Podcasting; Your Quick-Start Guide for 2020 (With 5 Mistakes to Avoid)

So you want to start a podcast? Well, of course, you do…

The Real question is – How do you start a podcast to get more brand exposure and grow my business.

Every day new podcasts are launched, some on a whim some on prayer and some in hopes of saving their business.

There are countless articles, blogs and interest content on how to start a podcast out there. Why one more?

Well, as podcasters flood, the marketplace the ability to start a podcast good show gets harder and harder. Competition is heating up, and the ability to grab the earbuds of listeners is becoming more difficult.

This is the age of content and podcast are a great source of content for your business. This is especially true if you have a global audience, which almost everyone does now. You can use these podcasts to build an amazing library of evergreen content that is put out there for everyone in such an awesome way.

There’s this phenomenon I’ve noticed in people who appear on podcasts or speaking on stage. When you’re in this speaking role, you automatically get this air of expertise about you. I mean, really, if you have a heartbeat and can talk about something for 20 minutes, people tend to see you as an expert even if you’re not truly there yet.

I mean, look at the number of bad speakers out there that just have bad ideas and bad content, or no content at all. Maybe they even straight-up stole their content and didn’t even try to repackage it.

The truth is, anything you’re saying has probably been said by someone else at some point in time, but you can take that, recreate it, repackage it, and make it something that’s truly your own.

When you’re on the mic with somebody you have a chance to provide a ton of value to your listeners, which in turn allows you to pick up new business and followers. Content is important in your show.

There are bad podcast hosts out there. In fact, one of the things that really pushed me to start my own show was being on a show that was just really, really bad. I thought, “If this guy can do it, I sure as hell can too.”

Know what you will say before you start a podcast

ABOUT TEN YEARS AGO I WENT TO THIS PRESENTATION WHERE THIS GUY WAS TEACHING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR BUSINESS.

I went there expecting what you’d usually expect with something like this: a bit of knowledge with a huge sales pitch at the end so he could sell his social media packages. Even knowing that I went so I could gain some knowledge I didn’t have at the time.

When he started speaking, I knew right out the gate that this workshop was different. He started off not bragging about his accolades, but by truly teaching us, walking us through everything he did, step-by-step.

I mean he really broke down each social media platform, your profiles, how often to post, and even what content to post. I took so many notes that day. I bet I filled half a notebook, and the whole time I kept waiting for the pitch.

Surely there was no way this guy was going to give away all this knowledge that took him years to learn?

At the end of his presentation, he said this: “You can do all of this yourselves, you really don’t need me, my team or my company. So go home and implement everything you have learned and if you have questions, reach out and someone from our team will respond.” Then he posted his cell phone number and his personal email. I was blown away.

This guy just gave us the secret sauce for his business. I remember grinning to myself, thinking, “This guy is going to go broke.” After the presentation, I asked him why he gave us all this information for free. His response was simple. “All this information is already out there on the internet. With a good Google or YouTube search, you could find all of this stuff. I’ve just packaged it up for you in a quickly consumable method.” Then he told me, “I’ll talk to you in a week when you reach out to my team.”

I looked at him, confused. He said, “I’ll give you the second reason when you call later this week.” I smiled and thought this guy was nuts. I mean, who does that?

He gave me the secret recipe for social media success, so I’m going to take it and do it myself. At least, that’s what I thought. I went back to my office and started doing everything this guy said. I upgraded my profiles, built out content calendars, and came up with graphics and articles. By the time I was finished with all of that, I had spent 8 hours working on social media and not on growing my business.

I kept telling myself that this would grow my business, so I pushed on. I did the same thing the next day, ending up with 2 days spent on social media and not on growing my business. I had so much to do and didn’t have that kind of time. That’s when I saw the presenter’s business card sitting next to my notes… and guess what I did next? Of course, I called him and talked to him about how much time this was taking, asking if he had any shortcuts.

I could hear his genuine smile on the other end of the phone. He asked me, “What if we could do all that for you while you focus on growing your business your way?” Lightbulbs exploded in my head. He knew how much work it was, he knew the odds were in his favor, and he knew I would reach out. He even knew that if I didn’t reach out, he’d gained some karma points by helping someone with their business.

This process forever changed my presentations for my business. This guy came on stage and gave us everything, and he got business from it. So when you start a podcast, TEACH the audience, don’t preach to them. Talk people through strategies they can implement in their business, life, or hobbies. Give them tips and tricks, inspire them, and give them everything. Remember, there are no secrets; everything is out there already. So just give it all away and watch what happens.

If you are waiting until you get motivated or inspired to start a podcast then this article How to Get Motivated and Start will help.

If you are worried about bout what other people will think of you check out Laura Di Franco’s Article – Open for Comments; How to Not Stress Over What Others Think

TO start a podcast, you must have the following 5 things in place to make it a good one.

1. A vision for your podcast. IF you don’t nail down why you’re doing the podcast (TO become and Influencer, to geek on whatever you geek out on, or to create a revenue stream) Then you will not have a strong enough show to succeed.
2. A purpose for your podcast If your fans cant readily understand what they will get from the show there will be no interest in the show. Confusing the audience with mismatched topics, interviews, and conversations. They must know when listening they will go from here to here
3. A specific Avatar – You need to know specifically who the show is for. Who is that one person you’re creating the show for? Without this avatar then your show will lose its purpose. Think about if you are producing a show for Alison (Your Specific Avatar) Then each episode you know what to say and or questions to ask
4. Promotion/marketing gameplan or strategy – Podcasting is a marketing function for you or your business. If you don’t have a regimented schedule and process to market the show, it will be tough to rise above the noise. Think Episode release on Monday, Social Post on Tuesday, Email blast Wednesday, FB Instagram Lives on Thursday, Blog post on Friday
5. Consistency or schedule – You must put your show out on a consistent plan, so people know when to listen. If they don’t know when your show will air they won’t be looking for it.

Here are some free tools that will help you tremendously when you start a podcast

But what about the common mistakes people make when launching a podcast – mistakes that then make it even more difficult to grow and monetize your podcast?

Right now with so many people launching a podcast people believe that podcasts are easy and anyone can make one

It’s true that podcasting has a low barrier for entry, meaning anyone can finally get their message out without having to worry about the costs.

Like any medium, it takes time and effort to make sure you’re producing something worth engaging in. 

Many of us know that often times it’s not about succeeding the first time, but rather it is about getting up and trying again when we fail. However, we can’t forget to use all the resources at our disposal, especially if it will help us to succeed faster!

The five biggest mistakes people make they start a podcast that is costing them followers and downloads.

The best way to avoid mistakes is to learn about them to ensure you know everything you possibly can to steer clear of them

1. They believe it will be a major revenue stream for this business. A lot of people believe that podcasting will be a revenue stream for their business. The simple fact is that very few people make money podcasting. Focus on creating awesome content and create a show people want to listen to then the revenue will come.
2. They overspend on equipment– I love seeing the equipment setup of podcasters. They buy all this stuff that they really don’t need. I Launched my show with nothing more than a gaming headset a laptop and zoom.
3. They over edit – They turn their podcast into a robot sounding recording. When you remove the pauses, the ups and all the other things you take the human quality out of the show. Go ahead a remove background noises, random coughs but leave the show human.
4. They Don’t repurpose content. You are sitting on content use it over and over again. Turn it into articles, videos, diagrams, memes, and social graphics.
5. They select to broad of a topic – IF you try and interview everyone in the world and reach everyone in the world then your show will be too broad for people to grasp. Narrow it down to one focus accomplish one thing and watch this laser focus grow your show.