The Beginner's Guide to Launch a Popular Podcast
Ira Glass, Pat Flynn, Amy Porterfield, John Lee Dumas — you know these names, right? And you know them because they're the voices behind some of the biggest podcasts existing today.
The podcast has become one of the most popular ways to share your message and grow your audience. With 25.9% of listening time spent on podcasts, it's clear that people turn to audio content for new information, inspiration, and entertainment.
But how do you start and launch a podcast? We've created this beginner's guide to help you set the foundation of an effective and attractive podcast. But before we jump into that, let's take a look at why podcasts fail despite the medium's popularity:
WHY PLENTY OF PODCASTS FAIL BEFORE THEIR FIFTH EPISODE
There are a lot of great ideas out there for podcasts, but several of these aren't able to make it after their fifth or eighth episode.
Here are three common reasons:
1. The podcast isn't unique.
The podcast doesn't really stand out from the 250,000 podcasts being broadcasted everyday. If you're starting a podcast on marketing, it doesn't help to put out episodes that 5-10 established podcasters have already talked about.
2. The podcast doesn't have a true voice behind it.
This is a downfall for podcasts that are only in it for the fame or profit and that have no true interest in the topic. If you're starting a marketing podcast, yet you're not truly convinced or interested in the topic, your listeners are going to hear that and tune out quickly.
3. The podcast isn't consistent.
New podcasters don't realize just how much time and effort it takes to deliver a podcast, and so they find themselves missing out on an episode or suddenly back up after weeks of silence.
This isn't about scaring you into stalling your podcast launch, but knowing what you shouldn't do so your podcast will grow and last.
Now that you've an idea of what you shouldn't be doing, let's take a look at how to start and launch a podcast.
STEP #1: DEFINE THE PURPOSE AND BRAND OF YOUR PODCAST.
The purpose behind your podcast is at the core of everything that you do as an up-and-coming podcaster.
Podcasting is a long-term marketing strategy, so you need to define your podcast's purpose and truly commit to it for the long haul. Otherwise, podcasting for the wrong reasons or purpose could set yourself up for months of wasted time, effort, and money.
Define your purpose and establish your podcast's brand. Once you've got that nailed down, it's time to move on to the next most important step.
STEP #2: IDENTIFY WHO YOUR AUDIENCE IS.
Do not make the mistake of assuming that people will simply flock to your podcast after a few good episodes.
Identify who your audience is and what your content aims to do for them. This will help you create content that your audience will want to tune in to.
STEP #3: CHOOSE THE FORMAT.
This is the fun part for most podcasters where you get to choose what you want each of your episodes to deliver. According to expert podcaster Jon Nastor, the five general show formats are interviews/Q&A, news/current events, expert-based, and comedy/entertainment.
Research on the pros and cons of each format and pick what best suits your podcast's purpose, topic, industry, and audience.
STEP #4: SETUP YOUR RECORDING STUDIO.
It's time to record, and your recording studio is the place to do it.
The good news is that there are plenty of options to choose from in terms of the equipment and software to use for your podcast. You'll find lots of product and brand suggestions online, but we encourage you to keep audio quality and noise reduction in mind when setting up your studio.
STEP #5: SUBMIT YOUR PODCAST TO LEADING DISTRIBUTION SITES.
The final step is actually one of the reasons a lot of new podcasters stall their launch, and that's getting it up on the leading distribution sites.
iTunes is by far the most popular site to publish your podcast to, which is why iRadeo is designed to help you set up your show on iTunes without any technical effort on your part.
Launching and running a popular podcast is an exciting and challenging journey, and so we believe these five steps will help you lay the foundation for what may become the next best podcast for your chosen industry.