Table Of Contents
- 1. What is Podcasting?
- 2. Will Podcasting Replace Traditional Radio?
- 3. 8 Benefits You Immediately Receive If You Begin Podcasting Today
- 4. Why Starting A Podcast Today Is The Smartest Move
- 5. Building Your Podcast Brand
- 6. 5 Tips For Choosing a Podcast Topic
What is Podcasting?
Many people are hurting right now. This nation (and the world) have been negatively impacted by this COVID-19 pandemic.
Many people have lost their sources of income. Others have lost their homes. Still others have lost their savings trying to stay in their homes and keep going until things "get back to normal."
Being cut off from normal in person relationships, whether it is at the office or out social with friends, is having detrimental effects on our society. People are yearning for some sort of way to stay connected.
There is one area of e-commerce that has grown tremendously in this time of COVID-19. That is the growing availability of online course instructions. Whether it is for classroom instruction for school age children or adults trying to learn or improve a skill set that will help them in this environment, online is where everyone is turning.
It is exactly this type of environment that podcasting is beginning to thrive like almost no other alternative out there! Podcasting is quickly becoming the fastest growing communication medium on the planet right now!
If you have a message to share, starting a podcast is a good first step.
If you have a skill set that will help someone to accomplish something that will benefit them right now, you have a potential client who may pay you money to teach them.
A podcast can be your way to earn some additional income in the process.
It really is not hard to start a podcast. You need a device to record your voice (and most smart phones will have this already installed).
You then need a topic to talk about. I have my podcast training clients to write down three or four topics where other people are asking them for help. This is a good opportunity to realize you could create a podcast around those topics.
Think of it like this, if others are already asking for your help in these areas, you are already being recognized as an expert in that area! That's right! You are an expert!
Just start to record your thoughts and ideas of that particular skill set you have and then share it with others. Put it out there on social media. Do it for free as you get started.
As you become more widely known and you are getting more requests for help, then you can start to move over in charging a small fee to others who ask for your help.
Congratulations! You have now monetized your podcast!
This is only one small example of how quickly it can happen. I've been helping people for over four years (at this point) to excel in exactly this type of scenario.
But with the onset of COVID right now, my business has exploded beyond my wildest expectations!
If you have an idea that will help someone else achieve their desired goals, share it in a podcast. Start the process now and you could soon have an entirely different career path that cannot be shut down by COVID!
Will Podcasting Replace Traditional Radio?
Only a handful of the"elite podcasters" actually get money for their unique content.
Even though sponsors often times pay on a "cost per listener" in order to advertise on those podcasts, the primary emphasis is on how big their audience is.
But whose fault is it that this is the dynamic being looked at?
One reason many sponsors give as to why they only sponsor the elite is that it's too time-consuming to sponsor small and medium-sized podcasts. That's why they often set the minimum number of listeners at 50,000 or possibly 10,000 downloads PER EPISODE!
But whose fault is this? We can identify, basically, four different areas in the podcast industry that we can look to in order to answer this question.
1. The sponsors.
2. The podcast hosting / listening platforms.
3. Podcasters themselves.
4. The media / sponsorship companies.
Is it the sponsor's fault?
Not really. It is true, though, that it does take a lot of time and resources for them to research, find, reach out to and negotiate prices with many podcasters. Smaller podcasters may have a great relationship and very high trust factor with their audiences.
Since they many know their listeners in real life (or the listeners have actively found their podcast), they are often ignored by the major sponsors.
But the focus for the larger companies is usually on the "return on investment" (ROI). The traditional podcaster just will not produce the ROI these companies are looking for.
Is it the podcast platforms?
Well, they are much to blame for the discovery part. So yes, in a way, it is the fault of the platform companies.
They make it harder for some podcasts to grow and they tend to keep the elite money makers at the top of their search results. It almost seems like an old monarchy type of society, where the rules are rigged to keep the elite in power. But that really does not provide us the information on "whose fault it really is?"
