Starting a Podcast: Concept

My friend, Allison Reynolds asked me this week if I would give her some coaching on starting a new podcast. In typical Allison style she has already raced ahead but I thought it would be useful to detail the main steps for starting a podcast here, and then, hopefully, she will come back and guest post on the blog to tell us her experiences as a first time podcast creator.

The initial step in creating a podcast is coming up with a concept. What is your podcast going to be about and how will it “sound” i.e. what will the format be, will it be interviews or single voice commentary, chat or news, 5 mins or 30 mins?

For some the concept will grow out of the desire to have a podcast to accompany your current business or hobby. Maybe you have a Real Estate business and you want to reach new and different people by creating a podcast. Much of your concept will be determined by the business you are in. Similarly, back in 2006 my first podcast was based on a hobby niche I was in. The opportunity to attend a big event and do some interviews arose and podcasting was the perfect vehicle for broadcasting them.

Allison, on the other hand, has approached it in a different way. She had an epiphany in the shower (maybe I’ll leave her to explain that one) and came up with a great concept for a podcast that she thinks she can make work. It isn’t geared towards promoting a particular business, website, product or hobby and the idea already determines length and, to some extent, style.

What About Research?

The first method for coming up with a concept for your podcast should mean you have already done your market research for your overall business or niche. Does that automatically mean you will find an audience for your podcast? Not necessarrily; but if you are making money in a market it indicates there are folks interested enough to want more information.

The second method is a little more difficult to research. For example, how do you determine whether people will want to listen to a lighthearted comedy podcast? Just because you think you’re funny doesn’t mean others will (a problem I battle with daily ). One way to research is to look at the popular podcasts that already exist and determine whether yours will fit in (without being a carbon copy of someone else’s). If your concept is truly an original (very few are) then this will be difficult to determine.

Of course, in both cases you won’t know for sure without launching your podcast, and thankfully this is going to cost you very little to do financially.

The main consideration is TIME. Podcasting takes time, especially in the early stages. If you have time and a concept, then you’re ready to get started!

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Photo provided by derrickkwa on Flickr under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic licence