011: How to Use a Podcast to Build a Personal Brand
Subscribe for more →
When it comes to brand building, a podcast can help in one of two ways: it can help amplify the existing brand you have for your company or organization, OR a podcast can be the epicenter of your brand, allowing you to build a personal brand from scratch. In this episode, I’m going to share how to do the latter. Stay tuned.
As a prospective podcaster, you might feel stuck knowing that you don’t have an existing brand or identity to build your show’s concept around. But what if I told you, you could use your podcast to establish a brand for yourself as an expert or personality in your niche? It’s true! Naturally, the next question is how?
Good news, friends! As you’ve come to know and trust (or if you’re new, you will soon find out), I’m here to answer that question for you, bringing you the how-to that you need so that you can use your podcast to create a personal brand identity from scratch.
As if that wasn’t enough good news already, be sure to stick around until the end, when I will share with you my template for creating a competitive analysis, which is a great tool for making sure your podcast and brand stand out from the crowd.
There are a ton of ways that podcasting can help with personal branding. Generating original unique content on a regular basis establishes expertise, and using your voice helps people connect to you in a highly personal way.
The average time that people spend listening to an episode is much longer than the time they spend consuming other digital marketing content, such as Instagram posts and blog posts. Let them get to know you and your brand while they run errands or cook dinner. They’re welcoming you into their lives, so make it count and keep them comin’ back for a brand they love and will come to expect.
Podcasts are great tools for helping individuals get to know you and your existing brand. But having a podcast doesn’t guarantee that your brand will solidify and gain traction. If you are using your podcast to build a brand, consider the following personal branding tips:
Identify the niche community of listeners you want to reach with your content.
The keyword here is “niche.” If you think about it, a podcast that is made for everyone is really made for no one. Finding your niche makes it easier to succeed because you are able to gain trust through deep expertise. When you narrow things down, your elevator brand pitch becomes a lot easier. In order to narrow down your niche, you can ask yourself things like “what do I want to be known for?” or maybe another good starting point is “what am I an expert in?”
The reality is that the thing you want to be known for or the content that your audience likes best may ebb and flow over time, but if you find yourself saying, “I want to create a show for all women or all mothers,” you aren’t getting specific enough. I have a client who loves to ask herself those two questions every month as a check-in to see if she has veered off her path, or if perhaps a new road needs to be taken. She sets aside an hour a month to journal on this.
Think about how you want to change people's lives, then start making content to make that possible.
Spend time developing a strong visual identity.
I often have to remind people that a brand is much more than colors, but aesthetics are an important part of helping people develop recognition and memory around your brand. In addition to cover art, consider building brand guidelines which include the creation of a logo, colors, fonts, and imagery standards.
What's your vibe? Is there a vibe?
Being consistent means being recognizable right away without someone having to divert their eyes to see who posted that photo or who shared that post. You know the saying, staying “on brand.”
A great place to start in building your visual identity is Canva. Use their brand guidelines templates as prompts to decide all of the visual components that will make up your podcast brand. If graphic design just isn’t your thing, it’s also okay to ask for help. There are tons of designers at all different price ranges who would be happy to help you build out your brand guidelines. One of my favorite places to look for help is on ilovecreatives.com. That how I found KAR Creative and Tart NYC, the agencies that designed my cover art and brand standards. Be sure to tell them Lauren sent you.
Recognize your differentiating factors.
Making sure you don’t blend into the crowd is a real fear for new podcasters. You want to know how to brand a podcast, how to create a personal brand, and how to stand out while doing it. A tool that can help make the areas you want to differentiate the clearest is a competitive analysis. It’s the best way to find that niche I mentioned, by conducting a fun little investigation and defining your “it” factor.
I’ve talked about finding your target audience in more depth in past videos, but one thing to remember is if there is another podcast out there meeting all the same needs for that audience as your podcast would, then why would people listen to your podcast?
Don’t be scared or discouraged! That’s where this competitive analysis is going to help you find many reasons why they would choose your fabulous self!
✦ Bonus ✦
As promised, I have a bonus brand-building helping hand for you!
If you’re not sure how to start creating the competitive analysis I mentioned in the last step, that’s okay, I’ve got you. You know this by now. And because we are pals, you can download our free competitive analysis template, PLUS we have a video showing you how to fill it out. You’re welcome!
