Seven Crucial Tips For Starting A Podcast

These days, digital resources are vital for businesses to create and expand relationships with the public. What better way to reach a mass audience than by podcasting? In fact, Entrepreneur found that one in four Americans listens to podcasts. That’s a significant ratio for your business to thrive in ways you can’t imagine until you start. Most people can’t always find time to read in their fast-paced world but turn to podcasts on their morning or night time drive to keep their mind off traffic and learn more. Which brings us to the meat of this week’s blog, the seven crucial tips to starting a podcast.

1. Creating Your Motives - Figuring out the purpose behind your podcast and the role it plays with your business is necessary. This will lay out a solid foundation for podcasts to come. Think of the message you want to be consistently putting out about your brand and go from there. Do you want to interview different people every episode? Do you want it to be just you? Do you want it to be three co-workers? Figuring this out before starting your podcast is crucial.
   
   

2. Identifying Target Market - It’s important to define and understand your niche. In order to get your message across to the audience that will help grow your brand, you must put out material they want to hear. Constantly searching for inspiration and staying updated with podcasting trends will help you reach ideal listeners.
   
   

3. Using the Right Equipment - The quality of content created will make or break your podcast. It’s a listening experience, not visual, so captivating your audience’s attention needs a bit more work. Essential gear when starting a podcast includes microphones, microphone stands, headphones, a compressor, USB box, and podcasting software. If you are doing a podcast, make sure you are doing it right or else it won’t get the attention and traction that it is created for.
   
   

4. Consistent Format - Decide how you’re going to execute a podcast. Will it be weekly interviews with influencers? Or a talk show around pop culture? Start by testing it out in one lane and analyze how well it does, then shift to others if need be.
   
   

5. Cross-Promoting Once Published - Once your podcast is out on iTunes or a streaming service, be sure to promote it on all your social media handles and have your team share it as well. From there the hope is that your audience will want to share it from there and that the traction can get you on top playlist lists to reach a new demographic on all the streaming platforms.
   
   

6. Create an appropriate intro/outro - This is a pretty exciting part of making a podcast. You intro and outro should be short and sweet. Often times they are catchy and touch on your brand or the purpose of your podcasts. This is the first thing your listeners will hear, so you need something that will grab their attention and leave them intrigued.
   
   

7. Sponsorships - Having a podcast is a great way to get partners and sponsorships. Create a media kit for your brand with some information about the company and some stats. Start with you partners and as your podcast grows begin reaching out to brands you want to work with or seem like appropriate sponsors.
   
   

Now that you’ve got all the insights into the tools and tips for starting a podcast, run with it. There is no better time to enter the market than now. With the correct resources, you can have your podcast up in no time! If you’re interested in digging deeper into podcasting and how it can be beneficial to you and your brand, then be sure to register for our FREE Power of Podcasting webinar next week on Nov. 6.