Why you Should Create your own Podcast and How – [Podcast for Businesses]

Since numerous streaming services have been established, the demand for high-quality audio podcasts has been increasing. That is why various companies have now recognized the potential of these modern content formats. They offer a high level of comfort. About 24 percent of all people worldwide listen to podcasts regularly and this number is consistently increasing.

This way, everyone can find out what’s new on the bus on the way to work or while relaxing in the evening. The biggest advantage is that the content is available anytime, anywhere. The content can be called up with appropriate end devices such as tablets or smartphones. If you would also like to get to know this modern content marketing format, you will find out below how you can create your own podcast.

Recognizing meaning from the podcast

Podcasts are audio files stored on a web server. They can be accessed from these platforms at any time.

It is advantageous that the podcasts can be stopped at any point or listened to several times. If the article is long, it may be listened to incrementally as time permits.

The simple news articles soon turned into interesting lectures and interviews with experts who reported on a current topic. It is advantageous for the listener if he can hear interesting content from specialists.

As a result, podcasts seemed more trustworthy than typical radio talk shows. In the meantime, however, many advertisers have discovered the potential of podcasts. Therefore, numerous marketers offer these formats in order to provide interested parties with more detailed and, above all, competent information.

Why do companies produce podcasts?

Podcasts have been the standard for many years. In the US, this marketing format is just in its infancy. One of the reasons for this is that digitalization in this country is not as advanced as in most regions of the world. But German companies have also recognized the benefits and are already in the process of creating their own podcasts.

As an advertising format, they offer a great advantage. Many users prefer to have new technologies or other newer topics explained through language rather than having to read long texts themselves. In addition, podcasts can be listened to while someone is cooking or cleaning the apartment.

The advantage for companies is that spoken texts can take customer acquisition to a whole new level. A personal connection to prospects and existing customers is created. This aspect is particularly important nowadays. In marketing, people like to talk about authority and trust. Authority and trustworthiness can be established much more quickly through language than through written texts.

Create your own podcast – you should pay attention to this

It is strongly discouraged to just creating any kind of content just so that this new trend can be followed. You can already find countless worthless podcasts on the Internet that have never been listened to or only partially listened to because they offer no added value.

Therefore, you should think very carefully beforehand about which topics could be important for your marketing. To do this, you have to determine your target group as precisely as possible.

The age and gender of your potential customers are particularly important. But that’s not all. There are numerous other factors such as place of residence, income, and level of education. If you find it difficult to create your so-called buyer persona, you are welcome to use suitable tools. For example, Hubspot has a feature called Make my Persona. This is very helpful.

In the next step, it is recommended that you think carefully about which topics could be interesting for your buyer persona. If you sell software, then your podcasts don’t have to be all about the applications you offer. You could also create audio podcasts that basically deal with operating systems, security and privacy, and the like. As soon as you expand your topic accordingly, you will get additional listeners, who may then also become customers.

In order to achieve a particularly serious impression, it makes sense to invite experts from time to time and to talk to them and conduct interviews. Podcasts with informative and quality content are very popular with most people and therefore can serve as a useful marketing tool.

Plan the podcast process precisely

You want to provide potentially interested parties with as valuable information as possible and perhaps also with important background knowledge. Then you should do a little research first.

Even if you are sure that you are an expert, you should protect yourself as a precaution and check whether your knowledge is still up to date. If you impart outdated knowledge or half-wisdom, your listeners will sense it very quickly and prefer to choose another source of information. The offer is large, so you always have to compete with a lot of competitors.

Once you have gathered your information, it is advisable to create a script. You could also create a text that you use to make a podcast. Under no circumstances should you read this text and speak into the microphone. Texts that are read aloud do not usually come across as particularly serious to the listener.

It is more authentic if you speak in a natural language of your own free will. Since it is not a live broadcast, it is not a problem if you make a slip or if you suddenly can’t remember what you wanted to say. Before delivery, you will certainly post-process the recording.

Small podcast guide

In addition to detailed research and planning of the content, there are still a few things you should know about creating podcasts. You need the following equipment:

• A quiet room where you won’t be disturbed
• A high-quality microphone
• Useful software for post-processing

Especially, it is important that you can use a room in which there are no disturbing background noises. It would be very awkward if a noisy truck drives by on the street outside or the dog barked while recording. You will probably find a suitable room in your apartment where you can record. You don’t need to record the entire episode in one go, you can do it in different stages.

One of the most important pieces of equipment for making a podcast is a microphone. If you take a closer look at the microphones, you will see the price differences. The price range is from around 10 euros to several thousand euros. The very cheap offers are mostly simple directional microphones.

