If you're anything like me, you are closing your books for the year you are wrapping up and excited to spend the holidays with your family, take some time off work, take some time away from the mundane tasks of everyday things you do in your business. And you're either completely closing out work or you're working on your business. Now, if launching a podcast in 2024, is on your shortlist of things you want to do, or maybe it's on your dream list of like, if I can get this accomplished, this will be amazing. I want to invite you to one listen to this episode because we are taking it back to the basics. We're talking all things podcast planning, all things of what you should know as you are starting a podcast. But I also wanted to invite you to join us for a podcast planning challenge January 9 through 11th of 2024. We would love to have you as part of this three day challenge where we are going to be walking you through the basics of planning your podcast. This includes goals, dreams, ideas, your audience, your name, your intros, outros music, all the things that go into the actual planning process of your podcast. We're going to do that in January. Now this challenge is $9. With this challenge, you get access to the podcast planning challenge workbook, which is very similar, almost identical, but a little different than my podcast planning workbook that I sell in my shop for $59. So I want to encourage you to sign up today. The challenge happens in January and we cannot wait to see you there. But make sure you head to Gaffin creative.com forward slash challenge to get access. Now let's dive into today's episode where we're talking all things podcast planning, and back to the basics so that you have a full understanding of what goes into a podcast in the planning process. Hey, y'all, welcome to the clocking in Podcast, the podcast for podcasters entrepreneurs and professionals making their way in the working world while building their own personal brand in the podcasting industry. I'm your host Haylee Gaffin, owner of Gaffin creative a podcast production company for creative entrepreneurs. If you're a podcaster, or even just dreaming about launching your own podcast someday, this show was built to help you merge your love of conversation, education and business. You can find resources, show notes and more for the clocking in podcast at Gaffin creative.com. Today's episode is brought to you by Mike check society, a community that was built for podcasters who are looking to take their podcast from good to great, scale your podcasts, improve your processes and connect with your listeners through our educational trainings, our private members only community and our monthly calls. If you're ready to join us, you can head over to Mic check society.com and enroll today. And you can get $10 off per month with the code podcast. Now let's clock in and get to work. All right, if you're ready to take it back to the basics, you're in the right place. Today, we are talking all things, podcasts, planning and steps to starting a podcast. Let's do this. So the first thing I want to talk about is seven considerations for your podcast plan. And I'm going to share tips along with those and then later I'll jump into five simple steps for launching your podcast. And this is like the five that I would tell someone to do if they were just getting started. But let's let's start with the considerations because they also impact those steps. Now, the first thing I want you to consider is your budget and the expenses that come along with a podcast because you're gonna have equipment, expensive software expenses, you may even hire someone to work with you on launching your podcast. If you're interested in that I highly recommend Gaffin creative. But that's just a shameless plug for me. Anyway, you will have to consider what you want to spend on your podcast, how much you have available to spend. And if you want to like start small and scale later or if you want to go all in my tip because I'm sharing a tip with each of these considerations. My tip is to not invest too much money before you're ready. What I usually see happen is that podcasters will want to go big before they're ready with and what I mean by that is they want to include video for YouTube. They want to have this huge light setup. And then it may not pay off in the beginning and you've invested all of this money into gear and equipment. And you may not even like podcasting. So that is my biggest Tip is like, just don't go all in, you can still have a YouTube channel and video for your podcast without investing in the best lights and the best camera, and the things that some podcasters or podcast producers will even tell you you need. So I would start very, very simple before you invest too much. Now, when we talk about investing and budgets, we usually lean into what that equipment in software is. So my second consideration is what equipment and what software's Are you going to be using. Now, I started my podcast with a $99 microphone, I still use that microphone. Now there are a variety of podcast microphones that I really like. There is one that I am considering upgrading to, it's about a $400 microphone. And if you want to spend that kind of money on a microphone, when you're just getting started, that's absolutely fine. It's up to you. But you can also get started with a $99 microphone and be just fine. Now, the other thing I want you to consider is the software's, so you're going to need a hosting platform, a recording software. And if you're planning to do any of the editing yourself, you're going to need an editing software. So if you want to go the absolute cheapest route here, you can get hosting with a cast, you can record in zoom if you're already paying for it. And you can edit in GarageBand, which is free on a MacBook Pro. But on the other hand, you may want to invest for multiple reasons. Number one, is I personally think Buzzsprout is the best deal for what you're spending on hosting platform. It has a lot of features that podcasters want in dynamic ads, and just allows for a lot more than most of the other platforms allow. In addition to that, when you're recording, you may want to record in something like Riverside, which is made for podcasters. But it also has a lot of AI tools and features that they're coming out with the I'm a big fan of like it will create reels for you based on AI and they're hit or miss at this moment, I'm sure they're going to be great long term I enjoy, enjoy them. And I encourage my clients to use them, even if they're not paying me to create additional content like that for them. And then the third is the editing software. So our team no longer works in GarageBand. It was a choice. Actually, I worked in GarageBand for a very, very long time. But my editor Megan, who works with me, she was telling me about Logic Pro, which is a tool that is new to me this year, I've only been working in it for about six months. And I absolutely love it. The reason I like it is there are a lot more things I can do inside of logic that I could not do in GarageBand. But also, our team also works in descript, which is a tool you have to pay monthly for logic is a one time fee descriptors a monthly fee. And it depends on what you what you want to longterm out of your podcast. So if you want to do video and audio at the same time descriptor is a great tool. It's just not something that we have seamlessly worked into our approach to podcast production. So my tip for the equipment and software that you decide to go with is you can do what works best for you. There is no right or wrong. I do not have a set of tools that my clients use across the board. Every single client is different. We allow them to work in what works best for them. On our end, the things that we actually have to work in, we choose those but regarding our clients, the hosting platform, they want the recording studio they want. They are all choosing those themselves. We give recommendations like I would recommend Buzzsprout and Riverside. But overall, our clients are choosing what works best for them. The third consideration is it comes down to your goal, concept and audience. Think about each of these things as you're planning your podcast as you're creating it. What is your goal? What do you want to achieve from your podcast? What is the concept of your podcast and what makes it stand out? And who is your audience?
