At Charlotte Content Marketing, we offer podcast production solutions because a lot of people are unsure of how to go about setting up a podcast. Some people in the podcasting space say to just turn on the mic and start talking while others are hypercritical and want the whole affair really polished. We kind of fall in between. We encourage our clients to use podcasting as a way to speak from the heart, but the product should also have some polish and direction.

Your Podcast Needs to Provide Value

Most importantly, however, a podcast needs to have substance. Just like with written content, podcast content needs to produce actual value. Another part of this is that a podcast needs to establish industry authority among your peers and brand authority among customers. This means speaking with authority by backing up what you’re saying with facts, including facts in the form of experience. We’re not just riffing off the cuff. There needs to be some research performed ahead of time so that you know what you’re talking about before hitting the record button.

Now, all of that is important, but there’s another aspect of podcasting that often gets overlooked, and that’s how your podcast acts as an ongoing PR campaign. What we mean by that is whenever you create a podcast, whenever you record yourself speaking on a topic, you want to think about your PR strategy.

What is Your PR Strategy?

At Charlotte Content Marketing, our PR strategy is to focus on supporting local businesses in the Charlotte Metro. We do this not only through our services, but also through our community spotlight content on our site. This allows our team to network with like-minded businesses in the areas we serve, and that’s something we think is important. Business owners in the Charlotte area have enough to worry about running their companies, and we want to make it easier to get ahead and spread positivity and optimism while completing that mission.

So, when you are recording a podcast, you have the chance to lend credence to your mission with every word you say, and this means podcasts can be great opportunities to chime in about harmful content in the press, for example. This is a reputation management strategy that allows your brand to address controversial topics without coming out and talking about them directly. In a sense, your podcast gives you control over the narrative. It’s a bully pulpit, sure, but you get to control the direction of the conversation and direct attention where it needs to follow, and that is toward positive content and away from harmful content.

Is Engagement Possible Through Podcasting?

Using your podcast as a PR branding tool, you can also put a human face on your brand. With the Internet, it’s really easy to fall into the trap of providing service to your customers without really engaging face-to-face. There’s a lot of efficiency in this, but how much brand loyalty are you losing by skipping face-to-face interaction?

Obviously, you want to take advantage of the efficiency of the Internet through podcasting, and maybe your brand operates solely online, so you can’t have face-to-face interactions. Your podcast bridges that gap in some ways, and even if you can’t meet with every customer to introduce yourself and your vision, you can use your time recording a podcast to introduce those ideas into the public consciousness.

It’s All About Planning Ahead

To achieve the goal of using a podcast as a virtual PR tool, you need to plan ahead. When we produce a podcast, we meet with each client to plan out the flow so that a rundown can be created. A rundown is the document that times out the podcast and directs the topics. A rundown is commonly used for television filming to keep a show on schedule and on topic. With a rundown created, we next want to think about our script. Some people work well with a script, and others do not.

If you’re the type of person who can’t read without sounding like you’re reading, we suggest at least using an outline that follows the rundown. This solution provides a little more flexibility to go off in a different direction, but when you work with Charlotte Content Marketing, your producer will pull you back in to make sure you don’t stray too far from the outline and the main topic of discussion.

Consider Using a Script

Now, because you’ve planned ahead and written out your rundown, outline, and script, you have the tools to dive into creating a podcast that has substance. While recording, your brain may be going a million miles an hour. Some people are like that. Some people get nervous recording a podcast in a home office while others are fine recording in front of a live audience. It just depends. But the main thing to keep in mind is that editing is possible. So this means that even if you make mistakes, we just pick back up where we left off. A lot of stuff can be fixed in post, and while that’s kind of a cliché in the world of digital audio, it’s true.

Let Your Producer Guide You

With your outline in place and your script and your producer, just work through the topic with your PR strategy in mind. And just to back up for a second. One of the reasons why we want these resources in place when using podcasting as a PR tool is because they keep you from going so far off track when it comes to important public relations and reputation management issues. We carefully craft our strategies to combat harmful content online, so it’s important to stick with the strategy when recording your podcast. You need to be mindful of the words you speak regarding sensitive topics, and the resources surrounding you can prevent you from making serious errors.

Learn More About the Use of Podcasting for PR

To learn more about how podcast production services can help you put your best foot forward and enhance your global and local PR strategies, contact Charlotte Content Marketing today. Click to schedule your consultation online, or call our team at (704) 323-6762.