Should You Start a Podcast as a REALTOR?
Starting a Local Real Estate Podcast
Podcasting as a real estate agent seems like a great marketing idea and way to generate leads in your local city or town, however, there are over 650,000 podcasts on iTunes. Is this too competitive for a REALTOR® to start up a show and start driving real estate leads?
Yes, the podcasting landscape is crowded. There are endless shows about almost everything imaginable. So would this medium ever be worth jumping into this year?
Without a doubt, yes!
And here is why. Given the number of podcasts in circulation, if you are trying to rank in top 10 for overall podcasts, it’s going to be an uphill battle when you are competing with the like of NPR, Tim Ferriss, and Joe Rogan, but here is the thing, you are not competing with these huge players.
If you are going to start a podcast as a real estate agent, it only makes sense to start a local show. (That is if you are starting the show to help your real estate business)
Here are a few reasons, you can brush off the number of podcasts you will be competing with.
You are not competing with 99.9999% of the podcasts that are out there. As a local podcast, you are hunting for listeners in your city. You don’t need listeners on the other side of the country if you are shooting to drive local real estate sales.
Every medium is crowded. Regardless of where you are planning to share content, you will find that every medium is crowded. There are an estimated 250 million blogs out there and there are 300 minutes of video content uploaded to YouTube every minute. But again, you are not competing with the majority of the blogs and YouTube channels out there.
You just need to stay in your lane and know the reasons for your podcast.
There is nothing wrong with starting a podcast that you want to build into a profitable business, but if you are building the podcast with your real estate business in mind then stay true to your reasons.
One of the biggest mistakes I see with podcasters is either don’t have a clear message or they are not consistent with their production.
If you are not going to be consistent or have a clear message, then podcasting will be a hard medium to find real growth.
The Story of Modern Real Estate Radio
Rev Real Estate School used to be named Modern Real Estate Radio. The show had a surprisingly high number of downloads in a short period of time and we were focused on the real estate industry, however, without any clear direction, we slowed the number of episodes that were released in order to double down on growing our real estate team.
This was a conscious effort as the real estate team was growing as was our real estate brokerage.
Here is the thing, as we slowed the release of new episodes, naturally, the number of downloads and new subscribers decreased.
This was not an issue for us because we needed all hands on deck for the growth of the real estate team and brokerage.
The lesson here is people will become accustomed to your episode launches, so stick with it if your focus is continuous growth.
The Story of Ideas and Stuff
Ideas and Stuff is my local podcast. On this show, I interview local entrepreneurs and interesting people that make my city great. It’s a simple interview style show with a podcast release every 2 weeks.
This show has continued to see growth and subscribers, but here is the thing, the downloads are local people in my city.
When a guest comes on the show and shares the podcast with their network, the majority of people in their circle are people in my city.
Given this, the podcast has continued to grow and gain popularity, but only in my city (which is exactly what I wanted)
Type of Podcast You Can Start as a Real Estate Agent
One of the beautiful things about real estate is you are considered a community leader. You are a local business person who knows what is happening in your city.
If you are a new real estate agent, you will soon find out that people will look to you for information on what is happening in your city: in the real estate arena but also in events, news, politics, and everything else local.
That is why starting a local podcast can be an amazing way to connect with your community.
When you are coming up with ideas for your show, do some quick research to see if there are any other local podcasts out there with a similar idea. Some great local podcast ideas include
Business Spotlights
Interviews with Local Movers and Shakers
Real Estate Updates
Local Events
Local News and Sports Updates
You will see one common thread here: local.
As long as your podcast is local and appeals to a group of people in your city, then pretty much anything goes (within reason).
Timeline
Ok, you are convinced that starting a local podcast is a good idea. Great! But how do you get started? How does this whole podcasting thing work?
Here is the great thing about podcasting, it’s actually fairly easy to get set up and the cost is quite reasonable.
Let’s first look at a potential timeline for you starting your show.
Before you start your podcast, consider the type of show you plan on releasing and develop a marketing plan for your podcast. But also don’t get stuck in “planning land” where you “plan” to start a podcast for the next 2 years.
If you want to start a show, spend a few weeks researching and launch in less than 1 month. (See recommended timeline below)
Week 1:
Research local shows in your community
Listen to other local podcasts in other cities with the same concept as yours
Starting thinking about podcast style (solo, interview, group, on-site show)
Look into podcasting equipment (see below)
Week 2:
Determine a local podcast topic/category
Start to plan your first 5 episodes (see below)
Make a plan of how you will share the podcast to acquire listeners
Purchase your podcast equipment
Week 3:
Purchase your podcast hosting software (I recommend Libsyn - $18/month )
Download your editing software (I recommend Audacity for Windows or GarageBand for Mac - Both FREE)
Record your first show
Week 4:
Edit your first show
Record and edit 5 more shows
Set up your iTunes and Google Play accounts
Launch your first 5 episodes and promote them like crazy!
Of course, this could be much more in depth or it could be much simpler but I think it is best to create a quality show that doesn’t take too much time away from your real estate business nor does it cost a lot to launch.
Why launch with 5 shows?
Podcast listeners are notorious for binge listening to shows. So give the listeners what they want. If you launch with 5 episodes, it gives the listeners a number of shows to listen to. Plus this increases your number of downloads in a short period of time. This improves your chances of hitting the “new and noteworthy” section of iTunes.
Equipment
As mentioned above, I think shooting for middle of the ground is best. You can start a podcast with just your phone or you can spend thousands on studio quality gear. I consider my set up entry level with some particular items required for each of my shows.
