Many individuals now include starting a podcast for their business in their marketing strategy. A podcast gives your brand a way to communicate directly with your target audience.
With the audience being laser-focused on the topic, and you’re the one providing information; it automatically establishes you as an authority in your field. This allows you to stay top-of-mind with consumers.
The primary reason for starting a podcast, however, is that it can generate new business. Statistics show that 55% of the US population has listened to a podcast at least once, and 24% listen to them on a weekly basis.
That’s a large group of listeners who could be tuning into your podcast. What’s more, the content you cover during your podcast can be repurposed on your website and across social media for a tremendous ROI.
There are 3 primary ways to go about starting a podcast for your business or organization. To know which method is the best for you, you must understand the basics of podcasting, and then estimate the amount of time and effort you want to put into the podcast. This article is will provide three ways that you can create a podcast and you’ll learn which is the best one for you.
Why Podcasting?
Whether or not ‘you’ listen to podcasts, there is a very good chance that many of your potential customers do. Podcast listeners tend to have higher incomes, more education, and are loyal listeners to the podcasts they choose.
These are all good signals if you are looking for that ideal customer. In terms of content marketing, even newly launched podcasts can garner as much listenership and attention as webinars, especially considering the evergreen nature of podcasts.
So if you or your business is looking to start a podcast, you first need to understand the mechanics of getting a podcast from your mic to the masses.
Before I explain the 3 primary ways to go about creating a podcast for your business, it’s important to understand how podcasts operate. In order to have a podcast available to the world on platforms like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast and Spotify, these are the primary functions that need to be carried out.
How a Podcast Works: 5 Essential Steps to Start a Podcast
1. Record
Record the podcast – by gathering all of the voices together for a conversation. Capturing quality audio, either remotely or locally, takes skill and expertise.
You want your podcast to be crystal clear without distracting audio distortions. A professional production company will be happy to assist hosts and guests during the process. This will provide a level of comfort for all involved so that the end product is as good as it can be.
2. Edit
Edit the podcast – this means blending and optimizing each voice so that the conversation is pleasant to the ear. A professional production company can do everything required to get your podcast ready to be broadcast.
They will clean up the audio by removing unwanted elements, noises, and mistakes. Once all segments have been expertly edited, the entire episode will be mastered for consistent sound.
3. SEO Optimize
SEO Optimize – add Titles, Tags, and Descriptions that will help your podcast get found by people searching for podcasts like yours. A professional production company will optimize the podcast for search engines (SEO) and add meta-data to the content.
4. Hosting
Hosting, upload your podcast to a host – your audio file has to live somewhere and someone needs to put it there. Your production company can handle all the aspects of distributing your podcast.
Some companies, like Apple, have specific requirements for podcasts. A professional producer will be familiar with these and can help you navigate them. The company can prepare your audio in the proper format for podcast platforms and ensure that the desired platforms accept it.
5. Repurpose
Market and Repurpose the podcast – you’ll want to give every episode a long life and help it continue to drive attention to your business. Additionally, you can accomplish this by doing things like creating clips to promote the podcast socially and adding it to your overall marketing strategy. A good production company will assist in your promotion strategy to attract listeners to your podcast.
They can create content such as audiograms, transcripts, embeds, and summaries that can help expand its ROI. They can promote your show on the producer’s social channels and advise you about artwork for the show.
The Three Best Ways to Start a Podcast for Your Business
Now that you basically know how it works, here are the three ways that you can go about starting your podcast; Pros and Cons included.
Tl;dr
- Do It Yourself – Best for solo or hobby podcasters
- Produced-with-You – Best for personal brands or small businesses
- Hire a Producer or Agency – Best for businesses
1. Do it Yourself
Firstly, if you have a lot more time than you do budget, then this may be the route for you. The equipment that you’ll need can be minimal. A decent desktop set-up for do-it-yourself podcasting can be obtained for between $200-$500. Aside from your computer, all you will need is a microphone and a pair of headphones.
You could even record directly into a small recording device. Here is a link to our Amazon shop with some of our suggested gear. (Disclosure: This is an affiliate link, however using the links will not affect the items’ cost).
