Those of you who follow what I get up to will have noticed that I have been doing a lot of podcasts recently, both in terms of creating my own and appearing as a guest on other people's. I've covered a lot of different topics - everything from SEO, LinkedIn, video and content marketing to marathon running, personal relationships and rap. If you haven't checked them out take a few minutes to do so, there's some pretty good stuff even if I say so myself.

Some people have questioned why I'm so into podcasts and podcasting. 'Aren't they like old hat?' Absolutely not. Podcasts, whether you make your own, appear on other people's shows or (and this is best approach) do a bit of both are a great thing to get into in 2019 for lots of reasons, including all of the following:

Your Prospects Are Probably Listening

More than one-third (39%) of owners of SMBs listen to podcasts, and 65% listen at least weekly, according to a survey by small business research firm Bredin. And those are likely to be better qualified prospects as well.

Most busy business owners have very little time to read books or even blog posts, but as they can listen to a podcast anywhere, anytime your audience is more likely to be made up of decision makers and 'heavier hitters' in your niche. In short, podcasts are an excellent way to get high quality leads without too much effort at all.

Podcasts are Great for Branding

Whatever the subject of the podcast I'm making/appearing on I'm always presenting Deepak Shukla the Brand to the world. And that brand is consistent - a little unusual but consistent - and in terms of branding it's great for me and for my primary business, Pearl Lemon.

Podcasts Can Be Great for SEO

One of the things that Google is watching carefully right now in terms of SEO is dwell time. The amount of time people spend on your site and with each piece of content. Longer is better of course, and that is where a podcast is a great help.

Embed your podcast/podcast appearance on your website and people will stick around a lot longer than they would if just reading a blog post. You should still be writing as well as Google is also looking for websites that offer diverse forms of content including text, video, infographics and yes, podcasts.

Podcasts are Cheap and Easy

What do you need to create a podcast? Your phone. That's it. You and your phone. No fancy recording equipment, no special location, just your phone. You need a bit of peace and quiet but you can find that almost anywhere. Podcasts are, therefore, a great way to create content that converts in a short time, very easily and at pretty much no cost. Who would pass up something like that? You shouldn't, that's for sure. If your podcast endeavors get bigger, you can consider investing in some 'heavier' equipment but starting out it's not a must.

Gary Vaynerchuk Says You Should

OK, so that name woke more than a few of you up I'm sure. Most of us will listen to what that guy has to say. So here's Gary's recent take on podcasting “Just remember, audio and voice are by far the most natural interface for humans to interact. We like to speak and listen. There was roughly 1.5X more audio consumed than video according to Nielsen statistics on streaming in 2016. This is HUGE. If you’re medium is voice, now is your time. Start creating today. Start a podcast, turn your blog posts into audio, develop an Alexa skill or start experimenting with Google Home. Before AR and VR and AI, audio is going to be the next major platform shift for consumer attention. It’s here today! What are you going do?”"

OK, so have I convinced you that podcasts are 'still a thing'? Well, there's more. According to many business experts 2019 is the year when podcasting will truly come into its own. Why and why now? Let's take a look:

Google Podcasts is Growing

For years no doubt lots of the one billion plus Android users on the planet would have no doubt loved to listen to podcasts on their phone but they just did not know where to find them. The launch of Google Podcasts last year changed that and now the Android fans are catching up with all the good stuff their Apple loving brethren have been listening to for years.

Spotify's Podcast Offerings Are Growing Too

Spotify are getting into podcasts in a bigger way as well, opening up podcast access to anyone with a Spotify account, bringing podcasts to a whole new audience away from their phones (even some smart TVs have a Spotify app installed as standard, as do most streaming devices like Roku and the Amazon Fire Stick)

The Rise of the AI Personal Assistant

Shorter podcasts - like some of the ones I make - are getting a boost from the rise in popularity of AI personal assistants like Google Home and Amazon Echo. These gadgets are perfect for podcast listening in short doses and because there is no fumbling with a phone to a number of them in succession they are making it easy for people to replace standard radio with podcasts that match their interest. And as Alexa and Google Assistant - the software behind those smart speakers - is now showing up everywhere from cars to microwaves, once again offering podcast creators easy ways to reach potentially huge new audiences.

Getting Started in Podcasting

While I definitely encourage you to start creating your own podcasts, until you get that established you should also start trying to make a name for yourself (and your business) via established podcasts. There are literally thousands of them out there, in every niche and the hosts are often looking for people to book onto their 'show'.

So how do you find podcasts to get booked on?

Once you identify the audience you’re trying to reach, you need to find these podcasts online. There are a few ways:

• You can search in iTunes for specific keywords
• You can browse Apple’s iTunes Podcast Directory by category
• You can search on Google for podcasts that your target market might listen to (Searching for things like “Target Market + Podcast”)
• You can browse online podcast directories like cast.market
• You can identify an influencer or authority and then scout out the podcasts that they’ve appeared on using The Magic Google Search

No matter which strategy you follow, you want to end up with a list of 5, 10, or 20+ podcasts that you want to reach out to.

At this stage, you want to identify the podcast and catalog the following information about the podcast:

• The podcast name
• The podcast website’s URL
• The podcast topic
• You’ll come back later and identify the other information you want about the podcast (host name, host email address, etc.).

Use the above strategies to find 5-10+ podcasts that reach your target market.

How to Write a Good Pitch

While you’re making your list of podcasts, you want to note the topic of the podcast, so you understand what to pitch them on.

One easy way to do this is to figure out one pitch for each of three different types of pitch:

Area of Expertise — A pitch about a topic that falls into your general area of expertise or knowledge about your industry.

Problem → Solution — A pitch about how to solve a common problem that someone in your target market may be experiencing.

Unconventional Opinion — A pitch about a strong opinion you hold counter to a common viewpoint in your target market.

For each of these categories, you’ll want to write out one topic for discussion that you could talk about for 20-30 minutes. You should draw on your knowledge of your target market:

What common information are they looking for? (Area of Expertise)

What questions do they often have? (Problem → Solution)

Where do you disagree with the industry approach? (Unconventional Opinion)

Each of these is a topic you can pitch to a podcast host.

Contacting The Podcast Host

Once you have your pitches and your list of podcasts, you want to find the contact information for the podcast host. Take the list of podcasts that you identified and go through it, visiting each site on the list. You don’t want to get stuck on searching for an email address for an hour.  When you’re searching for the host’s email address, there are a few specific places you’ll want to look:

On the about page of the show

On the host’s personal web page

As the reply-to address on the podcast’s newsletter

If you can't find an email address on the site, try checking out their social media accounts. If you can find them on LinkedIn you could always contact them there instead.

Now you have four things:

• A list of podcasts
• Your three pitches
• The name of each podcast host
• The email address of each podcast host

You’ll want to write an email that the podcast host wants to reply to. (You can learn about how to write a great cold email via my latest cold email course here) It should tell the host who you are and just what value you have to offer to their listeners. Any claims you make you should be able to back up with links, examples etc. Include links to articles you've written, other podcasts you've appeared on, your Linkedin and other social profiles, anything that proves your worth and expertise.

Don't be disheartened if things go slow at first. Even one or two podcast appearances will boost your visibility and before you know people might be contacting you ASKING you to appear on their show!