Do you have what it takes to be the next big thing in audio? Have the gift of gab but haven't found the right outlet for it? Or maybe you've just got a shiny new microphone and aren't sure what to do with it.
If you said "yes" to any of the above, podcasting wants you.
Podcasts are one of the only ways that the average person can reach a global audience by sharing information and creating content on topics they love. You simply need a good idea, a few small pieces of equipment, a passion for what you're doing, and a little time to spare.
It's never been easier to do something fun that you love, so why not start a podcast today?
What Is A Podcast?
We know that you know what a podcast is, but if you need a quick descriptor to tell your grandma over holiday dinner, this is what you say:
Podcasts are audio or audio/video content that can be subscribed to, downloaded, or streamed from an internet-based or mobile app. They are released as episodes, which can be different topics within the same wheelhouse or as a series on the same topic.
Podcasts are a good content option because they're customizable — there's a podcast for every listener and a listener for every podcast. You can find pretty much any topic under the sun that you want a deeper dive into. They make for a particularly good entertainment choice for people on the move because they can be downloaded to your mobile device and enjoyed on the go.
The barrier for entry to podcasts is surprisingly low. You don't need a massive budget, large studio space, or a ton of equipment to get set up. A pair of headphones, a microphone, and a device to record and edit on will get you through the door — from there it's up to you to set everything up and share your voice with the masses.
Simply put, if you're doing an audio podcast it’s like a radio show you can download and listen to any time. Or if you're doing double on the audio-video it's like an internet TV show on [insert your topic here]. If she asks "like a YouTube," just nod and say yes.
Podcasts are audio files that can be subscribed to, downloaded, or streamed online on mobile apps. Podcasts are ideal for people on-the-go who crave information on demand and want to easily schedule their listening around their busy lives.
So, how do you start a podcast?
You could theoretically pick up a microphone (or a pair of your regular music headphones with a mic built-in) and start recording a show — but that's not the best route to go. Starting a podcast isn't hard, but here's where you'll want to begin:
1. Make a plan
Planning is a highly underrated activity for any creative endeavor. You're excited and passionate about your topic now, so you assume you'll be excited enough to keep going.
Unfortunately, once the initial excitement wears off, your passion can quickly turn into overwhelm. So, it pays off to do some planning.
Not sure how to start planning a podcast? No problem!
You can get the ball rolling by starting to answer some questions:
What are you passionate enough about to do 50+ episodes?
Do you want a co-host? Invited guests?
How long are your episodes going to be? How often?
Is it scripted or not?
Throwing this all together into a business plan-style document is a great practice. It can keep you on track when you get off course and need help steering back toward your goal.
Note that in most cases your business plan is just for your eyes only, which means it really doesn't have to be formal. But if you're planning on turning it into a business with backing from a financial institute or another lender, or you're trying to use it as a business tool within an organization, you might want to do a legit business plan.
2. Decide on a name
You'd be surprised about how much you can't do without a podcast name.
No draft marketing copy, no cover art, no recorded episodes... it's even hard to start lining up guests. Settling on a name really is one of the first major, lasting decisions you'll make for your podcast.
It's not that you can't change a name later (you absolutely can) but it's a lot of work to make a name and branding change. So, you'll want to go with something you can commit to for a while.
Many podcasters hover towards fun and clever names — there's nothing wrong with this, but it's not terribly SEO friendly. However, picking something strictly based on its SEO appeal can make it a little boring.
Ideally, you'd find something in the middle. You want the name reflective of your show (don't go with fun if you're running something serious), easy to spell, search and find, and something that you like saying and referring to — you're going to be telling a lot of people about your show.
When you come up with the perfect name, you'll want to double and triple-check.
Not to get too far into the legal weeds here, but its first use, not first to file if you ever want to pursue a trademark. If someone else is already using the name, it's possible they could demand you change yours — and they'd probably win.
