The Final Podcast Launch Guidelines To Lastly Get Your Present Up and Working

Need to launch your individual podcast (or a podcast to your firm) however don’t know the place to start out? I’ve put collectively a podcast launch guidelines you should utilize to get your venture up and operating, together with ideas gathered from my private expertise and insights from members of the HubSpot Podcast Community.

Let’s rewind earlier than 2018, once I began my very own present, Balanced Black Lady. I used to be one of many estimated 120 million individuals listening to podcasts month-to-month. Finally, I had an concept of my very own and was capable of launch with no prior audio expertise — and if I can do it, you possibly can, too.

The truth is, beginning a podcast is simpler than ever because the medium has elevated in recognition and profitability. Right here’s the last word guidelines that can assist you begin a profitable podcast.

Desk of Contents

In case your present is simply too basic, listeners won’t ever know what to anticipate to your present. In the event that they don’t know what they’ll get, they tune out. Kyle Denhoff, Sr. Director of Advertising at HubSpot, echoes this sentiment.

“The extra targeted you’re, the better it’s to construct an viewers. For instance, be the technique present for B2B entrepreneurs or the information present for AI fans,” says Denhoff, who oversees demand technology for all channels, together with podcasts.

For my present, I began by determining the style and area of interest that my podcast would fall beneath. This made it simpler for platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify to categorize my content material so my audience may discover it. For example, my podcast present falls beneath the broader wellness style, with a extra particular concentrate on the expertise of Black ladies.

Different standard podcast genres embody:

• Arts.
• Information.
• Music.
• Finance.
• Enterprise.
• TV and movie.
• Schooling.
• True crime.
• Society and tradition.

Professional tip: Decide which style greatest describes the podcast you’d wish to create or the business you’re in, and preserve this matter in thoughts as you intend out your content material and put together for launch.

2. Determine your perfect listener.

After selecting the wellness style, I took time to zero in on my perfect listener, which I discovered just like making a purchaser persona. Creating a super listener helped me hone my messaging and create a clearer focus inside my style.

Listed here are some traits I like to recommend contemplating when describing your audience:

• Age.
• Revenue.
• Pursuits.
• Hobbies.
• Occupation.
• Schooling degree.
• Geographic location.

I additionally discovered it helpful to brainstorm. I requested myself the next questions.

• What is that this listener focused on?
• How typically do they take heed to podcasts?
• The place do they find out about new podcasts?
• Should you had been having a dialog with this listener, what questions would they ask?
• What different podcasts is that this particular person listening to, and what does that inform me about what they wish to hear?

The solutions to those questions helped me craft content material that was particularly related for my potential listeners.

Professional tip: If in case you have mates or colleagues who suit your perfect listener profile, it may be useful to survey them to get their suggestions in your podcast concept and be taught extra about their media consumption habits.

3. Identify your podcast and safe social media handles.

At this level, you recognize what your podcast is about and have recognized your perfect listener. Now, it’s time to decide on a reputation.

Whether or not your podcast identify is expounded to your enterprise or one thing totally new, carry out an intensive search to make sure the identify you need is obtainable. You don’t wish to decide a title already related to every other podcasts, manufacturers, or registered emblems.

At this stage, I additionally advocate registering the area identify and social media accounts you’ll be utilizing to advertise the podcast and interact your viewers. Whilst you gained’t want them immediately, the very last thing you need is to create paintings and produce your podcast, solely to seek out out that the handles you need have been taken.

Professional tip: Working a search within the U.S. Patent and Trademark web sites may help you guarantee there aren’t any current emblems on the identify you need.

For extra insights on selecting the best area of interest, naming your present, and extra, you possibly can take a look at HubSpot’s video on 9 professional ideas for beginning a podcast.

9 Professional Tricks to Begin Your Podcast in 2024 (FREE Information)

4. Resolve which format and publishing schedule you’d wish to observe.

After naming your present, it’s time to get into the weeds of what your podcast will seem like by selecting the format kind and your publishing cadence.

Frequent podcast codecs embody:

• Scripted.
• Interviews.
• Storytelling.
• Documentary.
• Conversations.

When contemplating the publishing cadence you’d wish to observe, notice that the commonest podcast publishing schedules are weekly, bi-weekly, and month-to-month. That mentioned, consistency is extra essential than frequency in the case of podcasting. Above all, select a schedule you possibly can preserve.

Professional tip: Denhoff recommends beginning together with your podcast’s goal, suggesting that you simply “outline the worth your podcast goals to offer. Are you filling a necessity for information, training, or leisure? Your content material ought to align with the position it performs in your viewers’s life.”

For example, if the worth you present is leisure, then a scripted or storytelling format would possibly work greatest. Conversely, since one in all my objectives is to amplify the voices of Black ladies within the wellness area, most of my present makes use of an interview format.

