5 TIPS TO CONSIDER BEFORE STARTING AN AUDIO PODCAST
Podcasting is an essential ingredient for the marketing mix of any business these days. In fact, over 60% of Americans have heard of podcasts and over 40% of Americans have listened to a podcast.
It’s honestly so hard to believe that I’ve been podcasting for over 5 years now. I blinked and 5 years flew by.
As a brand, a company looking to thrive in this modern digital age, it’s imperative to have a podcast.
Did you about my podcast The RAS Project? It’s all about Entrepreneurship, Tech, Family, Marketing, & Personal Development. 100% Raw & Unfiltered!
Make sure to SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t done so already!
Why do you need a podcast?
Podcasts are simply one essential way to connect with your leads, prospects, and customers. It can truly do wonders for your brand by creating more attraction, interest, and intent when it comes to consumers purchasing your product or service.
- Americans listen to podcasts for value, insight, tips, interest.
- Brands/companies should considering podcasting for lead generation, prospecting, and community cultivation.
- Podcasts are accessible from mobile devices primarily and because of accessibility they present an optimal opportunity for interaction.
The following tips are in no specific order of importance. These are simply things you should strongly consider before you decide to launch your own podcast.
Tip #1: Your podcast format!
Before starting a podcast, you need to take some time to consider the format of your show. As mentioned previously, a podcast is suitable for entrepreneurs and brands/companies equally.
Here are some questions to ask yourself as you work out the strategy behind your podcast.
- What specific focus will the podcast have?
- Who is your target audience?
- How will you cultivate and retain your audience interest?
Your podcast format is probably the single most important thing. There’s a shit ton of podcasts out there in all the major platforms including iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, and many others. In other words, there has to be something unique, engaging, authoritative even in your podcast to keep your audience coming back from more.
For instance, on my podcast The RAS Project I’m 100% unfiltered and raw. Yes, I do curse, throw f-bombs around, and simply speak my mind in a very direct unscripted fashion.
Direct, engaging, informative, and value-based. That is the essence of my own podcast.
For your own podcast, put some time into figuring out its format and what will make people remember and come back.
Tip #2: The tools/software you will use.
The right tools or software to be more specific are important. It will assist you with editing and mastering process of making your podcast shine. The context of your podcast is truly the key ingredient although having the right software to package it all together is also very important to acknowledge.
In reality, there are a few different pieces of software that you can use to edit and master your podcast. They differentiate based on whether you are a Windows or Mac user. For the most party anyway. You can master your podcast on a mobile phone as well if you’re looking for a quick and dirty way of bootstrapping something together.
When it comes to comprising a well structured podcast, these are the few different pieces of software I would suggest to you.
- GarageBand for Mac – being a Mac user and avid Apple supporter, I’ve used GarageBand for the last 5 years and has worked out well for me.
- Audacity For Windows – this is a great free tool that you can use on your Windows PC.
- Apple Logic Pro X – if you’re an intermediate to advanced podcaster looking to step up your podcasting game, this is a great piece of software. It’ll set you back about $199 but it does offer advanced functionality when it comes to recording, editing, and mastering your podcast.
- Adobe Audition – if you consider yourself an advanced podcaster and sound quality is of extremely importance, this piece of software is an excellent choice. In fact, this piece of software is a preferred choice amongst avid podcasters. It’ll set you back $20/month in subscription, definitely not the cheapest although it’ll give you the versatility that you’re after.
- Anchor.fm – for the technologically challenged people this is a great piece of software to use. In fact, it’s not really a software but an app that can take away the headache of messing with software. You can grab this app on iOS and Android.
All of these pieces of software are great choices for the modern podcaster. It all comes down to your preference, comfort level, and how much are you willing to spend.
Tip #3: Identifying the distribution platforms.
Distribution platforms are also key to ensuring that your content is available to your target audience. At the bare minimum, your podcast should be available on iTunes and Google Play Music. Other distribution platforms I would also suggest for your podcast should include iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, and SoundCloud.
iTunes and Google Play Music offer the biggest exposure opportunities for your podcast when it comes to reaching your target audience. Although I’ve also seen a lot of people accessing The RAS Project via the Podcast page. In fact, a vast majority of my listeners are accessing the podcast from there simply because there is a built-in player that is mobile-friendly. It does not require any special download or anything like the Podcasts app on iOS or Google Play Music to access the podcast.
For starters, I would encourage you to submit your podcast to iTunes and Google Play Music.
For intermediate podcasters, consider diversifying into other distribution platforms like Spotify and Stitcher so you can widen your reach.
For advanced podcasters, go all in. iTunes, Google Play Music, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, and any other major podcasting platform I forgot to mention.
Tip#4: Your podcast frequency.
Podcast frequency has many derivatives. Although it’s an important factor when it comes to building a relationship with your target audience.
There’s a few things you should know about frequency of your podcast.
- Frequency helps build consistency.
- Frequency helps build trust with your audience.
- Frequency helps build expectation.
- Frequency can help grow demand.
Consistency and trust are two of the biggest factors to consider with your podcast. People appreciate consistency because consistency helps build trust. It’s all intertwined in that sense.
So, if you’re publishing a new episode of the podcast on weekly basis, people will come to expect a new episode weekly.
For new podcasters, focus on publishing one new podcast episode every 1-2 weeks.
For intermediate podcasters, shoot for one new podcast episode every week.
For advanced podcasters, consider diversifying and perhaps doing 2 podcast episodes per week. This will be determined based on your target audience demand and content consumption.
Tip #5: Developing strong consistency.
I talked about the importance of consistency in Tip #4 above. However, I really wanted to emphasize on consistency in itself and why it matters so much when it comes to podcasting.
Out of all the times I’ve been inconsistent with my own podcast The RAS Project is when I indeed saw the biggest drop-offs in my listenership.
Look, things happen in life. We are all humans and we deal with a million things on daily basis.
Although, when you are consistent it helps build trust with your target audience. If people can trust you knowing that you will be consistent then they will give you their time of the day.
Podcasting consistency is tough for many reasons. Not only when life happens but also the ability to comprise engaging content consistently and able to distribute it.