That's because when two projects are closely aligned (in this case, they're both podcasts) it can be confusing to both audiences. Among other things, trademark law helps creators like you make sure that no one swoops in and tries to piggyback off your hard work.
3. Get your recording equipment
You don't need the latest and greatest recording equipment to start your own podcast, but you do want to have a few things.
The brand new podcaster can absolutely get away with having:
USB microphone
Pair of headphones
Device to record and edit on
Editing software
That's all you need to get started.
It's easy to get pulled in by all the shiny podcasting stuff you could get, but it's best practice to get your show off the ground — and you can do that for real cheap. Here's how:
Recording software (audio and video): Zencastr (FREE)
Complex audio editing software: Audacity (FREE)
Complex video editing software: DaVinci Resolve (FREE)
Recording/editing device: Computer, mobile or tablet (Computer is going to give you the most capabilities, and assuming you have one already... FREE)
Headphones: Whatever you have on hand (presumably free)
USB mic: Whatever you like (Anywhere from $30 to $200)
Most people really only need to buy one piece of equipment to get their podcast off the ground. Now your show probably isn't going to come out of the gate sounding like it's part of the NPR suite, but it's able to come out and that's really the point.
4. Create your branding
Branding, schmanding, right? Your show's going to be so amazing everyone's going to want to watch it... well, hopefully, but it's not guaranteed.
Getting marketing materials made helps pull together a unified look and feel that your target audience can connect with across platforms. With the same logo, they'll be able to identify your show's social media accounts in a second instead of guessing which best true crime show podcast they're supposed to be following.
You don't need to go all out, but you should get your show set up with a:
Logo
Cover image
Website
A few pieces of standard brand wording like a pitch or boilerplate copy (a short description of your show that's the same across all platforms)
You want to double-check that your branding looks good across all platforms, but primarily mobile devices. That's where most people catch their favorite podcasts. And, while you can design these yourself, you might want to consider getting the help of a professional so it's done right the first time.
5. Plan your episodes
Just pressing the record button isn't really the way to create the type of content you want. Whether you're creating a hobby show or something more business-minded, good content takes planning (see, there's that word again).
Instead of planning your episodes one by one, start with planning the idea and topics behind 10 episodes. Once you've got that figured out, move on to outlining the episodes, picking guests (if applicable), and setting up a release schedule.
Working on one episode after another can get tedious and it doesn't give you the best chance for long-term podcast success. Batch planning (and recording if you've got the time) episodes can help make sure you're not chasing the clock getting the episode that has to be released at 4 PM today done at 3:58.
If you're planning on having remote guests on your podcast (or any guests for that matter), this is the time to start lining them up for recording sessions. Adding guests to your show on a regular basis can help diversify the content and engage your audience, but they do come with their own set of challenges.
Recording with guests means having to figure out the schedule of two or more people. It also means dealing with last-minute cancellations, and interviews that need to be heavily edited or scrapped entirely. Ultimately, inviting guests onto your podcast is more work so you'll want to start early.
6. Record your show
Recording is one of (if not the) most important part of your podcasting process but if you've done everything else up to this point, it'll probably be the quickest. A well-planned podcast production means when it's time to hit the record button means you can really be in-and-out in under an hour (unless your episodes are longer, of course).
The important thing about recording is that you do it right. You want to record in a space as quiet as possible that doesn't have a lot of hard surfaces for the sound to bounce off of. Using a microphone and headphones is ideal, and you want to use the right program to do it.
You can pull out pretty much any device and access their native audio recording app (lookin' at you Voice Memos) but using podcast-specific software tends to give you better quality and more options (you know, cause voice memos doesn't do video).
Look for a software (like *ahem* Zencastr) that records locally on your device then uploads it without you (or your guest) having to do anything. This ensures that you have the highest quality, but you don't have to do a ton of extra work to get there.
7. Edit your content
You probably don't want to just throw your raw podcast content out there for all the world to listen to — at the very least, you want to balance your audio levels and add a little music at the beginning and the end.
