Podcast Riches are Often in Niches
With record heat being recorded worldwide, including Paris, London, and the U.S., it seems like a good time to discuss air conditioning.
Meet Bryan Orr – his passion is for podcasts, but his training and primary business is HVAC – heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (the latter, people in London are especially interested in now). I first met Bryan 7 years ago at Podcast Movement. I thought I was early; Bryan was earlier. He was stringing for shows like 99% Invisible, freelancing editing for places like WNYC in New York, and producing a podcast series for Podcast Movement.
Bryan had a growing family to feed and needed to figure out how to make the podcasting thing work for his primary business. And oh, how he has figured this out. He may not have a $100 million offer from Spotify, but he has built a formidable business, and the catalyst has been a podcast. Bryan has millions of downloads and advertisers lining up in droves.
Today we’re sharing a true podcast success story. Among the best I have come across. Bryan and I reconnected recently to share the secrets of how he turned his HVAC experience into podcast gold.
SG: You got into podcasting very early.
BO: I have been in HVAC in Central Florida since I was 19 and started my own business in 2005. I also had a small business podcast called “Wow Small Business,” which started back in 2014 that I worked on as a hobby. I attended the first Podcast Movement in 2014. It was fun.
To make ends meet, you were a stringer.
Right, I did a lot of tape syncs and editing for brands. 99% invisible was the first show I did. The episode was called “Lawn and Order.” It was a really good experience. I did more for NPR and WNYC in New York. I enjoyed narrative audio. I produced the first season of the Podcast Movement Sessions podcast.
I cringe a little bit when I look back at some of the things I did. I was way too into music. I was always shoehorning music in places that I shouldn't have, but it was a really fun project.
I made a podcast for a career resource center in Central Florida. I loved it and realized I've got to make a business out of this. It made the most sense to take the content I was already producing for my business and put it into a podcast. I created the HVAC School Podcast, and the response was immediate. It was fierce, and people loved it. Technicians have a lot of window time, they really responded to it. Over time, I started a website, created a mobile app, created a YouTube channel, social media platforms, groups, all that kind of stuff. And that has now become a whole community.
Go ahead – hit me with the numbers.
I publish twice a week. I have over 500 episodes and over 5 million downloads.
That’s truly, truly remarkable. And the money, what does that look like?
The average for my advertisers is $4,000 a month. That's an average. I have some that do more, some that do less. We have some clients that are more consulting-based, and for some, it's a lot of marketing. By itself, the podcast exceeds 25k a month. And the podcast now is just one part of what we do. We also make money off the YouTube channel and affiliate content.
You have some big-name advertisers like Carrier. How did that come about?
My sponsors recognize me as one of the best outlets to connect with contractors and technicians. That’s the demographic. We are one of the largest outlets. Not just the podcast, but the other assets. Our YouTube channel has 223k subscribers and gets significantly more people, but we find the podcast moves the needle. It's the most relationship piece of what we do. The podcast listeners are much more connected participants in the community.
Even when I was small, I was charging very good amounts and getting sponsors like Carrier and Testo North America. Nowadays, Chemours, which is a DuPont spinoff, is a big sponsor of ours.
My content is evergreen because it's about how machines work, physics, science, electricity, and fluid dynamics.
How do you get big sponsors for the podcast?
The way you get big sponsors in a niche is you're just the best option. It's nothing like the mass market paying CPM. They're used to spending money in really inefficient ways. It's very expensive to reach the right people. They're paying to reach technicians and contractors because they are valuable users.
It's all about relationships. We develop long-term relationships with these people. We provide them with feedback, and they give us products in the early stages. There are many cases where I'll tell brands that I won't speak about certain things, or I won't promote certain things that I don't believe in, to ensure that we’re always honoring the audience and the trust they place in us.
How do people discover the podcast?
They discover the podcast through a social arm generally. We have an app, as well as 40,000 Facebook followers. People also look for podcasts about HVAC, and we were the first one. Now there are 20 different ones, but we're by far the largest, and our YouTube Channel is top three.
Many niche podcasters are looking to be influencers in their sector. How has the podcast helped your profile at industry events?
The world's biggest HVAC trade show is the AHR expo, and I'm their go-to moderator for leadership panels and teaching. I help them set up a podcast pavilion, which they have done the last three shows.
What kind of staff and support do you have?
In terms of ideas and the content, it’s mostly me. On the video side, I do a lot of videos of classes and field videos. We do a lot of 3D models. I have a 3D animator, an illustrator, and an editor. My daughter helps us shoot our video.
This is a wonderful story. Lots of smarts and clearly a lot of elbow grease, and all based on a podcast. Thanks for spending the time and sharing your story. I wish you continued success, my friend.
Thanks for reading, and wherever you are in the world, please stay cool out there.
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Join us at Podcast Movement
Podcast Leadership From Every Angle
This annual panel has become one of the anticipated Podcast Movement sessions. I will sit down with podcasting leaders to discuss the state of the industry and where it's headed.
This year's panelists are Martina Castro of Adonde Media; Jessica Cordova Kramer of Lemonada Media; Larry Rosin of Edison Research; and Dan Misener, most recently of Pacific Content.
Catch this session on the Industry Track in Dallas D on August 24 at 10:45 am
