So You Want to Start a Podcast

24 Aug So You Want to Start a Podcast

2018 may turn out to be the year of the podcast. It seems like everyone is starting – or wants to start – a podcast these days. According to Apple, there are more than 525,000 active podcasts on iTunes. In March, Apple podcasts passed the 50-billion mark for episode downloads. That’s a lot of podcast listening going on out there – which is why everyone from the CEO to your next door neighbor is interested in starting a podcast.

Earlier this week, Joe co-led a session on podcasting at the Florida Public Relations Association Annual Conference. He also won a pretty sweet award while he was there. But back to podcasting, there were a lot of questions during his session about the best way to get started with launching a podcast. We put together a checklist for aspiring podcasters, based on our experience of creating and launching PR & Politics over the past year.

1. Determine the Why
As with any PR tool, having a podcast for the sake of having one likely won’t get you very far. Why do you want to have a podcast? Is there a business goal behind it? Are you hoping to bring in new followers or customers? And why would anyone want to listen to your show? Remember there are more than 525,000 podcasts to choose from on iTunes, so competition is intense. Are you planning to offer valuable information, a new perspective, behind-the-scenes details? Are you going to be entertaining or more educational?

2. Pick a (Good) Topic
The topic of your show should be a natural fit for you or your organization. We talk about PR and political stories every day in the office, so PR and Politics became an extension of our office conversations. What do you or your brand know best? Start there when planning the topic of your podcast.

3. Get Techy
While you don’t have to be a professional sound engineer, you will need a base a knowledge of how to record, edit and upload your audio files. We record and edit with Adobe Audition, but simpler programs like Audacity or GarageBand will work just fine. We also recommend a decent microphone. Ditch the iPhone earbud mic and invest in something higher quality. We use the Snowball iCE by Blue Microphones, but there are many good options out there. You’ll also have to decide where you plan to host your podcast. SoundCloud, PodBean and Libsyn are among the most popular hosting sites.

4. Be Consistent
This is an important one. You want your show to build momentum as time goes on, and it’s hard to do that if listeners don’t know when to expect new episodes. When planning your podcast topic, be realistic about how often you can create new episodes. For PR & Politics, we release episodes (almost) every Friday afternoon, except last week when Chad was at the beach. Pick a release schedule that works for you and stick to it.

5. Improve as You Go
It’s natural to want to have a perfect podcast from the start. It’s unlikely to happen. If you wait until you get everything just right – sound, content, cover art – you may never get your podcast off the ground. Sometimes starting is the most important step. However, for long-term success, you’ll want to make adjustments that improve the quality of your show.

After unsuccessfully trying to convince a potential client to start a podcast, Joe McLeod and Chad McLeod launched their own. PR & Politics is now a weekly podcast on politics, political communications, and public relations stories.