There's a lot that goes into podcasting. And by the time we get an episode recorded,
it's so tempting just to publish it right off the bat so that we can see it on Spotify
and apple podcasts, Google podcasts, but so many of us podcasters overlook,
putting launch strategy into their podcast. And we miss out on all the
really great opportunities that come from having a well-planned out podcast launch.
So in this video, I'm going to share with you the 10 tips from pod sound school
for your podcast launch strategy. This is about to get really juicy. Let's get going.
Hey, welcome to the pod sound school. If this your first time meeting me via the YouTube I'm studio,
Steve, I'm a crazy audio guy. I'm also the creative director of the pod sound school,
and we help clients and students every day to launch professional podcasts with a pre-launch.
With using these very same 10 steps that I'm going to share with you.
Now in this video, I'm going to assume that you already have a podcast name
that you already have a podcast topic, and that you've already worked out the basic ideas of
your podcast and that you've already settled on the podcast equipment you're going to use,
whether it's your phone or USB microphone, if you haven't got all that figured out.
We have a really great video right here that shows you all about how to get started with your podcast
equipment and your topic and all of that. We also have a ton of videos on our channel from
finding the right name for your podcast to the right topic of your podcast.
So if you haven't yet subscribed to our channel so that you can easily find all of those.
And get notified when we post really cool podcasting videos every week.
Okay. So you ready? Let's get to the 10 tips that you should put into practice as
your launch strategy, or you could think of it as a pre-launch runway tip, number one,
dive deeper, more show development. So here you really want to take the
time to do a little research, to listen to other podcasts that are similar to yours.
How can you make your podcast stand out? What makes your podcast. What community are you serving
and who do you imagine that your podcast listener is going to be all of these questions and really
diving into the psyche of your ideal listener is really going to help you to make a podcast and
to make podcast episodes that hook people in and get them addicted to your show right off the bat.
So we want to take the time right now to do that research so that research can be baked into
everything else that we're going to do. Okay. Number two.
Pick a launch date, but don't pick a launch date yet. Wait until we get through the rest of
this list and then pick a launch date. This is the day that your podcast officially launches.
You want to make sure to give yourself enough time to accomplish everything on this list.
Like I mentioned, in the intro of this video, sometimes we get so antsy to get our podcasts on
the directories that we don't take the time to do the proper pre-promotion and build the hype
and do everything that we need to do to really get a lot of ear.
Onto our podcast, right? When we come out of the gates with that being said, you don't want to take
too much time or give yourself too much time that you just keep putting it off and
keep procrastinating. So find that balance. After we get through the rest of the list,
take out a calendar, look through the calendar.
Think about how long it's going to take you to do everything on this list.
And then pick a launch date and stick to that launch. Number three,
this is a very important one. And that's to create a podcast trailer. Well, wait a minute.
How can I create a trailer for a podcast that I haven't even recorded any episodes for yet?
Well, that's a really good question. And it just so happens that Veronica has made a really
cool video on our channel that you can find by clicking on the.
All about how to come up with a concept for a podcast trailer and you don't need to already have
had a podcast for awhile. It's not like a movie trailer where there's clips of the movie.
It could be a trailer that's projecting what's to come with your podcast and just kind of talking
about what your podcast is going to be about. It's a good idea. When you're making a podcast trailer
to incorporate storytelling techniques, maybe a little bit of your own personal story of your
own personal journey that brought you to where you are in this moment, why you're making this.
There's a lot of really cool techniques. So make sure you check out that video
that Veronica made, but finish my video. First, we got to get through the rest of this list.
We work one-on-one with our clients to make trailers, and we also go through the
whole process of making a trailer inside our premium online course.
Smart and sexy podcast lunch. And I'll leave the link for that in the description of this video,
if you're interested in Pottstown schools online courses, definitely check that one
now. Okay. And number four, build at least one or two. Social media profiles.
So here you want to ask, where are my listeners likely hanging out at?
