Resilience, Quality Content And Community: The Secret Formula For Podcast Success
Have you considered podcasting as a way to stay relevant in your network while building your community and business up? Not that many business owners do, but that is actually the secret to creating a successful strategy in the long-term. This is, of course, assuming that you’re creating quality content that your audience wants, and not just providing crumbs of information with the only goal to drive sales to your business.
Now, in order to reap the benefits of podcasting, you need to be willing to create content consistently throughout the year and follow a common thread throughout the episodes. To talk about just how powerful podcasting has been for her business and network building, I interviewed Chanel Christoff Davis, the co-founder and CEO of the largest women and minority owned Sales Tax Advisory Practice in the United States - Davis Davis in Harmon LLC.
Chanel’s podcast ‘Follow The Leader’ is an interesting take on the topic of Business. Chanel has a ‘creative personality’, a strong sense of community, and loves learning about the behind the scenes. In our conversation she shared how the podcast was the perfect way to meet dynamic female powerhouses, and to use her platform to share the inspirational stories of how these women became a success in business.
We talked about how entrepreneurship is ‘an extension of a person's creative voice’, and why curiosity and empathy play the biggest roles when creating a project, including, of course, podcasting. Keep reading for Chanel’s takeaways of what she learned in her four years of podcasting.
Being your AUTHENTIC self will benefit you
The phenomenal thing about podcasts, is that they are a great way to share with your audience your knowledge through your unique, authentic voice in an intimate setting. As a host, you can be as creative as you’d like in order to create a concept that either works for your brand… or that can provide an opportunity to show a side of you that you don’t get to use at work:
“During the day, I’m very buttoned up and work with people who have on buttoned down white shirts and crispy ties and blue suits. But podcasting for me is my creative world. And I really allow myself the space to be my authentic self jokester by nature.
I tell a lot of jokes during my podcast, I make my guests laugh a lot and I think that’s (the) spirit that I have of just being joyful, and funny and really real - it relaxes the guests. But it’s also a better experience for the listener because they’re laughing too. And they’re like ‘she knows funny’, and they’re getting to see a different side of me.
And my clients love it ... you would think that it would (have) a negative impact on my business. But they get to see a different and authentic side of me. And they think that it’s really, really entertaining. ”
Planning will make your life easier - to an extent
We’ve tackled the importance of planning and mapping out your content in advance in the article ‘Why a content calendar will up your pod game’ and how you can do it effectively through Batching. Chanel admits that the planning comes easy to her thanks to her background in accounting, but she strongly advocates to not Let “Perfect” Be the Enemy of “Good”:
“I’m an avid believer in planning. I mean, I’m my accountant by trade - we plan everything out in Excel spreadsheets. I would say if you already have a concept nailed down, if you know what your why is, if it’s strong, and it’s burning inside of you, don’t wait to get the perfect show art and get new headshots taken ... (an) online social media strategy first and script out your first 50 shows. Don’t do all that. Because all you’re doing is delaying, you’re just pushing back your start time. There’s a divine divinity that comes into your life when you get started. Getting started is magic... A lot of what comes after that really comes after you have been gutsy enough to get started, right? ”
Get the basics right (but be flexible)
If you’re looking to start a Podcast, it helps to understand the basics, potential and limitations of Podcasting. Not just to understand the platform, but to provide some inspiration for concepts, find out what’s been done, and how you can stand out in the midst of it all. It can feel overwhelming at first, but thankfully, you can google your industry keywords + podcast or industry keywords + top podcasts and you’ll be able to get a starting point.
“Before I even considered doing a podcast, I was an avid podcast listener. I was a connoisseur of podcasts so I had a very good idea of what I wanted to do, of what I wanted the show’s structure to feel and look like, because I was a fan of all these other shows. And I kind of took bits and pieces of other shows, and I kind of mashed it up to do mine. I did a lot of things, right, man, I didn’t wait to get everything perfect and lined up.”
Opportunities will pop up everywhere
When you host a podcast, getting face-to-face with industry leaders becomes more realistic than ever, and if done correctly, you can maximize on these interviews to grow your own online influence or close deals that can completely transform your business. Having strong and reliable processes in securing guests is equally important to keep a podcast running smoothly - we’ve rounded up our best tips for you here.
For Chanel, the podcast provided an opportunity to learn business from her industry icons:
“One of my guests was Janice Bryant Howroyd. She is the first African American woman to found a billion dollar company in America. So people think it was Oprah - it wasn’t - it was Janice. And I would not in a million years have Janice on a podcast, and not asked this woman who’s an icon in business, every question that I’ve ever wanted to know. And I don’t care if you think I’m an idiot for asking her, I don’t care. I have Janice on my show, and I’m gonna get my questions answered. So yeah, you have to be vulnerable, you have to open yourself up. Don’t be afraid to appear to not seem knowledgeable, because you’re in a position of service at this point.
