Worried about launching a new podcast? What should you watch out for?

I recorded this after I was asked about the above. I think these tips would help, especially when it helps you with building the podcast habit (eg. launching a podcast episode every week with proper processes!).

Timestamps

  • 01:17 Launch the podcast with a bang
  • 02:23 On the podcast architecture
  • 04:56 The rationale of 4 episodes
  • 06:14 Prepare your templates and processes
  • 08:56 Be mindful of the timeline
  • 10:12 Format your content for convenience
  • 13:08 Have a support system

Transcript

All right. If you're thinking about starting a new podcast within the next month or two, I think these tips that I'm going to share with you are going to be very important, uh, especially when it helps you with building the habit of launching a podcast episode every week or whatever your frequency may be and might as well get right into it.

Hi there. This is your dear friend norm, and I'm here to help you with launching your podcast because the more informed that you are about launching your show, the better your podcast will be from the get-go. And I think that's the Norm.

So I've had a few inquiries about, of launching a podcast, uh, from a number of people who are interested in starting their own. After they've looked at some of my portfolio, uh, launching a few podcasts here and there. And now that I'm chief of business development at Renegade radio, which is the podcast company here in Malaysia.

I think I'm a little bit qualified to help you with starting your own show, but given the first-hand  experiences, I've had some bad, some good about launching a show in the first place. I thought that I would filter out all the bad stuff and then leave with some good tips and tricks for you. If you are a budding podcaster and you want to start your own show.

So here are some of the most important tips that I would share with you. If you are starting one.

Launch with a bang

The first one is start recording. Even before you launched a show. I think this is very important because a lot of those who are interested in starting their own show think that you start recording these episodes right when you're meant to record them or release them rather. Uh, but a lot of successful shows actually have a backlog of episodes to launch on D-Day or like launch day.

Uh, I call it D-day. I don't know why. Normally a great show starts off with one, the first episode of the show that introduces what the show will be about. And you have that actually published on the show or the podcast on your favorite hosting platform. My preferred one is Buzzsprout, but we'll talk about that later, too, up to three or four already recorded episodes, ready to be published on launch day. And the reason why we do it like this is because most of the time you need some extra time, even before your chosen date, in which you will actually formally launch your show to distribute your shows to all of the distribution platforms.

On the podcast architecture

Now, quick note, you have your podcast, which is the show where you have all the conversations and stuff happening.

You have your hosting platform, which is your platform where you'll put all the audio files for each of your episodes and have it there as some kind of storage. And that's where all the permissions for the show will be stored so that when you're given a chance to distribute it, to distribute, distribution platforms will be done.

They hold the permission. So all you have to do is share what is called an RSS feed. Plop it into each and every distribution platform. And there you are set. And the last one is the distribution platform. Places like apple podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio Castbox, et cetera. These are distribution platforms, not hosting platforms.

So you do not find the audio file in apple podcasts. You will find the way for you to listen to it the audio file via apple podcasts, because that is where the distribution for this show from this hosting platform will happen for everyone using apple devices, for example. And on the other hand, if you're a Spotify user, you go to Spotify to listen to your favorite podcasts.

These are distribution platforms. There are different from hosting platforms. Now what's important about this is that. When you have your episode, one out, published for the first time, you will get your RSS feed, which is basically the feed in which this happens. You need that feed to be public and accessible so that you can start registering for each of these distribution platforms.

you know, it would really suck if your podcast is all ready. And then on launch day, that's when you register for apple podcasts and then it takes like what, five days to three weeks, even to launch your show. And that's going to ruin your strategy because you have the show and, you know, 45% of people can't listen to it because it's not accessible on apple podcasts, for example.

So you want these shows to be available. In these platforms on launch day, as soon as they are registered and accepted, then the automation happens. A lot of the episodes will be ready. a lot of the, you know, updates and changes, et cetera, will be done through the hosting platform. And then the feed will be like, Hey, you know, there's some changes or there's a new episode.

I will just push that up to all the platforms. So you want that primed and ready. So you have the episode one out. On launch day that's when you can formally tell people, Hey, I got a new episode out or Hey, I have a new podcast, boom, four episodes with one intro episode and three full episodes.