So, is fault with the podcasters themselves? That's a huge burden to put on individual podcasters. We can't really expect hundreds of thousands of podcasters to be able to find sponsors who will want to sponsor just one small podcast. That won't work in most cases. Also, that would take too much time for podcasters to get enough money to make the time factor profitable to reach out to sponsors.
The "ROI" for individual podcasters would be lacking.
Is it the fault of the media / sponsorship companies? In my opinion, they are the actual ones to blame. When podcasting started to grow, so did the interest to make a profit out of the podcasters work. But the companies who were interested seemed to come in with the idea that the same model used for radio would translate to podcasting. But there is a problem with that theory, too.
The problem is, podcasting is not radio!
That is why podcasting is growing so fast! Podcasters do not need to pay so they can be on an individual radio station at a certain time. They can actually be on many different listening platforms, at the same time, listened to whenever and wherever by whoever, on-demand.
Podcasters do not need to have a media empire helping them produce or create their content. Podcasting truly is "by the people, for the people."
We see many companies whose only focus is on the larger, more popular podcasts. They use the old obsolete radio model as their sponsorship guide. Not only with the podcasts they have on their platforms, but also with the dynamic ad system they insist on using.
Dynamic advertising is where the ads are changed over time, automatically. There is no input from the podcaster. It is all handled by the software at the company level.
Podcasters lose a key characteristic strength when they agree to dynamic ad inserts. The most popular (and most responsive) advertising for podcasters is where the host actually reads the ad during the recording process. This is done "pre-roll, mid-roll, or post-roll."
Holding on to an old model might be why some of these companies lose tens of millions of dollars each year in advertising costs each year. Which is also why they are very particular in only dealing with the larger, well-known, podcasts.
Podcasting is truly about the creators. It could be called "grassroots journalism!" This is a new medium, with hundreds of thousands of podcasters, that needs a new model to generate advertising revenue.
Podcasting started off as an amateur platform where everybody could create and publish their own content. You didn't need an editor in chief or a media publishing giant telling you what to do, what to talk about or how to go about promoting your podcast.
People from all around the world currently record, edit, and publish their own content. Their listeners can listen to their programs whenever and wherever they want to.
Truly, citizen journalism in the audio space was created by podcasters and has grown exponentially.
I liken podcasting today to where FM radio was back in the early 1980's. FM radio was "available" (usually in elevators or doctors offices) but was not widely distributed or listened to.
Just as FM radio became a "standard feature" in new cars (instead of "special order"), podcast listening ability is now becoming a "standard feature" in new cars as well. Almost every new car has a USB port and the ability to listen to podcasts through the car stereo system!
To answer the original question, "Is Podcasting Going to Replace Radio," the answer is "NO."
However, podcasting is going to take a BIG market segment away from traditional radio. In fact, it has already started. That is why many, smaller radio stations, have gone out of business. It is also evident in the recent published statistics concerning podcast listenership!
Podcast listening is growing exponentially!
There is a great example, using an "old saying." It goes something like this:
"When is the best time to plant a tree? Answer: "Twenty years ago."
"When is the second best time to plant a tree?" Answer: "Today!"
Concerning podcasting, "When was the best time to start a podcast?
Answer: "Five or six years ago!"
"When is the next best time to start a podcast?" Answer: "TODAY!"
If you have ever considered starting a podcast, now would be the perfect time for you to do so. The exponential growth curve is on the rise. For the foreseeable future, it will continue to grow and the dominance of podcasting will only become greater. Get into podcasting today and "catch the wave!"
8 Benefits You Immediately Receive If You Begin Podcasting Today
The future lies in podcasting.
Let me explain why.
According to a recent Case Study on Podcasting Audiences, three interesting statistics are on the rise.
Smartphone ownership tends to correlate to a greater likelihood of listening to a podcast.
Consumers are more likely to listen to podcasts on a mobile device than on a computer.
Podcast listeners are more likely to listen to streams or podcasts through their car audio systems.
What does all that mean?
Well, it all points to a mobile consumer on the move, who's looking at podcasts as an additional or perhaps alternative source of information. Podcasts stand out for their practical information type of format.
For your brand, podcasting is the new powerful, inexpensive and easy new medium then to reach out to this mobile consumer on the move who wants practical, concise and dedicated information. You already have a focused and passionate audience.
It's now much easier to become a recognized expert in your field of interest or expertise to this group through podcasting, without having to counter the normal conventions of radio, nor the limitations of blogging.
Build your credibility, your sales, your list of customers and gain a fan base very quickly and without the limitations of blogging. Does that sound good?
If these three key indicators listed above are anything to go by, podcasting is the way to go.
Here's why:
1. Podcasting is still relatively untapped
Armed with positive growth indicators and the move by Car Manufacturers to install podcast players in their New Models, people are gearing up for the future of content marketing and it lies in podcasting. This is a market on the growth curve.
Yet it's still relatively untapped and brimming with opportunities. In the same Research study 'Podcast Consumer 2015', by Edison and Triton, they reveal that the age of podcast listeners is evenly spread across almost all age groups. You get an average of 15% listenership among the 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54 age groups.
15% may sound low right now, but consider the impact when podcast players become more accessible and within your reach.
And this is across all age groups! What that means is that if your brand will instantly get an dedicated audience, irrespective of whichever age group you are targeting - a nice thing to know as you plan your marketing budget. Slow and steady wins the race.
If these are the statistics we are seeing today, as access to podcasts becomes even easier with smartphones and our latest vehicle comes equipped with a podcast player, your audience footprint will naturally grow in the coming months.
Smartphone ownership isn't going to die anytime soon. We are always updating, improving and searching for a better smartphone model.
As you constantly upgrade your phone; and as App builders continually design new entertainment apps, the trend of listening to podcasts on your smartphone will grow by leaps and bounds.
2. Podcasting Adds Value to your current marketing effort.
Even better is the realization that podcasting complements your current marketing efforts.
You don't have to replace any of your current social media activities. Continue with your Facebook, Twitter, blogging marketing efforts. You can even turn your latest blog post into a podcast episode, add a spin on it and it's fresh content. Podcasting just increases your footprint and adds you a totally new audience.
3. You will find customer conversion easier with Podcasting
Someone searching for a podcast in a particular topic is already very clear about what they want to listen to.
Unlike radio, where the conventional radio listener subconsciously tunes off when the next commercial airs, with a podcast, you have a dedicated listener and one will listen to listen attentively to everything you have to say, as long as you say it well.
Because listeners subscribe to podcasts, they have chosen to receive your content.
They have already shown interest in your message by subscribing. In addition, a podcast does not get lost in SPAM like with e-mail. You can be sure your message is reaching a focused audience. That gives you a greater likelihood of customer conversion.
4. Become 'The Voice'
I'm not talking about the popular TV Series. Suppose you have a blog on diet and nutrition. There are over 30 million bloggers competing in that niche and your only chance of recognition is either expensive marketing, or patiently growing your blog audience over months, maybe years, until you reach cult-like status.
Plus, you have to learn the essentials of SEO optimization, create fresh content frequently and guest-blogging.
Now suppose you focused instead on podcasting? Since its still relatively under-exploited, you can quickly gain that audience you're looking for much faster and develop credibility as an authority by being one of the few podcasters doing what you're doing. What would initially have taken you months to achieve, you attain in a matter of weeks. Become 'The Voice' in your niche.
As Tom Tate says, "This "first to market" approach to podcasting may be the opportunity you have been searching for to catapult your online marketing to the next level. If you can develop the go-to authority podcast in your niche, you may eventually drive enough traffic back to your site or blog to become the authority on other mediums as well."
