The Ultimate Podcast Launch Checklist To Finally Get Your Show Up and Running

Wish to launch your personal podcast (or a podcast to your firm) however don’t know the place to start out? I’ve put collectively a podcast launch guidelines you need to use to get your venture up and operating, together with ideas gathered from my private expertise and insights from members of the HubSpot Podcast Network.

Let’s rewind earlier than 2018, once I began my very own present, Balanced Black Girl. I used to be one of many estimated 120 million people listening to podcasts month-to-month. Ultimately, I had an thought of my very own and was in a position to launch with no prior audio expertise — and if I can do it, you’ll be able to, too.

In actual fact, beginning a podcast is simpler than ever because the medium has elevated in reputation and profitability. Right here’s the final word guidelines that can assist you begin a profitable podcast.

Desk of Contents

Beginning a Podcast Guidelines

• Decide your area of interest.
• Establish your excellent listener.
• Title your podcast and safe social media handles.
• Resolve which format and publishing schedule you’d prefer to observe.
• Choose a podcast internet hosting service.
• Create podcast cowl artwork.
• Get your podcasting tools.
• Create a roadmap and attain out to potential company.
• Plan your launch episodes in additional element.
• File and edit your first three episodes.
• Write the present notes to your launch episodes.
• Create a podcast trailer.
• Add and schedule your trailer and launch episodes.
• Submit your podcast to on-line podcast directories.
• Market your podcast and rejoice your launch.

1. Decide your area of interest.

In case your present is simply too common, listeners won’t ever know what to anticipate to your present. In the event that they don’t know what they’ll get, they tune out. Kyle Denhoff, Sr. Director of Advertising and marketing at HubSpot, echoes this sentiment.

“The extra targeted you might be, the better it’s to construct an viewers. For instance, be the technique present for B2B entrepreneurs or the information present for AI fans,” says Denhoff, who oversees demand technology for all channels, together with podcasts.

For my present, I began by determining the style and area of interest that my podcast would fall below. This made it simpler for platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify to categorize my content material so my target market may discover it. As an example, my podcast present falls below the broader wellness style, with a extra particular give attention to the expertise of Black girls.

Different common podcast genres embody:

• Arts.
• Information.
• Music.
• Finance.
• Enterprise.
• TV and movie.
• Training.
• True crime.
• Society and tradition.

Professional tip: Decide which style greatest describes the podcast you’d prefer to create or the business you’re in, and preserve this matter in thoughts as you intend out your content material and put together for launch.

2. Establish your excellent listener.

After selecting the wellness style, I took time to zero in on my excellent listener, which I discovered much like creating a buyer persona. Creating a great listener helped me hone my messaging and create a clearer focus inside my style.

Listed below are some traits I like to recommend contemplating when describing your target market:

• Age.
• Earnings.
• Pursuits.
• Hobbies.
• Occupation.
• Training degree.
• Geographic location.

I additionally discovered it helpful to brainstorm. I requested myself the next questions.

• What is that this listener concerned with?
• How usually do they hearken to podcasts?
• The place do they study new podcasts?
• If you happen to had been having a dialog with this listener, what questions would they ask?
• What different podcasts is that this individual listening to, and what does that inform me about what they wish to hear?

The solutions to those questions helped me craft content material that was particularly related for my potential listeners.

Professional tip: When you’ve got pals or colleagues who suit your excellent listener profile, it may be useful to survey them to get their suggestions in your podcast thought and study extra about their media consumption habits.

3. Title your podcast and safe social media handles.

At this level, you recognize what your podcast is about and have recognized your excellent listener. Now, it’s time to decide on a reputation.

Whether or not your podcast title is expounded to your small business or one thing solely new, carry out an intensive search to make sure the title you need is accessible. You don’t wish to decide a title already related to every other podcasts, manufacturers, or registered logos.

At this stage, I additionally suggest registering the domain name and social media accounts you’ll be utilizing to advertise the podcast and interact your viewers. When you gained’t want them instantly, the very last thing you need is to create paintings and produce your podcast, solely to seek out out that the handles you need have been taken.