The rationale of the 4 episodes

The next thing is knowing the rationale behind that. Another reason why that you have these three episodes that are backlog and recorded and ready it takes a few episodes for a listener to accept whether or not they should subscribe to this episode. Now from firsthand experience, I've noticed that a lot of episodes or a lot of listeners, rather, they would go in for one episode and they would go out, right.

There are a few notable examples and cases where a lot of people would just leave the episode after two minutes at the three minutes after five, and sometimes they would listen to the whole episode, but that doesn't mean that they will subscribe. You need a number of available full episodes for people to be given the chance to think, Hmm, should I subscribe or, Hmm, am I willing enough to commit to this show so that I will subscribe and allow the show to be part of my routine? Remember, we are podcasters, but that means that we can't just impose our show onto other people's routines. Right? You can't force someone to change the way that they commute, just so they can listen to your show as it's published in a different manner.

They will have a routine and they will fit your show around their routine. That is why we have passive listening behaviors. And there's a difference there between active and passive listening behaviors, which I'll talk about in another video, for sure.

Prepare your templates and processes

You have your first episode, you have your RSS feed, then you have your three episodes and then you have the launch of a podcast. That's fantastic. But what if you don't even have any of that? Right. What are some of the things that you should be mindful of before you start or launch a show before we can continue said show?

That is why it is important to note. And here's another tip to recognize and remember the processes behind. Creating each and every episode, do you have templates to allow you to streamline say the interview for a podcast episode? Do you have a template for your narratives? If you're doing say a fictional narrative or a non-fiction narrative, do you have templates that would actually record the beats in which different parts would transition in what transition out would change from one scene to the other? What will you do then? What are your favorite SOPs your principles behind transitioning from one part to another. Do you have a checklist for preparing for researching a guest? Do you have a set of fundamental resources for interviewing?

Do you have best practices for your hosting and more checklists, processes and SOPs, if they are written and ready before you start and launched a show is perfectly fine. If you're still wondering about it before you're doing, you know, your first four episodes and we're, we're going to be like, for me as a podcast consultant, I will always talk about the first four.

This is going to be a term you're going to hear a lot, actually, if you're still wondering about your processes within the first four, that's perfectly fine. But by the time that you're launching. Try to make as many of these processes streamlined and well-documented as possible because you don't want to spend a lot of your time, wondering what questions should I be asking the guy? Or like, how do I edit this episode or anything like that? No, you want to get a lot of these processes done and out of the way so that all you have to do is just refer to them and be like, Hmm, this episode needs the following, right?

Three audio grams, two quote images, maybe one video, post to Twitter, post to Facebook, LinkedIn, LinkedIn, Instagram, et cetera. Checklists are your best friend when you're doing a podcast. If you have a lot of that done, then I highly suggest that you stick to those because those are going to be your lifeline in saving time, because podcasting is a very time-consuming thing.

I will definitely put a link in the description to it as a video, to the show or not show notes. I don't know why somebody's been doing podcasting for so long. You just call everything, show notes in the description right below for a list of example, templates that I will be creating for everybody here so that you can just start off from these processes and then customize them to your own context.

Having templates that are fit to your show are the best. I'm just here to give you a headstart.

Be Mindful of the timeline

another thing to note here is the timeline, right? For when you're going to launch your show. I did mention in the very beginning of 30 days, that's around the time that you can record three to four episodes and have all of these things created the feed and the publishing and the registering for all of these already done so that you have one month away from launch day for you to have everything out.

Don't force everything to be done in one week. Don't think that you can launch a high quality show within two days, because well, even if you can, and you know, you gotta tell me that'd be, that'd be pretty sick. You have to wait for the distribution platforms to be finished. You have to wait for the hosting platform descriptions to be done, right?

You have to wait for the show notes to be done for each and every episode and show notes is going to be a really big one that I'll cover in another video. All of this takes time, which means that you can't try to force a podcast to be done within say a week. You'd have to give it in timelines of months or quarters where you have all of these episodes set and ready.

But of course, in the beginning, it's crunch time because you want to have a strong launch or a strong intro to your episode with all these episodes ready for people to listen to, and for people to decide whether they want to subscribe and listen to them.

