Episode Summary
At this point, most companies understand what a branded podcast is. And marketers are starting to learn how to use a podcast as a foundation for a lot of great content for both prospects & customers.
But your normal, publicly-accessible podcast is typically used as a way to grow your audience. How can your business gain a competitive advantage with an internal podcast?
In this episode, Tristan Pelligrino speaks with Craig Hewitt, the Founder of Castos. Castos is a podcasting platform that helps podcasters grow their audience and offer exclusive content through public or private podcasts.
During the conversation, the two uncover the difference between a public podcast and a private podcast…and discuss how a private podcast can help build a stronger workplace culture and bridge the gap between marketing and sales teams.
Guest Profile
- Name: Craig Hewitt
- What he does: Craig is the founder of Castos, a podcasting platform that helps podcasters grow their audience through public podcasts or offer exclusive content through private podcasts.
- Company: Castos
- Noteworthy: Craig is also the founder of PodcastMotor, a company that used to build and optimize podcast feeds.
Key Insights
- Public podcasts grow the audience. Private podcasts offer exclusive content. Craig distinguishes between private and public podcasting, pointing out the uses of each. "You can use podcasting as a marketing tool to grow your brand. And then you can use private podcasting as a way to share information with a select group of people."
- Private podcasts are the "step away" experience for teams. Craig believes that companies that share private podcasts internally with their teams can provide them with an outstanding learning experience beyond the usual internal communications. "We do private podcasts for companies wanting to share information internally with their teams. And the term they use is the 'step away' experience. They say, 'I want my employees not to have to be on another freaking zoom call, read another eight-page memo or a blog post, or attend a webinar, a live stream, or whatever garbage that we're all doing. I want them to be able to consume this piece of content.'"
- Private podcasting for teams can be informal and intimate. According to Craig, private podcasts can create a meaningful connection within teams and companies, especially since COVID hit and companies started to work remotely. "I am very casual talking with our team. And I know Matt from our team has the internal podcast for our academy members. He flips the mic on and doesn't edit it. It's five minutes, and it's raw and casual. And that's how it should be. I think that private podcasting, even for teams, can be really informal and intimate and create this connection within the company."
“Private podcasting is a concept that hip companies are just getting…and other companies aren’t even aware of.”
Craig Hewitt
Founder
Castos
Episode Highlights
Castos: Diving into the World of Private Podcasting
“The concept of private podcasting got into vogue about this time last year, with the pandemic. People were saying, ‘I have all this stuff I want to do with people. And I can’t see them in person.’ And so we saw the opportunity to say, ‘We do this. You can manage who has access to your content.’ And it turns out that it has been interesting for a lot of different kinds of applications and personas from a business perspective.
People are loving what we’re offering, and it’s fulfilling a big need for them. The core of what we do hasn’t changed – conventional podcasts hosting, WordPress integrations, etc. We’re layering on top of that; this focus and the ability for folks to manage private podcasts on the platform.”
Audio Is the Right Piece of Content for Teams & Companies
“Audio is the right medium for this piece of content that we want to create. But that’s not always the case. There are things where the video is absolutely the way that you should do this. There are things where written content, an internal blog post, an email, or a memo is the right thing to do.
But when you’re walking the dog or when you’re working out, or some people are commuting again, you can tune into this and catch up on this. And so, companies are giving their employees the ability to consume the right piece of content in the right format and the right way.”
B2B Companies Can Use Private Podcasting Internally with Their Teams
“Podcasts are like sales enablement, information to help sales teams operate better. We’ve seen a lot around diversity and inclusion from HR and communication teams internally talking about initiatives within companies that they want to share with people.
If there’s a way you want to communicate with your team and anything you want to talk to them about, there’s no wrong answer here. If audio is the right medium for it, then it fits in this box well.”
With Internal Podcasting, Privacy is the Biggest Consideration
“I think that some of the biggest considerations with private podcasting are privacy. Who from a company has access to this? How do we know it’s secure? How do we know that Bob can’t go share the private feed on Reddit?
But there’s no way around it. Someone could not share that feed with someone outside of the company. The app is super secure. The files are streamed only. They’re not downloaded. So someone can’t go and share it and email it to someone else. We at Castos do that intentionally.”
Can Podcasting Help with the Hiring Process?
“We’re hiring for a few different roles right now, and the place of the podcast comes in. We talk to customers and prospects about podcasts all the time. If you want to know if I’m the right person to work with, or you would like to work with me, check out my podcast.
I have 85 episodes talking about what I think about this topic. How I act, who we are, and everything. And I send that to people who apply for roles with us now. So they apply for jobs with us, and so we do screening and interviewing. And at some point, I send it to them and say, ‘Hey, here’s my podcast. And here’s our audience podcast. Take a look and listen to both of these to see if you think that we are the kind of person you want to work with.'”
The Future Releases by Castos
“We are releasing the opportunity for audience members to participate in a conversation. But before that, there will be the ability for our customers to charge money for their content right on the platform.
Private podcasting right now needs to integrate with a membership tool, like Zapier API. And we’re building all that in the platform to where you can say, ‘Go to myshow.castos.com/premium, put your email address and sign up. It’s ten bucks a month to get the awesome content that I don’t put up publicly.’ And that is coming in the next couple of months.”
