The Podcast Generation: How Interior Designers Are Transforming their Business with This New Media Trend
Podcasts take its roots from 2004 by journalist Ben Hammersly in a newspaper article for The Guardian. It first came in different terms before it became widely popular— Audioblogging, GuerillaMedia— but what stuck till this generation was the term “Podcasting”. On that year, podcasting was developed by former MTV VJ Adam Curry and software developer Dave Winer when they coded a program called iPodder which can download internet radio broadcasts to their iPods—you’ll remember back then that iPods were all the rage in the early 2000s.
Today, podcasts are one of the major avenues for inspiration and collaboration, and they go hand in hand with the growth of social media. In 2019, 45% of the world used social media for any kind of purpose, and an average internet user spends nearly 2.5 hours browsing through social media. For podcasts, we see a myriad of them flourishing every day—and it goes without saying—there is a podcast for just about any discipline imaginable, just name it. Last year, approximately 165 million people listened to a podcast, with 90 million Americans listening monthly. Taking the unfortunate global spread of COVID-19 with which the entire world was encouraged to stay home, these statistics would likely be much more significant considering the internet was one of the first major avenues we turned to for information, collaboration and entertainment.
If you are an interior designer looking for ways to grow your business, podcasts should be in your to-do list. With a plethora of marketing initiatives you can tap into, one cannot deny the substantial exposure you can get out of being guested in a podcast. Being seen, heard or known in whatever digital platform means business—it develops you as your own brand.
Why are podcasts so popular?
Simple. It is fun, convenient and widely accessible. Podcasts offer a totally different dimension to media because, just like music, they can be accessed anywhere. You can listen to one during your morning commute, or getting in the shower, or folding your laundry, or hitting a half-hour sprint in the treadmill. It also gathers communities that thrive within a specific discipline. For interior designers, we have several podcasts channels all dedicated for the love of design, and the design community as a whole. Podcasts unite us, and it’s a way to talk about different situations, struggles, stories, advice and tips. With interior design podcasts, you not only appreciate the life of a designer, but you also appreciate them as a person, and that makes it better than other media.
So what are these interior design podcast channels the industry has been raving about? This year, people in the industry have been raving about the following.:
1. A Well-Designed Business – hosted by LuAnn Nigara, A Well-Designed business interviews thought-leaders in the industry—their insights, best-practices and success stories.
2. Design Biz Survival Guide – a podcast that features interior design professionals and the ways they do business.
3. The Chaise Lounge Podcast – host Nick May interviews an interior designer each week to talk about their business, aesthetics and best practices to inspire people.
4. Designers Getting Coffee – Hosted by Denver interior designer Kate Bendewald and Atlanta interior designer Lesley Myrick with fresh interviews every Friday to discuss how to run a business with a head and a heart.
5. Design Milk’s “Clever” – hosted by Amy Devers and Jamie Derringer where they talk to some of the most inspiring figures in the design world—their stories, tips for success and more.
We can come up with a longer list of suggestions hopefully in our next articles dedicated to design podcasts, but those are examples of channels we personally know and take inspiration from as well.
Photo by Elice Moore on Unsplash
Why are podcasts important for interior designers?
We saw substantial growth in the number of designers turning into podcasts as a source of information and inspiration, and a place to market their business. Why so?
Convenience. Interior Designers are probably one of the busiest people you’ll ever know, so while we’re rushing between gates and pressing toward deadlines, playing a design podcast makes it all bearable, if not fun. Who doesn’t like listening to some entertaining conversation?
Community. The design community is an ecosystem of people whose expertise are intertwined—contractors, architects, technicians, etc.—and it’s nice to stay connected with the whole community. Podcasts have made all of us in this design ecosystem talk about issues and topics in the language we all speak the same.
Growth. Being guested in a podcast show can grow a designer’s audience to exponential levels. At the end of the day, it’s your business that should be the top priority. Podcasts give you exposure, and exposure can open a plethora of opportunities for you, revenue-wise.
Before we discuss how you can get yourself a chance to be featured in a podcast, you might want to check out this great interview on how you can grow your business with media exposure.: Podcast Interview: Power Talk Friday: Natalie Norcross: 5 Things To Do To Get PR
As a Public Relations agency, the core of what we do is to bridge the gap between you and the media so you can get exposure in design magazines, websites and interior design podcasts.
Are you interested to land a spot in one of those design podcast episodes? We can help you get there. Request a consultation HERE.