I teach business owners - whether they work in healthcare, financial services, real estate, or many other fields - how to appear in the media as an expert to build your business. And when most business owners and experts approach me about the media - and maybe even when you think of the media to get more customers, clients and patients, they think of TV. Maybe radio after that, especially for people wanting to grow locally.

But in a lot of ways, podcasts represent a potential goldmine for you, especially compared to these other types of media.

Podcasts are a huge form of entertainment and education in our society today. 90 million Americans have listened to a podcast in the last month.
Podcasts allow you to target your ideal customer or client specifically.
While there are some podcasts that are specific for a particular city, that's the exception rather than the rule. If you are trying to sell more houses in Topeka, Kansas, you probably won't find a podcast on real estate in Topeka.

But you can appear on a podcast for real estate agents, lending you credibility and positioning you as an expert in real estate.

You can use that appearance by promoting it on your social media, or posting a link or the actual audio on your site.

Potential customers and clients will be more likely to recognize your authority and expertise - in real estate, in this example - and want to work with you or hire you.

Even when podcasts have a small number of listeners for each episode - maybe in the hundreds - those are people who care deeply about your industry and your expertise.
Podcasts are a one-on-one medium.
Instead of TV, where a family or group of people watch, you are connecting with each listener individually.

Think about the last time you listened to a podcast. Maybe you were at the gym, or on a walk, or driving to work or home from work, running errands - whatever.

I'm talking to you right now, or at least it feels like I am talking to you one-on-one.

That podcast host and guest are talking to you. It's a very intimate medium, and for that reason very powerful.
Appearing on a podcast is much easier than creating your own content.
Now I feel strongly that you want to be seen as an influencer in your industry, and so you should be regularly creating your own content and sharing it.

Writing weekly blog posts
Writing guest articles for prominent online publications in your field
Doing live social media video streams
Hosting your own podcast
And many other ways to get your ideas out into the world

But those take a lot more work than you sharing your tips and tricks and advice in a 20- to 40-minute podcast interview.

You know your field and topics backwards and forwards. It's what you do day in and day out in your business. So the preparation time will probably be minimal.
You build a relationship with the podcast host.
That relationship could turn into referrals for customers and clients or entry into a network of other podcast hosts and influencers in that field.
The podcast host will likely give the listeners easy ways to find you.
With TV, you probably won't get to promote your business at all. Now I'll explain in another podcast how you can promote your business on TV, but it's more indirect.

With radio, you probably will be allowed to promote yourself and your business at the end of the interview. But people are listening to radio in their cars mostly, and they won't be able to write down your website or phone number. By the time they get home, they may have forgotten about it. Plus, it's audio only, so they can't "see" your website address or phone number.

With podcasts, the host will often put links to your site and social...