Now, my tip for these three things is something that I honestly feel like people don't think about enough is it is a fluid idea. And you can change each of these things with time as needed. You can change your goal at any time you can change the concept you can change the audience. But note that any change that you make to your podcast may cause a shift in your audience because if you're changing the entire concept of your podcast, you may lose listeners who really enjoyed the old version. Or if you're changing the The audience, you may have listeners drop off. For example, this podcast used to be focused very broadly on small business entrepreneurship, we very quickly dialed into podcast specific content. And when we did that, we saw a shift, we saw a huge drop off. The friends of mine who don't have podcasts that used to listen, they don't listen anymore. And that's totally fine. It doesn't serve them anymore. But I was able to make that shift and except things change when you make changes. Now, the fourth consideration is the details and the assets of your show. And this includes so many things that we're going to cover in the podcast planning, challenge, title, graphics, categories, Intro outro, trailer description, everything that you need to actually go in and play in your podcast. That is the details in the assets of your show. And you need to be thinking about what those are, before you ever sit down to create an account for your hosting, or record a podcast episode, you need to know these things. Because if you don't, you may struggle with what type of content to create, what questions to ask, how to structure, your podcast, all of those things can be answered when you go through something like a podcast planning challenge, I walk all of my clients through this for their VIP days, we sit down and we plan for about an hour and a half. To go through all of these details, figuring out exactly what they want, then they get to sit on that content and those ideas until their VIP day, then when we get to their VIP day, they get to shift all of those if they want, or they can leave them exactly the same because they fell in love with it. And they stuck with it. Now my tip here is very similar to when I talked about equipment and software. And it's that there is no right answer or right way to make your show. So make it exactly what you want it to be. The shows that are on top charts are not following what everyone else is doing, they are standing out. Just because your friend has a podcast and they do this thing this one way does not mean that you also have to do it exactly the way they do it. You can do it however you want. And I just want to reiterate that because I've worked with a variety of podcasters over the years, none of them do it the same way. There are similarities. And you can definitely take concepts and ideas and recommendations and suggestions from your friends that have podcasts. Or if you're looking to go to a producer and say, hey, I want you to tell me exactly what to do, you can do that. There's nothing wrong with it. But if someone comes to you and says, Oh, you're doing your podcast the wrong way, because XY and Z like you're not using the right gear and you're not using the right equipment, it does not like that does not mean that they are right, it means that they have a way of doing it, and you have a way of doing it. I will say though, if it comes to gear, and you're using your MacBook Pro, or you're using just some standard headphones with a microphone on it, I might, I might say you're doing it wrong in that sense. But overall, there's really not a right way to do things. Overall, there really are 100 different ways that you could approach creating your show. And not one of them is right or wrong. Now there could be some, I don't know if I would do that situations. But I can tell you if that's the case for me. But I'm usually an open book, I'm very open to ideas. So if you're stuck in the like details and assets of your show, I want to invite you again to come and join us for the podcast planning challenge at Gaffin creative.com, forward slash challenge. Now, number five, and the fifth consideration that you should consider, obviously, is your content plan and strategy. So this is the type of content you're going to be creating, whether you're doing solos or interviews, the strategy you have for getting your podcast content to serve your goal. So if you're trying to serve your business by using your podcast as a marketing tool, are you actually working your products and services into the content? Now, the tip I have for this is the more interesting, engaging and unique that your content is the more inspired your strategy will be. It's so funny because I have been in the podcast industry since 2017. And when I see someone doing something new and unique that I have not seen anyone do before I get so inspired, and I'm like, Why didn't I think of that? Why didn't I think of that? That's so smart. That's so brilliant. And it's usually because I've not seen it before. I get really excited. And that is someone who has seen a lot in the podcast industry. So get unique, get creative and build content plans and strategies that work really well and unique to you and your business. Now, the sixth consideration is your systems. And you will probably need systems for every aspect of your podcast planning, and the podcast production. So whether you are working with a team, or you're working individually, you need to create systems for the production, you need to create systems for the interview process and how you're going to pitch people and how to secure the actual interviews and how to send them links and all things related to getting things done with your podcast you need a system for my tip here is that you can build this as you go so that it works for you. Because I have built systems before, that worked really well for me. But it did not work for a client, or I've built systems that someone else told me worked really well for them. But I had to manipulate a lot of things throughout it to make it work