A friend was thinking of starting their own podcast and asked us what we thought the most important lessons we’ve learned from podcasting are. Here’s how we answered.
1. Consistency is key
Giving your audience something to look forward to each week keeps consistency in your audience and promotes growth. If you think this going to be difficult long term think about doing seasons - i.e. this 10 episode season will be about XYZ. Then take a break, and release another block of 10 episodes on a new topic. Pick a day and release an episode every week. It’s basically classical conditioning.
2. People come for the topics but stay for the personalities
You said it yourself: your favorite thing about our podcast is when we both laugh. Think about the podcasts you love - of course there is some crossover in that you like the topics and the people - but you have huge latitude for when the people you like start talking about topics you don’t care that much about. So - that being said, bring yourself to the podcast. People will want to hear what you have to say.
3. Sound quality is important but need not be expensive
Every microphone you can buy (no matter the cost) can sound better or worse depending on how you use it and where it’s used. Podcasting is a uniquely intimate medium. People put you in their ears. You are literally speaking closer than you do in real life so prepare your environment for your podcast. This doesn’t have to be costly - record in your closet - all that densely packed fabric will kill room echo. We had lots of soft furnishings in the room we started in, and then ultimately got sound panels to kill echo. Learning proper mic technique and using headphones (so you can hear what your audience will hear) helps enormously.
4. You can’t skip straight to awesome
You discover your voice, your style and your comfort by recording yourself (and listening to yourself) over and over again. Having a co-host will really help. If you don’t have a co-host having a guest helps carry the conversation. Give yourself grace.
5. A lot of the magic happens in editing
I know many people who just record and then post. That has a certain feel to it but I think nearly anything can be polished and made better with some editing. This also helped us with our point above too. We learnt that we can just go for it and cut out stuff that doesn’t work later. Post production is a great safety net!
6. Now is the time for podcasting
So much demand for content. So much grace from your audience to get it right. Don’t put it off!