episodes — and boom! It was like I had been a podcaster my whole life. 

Interview guests told their network about my podcast, and before I knew it, people were asking me to interview them, cutting the sourcing workload in half. People started to be excited to share their knowledge with others, which was my goal all along.

Not The End

Starting a podcast is often a slow burn, not an instant spark. I’ve been at it for a few years now and am really starting to see the hard work and dedication pay off. I’ve managed to build the podcast brand beyond just the podcast by creating virtual conferences and workshops for practitioners in the industry. Through simple phone conversations, I’ve built a community.

If I narrowed it down to my top tips, this is what I would say:

1. Find a topic you genuinely care about.

2. Stay consistent in your posting schedule.

3. Don’t ignore the importance of metadata.

4. Utilize your network.

5. Don’t take it too seriously.

Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?