5 Tips To Starting A Successful Podcast
Starting a podcast has become all the rage from social media influencers to TV news stations. We’ve literally seen everything from successful actors such as Rein Wilson (Dwight) from the hit television show The Office to Oprah Winfrey, Barack, and Michelle Obama and we can’t fail to mention Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to name a few. From the rich and famous to the everyday ordinary business owners, everybody has a story to share, and podcasting is an easily accessible method for reaching millions of people with your message. In this blog, I will share 5 things you need to know to kickstart your successful podcasting journey. If you take my advice it will save you time, money, and be a lot of fun as you begin to interview, edit and upload your podcast.
“You just need one person to listen, get your message, and pass it on to someone else. And you’ve doubled your audience.””
Identifying your audience and topic - The first thing you need to think about when starting a podcast is the audience you want to reach and how you plan to serve them. This will affect the topics you plan to cover and the category that your show falls into. By being specific and clear with your messaging you will enable people who are interested in what you are sharing to discover your show. As a result, listeners will become raving fans and ultimately become customers.
Creating your cover art - It’s important to have eye-catching cover art that clearly and concisely communicates the message you want to convey through every episode you release. This is the first impression you will make to your audience so make sure you put your best foot forward. The team over at Buzzsprout has done an amazing tutorial video here. You can also have a look at Canva.com for some incredible editing resources that will help you get started.
Scheduling your interview - It’s very important to create a value-adding journey for your guests. Believe it or not, your guest is the star of your show, not you. So in the preparation process, you want to put them at ease as the time approaches for the interview. I always recommend you give them the questions and interview framework well in advance. This helps to add energy and positive expectation to the overall direction and interview process. I use Calendly as an amazing scheduling tool to give guests and clients access to my calendar in an efficient way.
Recording your podcast - When prepping to record a podcast there are 2 primary options. Face-to-face recording or remote recording. Recording audio and video in person definitely yield a better end product because you control the environment. However, the equipment is more expensive. You will need to purchase 2 microphones, stands, cables, and an audio interface/recording device. There are hundreds of options to fit any number of budgets so I would recommend you set an amount then research within that amount.
Focusrite makes a series of great entry-level audio interfaces that give the option for dual input recording. I also recommend the zoom H6 recorder. It is compact, portable, and has an onboard SD slot which gives you the ability to record without a computer being plugged in, but when recording remotely you also can plug the H6 into your computer to use your microphones as needed.
You will also need computer software for recording. For Apple Mac users we recommend Logic Pro X it comes with an entire suite of plugins that help you minimize background noise and boost vocals to help you get great clean audio. If you are a windows user we recommend Adobe Audition this is a subscription-based product that spreads the cost out over time and gives you a low-cost option to get started. A lot of people ask me about USB microphones. They are fantastic for virtual episode recording but configuring multiple USB microphones such as the Rode NTS - USB tends to be tedious in a fast-paced real-world recording scenario.
We also recommend using Riverside.FM to record remote interviews in order to get studio-quality audio and video. The team at riverside has done an incredible job to make in our opinion the best in industry solution. Compared to Zoom or Zencastr Riverside.FM has set itself apart by its ease of use and functionality.
Distributing your podcast - I have researched over 30+ distribution platforms and my personal preference and top pick is Buzzsprout. Follow the link to explore for yourself. I love Buzzsprout because they have made a seamless user interface and they continue to improve the analytics and functional integrations as improvements continue to progress across the podcasting industry. Apple Podcasts, Facebook Podcasting, Spotify for Podcasters and so many more create brilliant articles that help you continue to grow and improve as you serve your audience. Oh, and they make it easy for you to distribute your show with a few simple clicks.
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