✦ Let’s review ✦
Okay, so remember, you want to:
Identify the niche—narrow down the doors, and walk through just one.
Spend time developing a strong visual identity—find your vibe and enjoy rolling with it!
Recognize your differentiating factors—create your competitive analysis and stand out from the crowd.
I appreciate you stopping by and showing up for yourself. At The Wave, we are passionate about making podcasting accessible and fun for all our female-identifying friends, and it is our honor to be your trusted source of information, tips, tricks, and podcast life hacks.
Ultimately, when it comes to creating your personal brand: be yourself, babe. There is only one you, and you might have heard that a million times in your life, but let's make it a million and one. Say it with me: “There is only one me.” That is your superpower. Be genuine, and your authenticity will shine through your brand. So shine it out into the world and be deliberate in expressing yourself.
Computer-Generated Transcript with Time Stamps
[00:00:00] When it comes to brand building, a podcast can help in one of two ways. It can help amplify the existing brand you have for your company or organization, or a podcast can be the epicenter of your brand, allowing you to build a personal brand from scratch. In this episode, I'm going to share how to do the latter. Stay tuned.
[00:00:28] Hey, my name is Lauren Popish and I'm obsessed with podcasting. A little meta, right? I started podcasting after a public speaking event. Gone wrong. Sparked a phobia of public speaking that almost ended my corporate career. Now I help women use podcasting to share their ideas, grow their businesses, start movements, and leave their unique marks on the world.
[00:00:55] My company, the Wave produces shows for some of the most [00:01:00] influential women in health, business, spirituality, beauty, and more. And in this show, I'm taking all of the strategies I've used to help my clients top the podcast charts and I'm bringing them to you. If you're hoping to start, grow, or monetize a podcast, you're in the right place.
[00:01:19] This is podcast like a girl.
[00:01:28] As a prospective podcaster, you might feel stuck knowing that you don't have an existing brand or identity to build your show's concept around. But what if I told you you could use your podcast to establish a brand for yourself as an expert or personality in your niche? It's true naturally. The next question is how good news friends, as you've come to know and trust, or if you're new, you will soon find out.
[00:01:56] I'm here to answer that question for you, bringing you the [00:02:00] how-to that you need so you can use your podcast to create a personal brand identity from scratch. As if it wasn't good enough news already, be sure to stick around until the end when I will share with you my template for creating a competitive analysis, which is a great tool for making sure your podcast and brand stand out from the crowd.
[00:02:23] There are a ton of ways that podcasting can help with personal branding. Generating original, unique content on a regular basis establishes expertise, and using your voice helps people connect to you in a highly personal way. The average time that people spend listening to an episode is much longer than the time they spend consuming other digital marketing content like on Instagram with posts or blog posts.
[00:02:50] Let them get to know. And your brand while they run errands or cook dinner, they're welcoming you into their lives, so make it count and [00:03:00] keep them coming back for a brand they love and will come to expect. Podcasts are great tools to help individuals get to know you and your existing brand, but having a podcast doesn't guarantee that your brand will solidify and gain traction.
[00:03:15] If you're using your podcast to build a brand, consider the following personal branding tips. Identify the niche community of listeners you want to reach with your content. The keyword here is niche. If you think about it. A podcast that is made for everyone is really made for no one. Finding your niche makes it easier to succeed because you're able to gain trust through deep expertise.
[00:03:41] When you narrow things down, your elevator pitch becomes a lot easier. In order to narrow down your niche, you can ask yourself things. What do I wanna be known for? Or maybe another good starting question is, what am I an expert in? The reality is that the thing you want to be known for, or the [00:04:00] content that your audience likes best may ebb and flow and change over time.
[00:04:04] But if you find yourself sane, I wanna create a show for all women or all mothers. You aren't getting specific. . I have a client who loves to ask herself those two questions every month as a check-in to see if she's veered off her path or if perhaps a new road needs to be taken. She sets aside an hour a month to journal on this, and you can too, think about how you want to change people's lives, then start making content to make that.
[00:04:35] Spend time developing a strong brand identity. I often have to remind people that a brand is much more than just colors, but aesthetics are an important part of helping people develop recognition and memory around your brand. In addition to your cover art, consider building out brand guidelines, which include the creation of a logo, colors, fonts, [00:05:00] and imagery standards.
