How to Reach Your Business's Ideal Clients through Podcasting and Win Their Trust

A conversation with Bryan Steele, founder of Forge Podcast Co., and Matt Wolfe, Partner and Director of Brand Strategy at Brand3

For service-based business leaders, establishing credibility and authority in your industry is key to attracting clients and shortening sales cycles. One of the most effective tools for doing this is a podcast. But podcasting isn’t just about sitting in front of a microphone; it’s about aligning your content with your brand, connecting with the right audience, and delivering consistent value. 

Matt Wolfe, Partner and Director of Brand Strategy at Brand3, recently spoke with Bryan Steele, founder of Forge Podcast Co., to explore how a Brand-First approach to podcasting can help business owners build authority and trust while making the process seamless and sustainable.

Watch an expanded version of this interview in the video below:

Matt Wolfe:
Bryan, your background is fascinating. You combine aerospace engineering with a love for audio production. How did that lead you to podcasting?

Bryan Steele:
It’s definitely an unusual mix, Matt. I’ve always been part technical, part creative. I started in music production, recording bands in a studio. Podcasting lets me merge creativity with technical precision. It’s structured yet creative—perfect for helping business leaders share their expertise.

Matt Wolfe:
So it was kind of an accidental career path?

Bryan Steele:
Absolutely. A friend asked me to help record a college basketball podcast. I figured I could handle it with my studio setup. That first project taught me the ins and outs of production, editing, transcription, distribution, and strategy. I realized many experts have valuable knowledge but lack the time or know-how to produce a professional podcast—so I created Forge Podcast Co. to fill that gap.

Matt Wolfe:
Many people think podcasting is easy—you just talk and it magically works. What’s the biggest misconception you see?

Bryan Steele
Well, I think you hit the nail on the head. People get into it assuming, Oh, I just sit down in front of a microphone and talk, and it comes out good on the other end. And if you’re a professional speaker, maybe it does. But for most of us, we’re not polished speakers. It’s not something we’re trained for regularly.

That’s a giant reason why 70% of podcasts never make it past episode ten—it’s the editing, the audio cleanup, making your show notes, generating transcripts, and then doing it again week after week. It just becomes administrative and production work that most people can’t sustain.

Matt Wolfe
So everything you were just talking about is all this back-end production work that has to happen to make sure the podcast is great quality and actually reaches its audience. But there’s also some front-end work that you and I have talked about a lot.

At Brand3, we use a Brand-First marketing strategy as a way to stop the epidemic of wasted time and money on marketing. People burn so many dollars and hours on initiatives that were never going to work because they weren’t built on the right foundation. And that foundation is brand strategy—telling the right story to the right people. How does that principle apply to podcasts?

Bryan Steele
Many podcasters start without a clear objective. You need to define your goal—are you establishing thought leadership, warming up leads, or generating website content? Then, identify your ideal listener. When you understand who you’re speaking to and the transformation you’re providing, the podcast becomes much more effective. With a podcast, you’re defining your ideal listener—someone who hears your content and thinks, Wow, they’re talking directly to me.

“There needs to be clarity about the goal and
audience right up front. Once you know who you’re trying to
reach, everything else flows from that.”

Matt Wolfe
That’s awesome. And it just so happens that you and I have been working on something to help with this. Want to tell people what it is?

Bryan Steele
Yeah—it’s called the Podcast Launch Box. It’s designed for aspiring podcasters who want to build authority for their business but don’t know where to start. We collaborate to identify the right concept, write scripts, create branding, voiceovers, intro music, and visuals—everything needed to get off the ground with confidence.

It’s about setting someone up for the best chance of success by aligning their podcast with their business goals and audience from day one.

Matt Wolfe
Exactly. I think of it in two big buckets—the foundation and the follow-through. The foundation is brand alignment: knowing who you’re talking to and why. The second is helping people overcome that production overwhelm you mentioned earlier. The Launch Box gives them everything they need to launch successfully, and from there, they can choose to keep producing it themselves or hand it off to you.

Bryan Steele
That’s right. We can also support ongoing promotion. 

Matt Wolfe
You mentioned production and consistency earlier. To me, that’s huge. You’d practically need a team to do this well and stay on schedule.

Bryan Steele
Yeah, and there’s actually a term for that—pod fade. You start strong, full of energy, releasing episodes weekly. Then life and work pile up, and suddenly you’re missing weeks until you stop altogether. Eliminating pod fade for our clients is mission number one. We want it to be seamless and sustainable so business owners can focus on the fun parts—the conversations—without the burnout.

Matt Wolfe
That ties into something I hear a lot: how personal and intimate podcasts are. What difference have you seen that make in terms of thought leadership and authority building?

Bryan Steele
Podcasting is like a trust engine. It’s the only platform where you can hold someone’s attention for 30 minutes, an hour, sometimes more. In that time, listeners get to know who you are—your voice, values, and personality. It shortens the sales cycle because by the time someone reaches out, they already feel like they know you. That’s incredibly powerful for building authority.

Matt Wolfe:
It’s also ongoing customer research. Feedback from episodes shows what resonates, guiding future content.

Bryan Steele:
Exactly. The audience becomes a feedback loop. You learn what works, refine your approach, and strengthen your authority over time.

Matt Wolfe
That’s a great point. And what do you say to business owners who doubt themselves—who think they’re not “expert enough” to host a podcast?

Bryan Steele
We all underestimate how much we have to offer. You don’t need to have all the answers or be the world’s top expert. If you’re a few steps ahead of your audience, you can help them grow. That’s what makes podcasting so meaningful—it’s about sharing your journey, your perspective, and helping people move forward.

Matt Wolfe:
And there’s freedom in choosing the style. Monologues, interviews, group discussions—all valid, as long as they engage your audience.

Bryan Steele:
Exactly. The format and length are flexible—the key is keeping the content engaging. Too long or too short isn’t the problem; boring is.

Matt Wolfe
That’s powerful. Thanks for sharing all that, Bryan. It really does start with the foundation—knowing who you’re talking to and why.

Bryan Steele:
Decide what you want the podcast to achieve. Are you building a personal brand, growing your business, or expanding your network? That clarity guides strategy, content, and format. Everything else, including production, can be handled by a partner like Forge Podcast Co.

Matt Wolfe:
And where can people learn more or schedule a consultation?

Bryan Steele:
Visit forgepodcast.co and book a podcast vision call. We’ll help define your goals and show how the Podcast Launch Box can set you up for success.

Ready to amplify your authority?

When your brand and message are aligned, your voice carries further. At Brand3, we help you develop a brand-first marketing strategy that ensures your content connects with the right audience—so your authority grows naturally.

Learn more about building your authority with a brand-first podcast strategy. Contact us today.