THE BEAST

3 Things to Consider Before Publishing & Promoting Your Music Podcast

Deciding on what your music podcast will be about and figuring out how to put it all together is challenging. Finding the big idea, creating episode scripts that may or may not include recording interviews, and then studying and developing the audio are all obstacles in the process.

Having an actual, real live episode that you can listen to is a beautiful accomplishment and far beyond initial podcast concepts that never go anywhere. You should be proud of getting this far.

However, once you have created your music podcast and are ready to publish and promote it, there are some other things that you should also take into consideration. With your first episode or few episodes prepared for launch, some things have to be examined and covered to ensure that your podcast is reaching the right audience and has the ability for considerable growth. 

It doesn’t stop once you’re ready to launch. In fact, your hard work has just begun. Publishing, promoting and distribution, and developing your analytics are all your next significant steps to staying organized and following your performance to reach your audience better.

ESTABLISHING YOUR RESOURCES

Resources at your disposal will encompass many things, including budgeting, scheduling, and branding. It would be helpful to map out specific pockets of time for editing, producing, and promoting your podcast. 

You could begin a podcast without investing in any equipment, utilizing your cell phone in a tiny closet for recording. Eventually, you may want to branch out. To do so, you may find yourself having to compare and contrast personal loan rates in hopes of securing capital, with the ultimate goal of purchasing new recording equipment or programs, or perhaps even establishing a larger studio. Establishing and sticking to your budget is essential because even though you may have gotten some necessary equipment to start the podcast, there may be a need for upgrades in software or new equipment you want for your recording studio. 

Once you have launched the first episode or first few episodes, to stay ahead, you should have considered and developed your schedule to accommodate how often your podcast episodes will air. You could launch one episode per month, or week, or maybe bi-weekly. Also, you need to create and develop your content needs far ahead of schedule to ensure your episodes are prepared and ready.

To keep the process organized, you can also use a calendar or any easy to use project management tool that will help you organize all of these various tasks associated with your podcasts, such as reaching out to interview guests for upcoming episodes, marking specific milestones, and other objectives and goals within your plans. Staying organized will also aid you if you ever need to readjust your schedule, making it easier to change things as you go along or come up with new ideas and content.

Branding is another crucial part of your podcast - things like websites, landing pages, and show note links are important to brand with consistency across your podcast and other platforms. It helps people to follow and find you. 

ESTABLISHING YOUR SHOW FORMAT

Having a clear picture of your podcast’s creative direction helps to decide which show format you will utilize. There are two main formats most people use - interview or narrative. 

Interview-style formats are just that; the host interviews different guests for each episode to share their stories, ask questions and create an overall takeaway for listeners. This style is dependent on booking guests in advance, so if this is the chosen format, there needs to be considerable time dedicated for outreach and communications. 

Narrative-driven formats have the host ( you or someone on your team) narrating the story. Editing will take up the most time with this because you will need to shape each story. You might even add things within this structure like music or sounds to help drive your point in each episode. 

ESTABLISHING THE MARKETING AND ANALYTICS MATERIALS

When you create your brand, determining your target audience is the key to aiding your development of spot-on content and material. It is crucial to research and figure out how to set up your analytics to target your audience. Identifying groups, age ranges, interests, and hobbies that can directly relate to your customer base will contribute significantly to your podcast’s reach. 

Obtaining your ideal audience’s knowledge allows you to collect information and data on the content they are consuming. There may be questions you will want to ask yourself to help create your marketing campaigns:

• What podcasts are they listening to right now?
• Will the goal of my podcast align with their interests? 
• What are social media platforms my audience members located in? 
• How can I measure the impact of my podcast once I have launched?

To answer that last question, you won’t see your podcast’s impact right away, but you can measure by the number of downloads and what distribution platforms your audience is utilizing. The social media platforms that your target customer uses are also essential. For example, suppose you see that you have multiple listeners who tune in on your YouTube channel instead of audio platforms. In that case, you may want to shorten your YouTube channel link to help you further monetize products and use it as your primary way of distribution. 

Marketing is something you need to do long before you air your first podcast episode if you want to have listeners. If you already have branded profiles where you have followers on your current content, you need to leverage this existing audience and use those profiles to develop your podcast brand. Your podcast honestly exists as an extension of your business, so this should already be aligned within whatever social platforms you use. 

Create hype with exciting posts leading up to your music podcast’s launch with unique content that supports the show. You can even use sound clips directly from your episodes to give people a listen “inside” before the episode airs. Some hosts have even done giveaways right from the start because people love opportunities to win things. As long as it fits within your brand, there are many options for you to market and promote your music podcast.

It could also help to invest in advertising where you know your ideal audience will see - such as YouTube advertisement or a Facebook ad. Make sure you cover all of your bases if you’re not sure exactly where to find your audience initially, but utilize your analytics as soon as possible to narrow down your focus to drive more listeners to you.

READY TO LAUNCH

You should now feel more confident knowing what it takes to launch, promote, grow, and maintain your music podcast. At this point, have some around you in the team  or friends listen to your first few episodes and give you feedback on things like sound quality, content, and whether or not you accurately got your point across.

Creating and sticking to your plan is essential to thinking forward with your podcast. You should have a long-term project plan and make decisions based on those goals. Podcasts are created for all sorts of reasons, but many do not grow without plans for the future. Staying abreast of marketing trends, analyzing your performance, and working towards that long-term objective will help your podcast not only to stand out but grow high above the rest.