Product Genius, the Podcast for Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and Startups

The Producer Speaks: How Podcasting Can Help Inventors Build an Audience and a Network

Inventors spend a lot of time thinking about how to get people interested in a product.

Advertising is one answer.

Social media is another.

But there is another medium that can do something those channels often struggle to accomplish: give people enough time with you to actually feel like they know you.

In this Flash of Genius mini-episode, Steven Julian and Noah McNeely turn the microphone toward Product Genius producer Jodey Smith to talk about podcasting—and why inventors and entrepreneurs may want to consider either creating a podcast of their own or appearing as a guest on someone else’s.

Podcasting Is More Than an Audience-Building Tool

When people think about starting a podcast, they usually think about audience size.

How many downloads can I get?

How many subscribers?

How quickly can I become the next enormous podcasting celebrity?

Jodey points out that one of podcasting’s most valuable benefits can exist even when the audience is relatively small:

Access.

Having a podcast gives you a legitimate reason to contact interesting people and invite them into a conversation.

Jodey has spoken with Grammy winners, television actors, musicians, CEOs, and other people he might never have had an opportunity to meet otherwise.

And interestingly, they did not necessarily ask how large his audience was.

They were invited to have a conversation about something they cared about.

For an inventor entrepreneur, that can be enormously valuable.

Your Podcast Can Become a Networking Engine

Imagine you are developing a product in the outdoor industry.

A podcast could give you a reason to interview retailers, product designers, athletes, manufacturers, industry experts, trade-show organizers, and other people who understand that market.

You are creating content for an audience.

But you are also building relationships.

That is what Jodey calls one of the “fringe benefits” of podcasting.

The interview itself may last 30 or 45 minutes.

The relationship can last much longer.

For inventors, who frequently need expertise, introductions, feedback, partnerships, and industry contacts, that networking value can be every bit as important as the number of people listening.

You Don’t Have to Already Be the Expert

Another misconception is that you need to be an established authority before starting a podcast.

Not necessarily.

Jodey explains that a podcast can document a journey.

That format can be particularly natural for an inventor.

Product development already has a story built into it.

Where did the idea come from?

What problem are you trying to solve?

How did the first prototype fail?

What did customers tell you?

How did you find a manufacturer?

What surprised you about tooling?

What happened when you finally launched?

An audience can follow the process as it unfolds.

Instead of pretending to have every answer, you can invite knowledgeable people onto the show and learn alongside the listener.

Over time, the podcast becomes both content and a record of the business journey.

Long-Form Content Builds Familiarity

Steven points out another strength of podcasting: it is long-form marketing.

A social-media post may earn a few seconds of attention.

A podcast can put your voice in someone’s ears for half an hour or more.

That creates a different kind of connection.

Listeners hear how you think.

They hear your personality.

They hear your story.

They hear how you respond to questions and how you interact with guests.

Over time, that familiarity can build trust.

For an inventor trying to develop a brand around a product—or an entrepreneur trying to establish credibility within an industry—that can be powerful.

Being a Podcast Guest Can Be Even Easier

Of course, not every inventor wants to become a podcaster.

There is equipment to understand.

Episodes to plan.

Guests to schedule.

Audio to edit.

Shows to publish.

And apparently a producer is required to make Noah and Steven sound considerably better than they do in real life.

Fortunately, you can get many of the benefits without producing a show yourself.

Become a guest.

When you appear on an established podcast, you gain access to an audience someone else has already built.

That audience also receives you with a certain amount of borrowed credibility: the host thought you were interesting enough to invite onto the show.

For an inventor launching a product, guest appearances can be a useful way to tell the origin story, explain the problem, educate potential customers, and introduce the invention without relying entirely on traditional advertising.

Choose Podcasts With the Right Audience

The important question is not simply whether a podcast is large.

It is whether the listeners are relevant.

Steven compares it to being an opening act for a musician.

If you are opening for an artist whose audience has no interest in what you do, the size of the crowd may not matter very much.

The same applies to podcast appearances.

An inventor with a specialized woodworking tool may benefit far more from appearing on a modest but respected woodworking podcast than on a much larger show whose listeners have no particular interest in tools or woodworking.

Audience alignment matters.

Find the people who already care about the problem your product solves.

A Good Podcast Still Requires Production

This episode also provides a useful reminder that podcasting involves more than talking into a microphone.

Noah freely admits that without Jodey, Product Genius might consist of Noah and Steven sitting across a table having a conversation nobody else ever hears.

Recording quality matters.

Editing matters.

Publishing matters.

Consistency matters.

Technical details matter.

A producer can remove friction from all of those things so the host can concentrate on the content.

That is similar to product development itself.

You can learn every discipline yourself.

Or you can decide which parts deserve your time and bring in specialists for the rest.

Podcasting Can Support the Brand Behind the Product

For inventor entrepreneurs, one of the most interesting possibilities is using a podcast to build something larger than a single SKU.

A product may have a finite set of features.

A brand can own a conversation.

An inventor developing a product for parents might create content about the broader problem the product addresses.

A fitness-product entrepreneur might interview coaches, athletes, therapists, and researchers.

A kitchen-product inventor might talk with chefs and food entrepreneurs.

Now the company is not merely saying, “Buy our thing.”

It is participating in the community surrounding the thing.

That can create relationships and authority that remain valuable even as the product line evolves.

And Then There Are the Smurfs

Naturally, no Product Genius conversation about podcast strategy can remain entirely focused on podcast strategy.

Jodey reveals that Steven apparently sounds like Smurfette before post-production.

This leads to Gargamel, Christian-school television restrictions, Hulk Hogan’s wrestling cartoon, Mr. T, Turbo Teen, and Mystery Science Theater 3000.

There is probably no direct go-to-market lesson here.

Although if your podcast contains enough personality that listeners willingly follow you through a discussion of 1980s cartoons, you may be doing something right.

The Product Genius Take

Podcasting can be useful to an inventor in two different ways.

Start a show and you can build an audience, develop authority, document your entrepreneurial journey, and create opportunities to meet people you might never otherwise reach.

Appear on other people’s shows and you can borrow access to audiences that already exist.

Neither strategy requires millions of listeners to be worthwhile.

The right conversation with the right audience—or the right guest—can create relationships, credibility, and opportunities that extend far beyond the episode itself.

Your invention needs marketing.

But marketing does not always have to look like an advertisement.

Sometimes it looks like sitting down with an interesting person, turning on a microphone, and having a conversation worth hearing.

Just make sure you have somebody like Jodey around to fix your Smurfette voice afterward.