What Makes Podcasts Different - The Control Factor

What if the problem isn't your content—it's that you're renting attention instead of owning it? 

Every channel puts someone else between you and your members. Someone else's platform. Someone else's rules.

Algorithms change overnight. Email gets filtered. Ads only work while you're paying.

With my background in TV and documentaries, I know what it's like to create something and trust it reaches people. But over the years, I’ve watched organizations become dependent on platforms they have zero control over.

Podcasts are different. When you create one, you own it. Completely.

It's the only medium where you have full creative control and direct access to your members' attention. When someone tunes in, they're choosing to let you into their day—their commute, their workout, their morning routine. That's opted-in attention you can't buy.

And once they're listening? You have an opportunity to strengthen audience engagement and build lasting trust.

But here's what makes this even more powerful for membership organizations: podcasts aren't just engagement tools. They're educational platforms. They turn your expertise into something members can actually consume, whenever it works for them.

The content you create? It works harder. Turn episodes into blog posts, social clips, newsletter features. Create it once, repurpose it everywhere.

One of the things I love about this work is the process itself. It's collaborative. It's creative. There's something genuinely fun about working with teams who care deeply about their members and watching them discover what's possible with a podcast.

But the real reason podcasts matter: you're not renting attention from someone else's platform. You're building a direct line to the people who matter most.

That's worth something.