Some podcasters might want to go further with sound effects, ambient music, and even rearranging content. Whatever you decide to do, it's done during the editing process.
Editing your show can be as easy or challenging as you want it to be. But it's not a bad idea to start easy and step up your editing game as you grow. If you're already using Zencastr to record, you don't have to go far when it comes to pretty-ing up your show. There are some exceptional built-in tools that can help you finalize your show in minutes.
For a more in-depth, hands-on editing experience, free tools like Audacity work well. But there is a bit of a learning curve, so be patient with yourself.
8. Publish your podcast
When you're satisfied with the sound of your episode, it's time to get ready to publish.
Publishing an episode in and of itself is pretty simple. You upload the audio file to your hosting provider, press publish, and it makes its way to all your favorite fans. But to be able to press that button, you need two things: good episode titles and keyword friendly show notes.
Once you have these, you can upload the episode to your hosting provider and either press publish or schedule your episode for a later date. Your hosting provider is the tool that creates your RSS feed which syndicates your show to different platforms. But to syndicate to platforms like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts, you need to upload your feed.
Depending on the hosting provider you use, some of these might be submitted on your behalf. However, if you do have to set them up it's a one-and-done situation.
9. Get your show out there
Publishing your show isn't the end of the podcasting process, you probably want people to listen to it. If you don't you can skip this section entirely!
There are over 2-million podcasts that have published 48-million episodes — that's a lot for the average podcast listener to choose from. So it's best to assume that no one knows about your show and you need to be the one to tell them.
Podcast marketing is a massive topic on its own, and we'll barely be able to scratch the surface here. That said, there are some habits that you can get into right from the start that can help your long-term growth goals.
There are two big mistakes that creators make when it comes to marketing:
They're not consistent — they might market for a few weeks then drop off for the next few when things get busy. This gives other creators an opportunity to slide in and take over, and gives listeners a chance to forget about you.
They try to do it all — especially in the early days when you're getting your footing, you have to focus on specific tactics. You don't need to be everywhere, you just need to be in a few places often.
Consistent action can, and probably will (though it depends on what exactly you're doing), bring consistent growth. So coming up with a post-publish marketing process can make things a lot easier.
Every time you prepare an episode, it's good practice to prepare your marketing materials alongside your show notes. This can be as simple as creating one or two social graphics and a few text variations, or you can build a full-on blog post, and schedule out a marketing campaign for each episode.
Where can you market? Zencastrs let us know how they like to market their shows, and here are a few of their favorites:
Social media — Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok (along with any other social platform) all have their different content requirements and success strategies so focusing on one or two of these gives you the best chance.
Your own website — SEO is a powerful tool, especially if you have rich, searchable topics. Your show notes and transcripts are crucial here.
Q+A sites like Quora — technically social platforms, these places allow you to position yourself as an expert and show off your podcast by helping others.
Email marketing — much like your own website, you "own" the emails you collect (so long as you're not sketchy about how you do it) until the reader unsubscribes.
So, should you really start a podcast in 2022?
Podcasting is a lot of work, but for the right creators it's rewarding. Getting behind a microphone or in front of a camera isn't for everyone,but if it's for youand you set up a good process your podcast can become a well-oiled machine.
There's no denying that there are a ton of podcasts out there for listeners to choose from, but podcast listenership is also growing. If you are passionate about your topic and are willing to work towards building an engaging show, podcasting can be a great way to build an audience, find your voice, and even make money.
People like to consume content on the go, and podcasts give them that option. Further than that though, they allow them to curate their own entertainment — if they want to listen to true crime stories all day, that option is there; if you want to grow a business, there's content for that; and if you simply need a little help to fall asleep, there's something for that too.
Podcasts connect audiences and creators through topics they're passionate about. So, if you have something to say, starting a podcast could be your best decision yet.