Format your content for convenience

Now we didn't actually cover the contents of the podcast itself because that's very dependent on the individual on yourself, the podcaster. But I will cover that in another video where we talk about designing the show that you have in your head and what are the things that you should be. Contemplating or thinking about if you want to make it not only unique to your voice, but also allow it to be flexible and organic enough that it can cater for different podcast models, like, whereas the pre-roll and the mid role, and what are the different transitions that you should consider and the different audio IDs, the introduction and the outro.

How long should an introduction be? Right. Normally I would always go for 30 seconds to one minute of the intro, including the music, because people like to go straight into the action. By the time that you want to get right into the action, a lot of people will be skipping these 30 second, one minute intros by just slapping on the next part.

Uh, the, the next 30 seconds button on their favorite podcast app. Either that you have a high quality intro and dive, like allow them to dive them right into the action or have it so that it's so standardized that it's easy for them to actually continue that behavior of skipping so that they can just click on it and then just be like, oh, I know that around for the show, one minute 30 is around when the actual episode starts tap it.

Right. Our goal as podcasters is to make it very easy for listeners to go right into the, the meat of the sandwich. Right? Like the main section of the episode, sometimes people would just have an intro that just lasts three seconds and then they'll just say, oh, this is the show. Welcome, boom, right into the episode.

Others would have a long intro and the premise of the intro or the premise of the episode rather, and the show and an introduction of the guest. And then you have the main conversation. That's perfectly fine because these formats cater to that. They require such elements to be included in the beginning of the episode.

Think of your own behaviors

So for you, some advice would be, if you are starting to show, think of your own podcast behaviors, How long would you want the intro to be? Do you skip it a lot? Maybe. Should you consider having it shorter? Do you have a podcast that requires conversations, right. An interview or a conversational podcast and that topic conversational podcast is also another video I'll do another  time. where you want to have. An intro of the guest. You want to have the main points. You want to have a summary, right? In the beginning, you want to have a hook that will captivate the listener to listen to the rest of the hour show, for example, in the first five seconds, right?

Like it's a bit like clickbait. What heading would compel you to read the rest of the article? The podcast version is what hook of the conversation will compel you to listen to the rest of the episode, because it's going to be, say one hour or 30 minutes or however long it is. You want to make that amazing.

You want to make that captivating. You want to make that sexy, right?

Have a support system

And last but not least we have the launch, we have the SOPs, the processes, the checklists, et cetera. And I'll expand on those templates and time we have the considerations for the listener and we have the backlog right in the beginning because we are focusing at the moment on starting the podcasts. Not really continuing it.

That's a whole set of other tips and tricks that will be covered another time. The last thing you need as a support system. Right. We have coaches, consultants, et cetera, but also other podcasters who are willing to share their knowledge on launching their show. And that's why I like Buzzsprout, brought because Buzzsprout is not only a hosting platform that can help you with launching your show. They have an amazing network of content, like videos. Like their YouTube channel is insane. Like I love their stuff. Uh, and they also have a. Support system like a support team who are always willing to help you with, you know, launching a podcast, if you're looking for help there.

And they have their Facebook group as well for podcasters who are with Buzzsprout, where they have their shows hosted on Buzzsprout. I love what they're doing. And that's why I love being with them Most of the time, if I have things that I'm missing in terms of like podcast knowledge, I always refer to Buzzsprout. the extent of which they cover everything podcasting really is great. So, you know, um, much props to them. So if you're interested in starting your show and hosting it, et cetera, I highly recommend Buzzsprout as a hosting platform.

You can check out the link in the description right below. it's a link that will also help me as well at no additional cost to you. I also just love helping them out. And if you are in need of some kind of consulting or coaching with your podcasts, et cetera, or if you just have an extra question that you think I should cover, you can just email me or then another link in the description right below. And, you know, I can help out with that. And with that being said, thank you so much for watching this. Like, I really want to make sure that your podcast launches well, it can launch, but it can launch even better. You never know some of these things that I've mentioned in the video may help you a lot so that you can worry less or be less anxious about whether or not you're doing the right thing.

And trust me, the fact that you're doing multiple episodes recorded and ready and primed for everyone to listen to at launch day, you're doing way better than a lot of other podcasters. So you're doing very well. And I'm here to help you out with that. This is norm thank you for watching this and I will see you in another video.