When you hear or see someone on Radio or TV, they have instant credibility. As a podcaster you will enjoy the same credibility. People will value your opinion. You can leverage this position to influence your audience, promote yourself and even make money. The trick is to leverage on a specific niche and do everything possible to dominate that niche. If you have an audience that is interested in that topic or interest, they will come back repeatedly.
5. You Quickly Gain a Very Focused Audience
With the right content, you will gain listeners fast. Your audience is potentially worldwide. You can offer quality content to keep in touch with your customers and keep yourself, your product or your service in the front of their mind.
6. Break Through The Clutter
Podcasting is a great way to cut through the clutter and reach your audience. You overcome probably radio's greatest barrier with this tactic. This makes podcasts very effective for promotion, marketing and growing a focused audience.
7. You can define and express your own unique style without limitations
Marc Maron interviewed President Obama at his home in Los Angeles, earlier this week. While that's impressive, it's the fact that President Obama mentioned the "n... ' word during that podcast interview that created headlines.
Wait...
You mean President Obama did an interview on someone's home? Mark Maron, 51 years old, has a podcast show called WTF.
You don't need much ingenuity to figure out what that stands for. His unique interview style on his podcast can be either comforting or uneasy, which makes it even more interesting that President Obama agreed to the request. But, it's a style of communication that seems to draw in listeners by the dozens.
"I think what resonates with people is kind of raw honesty and authenticity," says Maron. "If anything defines whatever the brand is, or if anything defines the success that I have in talking to people in interviews, it's that there seems to be something very personal and raw in how I engage with people."
8. Podcasting is a Convenient, Automatic and Inexpensive Way to Reach Your Audience or Customers
Getting started in podcasting is relatively inexpensive. All you need is a good computer, a strong microphone and a broadband internet connection.
Later, you can buy nicer gear if you want. For now you can get started with minimal cost. In fact, all the equipment you need at start-up will approximate $ 500. The Blue Yeti USB microphone for example costs an affordable $128. Invest in a good ShockMount, Mac laptop, recording software like Garage or Audacity and you're good to go. In a later article, we'll show you this cost breakdown.
All you need is something to say and a desire to say it. If you were to try and do the same thing on the radio, you would have to face all sorts of FCC regulations, and unnecessary expenses. Consider how much you currently spend on radio ads. More than $2,000 per campaign? In many cases, this is not even a fraction of the radio budget.
Podcasting removes all that cost and trouble. One reason that podcasting has become so popular is that it's automated. Listeners subscribe to your feed. This means they don't have to remember to return your site to check for new content. When you post new content, it's automatically downloaded to your listener.
It's so easy to get started. In less than a day, your podcast can be on the air and available to millions all over the world. All you need to start your podcast is a computer, a microphone and a broadband internet connection.
If you have any questions about how you can leverage podcasting as a new blogger or as an established brand, let me know by posting a comment below. We will get right back in touch with you! Make your voice heard! Start a Podcast!
Why Starting A Podcast Today?
Podcasting can generate you millions in revenue, increase your audience 100% and establish you as an authority figure on your preferred niche.
If you're stuck with your blog wondering how to shore up numbers or wondering how to breathe a new spark into your blog business, podcasting could be the smartest moves you make this year.
One of my main missions this year is to start 3 Podcast Series - one on inspiration and the other two on lead generation tactics and tips & tricks behind content creation. Then it will dominate my content creation service offerings to my clients.
Why?
Well, I have over 16 years experience in radio and a podcast follows commercial radio's main audience and sales strategies so I will know how to grow it exponentially. More importantly, a podcast is a powerful way of establishing yourself as an authority in your social space effectively.
More and more people are gravitating towards podcasts for authority information on anything to do with fitness, health, diet tips, to motivation, finances and entertainment.
With a well thought out podcast, you will grow a new audience and link them back to your main blog hence growing your overall audience. There are hundreds of thousands of free podcasts at your fingertips in various podcast libraries.
Your next podcast could be downloaded on someone's iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or computer. Suppose you dominated your niche with well thought-out material that millions of listeners are searching for?