You’re trying to serve your audience and you’re serving your guests on the show. So you have to remove yourself out of the space of wanting to appear to know it all, because that’s the turnoff.”
Be curious: everyone has a story to tell
As a professional speaker and an expert in the areas of tax, business strategy, disruption, and future-focused leadership, Chanel is uniquely equipped to identify successful business leaders, but to host a good interview, Chanel focuses on asking the ‘right questions’ or as she puts it ‘just being nosey’.
But what does that looks like for most business owners with no experience in media?
Researching, having pre-calls with your guests to learn more about them, or just leading with curiosity, by ‘asking questions that the audience is curious about’:
“My hope is that, (the listener says), ‘Oh my God, I’m glad she asked that because I want to know (the answer) to that question…’ so I’m hoping that you guys are like riding with me along this whole journey. And it’s funny, I’ve had several people appear on my show, and they tell me, ‘I have nothing to talk about. Why do you want to talk to me? I’m so boring.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, there’s a story there. And I’m gonna get it out of you.’ And after we finished, they’re like ‘Whoa, that went by so fast! I can’t believe we’re done.’
And it was so much fun. I think that’s one of the things that - women in particular - we always think that we’re not that fascinating.”
You WILL make an impact
A podcast can serve multiple purposes: it can allow you to network with key players in the industry (that you wouldn’t have access to in any other way), create marketing content for your brand, generate leads for your business and STILL make an impact in your community! Chanel shared how the podcast initially provided a relaxed mentoring environment for herself, but as time went by, it transitioned into something that provided value to her community:
“The reason why I started my podcast- my why - was I wanted to network and meet more women all over the country that were doing amazing things and I wanted to learn from them. So it was a method of mentoring, a mentorship, and to kind of have a personal relationship with these amazing women on my show.
But also, I’m finding out so many things that I wish I would have known when I first started my business 20 years ago, right? I’m telling women how if you’re a veteran, you need to be veteran certified. If you’re a woman in the minority, you should be dual certified. I have women on that are business partners and (share) how they structure their business so that they can have a business partner and be successful.
(But) you never know who you’re impacting. Sometimes you may feel like you’re just sharing into a void or empty space, no one’s hearing you. But you’re making an impact. I’ve had people message me in email me and say, ‘I love this episode. And thank you for telling me about certifying my business. I never knew what that was. And you explained it so well. And now I’m getting my certification.’
So those receipts, those tangible receipts of women coming to me and telling me, because of your show, I’m doing XYZ is the reason that I get excited.”
A strong ‘why’ will help you move you forward
Having purpose and direction will help you keep a connecting thread on every episode (or throughout seasons) - without it, it will be hard to keep listeners engaged long-term. On the other hand, if YOU are lacking connection or motivation to the whole reason why you’re podcasting, it will be hard to stay in the game for longer than 10 episodes. As Chanel shares, there’s a flow to her recordings throughout the year- and that’s ok:
“I start weaving together a theme and kind of storyboard out the year. And it’s creative, and it’s wonderful. Then, towards the end of the last quarter of the year, I’m exhausted, I’ve hit the wall. (I’m) so tired. I pull my microphone out to record and I’m like ‘oh, how many more?’
And when I’m talking to my sister on my phone I’ll say ‘don’t let me schedule one more podcasts this year. That’s it, I’m shutting it down.’
So, yeah, I do get to the point where I’m burnt out. ‘Do I want to do this again?’ And then I’ll talk to people during my downtime. They’ll say ‘No, you have to keep going. No, I get so much information from you ... you can’t stop!’
So then I take my vacation. I come back in January, and I’m excited. I’m ready to go. You know, I’m like, ‘Yes, I’m gonna kill this. This just going to be amazing!’.
So I always go through this life cycle every year it’s so funny.”
Don’t do it alone
The year of 2020 helped us understand that we’re stronger together and that we need to be more intentional about where we use our energy. The process of launching a podcast has a lot of moving parts and there’s no reason to be stuck on it anymore, as there are all types of professionals for remote hire on the internet that can help you move forward and make you accountable with your projects:
“All you’re doing is delaying, you’re just pushing back your start time. A lot of people want all that stuff lined up and perfect before they even start. I say that if you need help getting started, get the consulting, get someone else to step in and help you brainstorm, kind of sketch it out. But have a deadline, have a start date, put it on the calendar, and get it done. That’s my advice. Because you’ll be it’ll be five years from now you’d be like ‘I had a podcast idea. And it was so it was a good one. And I don’t know why I never did it’”
To learn more about Chanel Christoff Davis, you can connect with her through her LinkedIn profile.
Subscribe to ‘Follow The Leader’ on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
We’re accepting bookings for Podcast Audits and Podcast Strategy Sessions. Book a discovery call today: