Podcasts make ideal digital companions because anyone can tune into them on a mobile device while on the go. And with demand steadily increasing, there’s been an explosion of topics covered by this technology, including financial topics ranging from financial advice to insights into stock market trends. For financial advisors who have built a following with their blog, creating a podcast can be a natural spinoff to broaden their audience.
Although the prospect of creating your own podcast can be daunting, the process shouldn’t be thought of as a project that you have to embark on alone; instead, view the creation of your podcast as a project that will benefit from collaboration.
For example, finding a co-host you share chemistry with – someone who can be the yin to your yang – helps to relieve the pressure of pulling off a podcast performance on your own.
“I highly recommend getting a podcast partner or a podcast host,” says Kirk Lowe, chief branding tactician at Advisor Content X, a unit of TactiBrand Inc., in Toronto.
Lowe runs a service that is marketed as a one-stop shop for advisors looking to break into podcasting. Apart from pairing advisors with a co-host, Advisor Content X ships the necessary recording equipment, coaches you on how to create an outline for a podcast, edits the finished product and executes the marketing campaign on social media.
Lowe believes podcasts are more effective than blogs in showcasing your abilities. In Lowe’s experience, many advisors either rarely have the time to maintain a blog properly or simply dislike the process of writing. As a result, they wind up outsourcing the job to a professional writer or purchasing content that isn’t reflective of the advisor’s individual practice or personality.
Another advantage of a podcast over a blog is that podcasts can lend depth to a subject and create a sense of intimacy between you and the listener.
Says Preet Banerjee, formerly a financial advisor and now host of the podcast series Mostly Money, Mostly Canadian: “You can go really deep into a little corner of one topic if you want and have this organic discussion that people can listen in on.”
If you want to test out the podcast medium without making a huge commitment in time, try to get invited as a guest on an established podcast series, suggests Jessica Moorhouse, host of Mo’ Money Podcast in Toronto. Moorhouse often receives email pitches from personal finance experts and chooses guests based on whether they have an interesting story to share with her listeners.
Moorhouse attributes the success of her podcast – now at 71 episodes – to knowing her audience from the outset. “I always knew specifically whom I wanted to target – a woman, a millennial, [someone] who wants to educate herself,” she says.
With that audience in mind, she turned to her immediate network, then contacted well-known personal finance experts to interview. The project took off from there.
For many podcasters, however, their show is largely a passion project. The podcast platform, still in its infancy as an industry, isn’t a cash cow with an immediate revenue stream.
The impetus for launching a podcast shouldn’t be driven purely by marketing, says Banerjee: “Focus on education first. Hopefully, you’ll prove to people you know what you’re talking about, and they’ll naturally gravitate to [your podcast].” IE
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