Create a podcast. Then create a web feed. Software developers can customize apps for subscription to this feed, creating you a new revenue stream. That means that new episodes are automatically downloaded on any phone at any time. They make money, you make money. Nice, huh?
The other critical reason why you need to go into this right now is that the apple watch is about to become a perfect podcast machine.
APPLE watchOS 2 Apple is doing a lot for the podcasting crowd that's going to result in a much better experience once the watchOS 2 arrives this Fall. The company has anticipated Watch uses beyond simple voice memos and messages with watchOS 2 recording powers. It will be almost an entirely new device.
Here's why.
The device will support local, long-form audio playback, and support for audio recording. Long form audio immediately gives rise to Audio Books one of the most attractive ways for bloggers to build a new following.
As you enjoy your morning run, listening to your new audio book on 'best diet plans for 2015' or '10 exciting ways to improve your profit margin' for example allows the person to keep you on the top of his list on that subject.
You are then more likely to be his first choice when searching for any related matter on those topics. Offering long form audio in the background is key, because now you can listen along to your favorite program as you do your workout or your morning run. Equally fascinating is the audio recording capability that the watch has where it becomes an input mechanism for creating podcasts.
There are three distinct audio quality choices developers can use when capturing recorded content, including a high quality version that will probably provide serviceable raw material for podcast recording in a pinch. It gives rise to interesting podcast-related features like a list of upcoming scheduled shows, or the ability to finely scrub through an episode's timeline on your wrist.
Brian Honigan is a Speaker, marketing consultant and a freelance writer. He's written for Forbes, Mashable, the Huffington Post, the Next Web and others.
He says this, "Even if you aren't a good writer, make a podcast or start a YouTube channel to get quality content out there regarding your perspectives on your industry. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by starting a blog, a video series or a podcast.
We aren't talking about a job with serious risks if you deviate from the norm like being a surgeon or an airplane pilot.
One of the worst things that can happen if you start blogging tomorrow is that no one will see it. It's a long-term effort that doesn't happen overnight, but with hard work that you'll begin to see results from step by step."
The possibilities that podcasting offer you are literally endless! Let's cover 4 of them.
1. Create an Educational Podcast Series
Nothing establishes you faster as an authority figure than the creation of an educational podcast, or an information podcast for that matter. If you're into education, create a simple podcast series on any topic. Let's pick "Learn to speak French in 30 days.' Once you've developed the material, you can organize it into 15 key lessons. Within a couple of clicks someone from anywhere in the world can be using your course in minutes. That's, of course, the first power that podcasting gives you - the universal audience - growing your audience beyond geographical limitations.
2. Gain a Universal Audience
With a podcast, your audience is worldwide. Sit in your home studio in Johannesburg, and have listeners in India, Mexico, brazil, Australia and other countries around the world. Your podcast can be listed in iTunes, right along with podcasts from The Discovery Channel, Disney, and NPR. As Internet Access grows in various parts of the world, your audience footprint will consequently mushrooms without you needing to do another thing to scale it up. Now, cars are being fitted with podcast devices. In the next 3 years, Vehicle Industry Lines in USA will be equipping practically every car that rolls out the Manufacturing Line with Podcast players.
3. Establish a stronger connection with your audience
The one on one approach that podcasting offers you allows you to have a powerful connection with your audience. It works just like radio. People are more attracted to voice interaction rather than one voice talking away to you. Every principle of radio begs true. You can start your podcast with a question posed by a listener and use that to influence your topical direction. Use a hook and then come back later and satisfy the hook. Pose questions and invite listeners to respond via email. Hold a competition and award faithful podcast listeners every once in a while.
4. Increase Your Online Website Traffic
Podcasting is the space you need to dominate if you are really serious about growing your audience. Worried about webpage rankings?
Not with podcasting! Most bloggers are doing everything in their might to get their blog and website on page 1 on Google.
