If you’re an entrepreneur that wants to get the word out about your message, product, or service, you may be thinking about starting a podcast. What’s holding you back?
I co-host a podcast with my friend and real estate investor, Stephanie, called Frenzied to Financial Freedom. We have produced 31 episodes (at the time of this blog posting). Our podcast is for women who are investing in themselves and yearning to earn more as entrepreneurs that will help them ditch their frenzied lives and become more financially free.
It has been a fun ride! We get lots of questions about what it takes to even begin a podcast, so here are my recommendations.
Find your niche.
According to a leading podcast platform, Blubrry, there are roughly 540,000 podcast titles and the number rises by about 2,000 every week. Rumor has it that there are 65 podcasts just about knitting! So take this as a clear sign that you need to find your people: Clearly identify that very specific audience that wants to hear what you have to say. The more finite your target, the better.
Take some time to get clear on what you want to share and why and with whom. This will make EVERYTHING easier—from designing your logo to determining the actual format of your podcast. For example, if you’re targeting CEOs, then a 7-minute podcast that airs on Mondays, when they are commuting, may be the way to go. If you’re targeting working moms that live in rural areas, then you’ll need to understand the best way to communicate with them, including the types of guests, frequency of the show, and length/format of the podcast.
Invest in technology.
It’s not overly expensive to start a podcast, but you will need a good headset and microphone and a quiet place to record. You can use your existing computer or laptop, but make sure you have enough memory to save large audio files!
You’ll want to research and sign up for the best podcast hosting site for you. Take the time to check out a few of them. The website Podcast Insights is a great resource for all things podcasting, and also has a list of the top hosting sites. We use Libsyn, but many folks we know use Blubrry.
It is also highly recommended to have your own website where you can post each episode, but it’s not necessary in the beginning of your journey, because the hosting broadcast to the major podcasting platforms like Apple, Stitcher, and Spotify on your behalf. A website is ultimately a good idea for branding, though, and driving traffic to your own platform.
Finally, if you want to increase your sound quality, you’ll want to look at an audio editing application like Garage Band or Audacity. Both have free versions if you’re just starting out.
Outsource so you can focus on content.
I know many people that DIY their entire podcast production—soup to nuts. Often, the sound editing, production, creation of weekly cover art, social media promotion, and other logistics can take over the time you should be using to focus on creating quality content for your podcast.
You may want to consider finding a resource to help you with some of the details. The outsourcing sites, Fiverr and Upwork provide great resources for graphic design and sound editing at reasonable fees.
I recommend documenting the time you spend on the overall podcast including scheduling guests, writing scripts, recording, managing social media for promotion, etc. Determine how much you think that is costing you by the hour in time and resources. Then get quotes or estimates on vending some of that activity out. Compare. You may be surprised to find that you CANNOT afford to NOT outsource.
Your goal is to get people coming back for more, so content is king. Focus on that.
Stay consistent.
Tom Cochrane, the CEO of Blubrry, says that in the 90 day period of April, May, and June of 2018, only about 20% of the 540,000 podcasts produced a fresh episode. In addition, Steven Goldstein blogged that “industry veterans report that many podcasts ‘podfade’ by their 7th episode, meaning they cease production.”
The best thing you can do once you start a podcast is to keep on trucking. You can only build a solid following and win in with your target audience by posting quality content at consistently regular intervals. For example, Sarah Monares’ The We Podcast has 60 episodes! We tape and post our podcast once a week, but some podcasting pros contend that if you really want to get good at anything, you should be doing it as frequently as possible – even daily!
Have fun!
Anything worth doing requires a bit of elbow grease, right? Even so, if you’re not fully enjoying the art of putting yourself out into “audio world” on a regular basis, then consider that podcasting may not be the medium to deliver your message. If you start a podcast, you should be enjoying the process!
Stephanie and I love interviewing our guests and coming up with new ideas for content that we think our listeners will really enjoy. This creative outlet has become the highlight of our frenzied weeks and months. The next step for us is looking at how to earn sponsorships, so the podcast can pay for itself. Stay tuned!
Good luck in your endeavors as an entrepreneur, and, hopefully, we’ll be listening to your podcast very soon.