This is where you really got to start getting used to getting out of your comfort zone. If
you're like me, you're not a very social person. You don't really feel comfortable with engaging
a lot with strangers. Well, it's time to get out of that comfort zone, put on your podcast or hat,
put on your social media expert and marketers hat, because you are about to get out there and be so.
Engage with people on social media and create a nice profile picture for your podcast. It
can be similar to your podcast, cover art and get one to two social media profiles.
Looking really nice with a few posts and a nice description. And in the
discussion. You mentioned your launch date. Okay. Number five, record a handful of episodes.
I think the sweet spot here is between three and six episodes look planning. A podcast
launch is stressful. So you don't want to make yourself record 15 episodes before you launch,
but the more episodes you have recorded, the more content that you have to promote the talk about
to build the hype. I got to listen to my first batch of episodes, but it's important to hear to.
Take the time to edit and Polish. Each of these episodes, you need to take the
editing and the audio of your podcast serious. If you really want to get people hooked to it,
then it's also very important with the episode with the writing and the content and the way
that you perform the episode two at the first of the episode, hook the listeners in
and then give them a payoff at the end of the episode, give them a reason to listen.
Okay. And number six. Decide on a posting schedule. This also includes deciding on
how many episodes that you're going to launch with and a good sweet spot. There
is two to three episodes. If you come out of the gates with two or three episodes,
that gives your brand new listeners, and you've been building up all this hype,
it gives them something to kind of binge on and to get even more excited about your next release.
And then deciding on a posting schedule refers to how often are you going to post?
It's important to be realistic. Most people will recommend posting an episode once a week,
because that has to do with becoming part of people's habits. If they just know on Tuesday,
I listened to one of my favorite podcasts, then that's great.
You can fall into their weekly habit. Life gets busy, a lot happens in a week. So
you're going to be able to grow your podcast more quickly and reach a bigger audience if
you post more regularly versus a bi-weekly podcast or even a monthly podcast. But Hey,
there's lots of different shows. There's lots of different formats.
Some people will just record 10 episodes. The series and release all 10 episodes as
season one, and then wait a whole couple of months and then release
season two. This is your podcast. So you get to decide you're the one who
makes the rules. That's what's so fun about podcasting. We'll give this a lot of thought.
Come up with the posting schedule. So you're ready and prepared.
Now. Tip number seven is to create some shareable. So, what I mean by this is you already have your
trailer completed. So now take your trailer and make some graphics out of it. There's lots of
different ways you can do this. We have a cool video here on our channel that shows
creative ways that I have done it by making audio grams with apps like headliner.app or.
Both of those are really cool apps that allow you to make little visual audio grams out of
audio clips. That's perfect for your trailer. So that's one graphic you can make, but make
other graphics take behind the scene, pictures and selfies of yourself, recording your podcast.
This is exciting stuff. Make some visuals about it so that you can be sharing those on social media.
Also, now's a really good time to make graphics ahead of time
for that first batch of episodes that you've recorded. So those are already
on your launch day too. So get a nice handful of. Podcasting is a medium of audio, but the
promotion of podcasting includes video includes visual graphics includes copywriting includes.
So develop a lot of content and get ready to share that content like crazy.
And that takes us perfectly to number eight, make some noise.
Hey, could you guys please be quiet? I'm trying to get some shit out. You know what I mean?
Make, make some noise, promote, promote, promote. Platinum promote, promote, promote.
This is up to your own creativity. And again, like I said, sometimes getting out of your comfort
zone, try going live on social media. It's a great way to get out of your comfort zone
and get used to being in front of an audience. Instagram live is a really good one to start
with anywhere that you can go live on social media, do it hop into clubhouse conversation.
See if you can get people to invite you into their clubhouse conversations or
any of the other social media platforms that have copied.
Like Twitter spaces, get in there and start the conversation around the topic of your show
and keep dropping the launch date and building the hype for why people have got to set that date
on their calendar so they can come check out your show, talk to other podcasters.