It means they have to create exceptional content on a weekly basis, wait for months for organic growth, or spend thousands of dollars on paid advertising. Unknown to many of them, a simple change in algorithm, Google Panda for example, can affect their website rankings.
From millions of people accessing your website to virtually no one knowing about who you are, a simple algorithm change can either impact your blog positively or negatively. How would you feel if your blog was downgraded from Page 1 to Page Unknown in minutes?
It's here. It's inevitable. It's called Google Panda, the latest Google's search algorithm which aims to promote the high quality content site by dooming the rank of low quality content sites.
Since its release and updates, many sites have been shown to be terribly affected by the algorithm, but the worst rumor here is, they can do almost nothing to recover the ranking and traffic. With podcasting, you don't run into that problem. As you as you listen and categorize your episode properly, you will be easily found by someone searching for that topic.
GREAT BLOGGERS ON THE PODCASTING BANDWAGON
Leslie Samuel is a blogger who uses podcasting to great impact.
He has over 219 episodes listed in iTune, RSs and Stitcher radio that demonstrate how you can set up a successful blogging business The 'Learning With Leslie' Podcast is a podcast that gives actionable advice on how anyone can start and grow an online business with a blog. No, not just any blog that will fall by the wayside when Google has a mood swing, but one that will thrive no matter what gets thrown at it.
Most expert bloggers will say that you have to have a lot of traffic coming to your blog in order to start making money from your business. Kate Ahl is different. She's managed to earn as much as $8000+ a month from her service-based business with a very small email list and not much traffic.
Pat Flynn is another example.
He's living the dream. He has a successful blog called Smart Passive Income. It was one of the first blogging resources I turned to when I decide to pursue this fulltime.
One of the key interests that Pay Flynn has is podcasting and he does it remarkably well. In fact he says "Starting a podcast has been one of the best decisions I have ever made for my brand. Ever.
Since starting The Smart Passive Income Podcast in July of 2010, the show has surpassed 12,500,000 total downloads. (as of January 2015) The podcast has become the #1-way people who read my blog found out about me - that's above search, social media and links from other websites. I was contacted by a Hollywood producer who listened to my show to consult as the social media director for a $10M independent film Fox News reached out to me to feature my story on the evening news.
I led a panel at Blog World Expo in New York this past June about the power of podcasting. It was cool to see the room filled beyond capacity. Podcasting has allowed Pat build a much stronger relationship with his audience, "... much stronger than I could ever do with just my blog alone."
It would be safe to classify Pat as one of the leading authority figures in blogging now because of his mastery in podcasting.
In short, podcasting will allow you to
Grow your audience exponentially.
Build a stronger relationship with your audience.
Open up new networking opportunities.
Open the door to new audiences your blog can't give you.
Empower people's lives with exceptional content.
Help establish you as an authority figure in your field Grow your existing blog dramatically.
Scale up your business for the future.
Avoid the website downgrading risks that various search engine algorithm updates may expose you to.
What's next? Simple. Start a podcast and see how it can revolutionize your online business model.
Building Your Podcast Brand
Building your brand may sound to you like a phrase that belongs in a corporate boardroom and doesn't apply to your podcast. This could not be further from the truth.
As much as you may feel like a small-time independent podcast creator, the fact remains that there in order to build your podcast audience you are going to have to market your podcast.
Part of that marketing scheme should include building your online brand and figuring out how to market it.
If you are like me then you were born, tragically, without a single marketing bone in your body. So here are the basics of creating a brand for your podcast.
Podcast Name
This may come easily for some of you, the name of your podcast may have been the first thing that you created when you decided to do a podcast. If you haven't chosen a podcast name yet, here are a few recommendations to consider.
Your podcast name should tie into your podcast topic somehow. If you are podcasting about quilting it makes no sense to call your podcast the SuperNova Podcast.
That may sound like common sense to some of you, but I have seen some crazy podcast names out there.
