The 18 Questions To Answer Before You Start Your Podcast
The 18 Questions To Answer Before You Start Your Podcast
Appears in this episode
Starting a podcast takes some forethought. Without it, a new podcaster can waste a lot of money and both the time of the hosts and the audience. In this episode, I set up the next few episodes by previewing the stages of podcasting and the fundamental questions that need to be addressed at the beginning of a new show.
Transcript
Welcome to podcasting and platforms. My name is Chris spangle. Thank you so much for joining me here on this episode and today we are going to talk about the questions you need to ask yourself when you're starting a podcast. Now I have put together a guide a system that I have personally done without knowing it. Looking back, I just sat down one day, and I started to think about how did I get here? How do they get to a point where I have a podcast network? I'm a podcast coach, and I have several podcasts of my own. How did I get to this point? What did I need to think through I, my boss uses this term? And I think he means that complimentary because you're kind of an unconscious competent, where you do the right things you just didn't know you were doing it at the time. So and he sort of right about that.
But when people ask me, you know, what do I need to do to start a podcast, and I love systems, I love plans. I love having a roadmap for from getting from here to there. And I wanted to put into a single PDF, those that that kind of roadmap, what are the stages to get to that point. And I have done that you can sign up at podcasting and platforms.com/eighteen, the link will be in the show notes, you can get the free PDF, I went on Fiverr. And it looks beautiful. It's very well done. If I didn't, I'm not a graphic designer, although I sometimes play one on our cover art. But the the gentlemen that did this, it did a great job. It's seven pages of information, including kind of a punch list. You know, I worked in construction for 15 years, my dad runs a construction cleanup company. And one of the most important parts of a construction project is the very end when you put together your punch list.
And you start going through and saying okay, this needs done, I need to do this, I need to do that. And that's what's in this document the 18 questions everyone needs to answer before launching a podcast. And it starts with stage one. And the first thing that everybody does when they want to start a podcast is overspend on equipment. Please don't do that.
Please don't buy podcast equipment, until you're really sure what you want to say and what you want to do. Because you can do what I did, which is make mistakes, to the tune of several $1,000. And buy equipment that you never use, I have two cameras that I was going to use the live stream the show back in 2015. I spent a lot of money on them, and I never use them. And it's dumb things like that. I see people all the time, they say I'm starting a podcast and I'm using a Blue Yeti. And my heart hurts because the Audio Technica 2100 is such a better microphone. So you really have to figure out some fundamental questions about your podcast before you start spending money on it. That's just prudent, right? I'm not great at saving money. I'm not, I'm not good with money at all, as you just heard. But I do know enough that you should have a plan for the project that you're going to do if you want to spend money. So don't buy equipment yet.
So at stage one, you need to figure out what you want to say. And you need to ask yourself questions like What is the point of the podcast? What is the audience going to get out of time spent with you, they're making an investment in time with you. And every podcast app, on average, has seven to 10 podcasts that they subscribe to what is going to make you worth that spot. Not everybody's like me, I'm a freak, I have like 750 podcast feeds from across the spectrum because I kind of like to watch what other people are talking about. And thank you downcast for being able to handle that many feeds, because Apple, you know, clocks out at 100. But you've got a lot of competition, you've got famous people that you're competing against, you've got other people in your space, you know, my space, the Libertarian space, I'm competing against other people. And some of those people go on Joe Rogan. And so it's hard to make sure that you get that spot in that 10 spot roster, you've got to really put a lot of work in. So you've got to figure out what you're going to say what is the audience going to get out of it? And there's the fundamental rules. You just need to be obsessed with serving your audience.
