If you struggle to find time to network, consider speaking as a guest on podcasts instead.

Establish your authority

Podcasting raises personal brand awareness and publicizes the leader in a one-to-many format raising visibility and establishing credibility in the marketplace.

The podcast market has grown by 29.5% in the last three years. There are currently 120 million podcast listeners in the U.S., and industry experts predict there will be over 160 million podcast listeners by 2023 (Buzzsprout, 2022).

For business leaders and CEOs with little time, podcasts are an effective way to communicate their brand message. Furthermore, many leaders relish attending networking events to help spread their message and communicate their expertise.

However, others are not natural networkers (I would be one of those people)—but are still terrific leaders with a brand-worthy message. Some leaders prefer to engage in in-depth conversations about their expertise and other topics of intrinsic interest rather than socializing at a cocktail party or post-conference dinner.

The benefits of podcasting are 3-fold:

• To assert your authority as a business leader in your field
• To form relationships with the audience and build community
• To increase your digital presence with a fast-growing, mobile, and easily accessible medium

Podcasts for visibility within a corporation

Sometimes, the board or CEO needs to raise corporate visibility externally beyond the industry to pique the interest of investors, customers, suppliers, and other benefactors. Often when a new CEO takes the company public they may benefit from a heightened profile. Doing so can assist in improving the quality of key external relationships, including joint ventures, philanthropists, and unique supplier relationships, as examples.

Furthermore, the CEO may be well-known industry-wide but may not have the required relationships and visibility to attract, engage, and recruit institutional investors. This is especially relevant when the company has recently merged or re-branded.

Westgate’s solution to this challenge involves raising visibility and credibility by positioning the CEO for a board appointment in a company outside the industry. A strategy that complements this initiative is speaking on podcasts. Public speaking is also impactful, but podcasts have longevity. Done correctly, they can be evergreen and serve you well into the future, thereby building your leadership capacity.

Podcasts for targeting your next opportunity

At Westgate, part of helping our clients with their branding means encouraging them to elevate their brand and networking by joining a board, or an association, and serving as a guest on podcasts.

You can use the recorded audio asset in varying contexts. It might be a leave-behind after an interview (if it is relevant to the problem you can solve for a company), it might be a conversation starter with a decision maker, or it might be a way of building relationships and creating an access point for others to find you.

Read the full article here.

My trip to New York City in November

I’m soon heading to New York City to attend the Association for Corporate Growth’s (ACG) Middle Market Week (November 7 to 11) beginning with the Opening Night Reception at the Lincoln Center. I’m looking forward to meeting clients, friends, and colleagues for a busy week of networking and professional development with global mid-market dealmaking professionals. The week concludes with a fabulous wine-tasting evening at Tavern On the Green.

At Westgate, we’ve been busy attending events in Toronto and Halifax. Maddie Shears (our Digital Marketing Manager) attended a Family Office Seminar and evening networking event in Toronto last week, while I was busy with the Toronto-hosted ACG private equity event in Halifax.

Here is a photo of me with Mike Fenton, CEO of ACG Toronto, and Steve Conrad, also with ACG Toronto. We enjoyed an afternoon of professional development followed by a vibrant reception at Stewart McKelvey Law firm in the gorgeous Queen’s Marque on the historic Halifax (Nova Scotia, CANADA) waterfront. Despite Hurricane Fiona’s visit two weeks ago, the rooftop patio was not damaged, and it was a wonderful experience attending a full house reception after the long months of pandemic isolation.

The 90-Day Brand Offer

In addition to supporting our corporate clients, we work with private clients one-on-one. Explore our 90-Day Brand program here.

Thank you for sharing your day with me, and have a wonderful week ahead!

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Westgate is a 100% independent firm.

Maureen is a performance optimization coach and personal branding strategist for next-level executives and board nominees.

Westgate Executive Branding and Career Consulting Inc. would like to acknowledge that we are located in Mi'kma'ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq People. We are all Treaty people.