A few months ago, I had a great idea for a podcast. I realized that nobody was doing a podcast about the Black radio and music industry from an industry perspective. I contacted 4 other industry people who I thought could add a great dynamic to the show and off we went. For this feature. A podcast is an EXCELLENT way to promote yourself or your brand especially for out of work air talent, but I’ve also seen sales people do it and DJs. Here are some tips including the mistakes I made and how you can avoid those mistakes.
Have a Consistent Theme
When I say this I mean makes sure your show has a theme each week that the listener can expect. In other words, don’t be a comedian one week and an expert on trucks the next week. Consistancy is the key when it comes to podcasting.
Do SOME Research
I say SOME because I don’t really believe in research unless I create it myself. Research is often flawed because it’s a sample of an entire population and what may work for one person may not work for you and if you are not passionate about the subject of your podcast and you are only doing it to see what happens you are wasting your time. Do SOME research when it comes to hosting sites and marketing but as far as content, create it yourself.
Plan it out
The TheIndustry.biz Radio Show podcast was always scripted out with questions that I would throw out and get responses from the panel. Don’t even just DO a show, make sure it’s planned in advance.
Bring in the Right People
This is EXTREMELY important. Bring in people who compliment what you do, don’t bring in people who think just like you all the time. People like various opinions and concepts. Give them a reason to listen.
Check the best hosting sites
I use Podbean and I like them because they have so many features. What I did not like about them was they were not able to break down my audience. This is a major problem because you need to know who your audience is. If you want the completely easy way out, no uploads, no editing, you can use Blogtalkradio but the sound quality is not good. I will explain how you can get more info..
Be prepared to spend the time
The main reason I put the Podcast on hold was because of the time. I was self editing and it literally took me 4 to 5 hours to delete, edit, add music, add elements etc. You have to have good editing software but it doesn’t have to cost you a dime. There are free recording programs out there like Audacity but you are still going to have to edit. Don’t just put a show out there and not clean it up.
Budget it out
It’s not that expensive but the more you spend the better show you will have. Your greatest costs will be Gotomeeting if you want to being several people in on the call but they offer the first month free. The other cost will be hosting like on Podbean.
What if it’s successful?
In all honestly, I was not prepared. Our show, The TheIndustry.biz Radio Show, was HUGELY successful getting over 140,000 listens for the 6 shows. The idea made absolute sense and I’m not saying we will not continue to do it, but I was not prepared for that kind of success. I just wanted to see what would happen.
What if it fails?
See how your numbers do, if they steadily increase you may need to do more marketing, if they keep falling you may need to think of another idea.
Can you schedule interesting guests?
This will make or break your show. If people want to see or hear people talking about themselves all day they can read FaceBook. In addition, when people talk about themselves it does not take long before it comes off as narcisstic and that generally turns people off. Don’t make the show all about you make it all about what you LIKE.
Be prepared to Edit
As I said above, if you don’t have someone, this can literally take HOURS. You have to REALLY love what you do in order to do that
Know your audience
Podbean may or may not be right for if you need to know your audience. There are many other sites that hosts podcasts that will give you better analytics. Google “Podcast hosting’ and you can do your research.
