Eight easy steps to creating your own business podcast
If you’re looking for innovative ways to stay ahead of your competitors when marketing your business or freelance services, you may already have thought about podcasting.
But if ‘thought’ is as far as you’ve got, Jenny Brewster from The Podcasting Academy can help you take the leap to actually creating your own podcast show and reaching up to 500 million iTunes customers.
Eight easy steps to creating your own podcast
Creating your own podcast to help promote your business or freelance services is much easier than you may think. You can also learn to monetize your show if you wish. Just follow these eight simple steps.
1) Search your niche and find your keywords
Before you can create a podcast, you need to understand what niche you’re aiming for. Who do you want to talk to? Who is your ideal client? Answer these questions and start to think about what they want to hear. When you’re clear about that, you can begin researching the keywords you want to rank for in Google.
2) Create a magnetic theme
Think about what’s going to draw potential customers and clients to your podcast. What will make your show stand out above the rest? Have a look on iTunes and explore the array of podcasting styles out there. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel – just consider what attracts you, and therefore may appeal to your target audience.
Some ideas include weekly tips, interviewing experts in your field, how to… the potential ideas are endless. (If you have a blog or website, it may help to consider what kind of content and headlines are the most popular on that, and think about how you can apply them to a podcast.)
3) Develop a content and publishing plan
If you want to gain a regular audience for your podcasts, you need to be consistent. Randomly posting up your podcasts when you feel like it will just frustrate people who are enjoying your shows, and could lose you hard-won listeners.
So before you launch enthusiastically into podcasting, sit down and develop a well thought out content plan, and decide when you will publish them in advance. For the best results, try to plan for weekly podcasts.
4) Create your podcast title
Your podcast title needs to be well thought out – it’s what will draw your audience and potentially elevate you in your niche. Try not to just think about what you want to convey, but what your listeners are looking for. How will your shows benefit them? What results are they looking for? When you can demonstrate that you can help solve their problems, you’re much more likely to get them seeking you out.
5) Design your podcast cover for iTunes
When it comes to podcast covers, a picture really does say a thousand words, so make sure you choose yours carefully. If you already have a strong brand identity (and if you haven’t maybe you need to work on that first!) then use an image from that. This will help people who are already familiar with you to find and recognise you, and ensure that you’re building a strong brand across all platforms.
6) Set up your home or office studio
You don’t need to invest in a state of the art sound system to record quality podcasts. It’s easy to make podcasts in your home or office using your laptop or a cheap microphone. You just need to find a quiet place with no background noise (like kids shouting!) and get going. If you have a large wardrobe, you may find that’s the perfect place!
7) Host your podcast on your blog or website
As well as adding your podcast to iTunes, it’s a really good idea to use it on your blog or website. This helps get the message out to your existing followers and customers that you’re on iTunes, and can help with your SEO.
8) Launch your podcast on iTunes
Once you’re really happy with your podcast, put it in iTunes, and start letting the world know! There are as many as 500 million potential listeners on iTunes, but you need to help them find you. So don’t be shy – you’ve done all the hard work to get to this point and deserve to promote your podcast on all your social media channels to ensure it gets seen.
If you’d like to learn more about the technical aspects of starting a podcast, read this guide.
You can learn more about podcasting and how to maximise its potential for your business or freelance services in Jenny’s free webinar. You can also contact her for help through her Facebook page.