Microphone - There are 2 types of microphones that most podcasters will use. USB mics and XLR mics. I use XLR mics usually have better quality but require you to have a recording device whereas USB mics are plug and play but the quality can be a little worse. I use both an XLR mic and USB. For interviews, I want the sound quality to be the best possible and I want 2 audio files for editing (in case the guest speaks louder or softer than me). For my solo shows, I use a USB mic for simplicity.
XLR Mic - Audio Technica - Need to purchase 2 for interviews also you will need cables for your microphone
USB Mic - Blue Yeti
Recording Device - For a USB mic, I just record into GarageBand or Audacity directly. This makes editing a breeze as it is already on my computer ready to role. If I am recording an interview and it set up my XLR Mics, I use a Zoom H6 Recorder.
Pop Filter - For all mics, you will want a pop filter to improve the overall sound quality. These are very inexpensive but make a big difference. There are a number of options to choose from!
My whole set up was less than $1,000 and it has lasted me years. If you want to keep the budget as low as possible, just grab a USB mic and you are off to the races.
Your podcast hosting software is very cost effective (Libsyn) and editing software is free.
Conclusion
Podcasting is a very popular source of information for people. You create an intimate bond with the listener because you are literally talking to them on a daily/weekly/monthly basis.
Pick a show topic that you are interested in and can consistently put out content on a regular schedule and purchase some basic equipment to have good quality sound.
With a good quality podcast, you can be expanding your influence across your city while meeting new people and using the podcast as a vehicle to get your name out across town.
Question:
Have you ever thought of starting a podcast? Let me know in the comments below.
-Michael Montgomery
Podcast Transcript
[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to Rev Real Estate School. The show with quick tips and actionable advice to help you sell more real estate in today's world. And now your host Michael Montgomery.
[00:00:11] Hello and welcome back to Rev Real Estate School. My Name is Michael Montgomery. Have you ever thought of starting your own podcast and wondered hey is this too crowded. Is this a good way to connect with my community? In This episode we are going to talk about if you should start a podcast or not.
[00:00:31] First off podcasts are huge. I don't have to tell you guys because of course you're tuned in and you are already on the podcast train. There are over six hundred and fifty thousand shows on iTunes. That is an absolute ton!
[00:00:48] And there are more shows coming out every single day. So it is a more challenging medium to get started in. But truly what isn't these days YouTube is hard to get started and Instagram's hard to get started and everything has competition. Podcasting is no different but you as a real estate agent should you start one?
[00:01:13] It's an absolute yes. Now let me explain.
[00:01:19] Yes it is crowded. There are a lot of podcasts out there you are competing with a lot. But if you caught the last episode where we talked about local SEO you'll remember that there is an opportunity for real estate agents because they are local businesses with podcasts. Yes there are over six hundred fifty thousand by the time this releases there's probably a ton more.
[00:01:43] You are not competing with ninety nine point nine nine percent of those what you're trying to do is establish yourself as a local podcast or you're not trying to compete with the Joe Rogan's in the NPR and these other podcasts that have millions and millions of downloads. You're only competing on a local scale.
[00:02:03] So what type of show should you release and how challenging is it? The type of show that I'd recommend is the show that I have is in my own city, it is a business spotlight show. I spotlight local businesses and cool entrepreneurs and interesting people within my city doing cool things. And it's been a ton of fun. Yes there's business that comes out of it but not only that I get to connect with so many cool business owners. I release an episode once every two weeks or so when it's just an interview where I sit down and interview the the other business owner. And it's just so much fun.
[00:02:37] That would be one of my recommendations. The next one should come as no surprise but a real estate update show. So just like you maybe do a market update in video form or even in blog form whatever that might be you're doing the same thing but you're doing it in audio form so it's just a local real estate show you can do a lot of cool things with this you can report on statistics and that sort of thing. You can also talk about real estate trends you can talk about development within your city. You can talk about new communities you can talk about anything as it relates to real estate within your community. Another option is talking about news local news local events these sort of things.
[00:03:15] And when you think about podcasting just think of it as a nother medium just like blogging or video or whatever that might be it's just another way that you can reach out and you can connect with your community. So as a real estate agent I think that you are very well set up to do this because you are a leader within your community. And even if you're brand new, you are a future leader within your community. And this podcast medium creates such an intimate way that you can get to know your listener and your listener can get to know you.
[00:03:50] It's not that expensive or challenging to start a simple microphone. You can even use your phone. But I would recommend getting a professional microphone there's a few different options in the show notes. I will link up the microphones that I use I have a couple different microphones one is a USB microphone and just plugs directly into your computer and the other one I use when I'm out on the road and I'm doing interviews and that sort of thing. Then depending on what you have if you have a Windows or a Mac there are free editing software for each. The one that I would recommend for Mac is GradgeBand. It's fairly easy to learn. And if you're a Windows user download Audacity.
[00:04:41] So getting back to podcasts. The thing that you have to remember with the podcast is if you are going to launch one remain consistent with it your listeners will start to prepare themselves for your next episode. So make sure that you stay consistent with it and enjoy the process of doing it. It can be a great medium if you do not love video or if you do not love writing but you still want to produce content. Whatever other types of content that you like to put out. Whether that be video written social media anything it can be a great supplement to your other content sources. So to wrap this up do I think you should start a podcast without a doubt.
[00:05:33] And if you are saying well there's already somebody in my community that has a podcast that is okay you can go a different route with it you can go to the real estate route you can go the business spotlight route you can go the news and events route you can go a different direction if you'd like but just make sure that it is focused on your local community because that is where you shine and that is what's important to you as a real estate agent. That is all for this episode. Thank you so much for listening to it and we will catch you at the next lesson.
[00:06:04] This episode of Rev Real Estate School has come to a close. Thank you for tuning in. We'll see you back here for the next lesson.