[00:05:02] What's your vibe? Is there a vibe? Being consistent means being recognizable right away without someone having to divert their eyes to see who posted that photo or shared that post. You know, the SANE staying on brand, and this is where that really applies. A great place to start in building your visual identity is on Canva.
[00:05:23] You've heard of it before. It's a. Web-based tool. You can use their brand guidelines, templates as prompts to decide all of the visual components that will make up your podcast brand. If graphic design just isn't your thing, that's okay, and it's okay to ask for help. There are tons of designers at all different price ranges.
[00:05:43] Who would be happy to help you build out your brand guidelines? One of my favorite places to look, by the way, unsponsored, but truly a technique that I use for myself is a website called I love creatives.com. That's how I found Car Creative, k a [00:06:00] r and Tart nyc. These are two agencies that designed my cover art and my brand standards for the Wave.
[00:06:07] I'm going to link to their websites in the show notes. Be sure to tell them Lauren sent you if you end up reaching.
[00:06:16] Hey, I hope you're enjoying this episode. I'm taking a quick break to remind you to subscribe to podcasts like a girl I know. I know. When will Podcasters stop asking that? Subscribing means that you get the latest episode delivered directly to the top of your Apple Podcast app. But more importantly, it actually just helps me prove that I'm legitimate and reach more listeners if you.
[00:06:42] Any value in this episode so far? Please consider picking up your phone, opening Apple Podcasts, going to the podcast like a girl main page, and clicking the plus sign in the upper right to follow our show. Thank you very much in advance. And now back to the episode.[00:07:00]
[00:07:03] Recognize your differentiating factors. Making sure you don't blend into the crowd is a real fear for new podcasters. You wanna know how to brand a podcast, how to create a personal brand and how to stand out while doing it. A tool that can help make the areas you want to differentiate. The clearest is a competitive analysis.
[00:07:23] It's the best way to find that niche I was talking about by conducting a fun little investigation and defining. It factor. I've talked about finding your target audience in more depth in past episodes, but one thing to remember is that if there's another podcast out there meeting all the same needs for your audience that your podcast would, then why would people listen to your podcast?
[00:07:50] Don't be scared or discouraged. That's not the point of this. That's where this competitive analysis is going to help you find the many reasons why they would [00:08:00] choose your fabulous podcast. You've reached the bonus section. As promised, I have a brand building helping hand for you. If you are not sure how to start creating the competitive analysis I mentioned in the last step.
[00:08:15] That's okay. I've got you. You know that by now because we're pals, you can download our free competitive analysis template plus. I have a video showing you exactly how to fill it out, find both the template and the video in the show notes of this episode. You are welcome. So let's recap what we talked about today.
[00:08:35] Remember, you want to one, identify your niche, narrow down the doors, and then walk through just one, two, spend time developing a strong visual identity. Find your vibe and enjoy rolling. Week after week three, recognize your differentiating factors. Create your competitive analysis, and stand out from the podcasting crowd.
[00:08:59] I [00:09:00] appreciate you stopping by and showing up for yourself. Honestly, at the wave, we are passionate about making podcasting accessible and fun for all our female identifying friends. And it's our honor to be your trusted source for information, tips, tricks, and podcast life hacks. Ultimately, when it comes to creating your personal.
[00:09:20] Be yourself babe. There is only one you, and you may have heard it a million times in your life, but I'm about to make it 1,000,001. Say it with me. There's only one me. That is your superpower. Be genuine and your authenticity will shine through your brand, so shine it out into the world and be deliberate in expressing your.
[00:09:44] That's all for today, pod Broads. Thanks for listening. Keep podcasting and enjoy the ride.
[00:09:54] I know just how many podcasts you could have been listening to, which is why I'm so [00:10:00] grateful you decided to spend the last 20 minutes with me. Speaking of. If you're a podcaster and you've ever wondered what else you could be doing with your week, if you didn't have to edit, write show notes, and create marketing materials for every podcast episode, then let the lady pros at the wave treat you to some me time.
[00:10:19] Get 15% off your first month of a production package by going to the wave podcasting.com/podcast. Any means services, and enter podcast like a girl, all one word, lower. At checkout. Now the only question is which podcast you're gonna spend all your newfound time binging. See you back next week.