5. Choose a podcast internet hosting service.

Now, you wish to choose a podcast internet hosting platform. These platforms make it easier to retailer episodes and make them accessible in RSS feeds so you possibly can distribute them on platforms like Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

I believe Buzzsprout is a superb place to start out, because it gives a free plan and low-cost paid tiers. If you need extra superior options like monetization choices, listener analytics, and subscriptions, premium companies like Captivate or Libsyn might be match for you.

Professional tip: Get your individual web site. This fashion, you possibly can swap internet hosting companies if want be whereas offering a seamless transition to your listeners.

6. Create podcast cowl artwork.

Your cowl artwork offers podcast listeners a primary impression of your present earlier than they press play, so that you need it to be good. I like utilizing instruments like Canva to create my cowl artwork and templates for several types of episodes.

Earlier than I began to work alone graphics, I discovered it useful to browse directories like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts to establish frequent visible components among the many top-rated reveals and add those who suited my model.

Picture Supply

When creating your paintings, be sure that:

• It’s straightforward to learn in smaller sizes.
• It’s constant together with your branding.
• It’s a transparent picture that doesn’t seem blurry.
• It doesn’t comprise any copyrighted photographs or logos of non-affiliated firms.

Professional tip: It’s additionally crucial that your podcast paintings is the right measurement. Apple suggests utilizing a 3,000×3,000-pixel picture to future-proof your paintings.

Incorrect sizing can influence your podcast’s capacity to publish and show in directories accurately, so that you’ll wish to be certain that your paintings is the precise measurement. So, when your paintings is full, add it to your podcast internet hosting service to make sure it reveals up accurately throughout platforms.

7. Get your podcasting gear.

Your podcast recording setup might be as advanced or so simple as you’d like. Should you’re opting to file at a neighborhood studio, this could be the right level within the course of to analysis choices close to you and e-book a recording session.

Should you plan to file at house and are on the lookout for an easy setup, you’ll want the next:

• Headphones.
• A laptop computer or pc.
• Recording software program comparable to Squadcast, Zencastr, Zoom, or Riverside.
• A USB or XLR microphone (for those who use an XLR microphone, ensure you get a mixer to attach the mic to your pc).
• Modifying software program comparable to Alitu, GarageBand, Audacity, Adobe Audition, or Descript.

Professional tip: You don’t want to interrupt the financial institution on recording gear to start out a high-quality podcast. Try this checklist of really useful podcast instruments and discover the objects that suit your funds and expertise degree.

8. Create a roadmap and attain out to potential friends.

Whilst you could also be itching to get behind the mic at this level (I do know I used to be), I discovered it useful to create a high-level define of your present’s first 10 to twenty episodes earlier than you file.

Once I spoke with Joe Fier of The Hustle & Flowchart podcast, he described a method you possibly can break down the primary 20 episodes based mostly on their goal:

• Introduction: 1 episode (5%).
• Worth episode: 6 episodes (30%).
• Neighborhood episodes: 3 episodes (15%).
• Supply episodes: 2 episodes (10%).
• Visitor appearances: 4 episodes (20%).
• Repurposed content material highlight: 4 episodes (20%).

This is only one instance and might be tailored based mostly in your style and the content material varieties you’ve chosen to create.

Should you plan to interview friends, I like to recommend creating your visitor checklist and reaching out at this stage. I discovered that confirming availability with friends helps me plan out my podcast schedule prematurely so I can keep per my publishing schedule.

Professional tip: Should you plan on that includes different individuals in your podcast, have a look at your current community for potential friends. It’s robust to get individuals on board with chilly outreach for those who don’t have any current materials individuals can evaluate earlier than they comply with the interview.

9. Plan your launch episodes in additional element.

As soon as you recognize your general plan, you possibly can map out extra particulars concerning the episodes that may accompany your launch. Sure, episodes.

In any case, getting podcast listeners isn’t that completely different from how music artists draw consideration to their work — you lure them in with tune, nevertheless it’s not till they’ve listened to the opposite songs within the album that you’ve got really caught them.

Fier agrees and states, “Launching with two or three episodes is greatest since you wish to preserve your viewers in that momentum.”

In my expertise, beginning with just a few episodes additionally offers you an opportunity to earn extra downloads, scores, and evaluations in a shorter time frame, which might be useful for discoverability and rating on the charts.

Fier goes on to advocate utilizing the primary episode as an introduction that “highlights your experience after which reveals individuals the place you’re going to take them in your podcast.” From there, you should utilize the follow-up episodes to indicate them what that appears like.

Professional tip: Should you plan to function friends in your present, Fier suggests bringing your first visitor early on to introduce your viewers to the kind of interviews they will anticipate. “It’s additionally a terrific advertising technique to get a visitor to introduce you and your present to their viewers,” he says.

10. Document and edit your first three episodes.

With the define of every episode in your launch plan, it’s time to file and edit. Earlier than recording, I wish to create a script for every podcast episode outlining the factors I wish to make (if it is a solo present) or the questions I’d wish to ask the visitor I’m interviewing.

