71. Podcasts are a Tool for Amplifying Your Influence
A Powerful Tool
For some people, podcasts operate as a form of entertainment or the modern version of a radio show.
But podcasts can be powerful tools for creators.
Produced with intentionality, podcasts can be a fundamental part of how you create impact in the world with your brand, your business, and yourself.
Erica Courdae joins India to discuss their perspectives on how their podcasts have evolved, and how to use podcasts as tools for your life and your brand.
Listen on your favorite podcast player or keep reading to learn:
How a podcast can support your core messages
Why a podcast is a platform for thought leadership
How to use your privilege and amplify your influence with your podcast
How to go from passive to active learning and integration
Content with a Purpose
On the Flaunt Your Fire® podcast, Erica Courdae says that when she started podcasting, it was more like an audio blog of conversations, without as much forethought of how the episode could be useful to Pause on the Play® as a brand.
The question she wasn’t asking was “How is this not something that you record and it lives and dies on this audio track?”
India agrees and says that because of the amount of effort that can go into producing a podcast episode, “you don’t want to put in all that effort into something that feels temporary and…doesn’t get repurposed in any kind of way.”
Your Core Messages
Erica says that when you’re thinking about creating a podcast as a brand, it’s important to consider if there are topics or concepts that repeatedly come up in relation to your work.
“It makes sense to be able to be really clear and to create some episodes that lay out, what are the cornerstones? Where did this come from for me? Why does this matter so much?”
And you can revisit those concepts as you continue to evolve, and take your listeners or readers on that journey with you.
India adds that those core messages also give you “the opportunity to really share what you do and make it clear…what people can expect from your brand if they were to work with [you].
Giving people that chance to get to know you and your perspective and approach makes the sales process, “more clear, more simple, more easy, and really it’s just going to be a matter of figuring out what’s the best offer for them versus are you the right person for them.”
She says those core messages and concepts inform the content of each episode of Erica’s podcast, Pause on the Play®.
“Even if it’s a guest episode, those guest episode themes and topics were still selected to support these core concepts that you can expect when you work with Pause on the Play® or [directly with Erica].”
Erica adds that core content also supports her trademark on phrases like “Imperfect Allyship®.”
“It makes it really easy for someone to be able to figure out…what does this mean? They can come and explore what that means…Being able to have things that just point you right back to it, it really does give you these things that you can solidify and grow and amplify within your business. And Imperfect Allyship® is a great example of that.”
Thought Leadership
India says that podcasting around your core messages is also a platform for thought leadership.
She says if your core messages “spark something inside of you that you’re passionate about, then there’s no way that you’re not going to just naturally continue to talk about that. And that becomes what you are known for. You are the thought leader in those topics, in those concepts. You’re changing the way people think about those things.”
Erica adds that real thought leadership requires intentionality and considering what about your perspective is unique to you and your brand.
“It’s important that you are clear on what that is, because if not, nobody else is going to be clear on it. And then you definitely can’t put it into podcast episodes on a consistent basis.”
India says that’s why she believes it is essential that working on your core messages is a process that you’re deeply involved with, even if you’re working with an outside service provider to clarify and package those messages.
“It should be a collaborative process where they are extracting the thoughts that you already have, the unpopular opinions, the different perspectives that you already have,” and packaging that in a way that your team or other service providers can readily understand.
Erica agrees and says that “It absolutely has to be yours, because if it’s not yours, you can’t fully embody it…And if you can’t do that, then that means that you’re going to have trouble being able to talk about it over and over and over and over again.”
India adds, “when you are looking at podcasts, especially your own, or being a guest on others, as a tool for your thought leadership and really being known for a specific way of thinking or approaching something, you have to be consistent…If you feel bored about what you’re talking about, it’s a good sign. Maybe [you] need to find a new spin on it, but it means you’re being consistent.”
Using Your Privilege
India says that a podcast is also a tool for using your privilege to contribute something to the world.
“Having a podcast, in my opinion, is a privilege. It’s something that has the ability to reach many people, to impact people’s lives. And it is something that also requires a certain amount of access and financial or tech privilege as well…It’s also an opportunity to explore, how do you want to use that privilege?”
She says podcasts are an opportunity to share your platform and amplify other brands, people, and creators.
Erica likens having a podcast to inviting people into your home.
“You’re talking about things that go deep below the surface sometimes. And we’re talking about things that sometimes aren’t easy…I think about when we had the episode with Safe House on Pause on the Play®, like that was a very deep subject to go into.”
She says that she looks at Pause on the Play® “as an opportunity to share people that not only have created awesome things, but in some of these cases have services that they offer…And I think it’s an opportunity to be able to let you know about a concept, an item, a thought process, or a service provider, or just a human that you didn’t know about.”
India says that it’s also a chance to learn about a different side of your guests that maybe you hadn’t witnessed before.
“We’ve had guests more than once on the podcast and each time, they’re revealing a different side of themselves or a different side of the way that they think, or their lived experience.”
Giving Back and Education
Podcasts can also be a way of giving back to the community, whether that’s a specific community or a general audience, India says.
Erica agrees and says that because education can be kept behind gates and paywalls, “having a podcast gives you an opportunity to remove some of the paywall because you are sharing education and perspectives and knowledge with people. You’re sharing real life experiences, what someone else’s normal is to give you the opportunity to reconsider your normal.”
She says that education is about sharing experiences, concepts, and contexts so that we can grow and learn from each other, and podcasts are a way to do that in a very valuable way.
India adds that sharing experiences and education can also be a way to fill in the gaps that exist in even the best educational environments.
Erica agrees and says that podcasts can also be more accessible to people with different learning styles.
“They can absorb it in the way that their brain and their body can actually integrate in, versus just letting it be in liminal space because they didn’t truly get to hold it.”
Integrating What You’re Learning
India notes that she often listens to podcasts while she’s doing something else, so they’re not getting her undivided attention. She wonders if that creates a barrier to integration and taking action.
Erica says it is important to ask yourself if you’re truly getting takeaways and making them part of your habits, routines, or mindset.
“I do think it’s important to figure out if there’s something that you got from it and what’s next, what do I do with this?”
But she does acknowledge that it can take repeated exposure to content and concepts to pick up all of the pieces.
“You have to allow yourself to pick up what it is that you were supposed to pick up at that point, but also give yourself time to come back and revisit it…We have to give our brains and our bodies some type of signal that, hey, I want to hold on to that part.”
India says that for her, quickly noting takeaways or actions she wants to take after she listens to a podcast has been helping her integrate what she’s listening to.
And beyond making those notes for herself, she says that sharing those takeaways and actions in community, “taking it from just that one liner to conversation with other people who I know care about me, I know want to keep me accountable for my goals, has made all the difference.”
She adds, “having those conversations about ideas, what you’re learning, new concepts and things like that, there’s something that just kind of lights a fire in both people…And you leave feeling energized in a way that conversations about past events or conversations about other people can kind of bring things down.
Erica agrees and adds, “That type of conversation and context and knowledge and connection is what creates wisdom.”
It also changes the tenor of your relationships to focus your conversation on concepts and ideas rather than other people or events.
Erica says, “I think it’s important to have an awareness of who’s around you personally professionally so that you can be clear on who you can have these types of really powerful conversations with to help that evolution and that integration, so that you can take it from just passive learning to active learning and really move it into that space of okay, now I am widening my wisdom base.”
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