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I need to spend a little more time on the Mix/Sizzle & Shake Your Business (MSSYBiz) Podcast in 2023. But, in thinking about doing so, I thought I’d take a look at the most popular shows MSSYBiz has produced since the show’s inception in 2017 and share them with you.

In case you aren’t aware, the MSSYBIZ podcast was started as a challenge. The challenge was based on using the Anchor.fm App, now owned by Spotify. But, the biggest challenge to it, especially for a word girl like me, was the 5-minute time limit per episode.

Surprisingly, the 5-minute constraint inadvertently was an excellent lesson in clarity and conciseness. Making every word count while delivering value to listeners was a good practice. And there was no doubt I’d want to talk about everything business and content.

I love business and always have, and content is now the crux of what I do in current digital and writing projects. Noticing my LinkedIn profile the other day; it says I’m at this digital dance, starting with writing projects primarily for business web copy, for nine and a half years now! Wow. That surprised me but made me sigh a little in thinking about how far I’ve come. It feels nice to have confidence that I know my stuff in this space. Finally.

Now, content IS business for me, and I love the extraordinary opportunities I bump into hanging in the digital space. But, the company I ran for decades— before becoming oh so digital— gives me a solid and spicy-rich background in business. Because running a business gives you big and small lessons along the way and plenty of stories to help business owners.

Podcasts Help

Podcasts help people. I can’t tell you how good it feels when someone who listens to an episode says they got something usable for their business from listening. It absolutely tickles me and is probably why I continue to do them despite a small audience (so far)! Doing a podcast also helps me. So that’s a good reason to put more effort into doing more of them this year.

Giving your business a voice helps people get to know you better. In the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI), audio content is a faster yet organic way to express yourself and share your valuable content. Podcasts are also a way to repurpose other content to reach new audiences or offer current friends another way to consume your content. Win-win.

One thing I didn’t consider in naming the podcast and was likely a mistake is the size of a podcast thumbnail. I adopted the name from my initial business Newsletter title and still like the concept. However, I didn’t think about how long that name is for a thumbnail, the key visual, impacting visibility, and recognizability.

If you’re new to podcasting or audio content, take your visual id seriously, and remember, when naming/designing, the limitations of the small screen and the thumbnail are imperative.

From a technical perspective, quality sound is absolutely THE most important thing you must get right to help people enjoy what you’re producing. This sound quality issue is also acute and needs to be a priority, even if you decide to do a video podcast, which is getting increasingly popular.

See Me Hear Me

Okay, here comes a little more honesty if you find it helpful. I confess. I think the idea of podcasts being produced as video content for YouTube and other reasons was a trend, something I’m supposed to do. But, it slowed me down. It intimidated me. It even stopped me. And more times than I care to admit. Even if I said, I confess!

So, this year, the show must go on. And audio, which I’ve enjoyed all along, can be my primary, or ONLY, podcast content if that’s how it pans out. By releasing myself from the chains of the different production needs of video, I know my shows can air more often and consistently.

In the beginning, I did many audio recordings on the fly. Producing that way was easier and more fun, in truth. Remembering that takes some pressure off, too. Remember, you can start simply also. If you want to take your podcast to video or even livestream your episodes, go for it. Still, it’s okay to dip your foot into podcasting and let your voice out first.

I don’t like having a schedule for anything, although there’s no such thing as missing a business deadline. However, consistency doesn’t have to be scheduled, especially with the OnDemand culture we now are. So, for me— and maybe for you, too— consistency feels easier if I allow myself to go back to doing some shows on the fly. And by that, I mean either in the moment or with flexibility, like not having to be in a full studio set up to record a show.

Get Your Voice Out

Let me know if this happens to you. But I have a million shows in the works, many of which are probably done enough to record and publish. And yet, they sit there in a frozen idea state or half-written, sometimes even entirely written, limbo.

As a recovering perfectionist, it helps me to think of many other creators who amass a mountain of their work because they weren’t afraid to stop perfecting or silly enough to abandon their work but instead published, painted, photographed, or wrote songs, poems, or whatever with a seemingly unending need to get it out there. This just may be the year to think the same.

Write. Produce. Record. Publish. But not haphazardly, like for the challenge that got me started. Now, it’s about honing in on a topic to help listeners in some way but, at the same time, relates back to my core business topics to drive potential clients to me via podcasting.

Create Touchpoints with a Signature Sound

Your voice is a powerful tool. It lets people get to know you. Jodi Krangle, a voice actor, says this about your audio brand, “Brands are starting to realize that a comprehensive discussion about how they SOUND is as important as what they look like. It’s not just about a sonic logo, either. It’s about sound that follows through with a company’s DNA, stays true to it, and is heard in multiple touchpoints (on hold, commercials, public spaces, internal presentations, speaking engagements, etc.).” *quote from 100 Livestreaming and Digital Media Predictions by Ross Brand, 2023.

Jodi’s voice is the voice of a who’s who of brands you know and love. Obviously, they are taking the voice of the brand quite seriously. As her site samples prove, clients work with her at the gold-level standard she emphasizes for companies that value a “signature sound.”

Podcasting allows your business to share a human voice, giving your company more personality. The more relatable you are to your audience and potential customers, the better. Building community in 2023 is, or ought to be, a priority for most businesses with the mounting importance of user-generated content, the power of social influencers, and the extra public forum and kick of social media channels.

I don’t know about you, but the more I think about audio content— through podcasts, audio blog content, and new asynchronous apps, like Volley— the better I like the idea of spending a little more time and effort on the Mix/Sizzle & Shake Your Business Podcast, or MSSYBiz, in the upcoming year.

Are you using audio content in one way or another for your business? Share your thoughts below. THX.

Connect with Me on Volley:)