A Podcasting Launch Kit for Fempreneurs Table of Contents
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LEAN THE F*CK Out and start Podcasting A PODCASTING LAUNCH KIT FOR FEMPRENEURS TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................ 3 Defining your podcast ................................................................ 4 What makes a great podcast ..................................................... 8 Breaking down the podcast episode .................................... 10 Production process .................................................................. 13 Podcasting tools ........................................................................ 18 Publishing and promotion ....................................................... 21 2 You’ve totally got this! You are bad ass and you’ve picked a perfect time to podcast. Affordable access to recording and publishing tools make it easier than ever to produce a podcast of your own. While there is certainly a learning curve, this guide is a launching pad to get you started. Producing your podcast may be the easiest part (though it might not feel like it at first). It’s the long term commitment to growing the podcast that can feel challenging at times. Building an audience takes time and is not for the faint of heart, but it can have benefits beyond what you even imagine. Podcasting can help you find and build community, position you as a thought leader, and create connections that you never thought possible. Podcasting can be inspiring, invigorating and sometimes even addictive. Buckle up, it’s going to be a wild and amazing ride! 3 DEFINING YOUR PODCAST 4 PODCAST VISION Before you start buying equipment or setting up your social media, you need to define your vision for the podcast. Who is your audience? How will the podcast be formatted? What kind of content will be part of the podcast? How will you market the podcast? Most importantly, why are you doing this pod- cast to begin with? Following is a work sheet to help you organize your thoughts and plans. Audience Who is your podcast for? Describe your audience in detail. What is their gender, income, geographic region, hobbies, where they spend their time, what is their vocation, etc. What are their expectations of a podcast? What kinds of content are they looking for? Competitors List existing podcasts that are similar to yours or have some sort of overlap? What will make your podcast different from your competitors? 5 Podcast format What will be the format of your podcast (i.e., interview, educational, documentary, storytelling, etc.)? Podcast length What will be the length of each episode? Podcast frequency How often will you release episodes (daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.)? Podcast vibe What will be the vibe of the podcast (funny, casual, formal, professional, etc.)? Podcast music What style of music fits best with the podcast vibe (folk, indie, hip hop, rock, electronic, ambient, etc.)? What tempo should the music be (chill, mid-tempo, fast, etc.)? Podcast voice over If you were to have someone record your podcast intro, what would they sound like? What is their personality (mellow, fast-paced, salesy, bold, strong, serene)? Is it a woman’s voice or a man’s voice? Do they have any particular accent? 6 Big Hairy Audacious Podcast Goal! What is your BIG HAIRY AUDACIOUS GOAL for the podcast—the end-all-be-all goal of your podcast? If all the stars aligned and everything went perfectly, what would that look like? Podcast Goals - Year One Okay, now that we have the big hairy audacious goal out of the way, what are your top 5 goals for your first year. Make sure these are SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely). For example, XXX listens by the end of year one, etc. Tactics to Reach Year One Goals Now that you have determined your first year goals for the podcast, List five tactics for each goal you listed above. Be sure to include marketing, audience engagement, and production tactics. (You’re going to need more paper for this one!) 7 MAKING A BITCHIN PodcAST 8 MAKING A BITCHIN PodcAST Okay - you’ve got a vision, now let’s talk about what contributes to the success of a podcast. Right now, podcasts are hot! The cost for entry is relatively small, so lots of folks are getting in on the action. This is a double-edged sword. While it’s awesome to be able to get into podcasting without a huge investment, the market is quickly becoming saturated. That means more competition and a tougher time to get listeners. To compete in the market, your podcast has to be bitchin’! 5 THINGS YOU NEED TO MAKE YOUR PODCAST BITCHIN’: Commitment One of the most important factors in having a successful podcast is your commitment. Podcasting takes a good amount of chutzpah and can sometimes feel like an uphill battle. Podcasts don’t magically grow overnight, so you need to be committed long term to your podcast. Consistency In order to gain a large following, you’ve got to release episodes on a consistent basis. If you have a weekly podcast, listeners should be able to depend on your episode hitting their iTunes every week. You’ll know you’re on to something when you have listeners just waiting for the next episode! Quality Content Your content will make or break your podcast. If you don’t have interesting content, you’re not going to keep listeners. You may be able to get someone to listen once, but what will keep them coming back? Good content that benefits them in some way (even if it is purely entertainment) is key. This can also be applied to the audio quality of the podcast. Your podcast needs to be professional quality. Listeners are a bit more forgiving when it comes to podcasts, but bad audio is distracting and will take away from the quality of the actual content. Cadence We’re not talking about vocal cadence here (though that is of course important too). Creating a cadence for how you produce and promote every episode is where your podcast becomes a well oiled machine. Promotion If you build it, they will not necessarily come (even if it’s quality). Not only are you competing with other podcasts, you’re competing with just about everything else that could fill someone’s time. We are busier than ever (I’m preaching to the choir here) and are endlessly bombarded with products/podcasts/ videos/music, all competing for our time. You cannot afford to be passive when it comes to promoting your podcast. Just because the podcast is in iTunes, doesn’t mean anyone will find it. You must actively promote your podcast with PR, email marketing, social media and through other influencers on an ongoing basis. Remember the commitment we mentioned earlier? This is where the rubber meets the road. 9 BREAKING DOWN An episode 10 THE PODCAST INTRO & OUTRO Now that we know what makes a good podcast as a whole, let’s break down what goes into an episode. THE PODCAST INTRO Your intro should be short and sweet. You want to let the listener know what the podcast is about and what they are going to get out of it. If you have a specific host, you may want to include an introduction of the host. Ideally, your intro should be one to two lines. Following is a link to some examples of podcast intros: http://podcastexamples.com/ You can also listen to the intros of podcasts you subscribe to in order to get ideas and inspiration. Tips for a good podcast intro: • Keep it short and simple (leave the calls to action for the outro) • Give it some personality • Make sure you have the right voiceover actor and music • Make it true to you and the vibe you want to create We recommend hiring a professional to record your intro. The cost is minimal considering the quality product you get. That said, you really need to know the vibe, tempo and type of music you want or you’ll end up with an intro that doesn’t fit your podcast brand. Following is one recommended resource for hiring a professional voice over artist to create your podcast intro. This particular service includes the background music (though you don’t get to hear it first), but you can also purchase stock music and have them use your purchased music instead. Professional Voiceover Service: https://musicradiocreative.com/podcast Stock music (can be used as bumper/background music as well as in your intro): https://www.pond5.com/ THE PODCAST OUTRO You’ll also need an outro for each podcast episode. This can be recorded once and used for each episode (like your intro) or you can record a unique outro after each episode. The outro typically includes the name of the podcast and a call to action (go to website, subscribe, review the podcast). 11 THE SCRIPT & SHOW NOTES THE SCRIPT Think of your script as an outline for each of your episodes. You need to have some sort of structure when recording, but do NOT read straight from a piece of paper—it’ll sound lame and canned. Even if you’re reading a little bit from the script, you’ll want to sound natural and casual. This might take a little practice beforehand but it’s worth the extra practice time to have a more polished episode. Following is a basic script outline that you can use as a starting point for your script. BASIC SCRIPT OUTLINE 1. Podcast Intro (pre-recorded) 2. Episode Introduction: This is a brief introduction to the content of the episode. If the podcast is in an interview format, this usually includes the key things that were discussed and a brief bio of the person(s) being interviewed. Try to make this sound as natural as possible. 3. Content: This is the meat of the podcast.