10 Questions to Answer Before You Start Podcasting

In order to be more prepared from the very beginning, start laying out your game plan by answering the following questions:

Who is your target market?

Are they young, college age, older, women only, cat lovers, busy and active, divorced, retired with time on their hands, religious, busy mothers or single men? The more specific you can answer this question, the better. Because once you answer that question, you need to start thinking like them – which takes us to the next question…

What do they want to listen to?

Your main demographic of listeners will determine what type of content your show should have and how the overall tone of your show should be. Will your show have a more laid back feel? Or will you present information quickly, in a more upbeat fashion? This is also something that can change with time. Some shows end up garnering unexpected listeners that the creator(s) never expected. So don’t be afraid of possibly tweaking or experimenting with a show later on in the future.

How will your podcast be unique from others in your industry or niche?

You want to try and set your show apart from the crowd as much as possible while still maintaining relevance. This could be as simple as the host of the show’s personality (a lot of people used to watch Oprah just for HER because she WAS the show. Her personality was, in a sense, her gimmick). Or it could be things like having an unusual format that your ‘competitors’ don’t use or having giveaways every episode. Let your imagination go wild. Is there something you can offer your listeners that other people don’t?

Close your eyes and imagine that you are listening to an episode of your very own show. Now. open them back up so you can continue reading this, but still imagine that scenario… ask yourself this question as you are envisioning your show, “This show is really great, BUT I wish it had _____” … or “I wish there was a segment like _____”. Can you answer that question?

You could even take it a step further by asking your friends, acquaintances and peers those same questions.

What will your format be?

This coincides with the previous question. Will your show be interviewing others, hosting a teleclass, simply recording yourself and talking straight to your audience, having listeners call in and give their opinions or ask questions or a combination of those things? Again, this can always change or morph in the future, but you need to be able to “see” how your show will go before you start creating your first episode.

How long will each episode be?

Typically, most podcast shows are either one hour or thirty minutes. But YOU are the boss, so it could be any length. But, just like we’ve pondered in the previous questions, this might also depend on your audience and even your genre.

How often will you release an episode [and what day(s) of the week]?

This is an important question that you need to determine and stick with from the beginning. If you release a show once a week, for example, you should stick with that. Some people do a show five days a week, Monday through Friday, while others do a monthly show or release episodes on a bi-weekly basis. The reason you need to determine this from the beginning is consistency. Have you ever started watching a show that aired every, let’s say, Wednesday night at 7pm and then somewhere down the road they changed it to a different time slot? I bet, chances are, you stopped watching the show or forgot about it at first because you were used to its initial time slot. If you didn’t, I can guarantee that a lot of other people did. Consistency is important. We are creatures of habit. Even in this day and age of being able to download or record and save something for later (like with digital video recorders for TV), if you change the offering timeline of a show (without a lot of prior warning) people might get confused. Just try and stick with a regular schedule.

Is there a best or better day of the week to release a podcast? Not necessarily. But some people like to release them near the beginning of the weekend so that people have the time over those couple of days to listen to them while they are generally off from work. But, you might choose a different day if, say, your main competitor already does that or if you are giving a “week in review” style show or you do an “upcoming events” format. This might influence when you release each episode as well.

What will the name of your show be?

The name of your show is very important. It should be short, and concise while explaining what your show is actually about. A complete stranger to your show should be able to read the name and know exactly what to expect from your show.

Before you settle on a name, you also need to make sure that the web address is available to purchase. It should be the exact name of your show. For instance, “Red Tent Radio” can be found at www.RedTentRadio.com. If people have to do a Google search just to find your show’s website, you will lose out on listeners. I guarantee it.

Because of web URLs, you might also want to consider a name that is easy to spell, or, if there are a few common ways to misspell a word in the title you might also want to consider buying those common mispellings and directing them to the correct website (did you notice that I just misspelled the word ‘misspellings’ in this sentence? Ironically, that is also a very common misspelled word).

For example, let’s say the name of your show is “Abundant Tips for Marketing”. A common misspelling is Abundunt. So, in this case, you might want to ALSO purchase the web address with the misspelling (www.AbunduntTipsForMarketing.com) and just have it automatically redirect the web user to the address that is spelled correctly.

How many hours per week do you intend to spend on the podcast?

Ideally, you will be able to research, record, edit and publish your show utilising as little time as possible while still maintaining a quality show. This will require you to find a nice balance. Ultimately, you will be spending more time on each show in the very beginning as you are learning how to do it and discovering what works the best for you. As time goes by you should be able to work it down into a finely calibrated process.

That is what we have achieved producing Red Tent Radio. Each week we have a routine and we stick to it as much as possible. The whole entire process has become second nature.

And when I say routine, I don’t mean boring and stale. I mean consistent and expectable.

Should you prepare and be several episodes ahead?

This question doesn’t even really need to be answered. But just in case… “Of course you should, if at all possible”. I merely bring this up to point it out as a reminder. You want to avoid doing anything at the last minute or getting yourself in a bind because the guest you were going to interview had to cancel and now you are stuck for content. Always be prepared and always have a backup plan.

Are you going to have any commercials or sponsorships in or connected to your show?

This is another point to consider. Not every podcast has commercials. Some people charge for podcast and include zero commercials. Some podcasts are free and have a few commercials or sponsorship mentions throughout the show. While other podcasts are free of charge AND commercial free with the whole intent of turning listeners into future customers of their products or services. And then, of course, you will always have the completely free and AD free shows for the simple fact that the producer only does it as a hobby and/or a passion.

If you do decide to “commercialise” your show, you need to make sure that you do it properly. You want to avoid overtly and overly selling and pushing things down people’s throats. No one likes to be sold AT. There are also two ways of advertising in your show. You can do 30-60 second commercial spots like they do in radio and on TV or you can have the host or one of the co-hosts mention something like this:

“This episode is proudly brought to you and sponsored by Products for Lefties. As they say, “If you’re left-handed then you’ve come to the RIGHT place”. We thank them for supporting this show and enabling us to bring you great content on a regular basis. Show them your support by visiting their website at www.ProductsForLefties.com. Use the special coupon code ‘pod123’ when you order and get 10% off your entire order through the end of the month.”

Having one of the hosts present it in a “live” manner like that also adds a personal touch and listeners tend to ‘hear’ it more as opposed to tuning out during a pre-recorded commercial.

By answering these questions, you will be on your way to molding and producing a winning show. These aren’t the only questions you need to answer, but they are ones that will give you a great starting point down the proper path.