In this blog post, I’ll walk you through a podcast launch, week by week. So, before the end of week 06, your podcast is LIVE!
A little gift at the end of the post to help you get super organized, lessen the overwhelm, make sure everything gets done in time, and nothing slips through the cracks. I honestly believe this is our best freebie yet!
So, let’s go… Let’s walk through your podcast launch, week by week.
Week 1: The foundations
The very first thing I believe you should do is MARKET RESEARCH.
You can use social media for this.
Involve your audience in the process. Ask them questions on your posts, stories, lives, and newsletters. You can do polls too that will help you understand what they expect from your podcast.
Do they prefer solo episodes or interviews?
Do they like short or long episodes?
Do they want to hear more about business or [insert here your other content pillar or pillars]
It will save you a lot of time and stress if you ask those questions before you even start working on the podcast. It also helps to promote and create that buzz so when you finally launch, your listeners will be dying to hit play.
Once you have those answers, it’s time to establish your GOALS for the podcast.
The more specific, the better.
Create a goal-setting spreadsheet (or a doc) and write them down. You can split them into months, quarters, whatever works best for you and your business.
This will also help to measure success and make adjustments moving forward.
If you don’t have the equipment yet, I suggest you do your research and purchase here as well, so you’re all set when it’s time to start recording.
Week 2: Planning & Promoting
Now that you know your goals, and what your audience desires. It’s time to plan your episodes and your podcast launch.
Start by writing a podcast brief as suggested on Apple Podcasts Best Practices.
I love this because this will help you get so much clarity and guide you through your podcast launch. According to Apple, your podcast brief should include:
Podcast Name
Host
Host Bio
Description
Context
Business Objective
Target Audience
Duration and Frequency
Launch Date
After this, you’ll have more clarity on your audience, content, message, and format.
This will also help you with promotion.
I highly recommend starting promoting your podcast as soon as possible. Do not wait until launch week, start building anticipation from week 01.
It might be helpful to create a little marketing plan that includes:
What you’ll be promoting – behind the scenes of the episodes, the show’s values and goals, launch date, guests or topics already schedules, etc.
Where you’ll be promoting – Instagram posts, Instagram stories, IGTV, Reels, Facebook posts, Facebook groups, Pinterest, blog post, newsletter, etc.
And, of course, WHEN – creating a weekly schedule will go a long way. Add those tasks to your to-do list or project management tool.
And last, but definitely not least, plan your episodes (and guests).
Start brainstorming ideas and select the 10 best ones for the 10 first episodes (the ones who align the most with your goals and with your audience feedback from week 01). And don’t forget to plan your guests if you’re doing interviews.
A few ideas of what you can be doing:
Pitch ideal guests using your podcast brief.
Post about your new podcast on Facebook & Linkedin groups.
Apply to be on podcasts that speak to your audience and start promoting.
Use the question/poll stickers on your stories and ask your audience if they want to be in your podcast.
Week 3: Recording & Editing
Before hitting the record button, let’s make sure you have all you need which is:
Microphone
Pop filter
Headphones
Recording software – Audacity, GarageBand, Adobe Audition
- Virtual meeting tool – like Zoom or Zencastr
It’s also super important to do some tests to make sure your tech is good to go. Record a few minutes of you talking. If you’re planning on having guests, ask someone you know to do a trial test with you before meeting the guest.
There’s nothing worst than wasting your time AND someone else’s time trying to figure out tech issues.
If everything goes well, and your audio sounds good and clean. Get ready to record:
Your podcast trailer
Intro & outro
Any CTA’s or adds you want to include in the episodes
Then, record your first episode (or episodes if you have the capacity)
Make sure you have at least bullet points of all you’re covering on that episode, that will help your thoughts flow.
Batch-recording is a great idea, you can do 3, 4, 5 episodes at a time. It all depends on your capacity. Then adjust your schedule to make sure you’re ahead of time of the recording.
To ensure high-quality audio (hello, Apple charts!) you’ll probably have to do some editing.
Especially at the beginning when you’re still getting the hang of things. I personally LOVE Adobe Audacity. If you already have the Adobe Cloud, go ahead and download it. If you’re on a budget, there are free options as well, like Audacity and Garageband.
If you don’t have the time, or you just hate doing it (no judgment here), consider outsourcing it. We have monthly podcast editing and management packages starting at $500.
Week 4: Set Up
Time to set up your podcast HOST, and submit your podcast to all the major directories, aka distribution platforms.
OMG, we’re almost there!
To help you, here’s a list of the best hosts out there and another list with all the major platforms you must submit your podcast to.
Hosts, my favorites are:
- Libsyn
- Buzzsprout
- Podbean
Podcast Directories, the most popular are:
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify
- Stitcher
Start with the host, you’ll need to set up everything there first, so you can then start uploading your episodes.
To submit your podcast to all the directories above, you’ll need to upload and release at least one episode (or a trailer). That’s why I advised you to record a trailer.
If you need any assistance, we can help you. Contact us if you’d like us to take over and launch your podcast in 6 weeks.
Once your podcast is approved, you can go ahead upload and schedule your first episode! YAY!
Click on the image to get our PODCAST LAUNCH CALENDAR. Free Download!
Week 5: Launch!
It will take a few days for your podcast to be approved by all the major platforms, but once that’s done, it’s time to prepare for launch day!
Pop the bubbly.
Tell your friends and family.
Post on all the social media platforms.
Email your list.
And most importantly, ask for feedback from your listeners. Use the tools you have:
Stories
Newsletters
Facebook group
Membership community
Your brand new podcast!
Ask them to tag you when they listen to the first episode. Ask what they thought of it. What would they like to see in the next episode (keep notes!). Share their favorite nugget. Recommend to a friend that would like it.
Another good idea to engage your audience is to offer a GIVEAWAY to encourage reviews and follows!
These are just a few ideas, but it’s YOUR podcast. You decide.
There are no rules here. But it is super important to get listeners to follow (subscribe) and review, the number of daily subscribers plays a direct part in getting your podcast into Apple charts like New & Noteworthy.
I hope this helps and I wish you a KILLER podcast launch!
If you need any help…
If you’re too busy as it is to take care of a podcast launch, click HERE and check out our new podcast launch package!
And if you’re ready to make it happen, here’s a gift to make your life a bit easier. OUR FREE PODCAST LAUNCH CALENDAR, you can just copy the tasks and paste them into your favorite project management tool!
Yup, all the tasks from week 01 to week 06 ready to be copied and pasted into ClickUp, Asana, Trello, or whatever other tool you prefer.
A little bonus:
A customizable Google Doc Calendar if you’re more of a G Suite or printed paper kind of person.
I got it all covered 😉
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