Finding the joy in podcasting for a niche market, with Ayo Abbas

"This is my podcast and I need to enjoy doing it." — Ayo Abbas

This week we're so excited to be joined by the wonderful, Ayo Abbas, marketing consultant and host of The Built Environment Marketing Show. This podcast might seem extraordinarily niche on the surface, being dedicated to marketing within the built environment (it’s honestly far more fascinating than it sounds), but it is also a must-listen for anyone in any area of marketing.

Ayo launched her podcast back in the sourdough-making, Netflix-rinsing, hazy days of lockdown, taught herself how to produce like a pro, and has since clocked up more than 100 episodes. So naturally, we wanted to know what six years of consistently making a podcast has taught her, and more importantly, what she can teach us!

We talk about the value of knowing EXACTLY who your podcast is for, especially when you’re operating in a small niche, plus how Ayo has turned her podcast into an integral part of her wider business and content strategy. She shares how episodes generate client enquiries, why she mixes things up with guest interviews and solo episodes, and introduces us to the glorious concept of the marketing wheel - prepare for some lightbulb-moment level excitement.

We also get reassuringly candid about the actual reality of producing a podcast consistently. Spoiler: even after 100+ episodes, Ayo is sometimes still sorting the show notes the night before publication - we’re in good company then.

In this episode:

• How podcasts became Ayo's friends during lonely night feeds, years before she ever considered making one herself
• Why she launched an incredibly niche podcast in the middle of lockdown (and how she taught herself to do it)
• Why Ayo recommends alternating guest interviews with solo episodes
• Why scripting every word can actually make recording a solo episode HARDER
• The joy of making the podcast you actually want to make rather than planning six months of content you'll inevitably get bored of
• How one email became a podcast episode within 24 hours
• Ayo's marketing wheel and how one podcast episode can fuel your newsletters, blogs, social content and more
• The reality of being a little bit "hand to mouth" with podcast production, even when you've been doing it for years
• Why decent audio matters more now than it did when we all started podcasting
• How to use your podcast to attract clients without turning every episode into a sales pitch
• The podcast metrics actually worth paying attention to (and why Ayo is unapologetically obsessed with her analytics)
• Why you probably need to promote your podcast MUCH more than you think
• Video clips aren't everything when it comes to podcast promo: why different people need different types of content
• How making a podcast forces you to get your "cognitive ducks in a row"
• Why sometimes you need to stop tinkering and JUST GET THE BLOODY THING OUT THERE.
• Springs.
• A cat's bumhole.
• Ayo's unexpectedmusical talent...

And if there's one particularly reassuring thing we took away from this conversation, it's that there really isn't a magical point where you suddenly become a Perfect Organised Podcaster™.

Ayo has been doing this for six years and has built a successful, established podcast in an extremely niche corner of the internet, but that doesn’t mean she feels like she’s the finished product. She's still experimenting, following ideas when they excite her, occasionally finishing things at the last minute and figuring stuff out as she goes.

Maybe that's not something we need to "get better at" after all. Maybe that's just podcasting...

Enjoy!

Buckers & Katie x

About Ayo Abbas

Ayo Abbas is an award-winning built environment marketing consultant and the host of The Built Environment Marketing Show. With 25 years' experience in marketing, including working with major engineering and construction businesses, Ayo now helps architecture, engineering and construction firms develop smarter marketing strategies, tell better technical stories and win the work they want.

Her podcast launched in July 2020 as Marketing in Times of Crisis before evolving into The Built Environment Marketing Show, combining interviews with industry experts and Ayo's own solo thoughts on marketing.

Connect with Ayo:

Website: www.abbasmarketing.com

LinkedIn: Ayo Abbas

Instagram: @ayoabbas

Listen to Podcast ‘The Built Environment Marketing Show’

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