Professional tip: Operating a search within the U.S. Patent and Trademark web sites may help you guarantee there are not any current logos on the title you need.

For extra insights on selecting the best area of interest, naming your present, and extra, you’ll be able to take a look at HubSpot’s video on 9 professional ideas for beginning a podcast.

9 Pro Tips to Start Your Podcast in 2024 (FREE Guide)

4. Resolve which format and publishing schedule you’d prefer to observe.

After naming your present, it’s time to get into the weeds of what your podcast will appear to be by selecting the format kind and your publishing cadence.

Frequent podcast codecs embody:

• Scripted.
• Interviews.
• Storytelling.
• Documentary.
• Conversations.

When contemplating the publishing cadence you’d prefer to observe, observe that the most typical podcast publishing schedules are weekly, bi-weekly, and month-to-month. That stated, consistency is extra vital than frequency in the case of podcasting. Above all, select a schedule you’ll be able to preserve.

Professional tip: Denhoff recommends beginning together with your podcast’s objective, suggesting that you just “outline the worth your podcast goals to offer. Are you filling a necessity for information, training, or leisure? Your content material ought to align with the position it performs in your viewers’s life.”

As an example, if the worth you present is leisure, then a scripted or storytelling format would possibly work greatest. Conversely, since considered one of my targets is to amplify the voices of Black girls within the wellness house, most of my present makes use of an interview format.

5. Choose a podcast internet hosting service.

Now, you wish to choose a podcast internet hosting platform. These platforms enable you to retailer episodes and make them obtainable in RSS feeds so you’ll be able to distribute them on platforms like Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

I believe Buzzsprout is a wonderful place to start out, because it presents a free plan and low-cost paid tiers. If you’d like extra superior options like monetization options, listener analytics, and subscriptions, premium companies like Captivate or Libsyn may very well be an excellent match for you.

Professional tip: Get your personal web site. This fashion, you’ll be able to swap internet hosting companies if want be whereas offering a seamless transition to your listeners.

6. Create podcast cowl artwork.

Your cowl artwork offers podcast listeners a primary impression of your present earlier than they press play, so that you need it to be good. I like utilizing instruments like Canva to create my cowl artwork and templates for various kinds of episodes.

Earlier than I began to work by myself graphics, I discovered it useful to browse directories like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts to establish widespread visible components among the many top-rated reveals and add those who suited my model.

Image Source

When creating your paintings, be sure that:

• It’s simple to learn in smaller sizes.
• It’s constant together with your branding.
• It’s a transparent picture that doesn’t seem blurry.
• It doesn’t include any copyrighted photographs or logos of non-affiliated firms.

Professional tip: It’s additionally crucial that your podcast paintings is the proper dimension. Apple suggests utilizing a 3,000×3,000-pixel image to future-proof your paintings.

Incorrect sizing can influence your podcast’s potential to publish and show in directories appropriately, so that you’ll wish to make certain your paintings is the best dimension. So, when your paintings is full, add it to your podcast internet hosting service to make sure it reveals up appropriately throughout platforms.

7. Get your podcasting tools.

Your podcast recording setup will be as advanced or so simple as you’d like. If you happen to’re opting to report at a neighborhood studio, this is able to be the right level within the course of to analysis choices close to you and guide a recording session.

If you happen to plan to report at house and are searching for an easy setup, you’ll want the next:

• Headphones.
• A laptop computer or pc.
• Recording software program comparable to Squadcast, Zencastr, Zoom, or Riverside.
• A USB or XLR microphone (if you happen to use an XLR microphone, ensure you get a mixer to attach the mic to your pc).
• Enhancing software program comparable to Alitu, GarageBand, Audacity, Adobe Audition, or Descript.

Professional tip: You don’t want to interrupt the financial institution on recording tools to start out a high-quality podcast. Take a look at this checklist of beneficial podcast tools and discover the gadgets that suit your finances and expertise degree.

8. Create a roadmap and attain out to potential company.

When you could also be itching to get behind the mic at this level (I do know I used to be), I discovered it useful to create a high-level define of your present’s first 10 to twenty episodes earlier than you report.