for me. So just make sure that you are customizing whatever system you start with to actually match you and how your brain thinks. And then number seven, the final consideration is your launch plan and strategy. Now when you go to launch, it's not going to be as simple as submitting your show. And it being there and people listening, there is actually an approval process that you have to go through, there is a delay in time, there are strategies to actually you know, publishing a trailer first. And then when your episode goes live, that's your actual launch date and building launch teams and creating momentum and buzz around your podcast. Because those first couple of weeks that your podcast is live will be some of the most downloaded episodes that you have for a little while until you start building momentum long term with guests and people sharing your show, you may not get the same expectations and downloads that you got on on launch week, really. So make sure that you are doing everything you can to build out a solid launch plan and strategy. Now my tip for this one is to do your research or work with someone especially when it comes to the actual submission process of your show. I feel like that holds up a lot of people whenever they are going to launch their podcast because they're not really sure it does take time to figure it out and do the research. I just want to make sure that when you go to actually launch your podcast, you either have the research to back up what you're doing, or you're working with someone who knows what they're doing so that you don't have to actually figure it out and you can rely on them. Now those are the seven considerations for launching your podcast that I think are really important. And now I want to talk through five steps to actually launching your podcast. And this I'm gonna run through really quickly because I walked I talked a little bit about what to consider, but I'm gonna give you step by step in how to if you decided today I want to launch a podcast I've considered all of these things. I'm good I know about them. Now I'm ready to launch. The first one I want to tell you to do is define your podcast goal. It's crucial to define that goal by considering what you want to achieve with your podcast. Whether you're looking to educate people, set yourself up as an expert or promote your services or products, you need to make sure that you have a goal that will serve as the foundation for your podcast content and direction. Step two is gathering your equipment, get everything you need from your microphone to headphones to software's and a quiet place. Now,
the third step is planning your content, your trailer, your intro and your outro you need to have each of these before you go to launch your podcast. Then, once you have your trailer intro and outro you can start working on actual episodes, edit those together. And then step four is gathering your launch assets. So your launch assets are actually something we will be covering in our podcast planning challenge. So make sure you go and sign up. It's Gaffin creative.com forward slash challenge. But you will need a title, cover art description your planned categories and a trailer when you go to submit. There's a handful of other like selections you'll have to make during that process. But those are the things you actually have to come to your podcast submission with. Now, step five is set up your accounts submit and publish. So your submission process does include you going and submitting it to podcast players like Apple, Spotify. There are so many that have closed down recently. So I'm like, I'm stumbling over what the titles are that are actually live. But there are a variety of podcast players that are out there that are smaller that you can go and submit your podcast to. The two that I like focus on are Spotify and Apple, but I do submit to as many as allow submissions, and then the rest will just pull from Apple's RSS feed. Now, those are the five steps to launching your podcast, very simplified. Obviously, there's a lot more I could go over and go into detail with but if you are wanting to just like get really focused in on it, that is it. The next thing I want to encourage you to do, as you are planning your podcast is to sign up for our podcast planning challenge. It's Gaffin creative.com, forward slash challenge. And I feel like I have said it 100 times. And that's okay, because that is strategy. In this podcast episode, I really would love to have you there. We are hosting it from January 9 to 11th. And you will get the podcast planning challenge workbook with your podcast planning challenge. And that alone is a $59 value on my website. I do customize it just a little bit for the challenge. But I would love to see you there. Now you can head to Gaffin creative.com forward slash challenge and enroll today. Awesome friends, I am wrapped up for the year. So next week, I will actually be sharing a client feature on the feed. So it'll be a bonus episode that highlights another podcaster and one of her episodes. But then when we return in the new year, we'll be talking a bit more about new podcast plans for a new year. And then we'll be hosting the challenge. And there's so much more to come in 2024 and I'm excited for kind of revamping this podcast and creating a lot of fun content in 2024. All right, friends, I hope you have a happy holiday and a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in whatever you are celebrating. I'll see you next year. Thank you so much for listening to clocking in with Haylee Gaffin for resources mentioned in today's episode head to Gaffin creative.com. If you're a podcast or looking for a community that will help you improve your podcast, make sure you check out Mike check society, our community for podcasters who are looking to take their podcast from good to great enroll today at Mic check society.com and use code podcast for $10 off per month. If you love this episode, I'd be honored if you'd leave me a review in the Apple podcast app. Until next time, I'm your host Haylee Gaffin clocking out