The disadvantage of these designs is that they have to be aligned very precisely. It becomes difficult when you have a partner for an interview. In that case, you would have to constantly turn the microphone back and forth. As soon as it is not quite correctly aligned, the sound quality immediately degrades.

Condenser microphones are much better. These are available from around 40 dollars and there are hardly any price limits upwards. To record a podcast, you should therefore already spend between around 50 and 100 dollars for a usable condenser microphone with a table stand. This is the only way you can guarantee that the recordings are of high quality.

Cut and edit the podcast with suitable software

Suitable audio software is also essential to create your own podcast. If you want some practice first, you can create a podcast using free software. If you use Windows, you can use the Windows Speech Recorder which is part of the operating system.

If you want to test first whether it is the right thing for you at all, you should not spend money immediately. Therefore, free software for post-processing is sufficient at the beginning. The free application Audacity is available for Windows. If you are using a Mac, you can use the GarageBand software. This is also free.

However, if you want to create high-quality podcasts on a regular basis, you should rather get an audio editing software that offers significantly more functions.

These are usually not that expensive because the simple versions are sufficient. There are interesting tools from Magix, Reaper, and various others that you can buy for less than 100 euros. Such software is called a Digital Audio Workstation, or DAW for short. These also offer you the option of cutting out certain passages or assembling different recordings in the correct order.

With such tools, you also have the possibility of normalization. In the field of audio editing, this is an important function. It is used to create an even volume. If you record your podcast in several sections, the individual files can sometimes have different volumes. With the software, all sounds are then brought to a uniform level. You can also optimize the sound with the built-in functions.

Give your podcasts an individual touch

Just like company logos or other features that make you recognizable, this should also be the case with your podcasts. Intro and outro jingles are very popular with many producers. You can also use this within a podcast, for example, if you want to add a small break between two different topics.

However, great caution is called for when using jingles. Most sound files that you find on the Internet are protected by copyright.

Even if it says that they are royalty-free, there can be trouble because use is usually only permitted for private purposes. However, since you are certainly using your podcast for your business, the free use expires. That’s why it’s better if you put together your own jingle. If you use a DAW, it usually already contains a few virtual instruments that you can use to tinker with something.

It is also helpful to create a cover. Ideally, this should contain your company name and logo. This means that anyone who is interested can immediately see who this podcast is from. A high recognition value is always very helpful in the abundance of offers.

Listen to and test the podcast

If you want to create your own podcast, you should always do tests over and over. You will definitely identify things that should be changed or removed.

Maybe you also have someone who can listen to the podcast. This person should definitely give an honest opinion. It’s not just about the sound quality.

It is just as important whether the content was understood or whether something was perhaps incomprehensible. You should always keep in mind that not every listener is an expert in their field. It doesn’t matter whether you offer a workshop or would rather report on the latest news from your business.

Start a podcast on which portal?

As soon as you want to start a podcast, you must also make it available to the listeners. There are various portals you can choose from.

You’re probably considering the idea of ​​starting out with a free podcast hoster like Anchor.

This service offers you great convenience.

It ensures that the podcast you create can be accessed on portals such as Spotify, iTunes, and all other well-known providers.

However, this method also has a disadvantage. If there are interactions from listeners, perhaps because they want to find out more about the offerings or specific procedures, they will not reach you. The emails or other messages always end up at Anchor. Therefore, you never know exactly how your podcasts will be received by the listeners.

For this reason, fee-based tariffs from providers such as Podigee or similar are recommended.

This costs an average of around 25 dollars per month, but you get a decent return.

This includes extensive statistics. In addition, the providers usually also provide you with a plug-in for WordPress, for example. This allows you to integrate the retrieval of your podcasts directly into your website.

This is a recommended solution for founders or smaller companies. If you feel that your podcasts are having a positive effect on your balance sheet, you can increase activities in this area. Most podcast hosters offer you different tariffs. These often differ in the time made available. Depending on how many hours of podcasts you want to create and publish monthly, the costs are tiered.

What’s the point of having your own podcast?

The all-important question is what the point of creating your own podcast is. Basically, this content marketing format offers advantages when acquiring new customers. In addition, regular customers always feel well advised if they can still find out news from the provider after a purchase.

It is a great benefit for potential customers if they can not only find out about the products offered on the website of the respective company but also listen to audio files.

It is often easier to put complex topics into words than to present them in text form. Therefore, in conclusion, it can be said that creating your own podcast is an interesting marketing tool.