Holly Shannon builds podcasts for businesses as a tool to highlight thought leadership, capitalize on a branding tool, funnel lead generation to make for an agile sales force, and provide a myriad of marketing tools with endless content. Knowing that a podcast gives global reach, Holly implements this in the B2B market to give their voice and ideas a place on iTunes and Spotify to grow their business footprint.
Holly created the podcast Culture Factor 2.0 to address the framework of business in the new normal. To explore culture as the strategy, she looks in places we haven’t before. Holly believes that to understand the human side of company culture and the new shape it is taking we have to look at culture from start-ups to venture capital to the gig economy and beyond. She scaled Culture Factor to be in the Top 2.5% globally in a pool of 2.4+ million ranked podcasts. It is ranked in the Top 10 in Workplace and Company Culture podcasts.
Holly Shannon is the Author of Zero To Podcast, it hit #1 on AMAZON in Hot New Releases in 2 categories and also made the Top 10 AMAZON Bestseller list in 3 categories. It is carried in the UChicago Co-op Bookstore
Which came first? The podcast. It’s where I learned the strength of the medium and the evergreen content that is produced. Evergreen meaning that your podcast episodes live in perpetuity on all platforms. You can listen to Joe Rogan or Holly Shannon 4 months after downloading our podcast. Also, the idea of creating one was not a far reach for me because I’m a podcast junkie! If you get to know me, I’ll certainly recommend one or two you should listen to.
I created my business, Holly Shannon, to build podcasts because I saw the immense power they have in the business ecosystem. Can you imagine getting in the ears of 100’s of thousands of people? We fight with algorithms on Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Do people see your business? Do they see you? Is your brand on people’s minds? Are you finding new clients or just regurgitating your elevator pitch to the same followers day in and day out?
What if you could share your expertise with the world (literally, the world) and become seen as the thought leader that you are? It could lead to keynote speaking engagements, why not Ted talks? Stepping into your power, sharing your brand, your mission through spoken word. The language was our first communication tool on earth and continues to beguile us with its nuance. The ability to create community, to bring new listeners to your website, build the ‘know, like and trust factor. This is what the podcasting medium can do. Remember, people will log off their computers, but they are always listening to something on their phones. In fact, In 2019, the podcast industry reached 645 million monthly listeners globally, according to PwC, which predicts the industry’s revenues will more than double between 2019 and 2024.
Many people can build a podcast. The differentiating factor about my brand, Holly Shannon, is that I look into your business strategy. Why do you want a podcast? What’s your vision game? Do you want lead generation? To build a community? To be seen as a thought leader? To monetize through e: books and mastermind conferences? Once we determine your why (and there could be more than one), we can build you a podcast that scales the way your B2B needs it to. My background includes large-scale or curated, exclusive events, so I’m capable of executing the whole picture.
I host Clubhouse rooms often and invite anyone to join the club, Zero To Podcast. It is named after my book and is designed to help businesses and individuals tap into their ideas. I workshop with companies there to start the conversation and then move them over to my business as their consultant. I stay for the short-term or long-game, depending on what their goal is. I’m hired for a project to build a podcast or marketing plan but I’m often asked to stay on retainer as a fractional CMO to guide the process and keep the ship on course. It also allows us to grow together and monetize through things like conferences for example. Podcasting is an undertaking and if done well, it puts you in front of a global audience. If neglected, it’ll go nowhere. I’m happy to scale it for your business.
The challenge that befalls any small entrepreneur is the sheer strength it takes to play many parts to have your company succeed. Sometimes the effort feels Herculean. I find my best way to conduct my work is by deploying an offense/defense strategy.
The offensive part of my day starts with me. It consists of a great cup of coffee, exercise, and meditation. Still in offensive mode, I work on client’s podcasts, research and source interviews for my podcast, create content, ghostwrite, record, and work on strategic plans. I then move into a building mode. Ideating on business ideas, articles, and content batch production for social media.
The defensive part starts when I check my email. It changes the order of how I conduct my work if I do it first thing. So giving myself time to stay offensive as long as possible to maintain a flow state and finish projects is critical. But being defensive does not mean anything negative to me. It’s where new business awaits in my inbox. It’s to participate in social media to respond to DM’s and build community. It is scheduling the work that comes in and starting the process with companies that are ready to have their idea on iTunes.
I’m 100% bootstrapped. This was intentional. The creative process is mine. That said, it was important to me to establish myself first. Now I’m beginning to look at growth, collaboration, and partnerships. Either with investors or with other entrepreneurs building a virtual full-service agency. As for charging, I have consulting rates for the business that wants help. I have a ‘Done For You’ model for those that just want to hand over the keys to the car! And lastly, I have a retainer for those that want a fractional CMO for a while as they build. We can craft the seasons of your podcast to ensure you create community and eventually can spin it off into conferences or e: books, whatever your vision.
I believe I will build more podcasts for myself because I’m curious and love the medium. I’ve already begun building Zero To Podcast. This summer I will produce and publish it. I will continue to help B2B. I’m also looking at scaling podcasts and then selling them to businesses or enterprises to have a fully realized podcast that has downloads, community, traction, and a high rating. I’m presently selling Culture Factor 2.0. I think businesses would love to have a podcast that has a built-in audience and is ready for sponsorship and other monetization without having to start from scratch. Why not buy a podcast that is top-rated? Maybe that is a more interesting prospect for an enterprise to acquire a brand.
Entrepreneurship is built only for the passionate. If you wake up and go to sleep every day believing that your idea or product has legs, then you are definitely built to create a successful business. But it is lonely, you make all your own decisions. Sometimes they are wrong, so thick skin helps! Most of the time podcast if your idea and passion line up it is gold. Success looks different to us all. It may not even be about the money for you. It may just be a life goal! You can be an entrepreneur. The successes and failures are part of the process. You will be stronger for it. This is just me speaking the truth into the microphone. And mine is a Samson Q2U if you are a future podcaster and want to know!
Reach out to me, I hope to see you in my inbox at holly@hollyshannon.com