podcast FAQs
These are the most frequently asked questions we receive about podcasting.
A podcast can be about virtually anything that interests you – getting listeners however, is another story (but one that we’ll gladly help you with!).
As an overview, some popular podcast formats include:
Personal Stories: Sharing anecdotes and personal experiences – just make sure it’s always relatable.
News and Current Events: Covering events in a niche field for those who are interested in staying up-to-date with time-sensitive media.
Interviews: Sharing insights from experts or influential people.
Education: Providing information or instruction on specific topics.
Entertainment and Pop Culture: Discussing movies, TV shows, music or popular culture.
Ultimately, the podcast format and content you choose should keep you personally engaged (no one wants to listen to a bored host) and provide value for your target audience.
The options for podcasts to make money are truly only limited by one’s imagination. Having said that, some popular ways that podcasts make money include:
Advertising: Selling ad space to sponsors for their products or services to capture the attention of listeners during the program.
Sponsorships: Offering sponsors to have their name connected with the program – in its entirety or for specific segments or series’ – this can often look very similar to the ‘Advertising’ option.
Premium Content: Posting exclusive content or specific benefits to paying subscribers.
Merchandise: Selling branded merchandise.
Donations: Some podcasts rely on donations – often from listeners – to support production costs.
Live events: Organising live shows or events where listeners can attend.
We provide a full-service podcast consulting offering – from ideation, concept refinement and creation, through to development, distribution and ongoing editing, management and growth.
Our products include:
Launch – everything you need to start a new show.
Edit – technical production of an existing program.
Grow – expand your reach, increase listenership and build brand recognition.
Advertising on podcasts can be an effective way to reach a targeted audience. Here are some ways to advertise on podcasts:
Direct Sponsorship: Directly sponsoring a podcast involves paying the podcaster to promote a product or service during the show.
Programmatic Advertising: Using programmatic advertising platforms, advertisers can target specific audiences and demographics based on data and analytics.
Affiliate Marketing: Advertisers can offer affiliate marketing deals to podcasters, where the podcaster promotes a product or service in exchange for a commission on sales.
Host-Read Ads: Host-read ads are ads that are read by the podcast host themselves, which can make the ad feel more authentic and engaging for listeners.
Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI): With dynamic ad insertion, advertisers can insert targeted ads into specific episodes of a podcast.
Podcast Networks: Joining a podcast network can help advertisers reach a wider audience and target specific demographics.
Overall, advertising on podcasts can be a lucrative way to reach a targeted audience and drive conversions, provided that the ads are well-targeted, engaging, and relevant to listeners.
They’re the same thing.
We call your podcast, a ‘program’ because you need to take it seriously from the beginning – that doesn’t mean the show has to be serious but you do need to look at it seriously – like a business. Some questions that we’ll ask you during ideation:
- What are your passions, skills and interests and what formal or practical experience do you have that you can draw from to create engaging content?
- What do you like talking about? Do not underestimate the importance of is.
- What function are you serving? Consider whether you are making your audience laugh, educating them, inspiring etc.
- Who’s going to want to listen? We often help clients shape their customer avatar and ask them to be as realistic and specific as possible.
- What’s your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)? Also known as a Purple Cow (Seth Godin) or The Edge, we want to help you create something that sparks intrigue and gets people talking.
Recording a podcast remotely can be done in several ways:
Record on separate devices: Each participant can record their audio locally on their device using a recording software, and then the audio files can be edited together later.
Use remote recording software: There are many remote recording software options, such as Zencastr, SquadCast, or Riverside.fm that allow participants to record their audio simultaneously, and the files are automatically saved to the cloud.
Use video conferencing software: Platforms like Zoom or Skype can be used to record the audio of the participants. However, it is important to use high-quality microphones and headphones to improve the audio quality.
Use a podcast recording service: Some podcast recording services provide a simple and easy way to record and edit remote podcasts.
Overall, with the right software and equipment, recording a podcast remotely can be a simple and efficient way to produce high-quality content.
Growing a podcast can be challenging, but there are several strategies that can help:
Promote the podcast: Use social media, email lists, and other marketing channels to promote the podcast to potential listeners.
Collaborate with other podcasters: Collaborating with other podcasters in your niche can help reach new audiences and build relationships within the community.
Engage with the audience: Responding to comments, reviews, and questions from listeners can create a loyal and engaged audience.
Optimise for SEO: Using relevant keywords in episode titles and descriptions can improve discoverability through search engines.
Consistency and quality: Consistently producing high-quality content that appeals to the target audience can help build a loyal listener base.
Monetisation: Consider monetising the podcast through advertising, sponsorships, merchandise, or other means to invest in marketing efforts and continue to improve the podcast’s quality.
Overall, growing a podcast requires a combination of marketing, engagement, and high-quality content production to reach new listeners and build a loyal following.
If you’re already doing everything here and the audio foundations are immaculate, you may just need to be patient – building a podcast also takes time.
The amount of money that podcasts make can vary widely depending on factors such as the size of the audience, the type of advertising, and the monetization strategies employed by the podcaster.
Some popular podcasts with large audiences can make millions of dollars per year through advertising and sponsorships. However, the majority of podcasts do not generate significant revenue and may only earn a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per year.
Advertising revenue for podcasts can be earned through a variety of channels, such as sponsorships, dynamic ad insertion, programmatic advertising, and affiliate marketing. Other monetization strategies include merchandise sales, premium content, and crowdfunding.
Ultimately, the amount of money that podcasts make is dependent on many factors and can vary widely. Podcasters should focus on building a loyal and engaged audience, producing high-quality content, and experimenting with different monetization strategies to maximize their revenue potential.