To learn more about this type of equipment, subscribe to the Content Monsta Gear channel for videos and product reviews. On that channel, we’ll be going deeper into some individual equipment and how it might work for you.
If you are doing it yourself, get ready to also do some research in order to start your podcast. You’ll need to learn a bit about audio files and how to optimize them for the best sound.
Furthermore, you’ll want to study up on audio SEO as well as the best ways to host your podcast files. Then you’ll want to help your podcast find its way to listeners by learning how to promote your podcast.
The key responsibilities of an in-house podcast producer include scripting shows, booking guests, scheduling and recording sessions, editing, and mixing episodes. If you are capable in all these areas, then yes, you can probably start your own business podcast production. However, most DIY podcasts are hobby-based and not professional enough for business.
This is all possible as a Do-It-Yourself project, but not the best option for a business that needs to focus on what they do best… their business.
2. Produced with You – Using the Assistance of a Podcast Producer
You may like the convenience of recording on your own. This works especially well if you are the only voice that will be on the podcast. Then, you can pass the recording off to a producer to optimize the audio and distribute the podcast for you.
Or, you may want the assistance of a remote producer or studio producer to capture your audio, hand you the optimized file for you to handle distribution and marketing.
Content Monsta’s Produced with You service provides you with a recording platform, a post-production editor, and we’ll do the distribution for you as well. If your podcast is video, we’ll edit the video and help you place each episode on YouTube.
3. Hire a Podcast Producer or Agency to Start Your Podcast
If you want to just show up, talk, and wait to hear your conversation to pop-up on your podcast app, then hiring a producer or podcast production agency is the best route. A producer can capture your audio remotely or in-studio, mix all of your voices, and create a polished podcast audio file.
This will produce the highest quality sound for your podcast. When a producer is from an agency, your podcast can be distributed and marketed by that agency. For example, here at Content Monsta we remotely record our client’s podcasts with studio-quality, as well as mix them down, distribute, and work with our client’s marketing teams to achieve the highest possible ROI for each episode.
For the host, it’s as simple as having a scheduled, weekly conversation. Your producer or agency handles all the rest.
Conclusion
Which of these three methods of starting your podcast are the best for you?
For most businesses, they will choose a turn-key solution by hiring a producer or agency. This can provide the best sound production, distribution, and marketing of their podcast. It requires only a commitment of the marketing budget.
If you’re looking to produce a solo or hobby podcast, you might go the Do-It-Yourself route or seek assistance for just a portion of the process.
If you are serious about your business podcast as part of your marketing strategy, starting without help is not advised. There is a learning curve to all the parts and if skills are missing, you may have a difficult time getting the podcast ready to go online.
A professional producer or agency can ensure consistency in quality and production of your business podcast. For more tips on content marketing for your business, subscribe to the Content Monsta Marketing or Content Monsta Gear channels, and be sure to click the notification bell to stay informed.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How do I get my podcast on iTunes or Apple Podcasts?
You first must host your file on a website. It is best to have it hosted with a company that specializes in hosting podcasts and multimedia content. That host will provide a web address called an RSS Feed that can be submitted to podcast platforms such as Apple Podcasts. That will let them know where to find your podcast along with all of the other information about the podcast. This includes artwork, description, and other meta-data.
Can I record a podcast remotely?
Yes, there are several ways to record your audio without being in the same room as your guests or the podcast producer. The degree of quality can vary tremendously depending on how you go about recording the audio. Companies that specialize in podcast production can achieve the highest quality and also have the means to fix audio issues before publishing your podcast.
Is a podcast only Audio or can it be Video too?
In the traditional sense, podcasts are audio-only. Video podcasts can also be created, however, the quality of the audio will typically suffer as a result. In order to achieve quality audio and quality video at the same time, additional equipment and knowledge are needed. Hiring a production company is suggested for this level of podcast creation.
What kind of equipment is needed to start a podcast?
The equipment needed to start a podcast can be as minimal as a USB microphone connected to a laptop and a pair of headphones. As additional voices and other elements are added, more equipment is needed. For productions that require editing and high quality audio you will need editing software as well had the hardware needed to combine (mix) the multiple audio signals from each host or guest.
