In April of 2017, I learned exactly what a podcast is. I was infatuated with the simple concept of recording, editing, and publishing for the world to hear. At the time, having a podcast was still seen as a somewhat “elite” feat, and whenever I’d tell my classmates my freshman year of high school that I had my own podcast, they would react in a curious and amazed manner.

This feeling toward podcasts has, as you might have already noticed, changed dramatically. As of June 2020, there are officially over a million podcasts online. If you were to tell a friend or colleague that you have a podcast right now, they’d say something to the effect of, “Oh, cool.” Despite this, creating your own show is still a viable option!

Podcasts used to be a fun novelty that were for leisure and unprofessional style entertainment. While there are still those types of shows out there, podcasting has wildly changed in its purpose of usage in the short time from when I first learned about it. Nowadays, it’s seen as a reliable medium to expand a person’s personal brand and reach.

In this post, I’m going to give you that extra push of confidence you need to launch your own podcast by providing the primary reasons of why you should do it.

Podcast numbers are rising… and rising fast.

Based on a report from Reuters, the proportion of radio listeners in the UK by age is decreasing as the audience gets younger, while the exact opposite is true for podcasts. What this shows, more than anything, is that the upcoming generations get their news and hear the world’s stories through podcasts.

More importantly, their personal decisions are becoming increasingly influenced by what they learn when listening to their favorite shows.

This is where your podcast comes into play and possibly generates the exact results you’re looking for. Podcast listeners are always on the hunt for interesting content, and if you can provide them with that, they’ll become your biggest fans.

From there, the rest takes care of itself. The power of simple word-of-mouth marketing is still a powerful force in the podcast industry. The more people that hear and like your show, the more likely they are to tell their friends about it.

It’s the best medium for those who are in-between jobs.

You’re an expert in your field, but your LinkedIn profile isn’t getting the traction you want. You worry that recruiters aren’t getting to see just exactly how knowledgeable you really are. There’s an extremely simple answer to this problem: start a podcast.

Hosting your own show, I believe, is the absolute best way to promote your skills and abilities while doing it at your own pace and in a format that you are comfortable with. It allows you to give commentary on the biggest topics in your field as well as have discussions with other experts about those subjects.

This will show job recruiters not only your subject acumen but also your willingness and ability to learn from others and expand your knowledge.

Your show will connect you to an audience with your interests.

This is a huge reason for you to start your own podcast. Finding an audience that has the same interest as the one your show focuses on is the whole point of this post. This will open up numerous opportunities for your name to get in front of job recruiters, admission counselors, and fellow experts in addition to podcast enthusiasts.

Podcast listeners desire what is known as “niche” shows. Niche shows are podcasts that focus on a specific topic, rather than a show that talks about anything that comes to the host’s mind. If you are interested in technology, focus your podcast around that. If you are a business-minded person that wants the world to hear how to correctly (by your standards, of course) conduct their business, focus your show on that. By making a niche show, you are putting your podcast in all the right places for your perfect target audience to find it.

Once you’ve found the topic for you, you’re ready to start planning and gearing up to launch your show!

And of course, you’ll gain deeper insight!

Becoming more knowledgeable is always a good thing. If you want your podcast to be the best it possibly can, you’ll find yourself conducting extensive research and studies (like I did) to make it as precise and interesting as possible. Your show should have a good flow and hyper-focused purpose so that it is easy to follow for listeners.

This, in turn, will not only increase your audience’s knowledge on the subject but will also increase yours at the same level (or even higher)!

Finally convinced? Time to start planning.

If this post has indeed given you that extra push to start your podcast, I will be writing up another blog post for Student to CEO on how to start a podcast. The post will include my recommended software, publishing platform, equipment, and more to get your show up and running swiftly and with ease.

In addition to all of that, I’ll cover the basics of a podcast network for the serious podcasters like myself.

Thank you for taking some time to read about why YOU need to get out there and talk to the world about whatever it is you’re the most interested in! And of course, I invite you to take a listen to some of our shows at FO1 Media.