For brands or businesses looking for a modern audio medium to connect with a new audience, learning how to start a podcast can be a gamechanger.
While our parents had the radio, today’s generation have podcasts. By definition, a podcast is a digital audio file available on the internet that just about anyone can access, and is generally available to download to either your computer or a mobile device.
Whether you’re driving home from another massive day or just pottering around the kitchen, listening to podcasts is rapidly becoming one of the most popular ways to unwind – but it’s about far more than just white noise. In fact for many of us, it’s been proven that the most effective method to learn something new is often by listening, as opposed to reading or watching.
It’s for this very reason that podcasts for business are on the rise. If a listener prefers to tune into a podcast that’s a bit more specific or linked to their industry or profession, this is where many B2B and B2C operators have jumped on the audio based bandwagon to truly connect with new and existing clients – but what’s involved if you’re interested in how to start a podcast?
A Step By Step Guide To Starting Your Own Podcast
The only limit to what you can do with a podcast is your own imagination, and launching an in-house podcast is a growing trend amongst brands and businesses from a wide range of industries and sectors.
However, considering that they are an audio based form of content, learning how to start a podcast is not something you can pick up just from listening to one. Thankfully, the process can be broken down into six key steps.
Define Your Niche – Like it or not, every podcast needs a theme. As a general rule, the aim of the game is to find a happy medium between a topic broad enough that you can explore various aspects and narrow enough to attract an audience with that specific interest, while still being in relation to your brand’s own industry or sector.
Settle On A Style – It’s important to select a podcast format that’s suitable for your audience, so that they know what to expect from you when they tune in, such as its length and format. The very best podcasts allow the listeners to really get to know the host, so make a decision on whether you’re going to focus on conversational prose, interviews or content repurposing.
Shop For Equipment – When pondering how to start a podcast from scratch, it may come as a relief to budding media barons that you don’t need a professional studio with expensive equipment to get your project off the ground. All that’s required is a computer, audio recording and editing software, and a good quality microphone to bring your podcast to life.
Start Recording – Once you’re ready to get to work with your first podcast, here comes the fun. Recording your first episode is often done with a co-host, a special guest that you interview, or going through a piece of content that you’ve already published online. Try to avoid rigid scripts that stifle free flowing conversation, but still work from an outline to keep your content on track.
Add The Fluff – When the majority of the podcast audio is in your hands and ready for editing, don’t forget about the “extras” that are required in order to bring the whole thing together. Intro and outro music, voiceovers, cover art and even audio advertising will all need to be added to the podcast before it’s ready for publishing.
Get Ready To Launch – Getting listed in the top podcast directories like Spotify and Apple Podcasts is a critical component of your podcast marketing strategy, as this is how the majority of your new listeners will find your podcast. Once you’re ready to rumble, spread the word to your existing client base via email marketing and social media.
If you’re not yet sold on the idea of learning how to start a podcast, it’s important to note the many benefits on offer. In fact, a 2016 study conducted out of UC Berkeley concluded that listening to narrative stories – such as podcasts – can stimulate multiple parts of your brain, and can even release oxytocin, or the “love hormone”. If you haven’t yet jumped on the bandwagon yet, enlisting the help of the professionals can assist in streamlining the process.
The Key To Good Marketing Is Great Content
Producing quality, consistent and on brand content takes time, effort, experience and resources, but avoiding these responsibilities altogether may actually be doing your brand a disservice. Thankfully, investing in a solid content marketing strategy has actually never been easier.
Here at Content Hive, producing top quality digital content is exactly what we do best. We have itemised a list of digital content services, and allocated credits next to each of these. This means that each month, you can use your credits with us to produce digital content such as blog articles, social media posts, videos and even animated Instagram stories. By using this model, we believe that it enables us to produce high quality content with faster delivery times.
If you aren’t quite sure where to start on your digital marketing journey and would like to speak to a professional, why not book in a free discovery call with us at Content Hive today to discuss how we can get your brand buzzing online.