Don't make your podcast title something obscure that you will appreciate but others will find confusing. You want a name that is easily identifiable and relatable for your podcast audience so that they will remember you.
Sometimes you can take a gamble and give your podcast a bizarre name and hope to be memorable because the name is so different, this is a big gamble and sometimes you gotta know when to fold 'em.
If you plan on having a website, and I highly recommend you do, then you should bring your website into consideration as well.
If you are going to register your own domain for your website then you will want to pick a name for your podcast for which the website domain is still available.
If your podcast is titled The SuperNova Podcast but that domain is already taken and so you register AstronomyCast.com you are going to confuse your audience and there will be a disconnect there. It would be a better option just to rename your podcast AstronomyCast.
Tagline
Having a tagline is optional, there are a lot of successful podcasts that don't have a specific tagline but sometimes they are nice when rounding out a brand. Sometimes taglines can be used to elaborate on a podcast title that you had to shorten because it was too long.
Call your podcast AstronomyCast, and have your tagline be - SuperNovas, Black Holes and More...
Color Scheme
I can't stress enough how important the color scheme for your podcast is.
It will translate across the board to all of the marketing you do. If you rush to make a decision on color and then you change your mind later on, it will make for a lot of work as you have to go back and re-design your website, logos, business cards, everything else.
If you aren't color coordinated, surf the web and check out the sites you frequent.
See what kind of color schemes they are using and try to get an idea of what works and what doesn't work for you, then translate that into what you think fits your podcast. Also pay attention to what colors people use for backgrounds text etc.
For a lot of people having a black background and white text is difficult to read, look for trends like that and steer clear from them if at all possible.
Make sure that you have spent enough time selecting a color scheme that you are going to be happy with it for the long haul.
If I were to change the color scheme on my site without any warning, many people who frequent the site daily would wonder if they had landed on the wrong site, simply because of the drastic change in appearance. You never want to confuse or surprise your audience that way.
I talk about color schemes a lot because this was one of the areas that I failed in miserably when I started my first podcast. That podcast went through at least 4 different color schemes and site re-designs before I finally found one that I liked.
Every time I changed the design, my website traffic to a dip and it took a while to bring those people back in. If I had just spent more time in the preparation of my brand and website I wouldn't have had to work so hard to rebuild the audience that I had lost.
Logo
The logo is important because it will often times be your Avatar as well.
It will be your image in the iTunes directory, will be displayed on your website, on business cards, everywhere. If you are not a graphic artist I recommend finding one to create a logo for you.
This needs to look professional, a logo that looks homemade will not give the first impression that you want for your podcast. You are going to want one that looks a little more polished.
If you can afford to hire someone to do this for you, there are a number of agencies that do logo design. If you are on a tight podcasting budget then I would recommend one of two options:
· Ask a friend who is a graphic artist to do the design for you
· Go to your local college and post an ad in the art department asking for help for a minimal fee. Art students are often looking for ways to expand their portfolio.
Offer to link back to their website if they have one and mention them in your podcast.
Website
In regards to your brand, think of your website as the face of your podcast. This is what listeners will see on a daily basis that relates to your podcast. Once again, spend some time thinking about what impression you want to give with your website and then plan your content accordingly.
Podcast Description
You should develop a brief description for your podcast, shoot for 160 characters or less.
This description will be used in a number of places, on your website, in iTunes, you will also use this description when submitting your podcast to directories for listing.
Keeping your podcast description to 160 characters or less will also ensure sharp looking search results when people find your page in the organic search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.
Sign off
Another optional element of your brand is your sign off for your podcast; a quick farewell that you say at the end of every podcast episode that signals the end of the show. It should be short, catchy and memorable.
Having a clever sign off leaves your audience with a familiar phrase (branding element) that they can associate with you and your podcast.
Some of the greatest broadcasters in media have had their signature sign off, this is no coincidence, and here are a few examples of some of the more famous ones.