You will find a lot of them on Twitter,
myself included come hit me up on Twitter at pod sound school.
And see if you can get interviewed on shows that have a similar niche or similar audience of yours
and get interviewed beforehand, you will be so surprised how welcoming the podcast committee.
Ask your friends and family to join in on your promotional efforts, ask your kids, whatever
it is, get as much help as you can make as much noise as you can and get really creative here.
If you have an email list, definitely use your email list. If you have one, no matter how small
it is, make sure that you're emailing that list many days beforehand and multiple times
before the actual launch date create countdown timers, whether it's in emails or on Instagram
or on social. Really build some hype, make people really set that date on their calendar.
It's a big deal and something that our clients have done that has been really cool
is if you have guests that have helped you to record your first few episodes,
invite those guests to go live with you on Instagram,
especially if they have a cool fall. And you think that they're following would enjoy your podcasts.
That's a perfect fit. Ask them to come on a few days before your launch and talk about the
episode they recorded with you. And again, build the hype of why people need to come
check you out on that launch day. Okay. We're getting close. Number nine, apply to get. By
apple podcasts. Yes. Did you know, you can apply to get featured by apple podcasts.
Apple is very mysterious about whether they will promote you or not. Now I'll leave some links,
right? Where you're watching this video. If you check the description of this video,
I'll leave a link where you can find more information about exactly how to apply to
apple. But basically you just ask and say, Hey, I'm coming out with my show.
So what you need to do is you need to apply after you've posted your trailer
onto the podcast directories, but you have to apply at least two weeks before.
Your launch date. So you know that you're going to need at least two
or three weeks of preparation time before your launch date. It's a shot in the dark.
You may or may not get accepted. Don't build your whole promotion around it, but if it happens, it
can be really useful. And Apple's always looking for new shows that fit different demographics and
editorial needs that they might have. And you'd be surprised we've had clients ourselves. We've
also been on new and noteworthy on apple, and it really helps to get a huge spike in your day.
And finally number 10, and this is a big one. Thanks for making it this far into
the video with me. And that's launched. Make it an event, make it a big deal.
Don't just launch your podcast, have it all scheduled and released and then just
take a nap on lunch day. No, you need to be there and make it a big event.
You could schedule listening parties, either live or virtual events or
in-person listening parties that you record and get footage of and share
that. Some people will hold giveaways for people who leave a review. And that's the other thing,
make sure that you're asking people to listen, to rate and to review and to give you feedback
about those first couple of episodes, then you can take that feedback and make a list
gathered data so that you can constantly be using that data and that feedback to create better.
When people review and leave ratings on your show,
take some screen grabs of that stuff and reshare it, create social graphics about it. Make, say,
Hey, so-and-so just checked out my show and they loved it. Have you checked it out yet? Also,
if you enter my giveaway before such-and-such time, you'll win a free whatever this is.
That's related to my topic. Right? Think about things that you can do to really make it a big
day for you. This is a big day for you. You've put so much work into it. You've worked so.
Celebrate good times and let the pod sound school know about when your launch date is, we would
love to check out your podcasts and we'd love to give it some love on our social media channels.
After all you are our pod Skee and we're here to help you succeed. And then finally
get some well-deserved rest. You're going to need it because you're just getting started
and you're about to go to some crazy cool places
with your podcast. And that's it for me today. Pod ski, hopefully you found this helpful.
If you did make sure to hit the thumbs up button and subscribe to our channel,
all that fancy stuff. Definitely drop some comments here,
right? Where you're watching this video and I will risk. Let us know what launch questions you have,
what podcast questions you have. We are here to help you go places with your content.
And until next time happy PA BA we have a really good video right here. How to start
a podcast or maybe right here. I don't know where you point point right here. There we go. Ooh. Ooh,
there we go. Oh, okay. So, all right. It shows you all about that. The show did it did. Okay.