If you want to reach your customers right now, open up a new medium to provide valuable content to them, boost your sales and brand awareness, launching your business podcast is the way to go.
If you’re wondering when the perfect time to start a podcast for your business is, the answer is now. Starting a podcast is easier than ever. The industry is growing rapidly every single day. It’s not too late to find your audience, position yourself as an industry thought leader, and start a podcast your customers will love.
Step 1: Planning the Podcast
Step 2: Preparing the Podcast
Step 3: Recording the First Episode
Step 4: Editing and Uploading the First Episode
Step 5: Submitting to Directories
Step 6: Launching the Podcast
Step 7: Marketing the Podcast
Before you dive right in and press that record button, it is important to be clear on what it is you want to achieve with your business podcast.
Take the time to understand why you are doing this, then plan and shape your podcast accordingly. Failing to plan is planning to fail.
● Why do I want to start this podcast?
● What message do I want to share with my listeners?
● What action do I want my audience to take?
● Who will your audience be?
● What format are you going to use? (solo, co-host, roundtable, interview, or narrative)
● What name are you going to give your podcast? (Consider a podcast name generator for some inspiration)
● Will it be episodic or serial?
● How long will each episode be?
● Which hosting platform are you going to use?
While there is a lot of thought and planning behind each of these prompts, taking the time now to have a clear understanding will be worth it in the long run.
Explore each of these questions further, with more tips and advice, in our eBook “Launch a Podcast for your Business in 7 easy steps”.
Now that you are clear on your vision, it’s time to start preparing the podcast.
What will you need?
Podcast cover art is one of the most critical parts of branding and packaging for the show. Great cover art draws in your listeners and can set the tone for the show.
While not always required or appropriate, a professional intro can add perceived value and help the show stand out.
High-quality intro music creates an emotional trigger for your listeners and brings the tone of the show to life. Check out CreativeCommons, Royalty Free, and Public Domain music for this!
When it comes to recording equipment, an expensive, complicated setup is not necessary. If you have a laptop, an internet connection, a USB mic, headphones, and some free recording software you’re good to go!
Now you’re finally ready to start recording your first episode!
Do yourself a favour and write a simple podcast outline of what you want to say.
Choose a quiet place to record. Recording high-quality audio always starts at the source. Choose a place with soft furnishing, like couches and curtains, rather than hard surfaces to avoid echoes.
Set up your equipment and record a short test audio. Make sure to wear headphones to monitor the sound and to keep audio from bleeding into the mic from a computer speaker. If more than one person is talking, record separate audio files for each person whenever possible, try to avoid speaking over each other, and don’t be afraid to restart sentences.
Practice your mic technique to avoid sounding muffled or difficult to understand and unprofessional. Using a microphone can seem pretty intuitive but you would be surprised how easy it is to make small mistakes that can adversely affect the listening quality. Nobody wants to listen to muffled, plosive sounds or hyper-sibilant “S” sounds!
You will be surprised by the difference that grabbing a warm drink, checking your mouth position, and using a pop filter can make!
Ready? Hit that record button and get talking!
Congratulations, you’ve just recorded your first episode!
Before you upload the recording, you will need to do some editing. Your listeners will thank you if the quality is polished and the listening experience is pleasurable.
With the right software, this doesn’t have to be difficult arageBand (Mac)andAudacity (Windows and Mac) are good places to start for free. When you are getting started, some useful tips for editing are to use quality, over-the-ear headphones, mute inactive tracks and use Shuffle Edit Mode.
After editing, the mixing comes next to enhance the audio quality. Nobody wants to listen to a podcast where the volume is inconsistent. Next, make sure the audio translates across playback systems by mastering the audio together as a whole.
If this seems overwhelming to you, don’t panic, you can find more information in the “Launch a Podcast for your Business in 7 easy steps” eBook, or you can always outsource to a professional podcast agency like - Zorbiant.
When you have the final, edited audio file you can get ready to upload it to the hosting platform of your choice.
Check out our Top 10 Podcast Hosting Platforms here!
Now it’s time to think about:
● The podcast description, or the elevator pitch for the podcast, gives a concise overview of the vision for the show.
● The episode title will draw in your audience and show them the value of the episode.
● The category you want it listed under. This will optimise how the podcast appears on the different directories.
● The show notes give your audience an overview of the episode, with timestamps for the topics covered.
Now let’s get your podcast into the ears of your audience. To do this, you’ll need to publish to a podcast directory. Start by publishing your podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, Podchaser, TuneIn, and Stitcher.
You will need to grab the RSS feed from your hosting platform and submit it one time manually to each directory.
Keep in mind each podcast directory requires a one-time manual setup process that takes 1-2 weeks for their teams to approve, so be sure to plan ahead!
After weeks of planning, recording, editing, and setting up the podcast, for the first time it’s ready to be shared with the world. But what is the best launch strategy?
We recommend that you launch the podcast with a trailer or promo plus 2- 3 episodes of your show. This will give new listeners a chance to binge multiple episodes and develop a stronger connection with the show when they first discover it.
Don’t get caught up in over-complicating your launch strategy, follow these 3 simple steps:
● Distribute the show and get it approved on Spotify, Apple, Google, Amazon, etc.
● Create marketing material to announce the show (audiograms, images with quotes from the episodes)
● Share the podcast through all of your pre-existing marketing channels
If you want to make a robust launch strategy, check out some creative ways to get the word out about the podcast in our eBook “Launch a Podcast for your Business in 7 easy steps”.
Although podcasts themselves are powerful marketing tools, they also must be marketed to build a strong audience. Once the show gains an audience, it can be leveraged to its full potential.
Choose what marketing strategies from the list below suit your podcast, and grow your show!
● Use Pre-Existing Marketing Channels: To leverage your current brand channels - whether it’s posting on social media, including it in email newsletters, posting a blog, posting the trailer on video sharing websites, or adding a banner to the website.
● Build a Podcast Website: A home for your podcast where you can establish clear brand packaging for the podcast, and give clear instructions to your audience on what to do (listen to this episode first, subscribe here, join our email newsletter here, etc.).
● Build an Email List: An email list is critical as it allows you to own direct access to your audience. You can get started with Mailchimp or Mailerlite.
● Don’t View Other Podcasters as Competitors: You should view other podcasters as your equals or friends, not your competition.
● Cross-Promotion: Be a guest on other podcasts, run an ad swap on other shows, or run a promo/trailer or full episode on another show's podcast feed.
● Interact on Social Media (Use Hashtags): Share audiograms and quote cards for each episode of the podcast, being sure to tag each guest!
● Press Releases: If you see blogs or articles listing “Best Marketing Podcasts write to the author asking how to get added to the list.
● Make Things Fast and Easy for Others: Create a simple press kit for each episode of your podcast when you have a guest and send them a link to share for your episode, any audiograms or quotes cards you’ve created, and some simple copy that they can copy and paste.
● Show Notes: The show notes are available reason for listeners to visit your website.
● Transcriptions: Great for SEO by generating written content, improving accessibility for all listeners, or helping listeners to easily skim your content.
Check out our 10 Best Podcast Promotion and Marketing Strategies!
Congratulations, you’ve just recorded, produced, and launched your business podcast!
If you’re looking for even more tips, recommendations, and additional strategies to produce, launch and promote your podcast, be sure to download our eBook “Launch a Podcast for your Business in 7 easy steps.
Or if you would prefer to have someone else help manage each stage of the process you can always find a professional podcast production agency like us.
