Are you in the B2B space and considering joining the podcast bandwagon? Not sure whether you should start a podcast for your business? Not sure how to launch a podcast? We’ve got a few tips to share on things to consider when entering into podcasting as well as some practical advice on how to start.
Research the Podcast Landscape and Find Opportunities
First, let’s take a look at the podcast landscape. According to statistics compiled by musicooph.com, 32% of Americans listen to podcasts on a regular basis. There are over 850,000 active podcasts and 30 million episodes, with Business podcasts making the top five most-popular categories. As far as listening to podcasts, 49% is done at home, 22% in the car, and 11% at work. From an advertising perspective, 69% of listeners agreed that podcast ads made them aware of new products or services. Podcast ad revenues are predicted to reach $1.6bn by 2022 and there is a reported 14% lift in purchase intent for brands who advertise in Business podcasts.
After understanding the landscape, brands should then research the competition. What’s already out there? Do your competitors have podcasts? Identify and listen to a few great podcasts to get some inspiration and decide where the opportunities lie in topics or subject matter.
Based on findings, figure out how to stand out and add value intended audiences. Who is your target audience or intended audience? Do they listen to podcasts? What kind of content are they consuming or find valuable? Tailor your offering to match audience needs.
Finally, to find out if a podcast is right for your brand, consider if it fits into the overall Marketing strategy and business goals. Does a podcast align with business objectives and enhance your content marketing program? Determine if adding in the time and resources that go into starting and maintaining a podcast will be beneficial toward your overall goals. Also consider any accompanying content to support the podcast such as, videos with transcripts, blog content and more.
Getting Started
If after due diligence, you’ve decided to start a podcast for your company, what’s the next step? With a chosen topic or theme in mind, here’s how to get started:
- Developing the show and episodes: Be sure to plan out the content well ahead of time with a pipeline of episodes lined up. This includes a show title and description along with titles and descriptions for each episode.
- Picking a podcast host: Choose someone to host your podcast – someone who is comfortable recording and can interact and riff with guests.
- Set a cadence and stick to it: The thing to avoid here is fallout. You wouldn’t want to start a show, gain listeners, then not be able to keep up with producing and putting out new episodes. Set a realistic cadence, whether it’s weekly or monthly, and stick with it as much as possible.
The Technical Stuff
After research, content planning and finding a host, you’re ready to start recording – now what? Here is a high-level overview with some resources to help get your podcast off the ground.
Recording
Audio quality is one of the most important factors in producing a great podcast. A studio setting is ideal but not always feasible. The next best thing is to get good podcasting equipment including a microphone like the Blue Yeti (USB microphone) or the Samson Q2U (XLR or USB mic), a good set of monitor headphones and a quiet, noise-dampened place to record your podcast.
As far as recording your show, there are several audio tools to choose from as simple as a QuickTime Audio recording, to a fully-loaded program like Adobe Audition. There are also free audio editing software options like Audacity or even Garage Band to edit and mix episodes. More on that below.
For podcast interviews with external guests or influencers, tools like Zoom or Zencastr are great for recording multiple speakers in one call. Zoom even has the option to record guests audio as separate files, which is ideal for editing.
Editing
Now that the episode has been recorded, it will need to be edited. You may have someone in your in-house creative department who can assist with editing audio and keeping up with the cadence with episode releases. There are many ways to edit your podcast with different editing softwares. Audio editing software such as Adobe Audition or Audacity are popular choices and some publishing platforms even have built-in editing tools. If budget allows, you can use a vendor who specializes in full-service podcast production, such as Resonate Recordings. (https://resonaterecordings.com/)
Other produced audio elements to keep in mind include an intro and outro. Consider producing an intro for your show that includes voiceover and music and will be used at the front of each episode. Likewise, develop an outro boilerplate to be the sign off at each episode or include outro music. These small elements will make a big difference in the cohesiveness of your show.
Hosting
The podcast and all podcast episodes need to live somewhere – and this place is the hosting platform. There are so many podcast hosting platforms to choose from, including Libsyn, Podbean, Buzzsprout, just to name a few and most come with very small hosting costs. This platform will house all of your audio files, meta data, and episode and show details which are then used to generate an RSS feed.
Publishing
After finding a podcast home, the next step is publishing. Decide on which podcast directories the podcast should be available on. Common directories include Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts – basically any app or podcast player that a listener gets their content from. Set up accounts with each targeted directory and simply tie in the RSS feed from the hosting platform to submit your podcast, create the show and automatically sync all updates and future episodes. Once the leg work is done on the setup, the rest is easy!
Promote Your Podcast
There is a wealth of avenues available to help promote your podcast. Tap into your current database of customers and prospects and share your podcast on social media and/or via your email subscribers. Consider developing transcripts or blog posts on your website to drive organic traffic and amplify your reach by running some paid social campaigns to support downloads and gain listeners. Important to keep in mind is that the podcast’s episode titles and descriptions should follow SEO best practices to be found within each respective directory.
Hopefully, this guide on how to launch a podcast was helpful. We’ve only just touched the surface and there is a load of resources out there to help anyone create a podcast. Good luck and happy podcasting!
Want to hear our LEWIS podcasts? Have a listen to Confessions of a Content Creator and The 360. You can find us on iTunes, Stitcher and most anywhere you can find a podcast.