After I spoke with Joe Fier of The Hustle & Flowchart podcast, he described a method you’ll be able to break down the primary 20 episodes primarily based on their objective:

• Introduction: 1 episode (5%).
• Worth episode: 6 episodes (30%).
• Neighborhood episodes: 3 episodes (15%).
• Supply episodes: 2 episodes (10%).
• Visitor appearances: 4 episodes (20%).
• Repurposed content material highlight: 4 episodes (20%).

This is only one instance and will be tailored primarily based in your style and the content material varieties you’ve chosen to create.

If you happen to plan to interview company, I like to recommend creating your visitor checklist and reaching out at this stage. I discovered that confirming availability with company helps me plan out my podcast schedule prematurely so I can keep according to my publishing schedule.

Professional tip: If you happen to plan on that includes different individuals in your podcast, take a look at your current community for potential company. It’s powerful to get individuals on board with chilly outreach if you happen to don’t have any current materials individuals can assessment earlier than they comply with the interview.

9. Plan your launch episodes in additional element.

As soon as you recognize your general plan, you’ll be able to map out extra particulars in regards to the episodes that may accompany your launch. Sure, episodes.

In any case, getting podcast listeners isn’t that completely different from how music artists draw consideration to their work — you lure them in with an excellent track, but it surely’s not till they’ve listened to the opposite songs within the album that you’ve got really caught them.

Fier agrees and states, “Launching with two or three episodes is greatest since you wish to preserve your viewers in that momentum.”

In my expertise, beginning with a couple of episodes additionally offers you an opportunity to earn extra downloads, rankings, and opinions in a shorter time frame, which will be useful for discoverability and rating on the charts.

Fier goes on to suggest utilizing the primary episode as an introduction that “highlights your experience after which reveals individuals the place you’re going to take them in your podcast.” From there, you need to use the follow-up episodes to point out them what that appears like.

Professional tip: If you happen to plan to characteristic company in your present, Fier suggests bringing your first visitor early on to introduce your viewers to the kind of interviews they’ll anticipate. “It’s additionally an incredible advertising and marketing technique to get a visitor to introduce you and your present to their viewers,” he says.

10. File and edit your first three episodes.

With the define of every episode in your launch plan, it’s time to report and edit. Earlier than recording, I prefer to create a script for every podcast episode outlining the factors I wish to make (if it is a solo present) or the questions I’d prefer to ask the visitor I’m interviewing.

Making a stable script or define is particularly useful whenever you’re a brand new podcaster getting used to the medium.

As soon as your scripts are prepared, report your launch episodes in your recording software program of alternative. You may then edit them your self or rent an editor to take action. When modifying, be aware of background noise and filler phrases that might distract the listener.

Professional tip: Learn your scripts out loud to listen to how they sound. It will enable you to think about your content material as a podcast earlier than you begin recording.

11. Write the present notes to your launch episodes.

Now that your first few episodes are recorded, it’s time to write down the present notes.

Present notes are primarily brief weblog posts that accompany every podcast episode. They’re an incredible place to place a common description of the episode together with neighborhood hyperlinks, comparable to an electronic mail sign-up.

After I write present notes, I like to incorporate:

• A common abstract of the episode.
• Time-stamped chapters of various matters we cowl.
• Details about my visitor (if it’s an interview).
• Hyperlinks to sponsors and any talked about assets.

Whereas it may be tempting to gloss over present notes, it’s price placing in some effort. I’ve discovered that apart from serving to with website positioning, which may deliver new listeners to your present, present notes also can preserve your viewers engaged and able to observe your content material on different platforms.

Professional tip: Embrace hyperlinks to related assets, comparable to books or research you point out throughout the present. This creates extra worth for listeners and may improve engagement.

12. Create a podcast trailer.

As one closing step earlier than importing your first present, report a trailer. A trailer is a brief audio clip that introduces your podcast to new listeners and will get them excited to tune in. In your podcast trailer, you’ll wish to embody:

• An introduction to your podcast and what it’s about.
• When listeners can anticipate new episodes.
• A teaser of what’s to return or highlights so the viewers is aware of what to anticipate.
• A call-to-action inviting the listener to return again.

