Episode Summary
Without a doubt, podcasts can help your technology company create an entire marketing flywheel. Companies use their shows to explore industry trends, build trust with their audience, and connect their product to customers.
But the real power of podcasting lies in the fact that it allows hosts to develop a strong personal brand, irrespective of your podcast’s topic or industry.
In this episode of the Recorded Content podcast, our host Justin Brown welcomes James Furbush, the VP of Marketing at AccessOne and the host of the Modern Patient Experience Podcast. They talk about the benefits of podcasting, why it’s worth your time and resources, and how to fight the imposter syndrome while interviewing subject-matter experts.
Guest Profile
- Name: James Furbush
- What he does: He's the VP of Marketing at AccessOne.
- Company: AccessOne
- Noteworthy: James is the host of the Modern Patient Experience Podcast, where he interviews executives from hospitals, health systems, and provider groups to equip healthcare leaders with new ideas and tactical advice.
Key Insights
- Podcasting is an excellent medium for personal branding. As the host of a company-focused podcast, James contributes significantly to his company's brand and reputation. But being a podcaster is also incredibly valuable to his personal brand. He explains, "I actually use the podcast in some ways to sort of challenge myself as to what I'm capable of. And I think it does very much feed into my personal brand, maybe not so much outwardly on LinkedIn, but if I decide to go to another company and bring those skills, that's all part of my personal brand. Having that podcast, having the ability to say that I've run a podcast and I've done all of this stuff, I think, is very valuable for my brand if I bring that to another company."
- Is podcasting still worth it? Podcasting has become one of the most powerful marketing tools, especially since the COVID outbreak. But it takes a lot of time and preparation. That's why many marketers have doubts about launching a podcast for their company. James believes podcasting is absolutely worth the time and effort. "I think seeing the reaction to it has proven what I thought. Even though we're not going to have this massive audience and be in the top 1% of downloads and yada yada, it could still bring value to our kind of revenue engine and the sales and marketing process from a marketing, content and sales cycle standpoint. So, for me, it's absolutely worth it when you weigh it against all the things that it helps with in a company."
- A podcast is the engine that can drive immense business growth. Not everyone will be on board with your marketing ideas, but that's a part of the process. What matters is that you believe in your tactics, and eventually, everyone else will too. James says he always knew that podcasting is the engine that will drive their ship to the promised land. "Once they started to see the quality of guests that we were getting and things like that, at some point, it was like, you can't stop. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't stop now. So, when you feel, 'I don't even know if this is worth doing, but I'm going to go out and take a leap of faith,' and then you see it sort of work and other people within the company buy into it once they've seen the value, that is a really good feeling."
“In healthcare, there aren’t a ton of good podcasts.”
James Furbush
VP of Marketing
AccessOne
Episode Highlights
The art of open-ended questions in podcasting
“I have learned the fine art of the open-ended question. It’s more important to get my guest to talk than it is for me. I think that when I run the podcast, it’s almost like I want to be invisible in some ways. I think a lot of it is my journalism background — that training in doing a lot of the upfront preparation. […] Compiling all of that, organizing it, and creating a dossier so that if the interview does deviate from the script and sort of where we think we’re initially going to take it, I’m well-prepared to lob out good follow-up questions and good open-ended questions.”
How to fight the imposter syndrome as a podcast host
“I think the other thing about journalism is — you build connections with people and you learn how to make small talk, build rapport, and get people to open up to you. You develop sources, and you get people who, in some ways, want to talk to you and share information. I bring them over and you realize that, yes, they are the CEO of a large health system or whatever, but they put their pants on one leg at a time just like us. They have interests outside of work, and you build a connection over whatever it may be. They like soccer or football, or they like to go for runs and you kind of build that relationship. And eventually that imposter syndrome of, ‘I can’t believe I have no business being in the same room as these people,’ disappears.”
Do you have to be a subject-matter expert to host a podcast?
“I think my background gave me the confidence to be able to say, ‘Maybe I’m not as qualified as a subject-matter expert, like my CEO or someone else, but I can still do 80%.’ And maybe that 80% is good enough. I would encourage anyone who’s thinking about starting a podcast to seriously weigh those two things because then if you have the subject-matter expert, maybe you’re only doing one podcast a month. Is that frequency enough?”
