5 Things to know before you start a Podcast in 2021
The podcast landscape is Booming
With podcasts growing in popularity, countless people are trying to add their expertise and enthusiasm to the growing field. The podcasting industry has a wide spectrum of appeal from hobbyists who wish to share interest and add their revenue to business owners seeking to build up a client base and reinforce their knowledge.
In March 2020, Edison Research announced that in the previous month about 104 million Americans had been enrolled in a podcast, up 14 million from 2019. Podcasting has actually tripled since 2014.
“Podcasts have arrived in a big way”
Hopping on to the podcast scene
Before delving into the nitty-gritty stating how one can start a new podcast, It is best to get the answers to the following questions:
1. What’s Your Podcast For?
You’re a freelancer? A business, huh? Or a brand officer, huh? If so, you may have recognized podcasting as a brilliant way to form authority and provide informative and engaging content to your consumers and target audiences.
Or are you looking at podcasting from a hobbyist point of view? This could mean that you’re going to create a show in your spare time. And the topic is going to be something that you’re excited about.
You can describe your “why” here in either case. It’s important to bear in mind that you should stay inspired, even though you find it hard to get a show out.
“Podcasts have emerged as the best way to share one’s thoughts on a topic of interest “
2. Who is Your Podcast For?
So the first day, get into the main issue: Who’s this podcast for?
The fact is, you have no chance of building an audience unless you know who you are doing your show for and why you are.
If you come here from a business perspective and you are (for instance) a personal trainer who wants to do a fitness and wellness podcast, then it could be people who are involved in healthy eating, loss of weight, exercising, or fitness.
“Not everyone will find your content engaging, Target your audience wisely”
3. Do I Need an Audience to Start a Podcast?
This is a commonly posed question, and it’s a nice one to answer before we proceed ahead.
Some individuals already have a little following in place when they launch a podcast. It could be anything from a company or a brand to an artist, a former football player, or an author.
If you already have a following centered around something other than your podcast, then it’s a fantastic time to lay the groundwork for the show’s viewership. This means, of course, that the podcast is important to the public.
You can choose to poll the audience during the planning process. Here, you should ask them questions like, “What’s your greatest pain point? “And what are you grappling with right now? ”.
What If I Have No Audience?
Don’t let this question be the reason for your procrastination. According to a poll conducted by ThePodcastHost.com, the results show that your prospective new listeners don’t really care if they’ve never heard of you before. In fact, this is the least important consideration that they would consider when weighing whether or not to hit the play button.
4. Planning Your Episodes
After finding out what kind of content you’d like to bring out for your listeners from your podcast, It’s time to worry about the episodes themselves So, what are some of the more general questions about podcast episodes when looking at how to launch a podcast?
How Long Should A Podcast Episode Be?
Many would point to the typical commuting period (said to be around 20 minutes) as a reasonable duration at which to aim. But for an episode duration, anything from 20 to 45 minutes seems to be inside the “sweet spot.”
Don’t think too much about these numbers though, two factors can eventually determine the episode lengths.
How Often Should I Release New Episodes?
The best schedule to stick to is normally the most frequent one, meaning posting your content on a regular basis.
So, if you can only upload just one episode a month, even that’s fine. If you can manage every 2 weeks, even better. If you can manage weekly, then that’s just amazing.
A new podcast can still have a considerable impact with a fortnightly, or monthly show as long as you are able to bedazzle the audience with your content.
Choosing Epic Episode Titles
When it comes to choosing a name for the series, the biggest blunder is calling them ‘Episode 1’, ‘Episode 2’, and so on. If they listen, no one will know what to expect. The whole idea of starting a new podcast is that people listen to it, so give them a purpose to click on your episodes.
It’s highly important to make it clear to individuals what they are going to get by listening to your show. You can see shows with names like “How To…”, “Five Tricks For…” etc. as you browse through every podcast list. These are normal since they work. You also need to ensure that what you promised in the title is delivered to the episode.
5. Try avoiding a script
It’s quick to envision an in-depth analysis when we talk about ‘scripting’ that will be read out word for word to become your podcast show. The strategy can succeed, but it is only for shows that are very highly produced and heavily edited.
But why It takes hours to compose, every day, for a start, so you’ll never do it every week if you’re working yourself.
As compared to a sermon, the personal essence of podcasting is much better conducive to being a discussion. So try to wean yourself from a completely scripted show with what you want to cover with bullet points. With training, this will get simpler over time, until it will finally become pointless to write a complete script.
Wrapping Up
With the 5 hacks mentioned above, nobody can stop you from starting your journey towards a successful podcast series.