You know, at my day job, but Bob and Tom Tom has taught me that Radio Hall of Famer, it's not about what I like, although that plays into it, but what is the audience going to get out of it? Are they well satisfied? You got to figure out what is your call to action? Like, are you going to have them do something? What is the point of you doing this podcast? How are you going to be served by doing this podcast? Is it to, to you know, I do my shows? Because I'm curious, intellectually curious and I love to do research and I love to ask myself questions and then answer them. Some people start a podcast because they want influence in their space. Some people want to do it for money, which is
it takes a while tomorrow. monetize a podcast. So if your goal is to get rich doing a podcast, you want to pick a secondary goal for some people, it's downloads, I want to get downloads and be popular again, like money, it's going to take you a long time to get there. And there's going to be a few, sometimes years of suckage to get to that point. But you have to figure out why. What your what your benefit, what you're getting out of it, is it community? Is it friendship with your co hosts, right? So you got to think all this stuff through and simplify that into the title and descriptions. And you've got to again, figure out that metrics of success. Now, once you've kind of gotten the fundamental mission of your show down, then stage two kicks in and you start building that platform. So what type of show are you going to do? Are you going to do a storytelling show? What kind of microphones do you need for that? Are you going to use sound effects? Are you going to use music to make it sound like one of these great NPR podcasts? Are you going to do a round table where you and your friends sit around a table? Are you going to do an interview show over Skype? Or zoom? You know, Skype? How 2013 of me? Or are you going to do you know, an in person interview show or an online interview show? Right? So the type of content that you craft determines the type of equipment that you're going to need? Are you going to do video or audio?
You know, what, what equipment do you have to purchase at that point? And you have to think through these things? What is the feel of the show? What sound design or artwork? Is it going to be a happy go lucky feel happy bouncy music, beautiful white with, you know, like cupcake colors? Right? Like a kid's birthday party? Or is it dark and brooding and you need a dark piece of artwork and ominous music playing in the background? So you have to think through these things? How are you going to achieve the goals that you set out in stage one? Now, then stage three, after you kind of get that stuff kicks in? And you start figuring out how, how am I going to get this podcast out there? How am I going to distribute it to people? What podcast host? Am I going to use? What social channels do I need to set up?
And then that leads to stage four, where you start building community telling people about your show promoting it and connecting with an audience? And then stage five way down the road comes monetization? Are you going to be ad supported? Are you going to be Patreon supported? Are you going to do merch Are you going to do the both but the most important thing that you need to ask yourself is Do I have time to do this? Well? Do I have time to reach the goals that I set out from the beginning? For most people? Yes, it just means I need to take some time from you know, I love to play civilizations on my iPad, and I spend possibly too much time doing that. And I need to be reading more books. Because I'm not achieving my reading goal this year, right? So I have time to do everything that I do, because I just do less of that time wasting stuff now. So you know, the the next page page five start sort of helps you ruminate a little bit about that that first stage because it is so important. What type of person are you talking to? What what do you want them to get out of it? And then we get on to some of the basics to think about, you know, what kind of keywords do you need to put in your host? What kind of media hosting, you know, will there be video? Do you have an email address? What kind of audio branding? Do you have? You know, do what directories do you need to submit it to.
So I have really tried to think out every stage of the beginning of a podcast to put into this free PDF, there's no charge, I do request your email. I have no email funnel or anything set up at this point because we're all at the beginning of this podcasting and platform venture. But I wanted to have something tangible to kind of work through as I thought these things through. So we're talking about these 18 questions, we're going to answer them more in depth, maybe discuss them a little bit more in the coming weeks. But I wanted to let you know that that exists at podcasting. platforms.com/eighteen the number 18 You can get it now. You just sign up, you hit that email, you sign up and then it'll bounce into your email box right from there, and you can get started. And if you want to speed up the process, I do do podcast coaching, you can book your free 15 minute conversation with me where we talk about your needs, and how I might be able to help you. You can find that at leaders and legends dotnet or at the podcasting platforms.com website where you can click the button to get coaching. So I'd love to talk to you. I'd love to help you get started. I'd love to talk with you more about how I could be of service to get you going faster. So with that, thank you so much for listening to this episode of podcasting platforms. My name is Chris spangle Gunn that website podcasting platforms.com Make sure you visit that website now to get the 18 questions at podcasting and platforms.com/eighteen
Find the links to the recommended equipment in The Toolbox.
Be sure to grab your guide to launching a podcast here.
Ready to take it to the next level? Book a 15-minute consulting call to discuss ongoing coaching.
Connect with P&P
Email: chris@podcastingandplatforms.com