"And that's the way it is" - Walter Cronkite
"Good night and good luck" - Edward R. Murrow
"Good day and may the good news be yours" - Les Nessman from WKRP for you old-schoolers
As you build your brand you are establishing a platform that will allow you to be successful with not just your podcast; but your website as well.
A podcast that is has an established is easier to market and has better potential for making money as a podcaster.
It is the brand your audience remembers, the brand that the audience can identify with that will achieve the most success. So spend some time planning, brainstorming and building your brand.
5 Tips For Choosing a Podcast Topic
The first order of business for anyone starting a podcast is to choose a podcast topic. While this may seem like an easy answer, if chosen poorly it can result in a number of problems from a fledgling audience to podfading.
So here are 5 tips for choosing a podcast topic that will ensure success and longevity.
What are your interests?
Podcasting about something you have an interest in will help you in a number of ways.
· Your enthusiasm about the subject matter will reach your audience.
· You will be motivated to produce content.
· In the early stages of your podcast when your audience is growing slowly, podcasting about a topic that enjoy will get you through those weeks when you don't always feel like putting in the time and effort.
· If you are not interested in the topic you are podcasting about, why do you think others would be interested in listening to it?
Choose a topic with depth
One pitfall that many first time podcasters fall into is choosing a topic that does offer any true depth of topics. You should be able to quickly think of at least 10 show topics for your podcast in roughly 5 minutes.
If you can't, then you have probably chosen a topic for your podcast that either does not have enough material to allow you to produce quality content for an extended period of time.
You may be able to remedy this by broadening your topic a little bit.
Example: A podcast topic of reviewing coffee shops in your neighborhood will limit you to the 7 or 8 shops within a 5-mile radius.
What if you decided to review all of the coffee shops in your entire city? By widening your category you may find a lot more to draw on when creating content for your podcast.
What is your anticipated release schedule?
If you plan on releasing a new podcast each week then you need to make sure that you have enough material within your topic to create new, quality, content every week; and yes it must be quality content every week.
If you have work hard to create new content for your podcast episodes, you will find that the time between podcast episodes grows from weekly to monthly or monthly to every 2-3 months and eventually the podcast will drop off altogether.
Does the topic have an audience?
Keep in mind that the goal of any podcaster is to have an audience listening to your podcast. This should definitely be taken into consideration when choosing a topic.
There may not be a large audience for a podcast on insect species in South America, if there is an audience for that kind of podcast; how are you going to reach them?
Reaching your target audience is something that I talk about in a number of posts under podcast promotion but you should be aware of it even at this early stage in the life of your podcast.
Does your podcast fill a need?
One of the best ways to ensure that you can attract listeners to your podcast is to find a topic or niche that is not already saturated with 10 other podcasts on the same topic. The less competition from established podcasts in the same topic the easier time you will have in growing your audience at a faster rate.
Do a little research, if you think that you have found a good topic then go to the iTunes podcast directory and do a search on your topic.
See how many other podcasts are out there using the same keywords. If you find that there are 5-9 other podcasts then click on each of them and look at a few things.
· How many episodes have they released? Is it a new podcast?
· How often do they release a new episode?
· When was the last time that they released a new episode?
You may find that there are 5 other podcasts with the same topic but they have not released a new episode in a year or two. This could still be a good opportunity to fill a need in a market that has become a little stagnant.
Making Money
If you are starting a podcast with the intent of generating some kind of income related to the podcast then this adds a new level of research to choosing your podcast topic. Obviously some types of podcasts are easier to monetize than others.
A podcast reviewing the latest gadgets and gizmos may be easier to monetize through sponsorships and affiliate programs than a podcast in which you interview a different person in your high school class each episode. If making money is your goal with your podcast then make sure that you have a very clear plan of how you are going to monetize your podcast based on the topic you have chosen.
Once you have chosen your podcast topic, the excitement about your podcast begins to grow exponentially, but there is still a ways to go before you publish your first podcast.
Image credit- FREEpik ; Article credit- Ezinearticles