During PodFest, I was excited to meet fellow leaders and learn more about how they utilize their podcasts to speak out and inspire others.
On Thursday, May 26th, the first day of PodFest, I attended an opening session with Erik Cabral, the Founder and CEO of On-Air Brands.
Erik spoke about the limiting beliefs, fears, and doubts that keep leaders from sharing their message authentically on social media. He discussed the importance of focusing on specific a specific purpose.
The OAB catchphrase “ Changing the world one mic at a time” resonated with me as I realized podcasters have the power to share their messages with hundreds, thousands, or millions of people worldwide.
The biggest takeaway from Erik’s powerful and energetic presentation is that he explained that a personal brand is an opportunity to share a message, which results in reaching an equal reputation.
As a podcast host, I take this opportunity very seriously, but his presentation helped inspire me to provide a positive message to the listeners by speaking directly to them. After all, I’m just talking to one person, one interview at a time.
Listeners are just as important to me as the guests on the podcast, so I plan to take Erik’s suggestions to heart and start speaking directly to my audience, one person at a time.
I also noted how many times he mentioned the word “community” during his talk—seven times, making it clear that community is here to stay for every brand, big or small.
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The next powerhouse speaker I enjoyed hearing was Ashley Wilson, who spoke about building a better brand. Ashley is the Co-Founder of Bar Down Investments LLC, and she shared great tips for podcasters and business owners looking to learn more about investing.
As someone interested in learning more about building a brand, I found her talk easy to listen to and insightful. I’ve felt that I’ve been giving, and she spoke about “giving till it hurts” with authenticity.
As a fellow creator who’s struggled with finding my voice and now feeling like I want to build the “right” audience, I’ll continue to learn more about connecting with humans.
My biggest takeaway from this session was her concept of a shift from the B2B market (business to business) to the B2H (Business to Human) market. It resonated with me because I’ve noticed a trend among business owners; they see they can’t just “get away” without having values and beliefs and telling others what their business stands for worldwide. People want to work with and buy from others, so the next generation of companies will align a business with individuals’ needs and problems and offer the best solutions for their unique challenges.
Thursday afternoon, I attended a Women in Podcasting series of guest presentations and panels, which turned out to be the highlight of the entire event. A focus of mine this year is to align myself with female leaders and entrepreneurs who really connect to my vision, message, and values of giving others a stage to shine.
This series, led by Jennifer Henczel, filled up the entire room from the first session Panel, 5 Methods of Masting Your Podcast Mindset, with Martine Cadet, Tiphany Kane, Marion Blinkoff, and Michelle Abraham.
Each panelist shared their journey into podcasting and some statistics about the podcasting industry. As reported by Statista, 62 percent of consumers in the United States have listened to an audio podcast in 2022, up from 55 percent in 2020.
Martine Cadet spoke to the packed room and shared that podcasting is part of visualizing and creating content she is passionate about and wants to share with her listeners.
Creating content for social media to build a podcast and a brand begins with curating the content for the audience, creating a program within that content, and repeating the message repeatedly for consistency.
Some great resources noted included:
Solvv—Hosts and panelists join together to answer unique questions and solve modern-day obstacles in relevant and authentic 15-minute panel-based podcasts.
Instagram Guides: To tell a story, featured at the top of the IG account, provide another way to connect with brands and get inspired by the content created.
Spotify Playlist—As podcasting becomes increasingly popular, several people have recommended creating a playlist to share with your audience.
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During the afternoon session in the Women in Podcasting track, I listened to Melanie Benson, who shared her methods for gaining ideal clients within 14 days when getting on other people’s podcasts.
She suggested ” following the breadcrumbs” to become visible as an authority in the industry and create a brand through ROCS—relevant content, Outcome-based solutions, Credibility Boosters, and a specific topic focus. Melanie also shared that people enjoy talking to her, and hearing that from another podcaster is a huge compliment.
The biggest takeaway from Melanie’s presentation was that she suggested keeping a “through-line” during the interview to set the tone for the best results and ensure that the message gets to your ideal client faster than an unplanned conversation.
In the afternoon session, I lost track of how many times the word “community” came up in the conversation among these inspiring women. All I can say is that the energy in that room allowed me to feel that I was in the right place and with the right people to develop a lasting relationship with several people, some of whom I’ve already made a priority of continuing the conversation after this event.
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Friday afternoon was my time to speak, and it wasn’t that I was nervous; I was nervous. I had practiced my 5-minute talk, and by the time I was up on the stage, it felt like I had 5 seconds to say a lot of stuff. My focus was to tell other community leaders that launching a paid online community can be challenging, but starting with a few essential tips can help them avoid the pitfalls of a failed launch.
The takeaways from my session were:
Ask people before you create something to validate your idea.
Allow people to participate in the community-building process and do it with them, bringing them into the conversation.
Could you raise the pricing on your offer so you can convert fewer people into your program and work on providing stellar value and experiences for the members who need your help?
Ask for help from others; don’t try to build a community all by yourself. Find communities that you enjoy to connect with for your well-being.
Could you hire a professional to help you get started on your community-building journey?
Outsourcing, Podcast Masterminds,
and Accessibility for all
Earlier this year, I met a few podcasters through community-led events. One podcaster I’d connected with is Mark Savant, Host of the After Hours Entrepreneur Podcast. I also joined his Mastermind, now on Mighty Networks called Podcast Savants! I’ve been learning a lot from Mark and wanted to support him during his presentation at PodFest.
Mark’s session focused on utilizing virtual assistants for time-consuming tasks like podcast editing, production, social media, and promotion. He offered resources to help podcasters identify when it’s the right time to hire an assistant and where to find one! Below are the takeaways from his session.
Identify the most time-consuming tasks and your process so you can train a new assistant when ready to build your team.
A few places to find VAs are right in your current network and connections, so asking some of your fellow podcasters is a great place to start. Some Facebook groups have VAs you can connect with to see if they fit you.
Once you’ve hired a VA, it is important to establish expectations, timelines, and deadlines and how you will communicate with them, such as email, Slack, text, Zoom calls, etc.
Following Mark’s talk, I attended fellow podcaster DeeJae DuRante, a recent guest on the Community Strategy Podcast whom I’d met during a pre-event networking event with fellow podcasters. Her presentation focused on creating an online brand or company that is more inclusive and accessible to all. A few takeaways from her session are below, and you should check out the episode here.
80% of people have experienced accessibility issues when trying to access content
One in five potential customers is being excluded from content they can’t consume
To provide more accessible content, post audio, video, and written content, including transcripts of all podcast episodes or talks.
Enable captions on your Zoom calls so everyone can read, watch, and listen.
Be informed accessibility is something that is not just for them; it’s for everyone
Use Sans Serif text because it is easy to read for all and will allow better communication.
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