The people behind the podcast
Podcasting has evolved from the days where one person would record and release from their garage or shed. The only thing that would make a pod like that stand out now is the poor-quality audio. Modern podcasting is a massive industry with dedicated teams built around each episode. Here’s a run-through of the typical team involved of podcast marketing and production.
Executive Producer – Starting out at the top, an executive producer takes the helm of the planning, coordinating and team management. They function as a showrunner that controls all decisions. Another important part of their job is building relationships with and between hosts and guests.
Producer – A producer can schedule the podcast, organise guest outreach and arrange the recording dates and times. They press the big red RECORD button and offer editorial and technical advice to make sure things run smoothly.
Audio Editor – They take the recorded audio and turn it into the highly-polished content we’re used to hearing. Editing a podcast includes taking out the erms and aahs, cutting out any technical noise and adding any music or sound effects as needed.
Content Writer – No podcast upload is complete without a title and description. The content writer is obviously the most important part (not that we’re biased…). This genius will pick out the moments of magic and craft them into everything written about that episode. Aiming to grab the audience as they scroll.
Designers – OK, so maybe these are important too. No podcast is complete without a logo. No logo is complete without a graphic designer painstakingly considering the correct combination of colours to draw the audience in. And not forgetting the artwork for every single episode thereafter!
Marketers – As the podcast gets released, people will only listen if they know it exists. Knowing how to market a podcast couldn’t be more important. Podcast marketing maestros are integral to planning and analysing success. Great podcast content only works alongside a great promotional strategy. Be it paid, organic content or PR, it will all be vital to making sure your pod finds the right ears.
The Theme
Let’s position the podcast. Who is the target audience? What industry are they in? How do you want them to engage? Once you answer these questions, you can decide on an overarching theme which will form the basis of everything. From the theme, the podcast name (make sure you get this right by following our brand naming blog), graphic design, sound design and tone of voice will follow.
The Host
You can’t have a podcast without a host, so it’s worth picking a good one. Look for esteemed journalists, public speakers or lecturers in your target industries. Someone with the right voice, interviewing experience and enough charisma to keep the audience tuned in. Find the right host, and your guest outreach will be a hell of a lot easier.
The Guest
When looking for guests be sure to consider what questions you are answering. Why should people listen? What do they get out of it?
Good guests can make or break your podcast. Our insights into guest outreach will help you to reach the right people. A certain name or company can be a podcast marketing win, opening your podcast to a brand-new audience (and may even ultimately lead to more leads). Especially if you encourage guests to share their appearance on their social media. However, don’t just get a big name for the sake of it. If the content will suffer or they don’t come across well, then what’s the point in having them on?
On the opposite side of the spectrum, don’t dismiss guests because their industry or specialism is too niche. Niche content can be great podcast marketing opportunities, as long as the content is good. Increasingly, social channel platforms like TikTok are havens for micro-niches. So a podcast on a topic outside of your wheelhouse might be what you need to engage a wider audience.
The Test
Before unleashing your podcast on the world, test the guest and host in a pre-interview. This way they’ll be able to build a relationship and get on the same wavelength. It will also give your host a chance to work out a structure to the conversation and decide on topics. You could even send these to the guest ahead of time and give them a chance to prepare. Avoid sending exact questions (you don’t want the guest to overprepare and sound scripted).
Recording
Recording should be the simplest part. Ensure that both host and guest(s) have a good quality microphone, that they’re wearing headphones and that they aren’t sitting on the world’s squeakiest chair. Listen along and if there are any bits that sound rough, note it down and suggest they repeat the odd line at the end to help your podcast editor.
Promotion
Recording a podcast that no-one knows to listen to is completely pointless. Podcast marketing is huge. Making sure people know about the pod using organic and paid social posts will drive engagement. A little money can go a long way so don’t forget to include a paid strategy (paid social, display and paid search) which can put your pod in front of the right people.
Be creative, video content is king. So snippets of episodes on socials work great on all platforms (extra points if you use custom audio on TikTok) – just make sure you include subtitles for inclusivity. Video clips will engage social audiences and open up your content to a whole new listener base.
Driving listeners to the podcast can be a lot more effective if you craft everything with SEO in mind! Everything written about your podcast, including any social and web content should contain titles, descriptions, hashtags and video tags that are maximised for SEO to help get your content to rank better.
All this podcast marketing will benefit you in the long run as the more effort you put in, the more you will get out. That PR piece may help your guest outreach and lead to your next guest. This guest may now be an interested customer and will be guided into your sales funnel. Clearly, achieving podcasting perfection will serve every area of your business… so why not get started today.
Podding Along
Now we know that this is quite a lot to do, but you could save yourself a lot of hassle by letting Fox Agency do the hard work for you. Our integrated team are more than capable of launching a podcast for your business. Just listen in to our previous work on ClientSide and durhamlane’s The Insiders. Keep an eye and ear out for our new exciting podcast project COMING SOON.