There are several microphones available that are well-suited for podcasting. Here are a few popular options:
Blue Yeti: This USB condenser microphone is a popular choice for podcasting due to its ease of use and quality sound. It offers multiple pickup patterns, allowing you to adjust it to different recording situations.
Shure SM7B: This dynamic microphone is a favorite among podcasters for its warm, natural sound and ability to capture clear audio while minimizing background noise. However, it is a bit more expensive than other options.
Audio-Technica AT2020: This cardioid condenser microphone is known for its versatility and affordability. It offers a clear, detailed sound and is a great option for those just starting out.
Rode PodMic: This dynamic microphone is designed specifically for podcasting and offers a balanced, natural sound. It is also relatively affordable and easy to use.
Something to keep in mind when choosing a microphone is ‘directionality’ – microphones can be omnidirectional, unidirectional, or bidirectional. The directionality of the microphone determines the sound pickup pattern and can influence its versatility.
Ultimately, the microphone you choose depends on your specific needs and budget. Consider factors such as sound quality, convenience, and price when making your decision.
There are countless great podcasts available, covering a wide range of topics and interests. Here are some popular and highly recommended podcasts in various categories:
Comedy: My Brother, My Brother and Me, Comedy Bang! Bang!, 2 Dope Queens
True Crime: Serial, Criminal, My Favorite Murder
Science: Radiolab, Stuff You Should Know, TED Radio Hour
Politics: Pod Save America, The Daily, Stay Tuned with Preet
Interviews: The Tim Ferriss Show, WTF with Marc Maron, Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Pop Culture: Pop Culture Happy Hour, The Watch, Binge Mode
Business: How I Built This, The GaryVee Audio Experience, Masters of Scale
Personal Development: The School of Greatness, The Minimalists Podcast, Happier with Gretchen Rubin
These are just a few examples of the many great podcasts available. It’s worth exploring different genres and topics to find what interests you the most.
Questions from Marketers
The main questions that digital marketing professionals and businesses ask.
To integrate podcasts effectively into your digital marketing strategy, we take a holistic perspective of your marketing mix and develop
In the process, we distill topics that resonate with your target audience and translate to the audio medium. From here, we work with you to create high-quality content that provides value and aligns with your brand’s message.
Like all marketing, consistency is key. We help you to maintain a regular podcast schedule and develop collateral to cross-promote your podcast across channels – website, email newsletters, social media, to maximize visibility. Additionally, you might like to look at collaborating with influencers or experts in your industry to further expand your reach.
Key metrics for measuring podcast marketing success include:
- Downloads: The number of times an episode has been downloaded.
- Listens: The number of times a human has pressed the ‘play’ button on a episode. Podnews has a great article on this distinction.
- Subscriber growth: The rate at which a podcast gains new subscribers.
- Listener retention: How long your audience continues to engage with your content. There are metrics on various platforms to measure this and see where listeners drop off.
All podcast platforms will offer analytics tools to track and analyse metrics – to varying degrees of quality and payment barriers – but they significantly help to understand audience behaviour and preferences.
This is a broader marketing question but applies to podcasting in a similar way as other mediums.
Define your target audience for the audio channel by conducting market research, analysing customer demographics and understanding their pain points and interests.
We help our clients to develop listener personas to create content tailored to their needs.
It’s worth using your existing channels to research ideas for audio content in advance – via social media polls and other surveys. This can help you to hit the grown running for when you launch. Additionally, as you crowdsource ideas, it acts as a marketing tool for the program.
Promote podcasts on social media by creating visually engaging teaser clips or audiograms from your episodes. Make sure to use relevant hashtags to increase discoverability.
Collaborating with social media influencers in your niche may also assist in reaching new followers.
Don’t forget the organic stuff by engaging with your audience through comments, questions, and discussions related to your podcast content.
We’ll note here that social media may not be the best channel to promote your podcast. Consider it, yes, but look at it in the context of a broader marketing strategy. This is something we can help with.
Outside of the hosting platform you decide to on – there are many (and we remain loyal to Libsyn) – you may choose to leverage other tracking platforms and tools like Podtrac, Chartable and Google Analytics.
These tools provide insights into download statistics, listener demographics and behaviour.
Optimize podcast SEO by crafting descriptive episode titles and descriptions that incorporate relevant keywords. Using a blog or website to promote podcast content can significantly aid SEO. Consider using transcription services to provide searchable text content and make sure you’re listed on all the major podcast directories like Apple Podcasts and Spotify, to improve visibility.
The most effective podcast advertising format is host-read ads, where the podcast host personally endorses the product or service – Acast has a great article on why that is.
Other common formats for podcast advertising include sponsor interviews and product placements within the content. The key is to seamlessly integrate ads into your podcast’s narrative to maintain listener engagement.
We’d also like to sign this answer off with a comment transparency – please always tell your listeners when something has been paid for in your content.
Encourage your listeners to share feedback and request episode content – this is most commonly done through social media platforms.
Methods that are increasingly popular include the use of Reddit and Discord. Highlighting positive reviews on your website and social media can also help to build trust and engagement with your podcast.
Reach out to industry experts and influencers within your niche for guest appearances on your podcast – if you have a strong brand already, you might like to be a guest on other shows too.
Make sure to have something of value to provide for anyone you pitch. At the beginning, your show will be small and have little to offer directly (sorry to break the bad news) but what else might you be able to give them in exchange? This is will be unique to your brand and may include a product or service you already offer. The sky is the limit here – you’ll think of something.
Ensure legal compliance by obtaining the necessary licenses or permissions for any copyrighted material, including music, used in your podcast.
Alternatively, use royalty-free music or content that is in the public domain. Be aware of copyright laws and consult with legal experts if needed to avoid legal issues related to intellectual property rights.