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The importance of having a podcast for your business

North East PR agency, Harvey & Hugo share their ultimate guide on creating a podcast and how it will make your business boom.

Written by Rachael Nichol

Published 02.09.2023

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From blogs to social media, there are multiple mediums available that allow you to showcase your creativity or grow your online brand.

However, one medium that shouldn’t be overlooked is podcasting.

Podcasting has continuously skyrocketed in popularity, and over 19.1 million people in the UK currently listen to podcasts. And it’s not hard to see why, with our fast-paced lifestyles making podcasts a great way to quickly absorb information during a walk, the work commute – or even in the shower.

These days, there’s a podcast for everyone, no matter what you’re interested in. But have you ever considered setting up one of your own to help promote your business? If so, meet Harvey & Hugo.

With over a decade of experience providing local businesses with flexible PR services from social media to content creation and podcast support, the dedicated team are on hand to help boost your brand.

From enticing your target market to learn more about your brand to enhancing your reach to make new connections and creating content for new platforms, you’re really missing a trick if you haven’t already set up a podcast.

Harvey & Hugo have set up a podcast of their own, PRsonal, where founder Charlotte Nichols asks the most prominent business figures in our region and beyond deep and meaningful questions so we can get a glimpse behind the curtain.

We caught up with Darlington entrepreneur and PR queen, Charlotte Nichols, who shares the ultimate guide on launching your own podcast to help make your business boom.

HOW TO PLAN A PODCAST

Think about what you want to achieve. With PRsonal, we want to remove the stigma around certain topics in business by talking about them. Then, think about whom you want it to reach, PRsonal is initially aimed at the North East business community, but that could expand further afield as it grows. You then plan how you can do that and come up with a creative idea and format for it.

Top planning tips:

Do your research and borrow ideas but make yours unique and stand out
Make sure you have time as podcasts are very time consuming
Ensure your guests have availability
Research your target audience to see if they would find the show interesting
Plan for the long-term – consistency is key to building a new podcast brand
Lead with your strongest episodes
Pick a clever name that is easy to say and memorable in some way
Use a strong image for the cover

PREPARING FOR A PODCAST

Script writing/question planning is important as it will give you some direction when recording your podcast and will make your podcast flow so much smoother. You will need to invest in a studio hire or equipment and pick a venue that suits your style of podcast.

You’ll have to consider where you are going to distribute it. We use Buzzsprout but there are plenty of other websites to host your podcast on. When filming think about setting up for YouTube as well.

HOW HARVEY & HUGO CAN HELP WITH YOUR PODCAST

There’s a lot to do from conceiving the idea to the release of the podcast and this can seem overwhelming, so we’re on hand to make the process more straightforward and enjoyable for you.

We can help with:

Idea generation
Scripting, questions and directing
Sourcing and inviting guests
Managing bookings with guests and the studio
Recording podcasts (video as well as audio if needed)
Editing
Adding sponsors adverts
Creating bios and timestamps
Distributing podcasts to all the usual places e.g. Spotify, Apple etc
Creating snippets and teasers for promo
Creating promo bundles with social media and blog content for host and guest to use
Promotion of the podcast on social media, blogs and PR
We offer training in this through our Hugoversity service
We’re looking to invest in a studio space very soon, so watch this space

HLN TOP TIP: Harvey & Hugo want to make PR available to everyone so offer Pay-as-Hugo packages where you only pay for what you need. Read our full feature for more info here.