Build your Personal Brand through Podcasting

Written by Megan MacNeill

Build your Personal Brand through Podcasting
November 11, 2020

When I started the  Personal Branding Exposed podcast, I had the sole goal of sharing the stories of amazing people who built successful careers and businesses through leveraging their personal brand.

Now, between the idea of having a podcast and actually building one there is something of a road, one in which many people either get lost or turn away.

You may be preparing to take this same road now, seeing podcasting as the way to build up your influence, credibility, and personal brand.

With this in mind I decided to share with you how I got the personal branding podcast off the ground along with the decision-making and thought that went into making it a reality.

Seizing the moment

If you have an idea and a story to share then start it now.  Every human endeavor, from businesses to works of art, to life-changing decisions can all be traced back to a moment of inspiration, an idea that makes you say “eureka!”. It was no different with me, and when that moment came, I knew to make the most of it. So here is my first tip:

Don’t give yourself the time to forget or second guess the idea of starting your podcast. Start working on it now.

And if it doesn’t go as planned right away remember that “Done is better than perfect”. This is something my first business coach taught me and it is how I now live all aspects of my life. Including my podcast.

If your audio quality is not quite there, if you don’t sound like a professional, or if your editing is dodgy, make a note to improve them later, but don’t let it stop you from getting it done.

Getting Kitted Out

Hosting

Every podcast needs a host that can distribute it to listeners and other platforms, and my choice of host is Captivate.

It was the best choice for me for a series of reasons

  • Because I love what it’s creator, Mark Asquith (who also has a wicked personal brand himself), is doing for the podcasting industry.
  • Mark started Captivate with websites in mind so it has some really nice integration features.
  • It has its own standalone website which is great for people that are employees and don’t have their own business platform.
  • It has a super user-friendly interface, which is exactly what I needed since I didn’t want to spend too much time learning the mechanics of complicated software.
  • You can always count on their amazing Facebook community if you get stuck – Mark does lots of training and Q&As too which makes the whole experience that much nicer.
  • It uploads to all the major podcast streaming services, you just do it once at the start, and once you are accepted it automatically do it going forward.

Microphone

After a lot of research on what microphone was going to be the best for what I had in mind, I finally settled for the Blue Yeti.

It is a USB microphone that plugs straight into my laptop with no need for complicated setups with audio interfaces and things like that. It has four settings which make it great for when you are talking on your own or with a guest. It is also not as bulky as some other models and the price was not that bad for the features it offered.

I use it for everything now. Online training sessions, Zoom catch ups and when I am a guest on other people’s podcasts. It has been well worth the investment.

Recording

If I am recording a solo episode I record direct to Audacity (see below) on my laptop.

Software for digital meetings are a great way to have a guest-focused podcast without the hassle of arranging a recording space and traveling to it.

For my first recordings, I used Zoom to talk to guests, but after a while, I ended up switching to LinkedIn Live

This was a really easy way to do it since most of the people I was interviewing were already familiar with the platform, so that avoided a lot of hiccups. I also like the fact I can see the person when I am chatting to them. I have used other programs like CleanFeed which are audio only.

Another thing that makes LinkedIn live (or recording to any other platform) great is that you can just download the audio file (remember to click record) and upload it straight to your podcast host, or to whatever software you are editing on. Speaking of which…

Editing

I use Audacity. It is free and downloadable to your desktop. Again, with a fairly low learning curve which is what I was shooting for to get the podcast running as soon as possible. I don’t have a Mac, I hear it has some great in-built programs but I had no experience with them and didn’t want to spend too much time learning about them.

Graphics

Along with the actual content of the podcast, you’ll also have to design the graphics of your show. When designing them, keep in mind that people are going to see them very small on their phones, so keep the graphics small and clean. I use Canva for all my podcast graphics.

Getting guests and being a guest

Since my podcast was focused on hearing the stories of people with great personal brands, finding guests was one of my top priorities, so to get people on my show I turned to LinkedIn, mostly due to its database being one of the largest and most inclusive ones in the world right now.

That being said there are also many amazing initiatives in the form of new platforms that act as mediators between podcast hosts and potential guests.

My good friend Travis Chappell, for example, started this amazing app called Guestio which is a great way to not only list yourself as a guest available to participate on podcasts but also book guests as a host.

And that is not a new thing either, another guest I had on Personal Branding Exposed, Andrew Allemann started podcast guests years ago and is another great place to scope people out and list yourself

Conclusion

Hopefully, this article was useful not only in showing what are the very basic things you’re going to need for starting out a podcast of your own but also on the mentality with which to approach it.

Done is always better than perfect!

It’s safe to assume that when you start out things are not going to go exactly as you planned, and you just have to remind yourself that is okay and keep working on it.

Now, if you want to see where this journey to get the Personal branding exposed to take off got me, you can always tune in by following this link.

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