Professional tip: Preserve your trailer participating and informative however concise. One to 2 minutes in size is all you want.

13. Add and schedule your trailer and launch episodes.

Now that you’ve got your first three episodes, present notes, and a trailer, you’re able to publish. Add your audio information and present notes to your podcast host, and schedule your episodes to publish in your desired launch date.

Professional tip: Your launch date ought to fall on the day of the week you intend to publish transferring ahead so your viewers is aware of proper from the beginning when to tune in.

14. Submit your podcast to on-line podcast directories.

As soon as your first episodes are uploaded to your podcast service, it’s time to undergo podcast directories so listeners can tune in to your present. Keep in mind that directories can take a couple of days or a few weeks to approve your podcast. You’ll wish to issue that point into your launch plan.

I like to recommend beginning with the platforms which have the widest attain. The top three podcast directories primarily based on variety of listeners are:

• Spotify, with 25% of whole listeners.
• Apple Podcasts, with 20% of whole listeners.
• Google Podcasts, with 16% of whole listeners.

Streaming your podcast to different platforms comparable to Stitcher, Castbox, Pandora, and Amazon Music will be managed inside your podcast host settings.

Professional tip: Revisit step two to see which streaming companies your excellent listener makes use of to find and observe their podcasts.

15. Market your podcast and rejoice your launch.

Congratulations — you simply launched your first podcast! Now, it’s time to get the phrase out by advertising and marketing your present to your excellent listeners and celebrating your exhausting work.

I’ve discovered that short-form movies are wonderful methods to advertise my podcasts, so I exploit Instagram reels to spotlight high clips from my interviews.

Professional tip: Fier suggests leveraging YouTube as a podcast marketing channel, saying, “Video goes to be a chunk of podcasting these days. YouTube will probably be the place a number of momentum is occurring for podcasts due to their algorithm.”

For much more info on organizing, producing, and advertising and marketing your podcast, obtain our Ultimate Guide to Starting a Podcast free of charge. You’ll even get electronic mail outreach templates and recommendations on the very best methods to measure success.

Issues To Know Earlier than Beginning a Podcast

After publishing greater than 270 episodes of my present, I can say that the journey has been thrilling, stunning, and rewarding. After I recall my early days, there have been loads of issues I had but to study.

Right here are some things I like to recommend realizing earlier than you begin a podcast.

Know the worth of company.

Getting used to the podcast format can take a while. To provide your self a head begin, Fier says, “Guesting on different reveals will be the very best first step since you get to apply the muscle.”

Plus, guesting can be a wonderful approach to attain a wider viewers and promote your personal present in the long run.

Listeners don’t thoughts adverts as a lot as you assume.

In comparison with different advertising and marketing channels, podcasting is likely one of the extra advertising-friendly choices. One survey confirmed that 46% of podcast listeners don’t discover adverts intrusive in any respect. In distinction, 77% of individuals discover adverts considerably or very intrusive on YouTube, and 64% discover adverts considerably or very intrusive on TV.

As such, don’t really feel shy about working with sponsors who’re an excellent match to your model. In a podcast setting, adverts are much less more likely to be a turnoff for listeners. If you happen to can tie adverts into the theme of your present or episode, they are often particularly beneficial to your viewers.

Podcasts take preparation.

Podcasts are a wonderful approach to construct neighborhood together with your target market, however if you wish to grow your show’s audience, it’s essential to put together. From figuring out your excellent listener and drafting a launch plan to crafting outlines for every present, the significance of analysis, planning, and preparation by no means goes away.

That stated, you don’t want to attain perfection to be ready. Belief me, although, I do know the temptation of getting each element good. When you’ve performed the work, the very best factor you are able to do is to get began. Over time, you’ll be able to alter your technique primarily based in your metrics and listener suggestions.

Every little thing You Have to Begin Your Podcast Right this moment

I truthfully love the podcast medium and consider increasingly more individuals ought to give it a strive. And keep in mind — if you happen to’ve obtained a podcast concept that’s chomping on the bit, this podcast launch guidelines can function a roadmap to turning it right into a actuality.

Editor’s observe: This put up was initially printed in September 2022 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.