Phase 1 – Planning Your Podcast
Step 1: Why Do You Want to Podcast?
Just like with blogging, you need to set out what your goals and objectives are before diving in. Are you a freelancer? A marketing manager? Or a business? There are two situations you can find yourself in. First, you intend to start a podcast so you can generate additional traffic and conversions for your business. The second scenario, you intend to start a podcast as a hobby or business in and by itself hoping to directly generate revenues with it over time.
In either case, you need to identify your why. This is important so you can stay motivated in the long term when you are finding it difficult to get a show out.
Step 2: Who Is Your Podcast Targeting?
Now that you know why you want to podcast, it is time to identify who your podcast is for. If your objective is to generate traffic for your business, then your general category of listeners is essentially chosen for you. This category should be highly related to your business. For the person pursuing a hobby or business, your category is open-ended at this point. However, it should be based on something that you and your target audience are passionate about.
Veteran podcasters advocate for creating listener personas. It is a smart idea, sketching out precisely who and why it is that you’d like to listen to your message. Further down the road when you are planning out your episodes, the listener personas will come in very handy. All you have to do is ask yourself, Would Kevin like this content? Is it focussed on what he is interested in and likes? The persona profile and such questions will help you keep every episode of your podcast focussed and on track thereby consistently delivering engaging content.
Step 3: Why Should People Listen to You?
Now that we know why you have a podcast and who you want to reach, does it mean that we will automatically listen to you? Unfortunately no. You need to give us, your audience a reason to listen to you. The trick is to create content that adds value to our daily life, profession or interests.
Whether you are furthering a business or pursuing a hobby through your podcast, the key thing is that you are constantly providing value to your listener. See, with blogging, you can try present your own unique perspective to a topic as a beginner. However, with podcasting, the people motivated enough to seek out a podcast on a particular topic expect nothing less than expert insight. So the question is, what are you skilled at, or an expert at? As a business, listeners expect that you are experts in your field and the same applies with hobbyists. As a matter of fact, podcasts offer a unique platform for businesses and hobbyists to establish their authority in their field or interest so grab the chance by the scruff of the neck and run with it. Listeners need to and feel like they derive value from listening to you.
By doing this, you have not only given them a reason to listen but also a reason to come back, subscribe and even advocate for your podcast. This is particularly important during the first 10-15 but it doesn’t mean that you should go off-track after that. Plan out your first 10 episodes so meticulously that they become the solid foundation for your podcast. It is also important that you plan out your episodes past the 15 first episodes in line with the different personas, changing needs and trends.
Step 4: Give Your Podcast an Appropriate Name
If your name sucks, no one will give you a chance. Fortunately, we have 3 ways on how you can come up with a name that draws attention and also builds your authority.
Using a Clever Name
You can decide to go all out on a creative and fun name. The name can feature anything that is catchy/creative or clever. However, you must also remember that people need to have an easy time when searching for information about your topic. If the name has no resemblance or inclination to your topic, it is wise to then incorporate a description into the title or a tagline. Remember that, you might have the best content in your topic, but it’s not worth anything if no one can find it.
Using a Descriptive Name
Probably a more boring option is to make your podcast more searchable by naming it what your target audience are searching for. This way, the audience have no doubt about what the show is about. It sure does make it easier to find your show with the only downside of maybe making it less memorable or too generic. If you decide that this option best suites you, avoid getting too wordy – short and precise does it. During the recording stage, you will need to say the podcast name quite a lot so make sure it as effortless as possible.
Using Your Own Name
This option is a no go – unless you are Arnold Schwarzenegger or Will Smith. Using your own name when you do not already have an active audience will leave your listeners asking who is so and so and move on to other podcasts. With that being said, you can incorporate your name into the title together with your topic. Say your name is Ethan Jones and are a gold prospector in the Outback. You can set your title to be something like “Gold Prospecting with Ethan Jones”. This will give some context to the person seeing your podcast for the first time.