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So you're considering a podcast for your brand and a big, important question has surfaced: Who should host the podcast?
The person or people that host your brand podcast are as important a selection as any other branding you do. Your host has to represent your brand voice, and understand how to carry that voice in everything they do. Why? Because if misaligned, your brand might not reach the people you want to reach in the way you want to reach them. So, get ready... get set... and let's jump into it!
What exactly is a brand voice?
Brand voice is your brand’s personality; the unique way your brand shows up and presents to the world. It finds consistency through all communications (social media, website, blog posts, emails, advertisements) no matter which people or teams are handling which channels. And it can't deviate.
For example, a company selling sportswear will develop a voice that compliments the vernacular of those more aligned with a sports-centric lifestyle while a women's business fashion brand might appeal to more self-confidence and language that emotes empowerment. An automobile manufacturer selling mid-size SUV's might speak more clearly to the people who have families that want to travel in style and comfort as compared to a company selling cars to the two seat sports car lover.
Your host should represent the brand voice authentically.
Your Host and Your Brand Voice
Back in 2008 when Facebook had created groups businesses were able to start creating content for themselves, many businesses jumped on the bandwagon. The problem was, many were giving the "megaphone" that social media provides to someone in their circle that was "good with technology." That meant that at any given moment, someone with the company megaphone was out there broadcast blasting what they thought they should say about a business to anyone that would listen. Rarely did they have a solid (if any) awareness of what the brand voice was, and even fewer actually understood how to communicate in that voice if they did. The result was predictable: many people "un-liking" the business group because they felt they were being billboard advertised to death and yelled out to "buy, buy, buy!" at every corner.
Your host must be able to deeply understand your brand voice. They must understand the language your brand uses, how your brand is should be perceived, and how to use their voice, intellect, knowledge, skills, and interests to accurately represent your brand voice in the world of podcasting.
They Understand How To Interview
In many ways, your host will be a tour guide. They will take the guest and the listener on a journey and like most journeys, there is a destination to be reached. Your host will need to be able to navigate the time they are in the episode so that they can effectively guide the guest and the listening audience through the interview and end at the point they want to end, getting the perfect take-away and closing.
Should There Only Be One Host On A Brand Podcast?
This is a great question with a not-so-easy answer. If you have the ability to do the frequency you want to do and keep one host in the mix, great! This is a great way to build trust between the listening audience and the voice behind the microphone. However, sometimes due to the need to split the work amongst others or to create a certain feel of the podcast, you can have more than one host. In this case, it is important that all hosts rotating through a brand podcast be equally and properly trained on the brand voice, the style, and format of the podcast while still being given the freedom to each express their own style and personality.