In this blog, we guide you through our top eight success factors when it comes to creating a podcast.
- Having a focused topic
It’s easy to get carried away when it comes to podcasting so your best bet is to keep the focus on a single, narrow area. This will simplify your planning, particularly when it comes to creating the ‘persona’ of your listeners which is referred to throughout every step of the podcasting process.
- Finding a niche market
Rather than creating content for a broad audience, it’s effective to cater to one particular niche whose interest lays in the focused topic. Not only does this help you craft your content to a specific audience, but it also helps you refine and target the way you promote your content to best reach the listeners you’re trying to attract. You can create criteria of your ideal listener and check each decision (promotion, episode content etc.) against these.
- Using suitable equipment
A good podcast cannot be made without good equipment and sound quality and clever editing is important. Headphones, a microphone and software are great tools for recording and editing your podcast. Sufficient sound quality requires extensive testing prior to hitting record, and the editing requires lots of practice and an understanding of how the content should flow. If you struggle with editing, outsourcing this step is very worthwhile!
- Sticking to a plan
Plan, plan and plan! Make sure you begin your podcast journey with a strategy in mind. Who is the podcast for? How often will you release an episode? How many topics will you cover? What’s your budget? Will release dates be sporadic or consistent? Will you submit to one directory or five? Most importantly, be realistic when planning your podcast. Don’t aim for an episode every week if your schedule does not permit enough time to record, edit and upload this frequently.
- Setting episodes to an appropriate length
As a general rule of thumb, podcasts should be between fifteen to thirty minutes in length. Often the longer the podcast, the less likely listeners are to listen to the entire audio. At the same time, it’s difficult to provide a good quality episode to listeners in less than five minutes, so try and keep the fifteen to thirty-minute guide in mind!
- Engaging with listeners
Most listeners love it when you engage with them. It’s always good to be active, spontaneous and ask lots of questions. This tip extends to bringing in feature guests who will add to the dialogue. Make sure you listen to them carefully and be open to where the conversation may go. This will create a fun discussion and let you ask listeners what they want to hear, what they do and don’t enjoy about your podcast. Remember that not all listeners will want to engage so it’s important to get a feel for the audience and not be too hard on yourself if they’d rather not get involved. Finally, to increase your chances of success, be sure to add in a ‘call to action’ through which you can direct listeners to subscribe, like your page on Facebook or visit your website for more information.
- Promoting the podcast
There’s no point recording, editing and uploading a podcast if you’re only going to dismiss external promotion. Adapting your podcast is highly important as it opens the door for promotion on other platforms. For instance, you may choose to transcribe your episodes so that they can be turned into blog posts or social media posts to be liked or shared by listeners and potential listeners. You may also wish to advertise through guest speakers, partnerships, sponsorships or giveaways. With so many podcasts out there, it’s important to be proactive in your own marketing.
- Having fun
By having fun when creating your podcast, listeners get a feel for your personality and it makes them want to keep listening. Showing you’re having a good time creates authenticity and will help generate an organic following.
Our top tip: don’t give up! Successful podcasting requires practice. Familiarising yourself with the above eight tips is a great start. Good luck!
Blogs, articles, website and journals that have been referenced when researching and writing this blog:
- https://www.timecamp.com/blog/2018/01/make-successful-podcast/#key
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescontentmarketing/2019/02/14/12-tips-for-building-a-successful-podcast/#49f786d7306d
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/05/23/seven-elements-you-need-to-create-a-successful-podcast/#f7969a290a15
- https://au.pcmag.com/how-to/57854/how-to-create-your-own-successful-podcast
