WILL PODCASTS BE PART OF YOUR MARKETING MIX?
I have always believed that the difference between a successful person and a person who ambles through life is the ability to embrace change and say yes to opportunities. Why? Because change is inevitable and opportunities don’t grow on trees.
The world of construction PR and marketing has changed a lot since Clare PR was first established more than 30 years ago but, as the PR landscape has evolved, we have evolved with it. Change has been even more significant and immediate recently, but our core skills and passion for what we do have been even more invaluable. Our expertise and agile approach has helped clients communicate through the COVID-19 crisis, differentiate in a challenging commercial environment and engage with customers and other stakeholders.
Getting the message right and delivering it to the right people is a constant of effective construction PR and marketing but the increasingly varied tools we use offer new opportunities to communicate in fresh and exciting ways. That’s why, when I was recently asked to be a guest on a business podcast ‘Leading Between the Lines’ by training and coaching company, Alterniq Inspired Growth, I jumped at the chance. Not only was it an opportunity for me to explain how I came to run a successful construction PR and marketing agency for the past 30 years and discuss my philosophy on leadership and business, it was also an opportunity for me to lead by example.
Podcasts are an increasingly popular way to consume information and insight and it’s an area that we’re keen to develop with our clients. As I’m always keen to demonstrate to clients that I wouldn’t advise them to do anything for their own business I wouldn’t be prepared to do for my own, part of my motivation for saying yes to the invitation for an interview was to highlight how impactful it can be.
Don’t get me wrong; written content is fantastic. We know that it works to raise profile, support sales and communicate USPs because we’ve dedicated our careers to making that happen for clients through construction PR and marketing across printed magazine, online publications and social media. But people are busy and not everyone has time for a couple of five-minute reads at lunchtime. Moreover, not everyone absorbs information in the same way. For some, reading information is absolutely the best way for them to learn and retain something, others, meanwhile, are much more likely to remember something they have heard.
Podcasts are a great way to address both the time-poor nature of our 21st century existence and the need to appreciate the differences in the way we learn and remember. A podcast can be consumed while you walk the dog, go for a run, drive to a meeting, cook the dinner… and the conversational style of most podcasts is both engaging and memorable.
Best of all, perhaps, in a year when human interaction has become much more precious thanks to the ways in which it has been limited, podcasts connect us with other humans. In my Leading Between the Lines interview, I talk about my business, my team, what motivates me, what has brought me success… but I also talk about my childhood, my relationship with my mother and my involvement with my local community. For businesses exploring how to connect with customers, this ability to communicate the human face behind the business is a key benefit of podcasts. Any business is only as good as the team that drives it so sharing knowledge and highlighting the passion behind what you do always has commercial value.
Of course, I had the usual wobbles and uncertainties about how I would come across and what I would say but preparing well without being scripted is a simple discipline. Having media trained many people over the years, we’re well-equipped to help clients prepare thoroughly, while still being true to themselves and sounding genuine.
If 2020 has taught us anything it’s that we need to be ready to adapt. Getting involved in the podisphere is just one way of doing that and, for those who’d prefer to start by listening, you can play back my guest interview with Leading Between the Lines here https://spoti.fi/2Um9k40