If you’ve been thinking of starting a podcast but don’t know where to begin, this podcast marketing guide will help you lay the foundation of your podcasting career. Let’s jump right in.

Guest post by Terry Tateossian, Founding Partner of Socialfix Media.

What are podcasts?

Podcasts are a series of digital recordings covering conversations on specific topics. They’re a versatile form of primarily audio (but also video) content that provides insights into its creators’ thoughts on specific topics.

Podcasts can be simply relaxing and funny, cover deep philosophical topics, or be a mixture of all – there are no limits to what a podcast can be about.

Like other sharing social platforms, podcasts can turn their creators into online sensations and grow their influence in a specific market and niche.

The Advantages for Having Your Own Podcast Series

If you’ve been contemplating a career in the digital world of influence but have been hesitant to start a YouTube channel, or visual content is not your thing – podcasts are a great medium to help get in front of an audience.

Unlike video series, podcasts are primarily audio recordings. They’re an easy and convenient form of content that makes it easy for users to press play and listen to what you have to say. 

Podcasts are perfect for an audience looking to spend their commute to work in a helpful, productive, and entertaining way.

Podcasts are the perfect way for camera-shy creators to interact with people, share opinions, expert knowledge, and connect without worrying about hair, makeup, and acting skills in front of a camera.

So, if podcasting is something you want to try, let’s look at what you need to start and maintain your own podcast series. Or you can also engage with a podcast marketing and production agency.

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Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Series and Podcast Marketing

Let’s review the steps needed to ensure a successful launch and entertaining episodes.

Choose Your Theme & Podcast Name

It might be obvious but the first step to starting a podcast is to pick a theme or a niche you would enjoy sharing content about and matches your audience’s interests.

It might be a field you have expert knowledge in, a topic you want to learn more about and share the process with people, or a hobby you’re passionate about – like the guys from Wood Talk Show podcast – a podcast about woodworking and hardware.

It’s important to choose a topic or niche that lends itself to a variety of topics within the same industry. For example, if your niche is too narrow, you may hit a limitation on how many topics you can cover in your podcast series.

After choosing the niche or general topic, the next step is to choose a podcast name that will speak to your target audience.

You can go for a descriptive name that is straight-to-the-point and will show what your content is about. Or you can choose a name that seemingly contradicts your topics and raises curiosity in your audience.

A few recommendations when choosing your name would be to:

• Make it short and memorable
• Play with words
• Incorporate your brand (if you have one)
• SEO proof it – Ensure people use it as a keyword in their searches
• Test it with your networks

Get a Domain Name & Plan a Website

After you’ve come up with a topic and a name, it’s time to purchase your podcast’s domain name. Once you start creating your content, you will need a place to gather all the information around your podcast in one place.

Creating a website to host your podcast will support your brand and help create an information hub.

People always want to know more, and a website will help your audience discover information easily, listen to old episodes if they missed any, and form a relationship with you based on your shared interests.

Of course, designing the perfect website takes time. And you don’t have to do it right away, but purchasing your domain name will ensure you can scale easier down the road.

Set Your Format & Plan Your Content

Next up is choosing the format of your podcast. The format will help organize your content and deliver a smooth and uninterrupted experience to your audience. They will know what comes next and stay tuned for it.

Structure

A content structure will also help you streamline your job and cut the time of producing your content.

Knowing what your next episode will be about will help you stick to creating your episodes frustration-free. Last-minute brainstorming on what your content to be about is not going to help you with audience engagement and consistency.

How would you like to share content? Through interviews or solo/monologue podcast formats? Would your podcasts be conversational? Would you add a video to the podcast? How long would an episode be?

Think about how you want your podcast to be presented before starting and be consistent with its original format. Trying out new things is good, but you have to be careful not to alienate audiences- they’ve signed up for a certain thing and expect you to stick to it.

Consistency

If you find yourself in need to change things up — be upfront with listeners and let them know you’re changing directions. They will appreciate that and are much more likely to stick to checking your new content that way, rather than if you catch them by surprise and change things without notice.

Length

Choosing the length of your podcast is also an important part of content planning.

Data from 2021, shows that audio content accounted for 11% of media consumption per day among US adults and is likely, to add up to 1 hour and 34 minutes per day in 2021.

Also, consider your audience and what they are doing when listening to your content. Analyze competitors in your niche and who their listeners are, how they engage with them, and what type of content they listen to most. That will help you figure out who you should target and how long your podcast episodes should be.

Tone of Voice & Supporting Visuals

Planning your content will also require you to set the style and tone of the conversation. Would you dive into more serious topics that require a more serious tone of voice, or would your content be funny and carefree?

Your theme and niche will hint in which direction you should go. A hobby podcast is the perfect type of entertaining content, so being more conversational and funny will work. A closer look into a real-life crime story- requires sensitivity and a respectful tone of voice.

Figure that out and add visuals to support your brand, voice, and topics. As a starting point, you can use the myriad of free-stock images websites (Unsplash, Pixabay, Reshot) that will help you pick the proper images.

But to completely support your brand, you should think of creating your own visuals. Adobe Illustrator or free design software like Canva can help you create unforgettable images.

Choose Your Recording & Editing Gear

A decent microphone, headphones, a recorder, your laptop, and editing software will do a perfect job to accommodate your starting podcast.

There is plenty of equipment and recommendations on podcast equipment out there. We advise you to check out the tools of the podcasters you already listen. So that you can decide if their equipment provides quality from the perspective of an audience.

Walking in the audience’s shoes will give you the best insight into what type of podcasting gear you need. No one likes an awful-sounding podcast, but you also don’t have to break the bank with the latest tech sensation.

Find the balance that works for both your budget and the audience.

Check out the top 3 podcasts with a combined monthly audience of over 60 million listeners.

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Top 3 Most Downloaded Podcasts

Serial is a podcast that explores one true story over its whole season. The show follows a group of characters and a plot full of twists and turns.

The podcast is produced by Serial Production – a production company owned by the New York Times and hosted by Sarah Koenig – an investigative journalist and former creator of another popular podcast – This American Life.

What makes the podcast so entertaining is that it tells a real human story. It shows how Sarah investigates the details around the story itself.

Another popular series is – Dr.Death – a podcast focused on medical malpractice cases. Each season is centered around unfolding the glaring healthcare frauds and medical wrongdoings.

The show is produced by Wondery and is hosted by reporter Laura Beil.

Another popular series is This American Life. Hosted by Ira Glass – an American radio personality and produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media, this podcast explores topics ranging from entertainment to investigations with lots of plot twists. Their website states that this American Life team loves stories about compelling people, funny moments, and big feelings.

On a Final Note about Podcast Marketing

Podcasting is a great way to express your creativity and an awesome opportunity to build a community of shared interests. If you’ve wondered how to get started, our step-by-step guide to podcast marketing should be enough to give you the start.

So what are you waiting for get started today! And be consistent. Success doesn’t come overnight. Get to work!

Podcast Marketing Author Bio

Terry Tateossian, Founding Partner of Socialfix Media is a fourth-generation entrepreneur who is recognized as an Inc. 5000 America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies, Forbes’ Top Women in Business, Fastest Growing Women Presidents by WPO, and 40 Under 40 Business Leaders by NJBIZ. Terry has been featured for outstanding leadership and career accomplishments in numerous industry publications as an engineer, a thought-leader in technology, and an innovator in the field of marketing. But her favorite and toughest earned title is being “Mom” to her 2 children.