Making a strong script or define is particularly useful once you’re a brand new podcaster getting used to the medium.

As soon as your scripts are prepared, file your launch episodes in your recording software program of alternative. You possibly can then edit them your self or rent an editor to take action. When modifying, be aware of background noise and filler phrases that might distract the listener.

Professional tip: Learn your scripts out loud to listen to how they sound. This may make it easier to think about your content material as a podcast earlier than you begin recording.

11. Write the present notes to your launch episodes.

Now that your first few episodes are recorded, it’s time to jot down the present notes.

Present notes are basically brief weblog posts that accompany every podcast episode. They’re a terrific place to place a basic description of the episode together with group hyperlinks, comparable to an electronic mail sign-up.

Once I write present notes, I like to incorporate:

• A basic abstract of the episode.
• Time-stamped chapters of various matters we cowl.
• Details about my visitor (if it’s an interview).
• Hyperlinks to sponsors and any talked about assets.

Whereas it may be tempting to gloss over present notes, it’s value placing in some effort. I’ve discovered that moreover serving to with website positioning, which might carry new listeners to your present, present notes can even preserve your viewers engaged and able to observe your content material on different platforms.

Professional tip: Embody hyperlinks to related assets, comparable to books or research you point out in the course of the present. This creates extra worth for listeners and may improve engagement.

12. Create a podcast trailer.

As one closing step earlier than importing your first present, file a trailer. A trailer is a brief audio clip that introduces your podcast to new listeners and will get them excited to tune in. In your podcast trailer, you’ll wish to embody:

• An introduction to your podcast and what it’s about.
• When listeners can anticipate new episodes.
• A teaser of what’s to return or highlights so the viewers is aware of what to anticipate.
• A call-to-action inviting the listener to return again.

Professional tip: Hold your trailer partaking and informative however concise. One to 2 minutes in size is all you want.

13. Add and schedule your trailer and launch episodes.

Now that you’ve got your first three episodes, present notes, and a trailer, you’re able to publish. Add your audio recordsdata and present notes to your podcast host, and schedule your episodes to publish in your desired launch date.

Professional tip: Your launch date ought to fall on the day of the week you intend to publish shifting ahead so your viewers is aware of proper from the beginning when to tune in.

14. Submit your podcast to on-line podcast directories.

As soon as your first episodes are uploaded to your podcast service, it’s time to undergo podcast directories so listeners can tune in to your present. Keep in mind that directories can take just a few days or a few weeks to approve your podcast. You’ll wish to issue that point into your launch plan.

I like to recommend beginning with the platforms which have the widest attain. The prime three podcast directories based mostly on variety of listeners are:

• Spotify, with 25% of complete listeners.
• Apple Podcasts, with 20% of complete listeners.
• Google Podcasts, with 16% of complete listeners.

Streaming your podcast to different platforms comparable to Stitcher, Castbox, Pandora, and Amazon Music might be managed inside your podcast host settings.

Professional tip: Revisit step two to see which streaming companies your perfect listener makes use of to find and observe their podcasts.

15. Market your podcast and rejoice your launch.

Congratulations — you simply launched your first podcast! Now, it’s time to get the phrase out by advertising your present to your perfect listeners and celebrating your laborious work.

I’ve discovered that short-form movies are glorious methods to advertise my podcasts, so I take advantage of Instagram reels to spotlight prime clips from my interviews.

Professional tip: Fier suggests leveraging YouTube as a podcast advertising channel, saying, “Video goes to be a bit of podcasting at the moment. YouTube will probably be the place a whole lot of momentum is going on for podcasts due to their algorithm.”

For much more data on organizing, producing, and advertising your podcast, obtain our Final Information to Beginning a Podcast totally free. You’ll even get electronic mail outreach templates and recommendations on the very best methods to measure success.

In comparison with different advertising channels, podcasting is among the extra advertising-friendly choices. One survey confirmed that 46% of podcast listeners don’t discover advertisements intrusive in any respect. In distinction, 77% of individuals discover advertisements considerably or very intrusive on YouTube, and 64% discover advertisements considerably or very intrusive on TV.

As such, don’t really feel shy about working with sponsors who’re match to your model. In a podcast setting, advertisements are much less more likely to be a turnoff for listeners. Should you can tie advertisements into the theme of your present or episode, they are often particularly helpful to your viewers.

Podcasts take preparation.

Podcasts are a wonderful option to construct group together with your audience, however if you wish to develop your present’s viewers, you will need to put together. From figuring out your perfect listener and drafting a launch plan to crafting outlines for every present, the significance of analysis, planning, and preparation by no means goes away.

That mentioned, you don’t want to attain perfection to be ready. Belief me, although, I do know the temptation of getting each element excellent. When you’ve performed the work, the very best factor you are able to do is to get began. Over time, you possibly can modify your technique based mostly in your metrics and listener suggestions.