So what does a podcast consultant actually DO?

This has been a hellishly busy week for me, but I’ve been following a conversation on the blogs of Leesa Barnes and Bryan Person, on the topic of podcasting consultants. Leesa started the ball rolling with a post entitled "5 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Podcasting Consultant." I added my two cents with a comment and then Bryan tracked back with his opinion.

They both make good points. In my humble opinion it all boils down to this: What are the client’s needs and how can they best be satisfied? Sometimes, someone comes to me and says, “Look, I want to podcast. I’ve been listening to podcasts and reading all about the medium. I just need some technical help.” Fine. I will work with them to get their show off the ground and they’re off to the races.

But that’s a rare situation. More often, a company wants to dip its toes in the podcasting waters and doesn’t really have a clue how to do it. They might not even be sure why they should do it, but their competitors are podcasting, so they feel they need to get started too. In this case, I need to have a long chat to find out who their audience is, how they’re currently reaching them, where the gaps are, and so on. Is this person a likely podcast host? Can he or she sustain a show for more than three episodes?

As I said in my comment to Leesa’s post, I believe a podcast consultant should have experience in business and particularly in business communications. Owning a nice microphone and a copy of Audacity does not make you a podcast consultant.

So, here’s the bottom line: Before hiring any consultant, be sure he or she has some technical experience, yes, but more importantly, ask questions about their communications background.

I think I’m suffering from déjà vu. Almost two decades ago, I remember being on contract at an organization when “desktop publishing” consultants started to appear. They all owned a copy of a newfangled piece of software called PageMaker and they all described themselves as desktop publishing gurus. Hey, we could save money and time by not having our newsletters farmed out to expensive typographers and graphic designers. And what did we get in return? Crap. Lousy layouts. These guys knew diddly about type and design.

I fear the same thing can be happening in the “podcast consulting” arena today. So, buyer beware.