Episode 123
If I was starting a podcast in 2025, this is what I'd do
If I were to start a podcast in 2025, here's exactly what I'd do, drawing from my decade of experience as the head honcho of Bamby Media. We've launched nearly 500 shows, so I've learned a thing or two about what works in this ever-evolving industry. Whether you're a seasoned content creator or just dipping your toes into the podcasting world, these tips will help you make your mark.
00:00 Introduction and Credentials
00:30 Essential Equipment: Microphone and Boom Arm
01:41 Planning Your Content: 50 Topic Ideas
02:13 Audio vs. Video: Making the Choice
03:09 Promoting Your Podcast: Social Media and More
04:03 Batch Recording: Scheduling and Consistency
04:47 Podcast Artwork: First Impressions Matter
05:33 Getting Help: Launch Packages and Support
07:14 Defining Your Unique Value
08:30 Monetization: Offerings from Day One
09:41 Outsourcing Editing: Focus on Content
11:07 Choosing a Hosting Platform
11:48 Final Steps: Releasing and Focusing on Quality
BAMBY MEDIA LINKS:
GEAR WE USE HERE AT BAMBY MEDIA:
Aputure Amaran 200d LED Video Light
Pre-Amp/Mixers we recommend
Transcript
If I was starting a podcast in
Speaker:2025, this is what I would do.
Speaker:Now for context, my name is Brianna,
Speaker:I'm the head honcho of Bambi Media.
Speaker:We are a podcast and
Speaker:video production company.
Speaker:I've been doing this now a decade.
Speaker:Probably launched, I don't
Speaker:know, maybe five, close to 500
Speaker:shows, like a lot of shows.
Speaker:And I have noticed What works over
Speaker:this period, over this decade worth
Speaker:of experience, I have some things
Speaker:that I feel you should be doing.
Speaker:If you're going to launch a show in 2025,
Speaker:first thing I would make sure I do
Speaker:is I would buy a decent microphone.
Speaker:This is a non negotiable.
Speaker:You need a good microphone.
Speaker:Statistics show that people will
Speaker:accept bad video, like the video
Speaker:that's a bit pixelated and low
Speaker:quality, but they will not accept.
Speaker:Bad quality audio.
Speaker:Okay, so just buy a microphone,
Speaker:buy a microphone and preferably
Speaker:a boom arm too depending on how
Speaker:you're going to be recording.
Speaker:That's a maximum spend of
Speaker:like three hundred dollars.
Speaker:We have plenty of episodes and videos
Speaker:that show you kind of the different types
Speaker:of microphones that you can choose from.
Speaker:I like to recommend the Rode
Speaker:PodMic at time of recording.
Speaker:The most kind of like broad spectrum
Speaker:sort of mic that most people will
Speaker:be able to use and suits the biggest
Speaker:number of actual recording spaces.
Speaker:And then the Rode PSAA1
Speaker:Plus is the boom arm that I
Speaker:recommend as well at this point.
Speaker:So buy a good microphone,
Speaker:don't skimp, buy a good one.
Speaker:Non negotiable, do that.
Speaker:Now I want you to take a look at trying
Speaker:to get 50 topic ideas, 50 episodes.
Speaker:You don't have to record all of those.
Speaker:The whole point of that exercise is
Speaker:to make sure that you understand that
Speaker:you have enough, that your podcast
Speaker:has enough sort of topics to make it
Speaker:interesting, that it could go for a whole
Speaker:year if you were releasing one a week.
Speaker:50 topics, write them down, put them on
Speaker:a spreadsheet, however you want to do it.
Speaker:Pick kind of your favorite 10 or
Speaker:something and decide these are the
Speaker:ones that I'm going to record first.
Speaker:While you're making decisions,
Speaker:you have to also think about am
Speaker:I going to do audio only or am
Speaker:I going to do audio and video?
Speaker:Now you can work your way up to
Speaker:video if it's something that you
Speaker:feel like you want to do, but maybe
Speaker:you're not quite ready to do it.
Speaker:Or are you like, look, I'm just
Speaker:going to go with audio to begin with.
Speaker:Knowing that video is becoming such a
Speaker:massive part of the, of the podcasting
Speaker:industry, that it's something that
Speaker:should be on your radar in some capacity,
Speaker:even whether it's just snippets.
Speaker:So maybe you're not producing the
Speaker:video for YouTube whatever, but
Speaker:you're just getting little snippets
Speaker:made like we do for some of our
Speaker:clients on packages like that.
Speaker:Some form of video.
Speaker:is going to be good for you.
Speaker:I promise I've seen it hundreds of times.
Speaker:Some form of video will benefit you,
Speaker:whether that's snippets or whether
Speaker:that's full form, you have to decide
Speaker:what you're sort of going to do there
Speaker:and what you're going to lean into.
Speaker:Next up, how are you
Speaker:going to spread the word?
Speaker:So, are you active on any
Speaker:social media channels currently?
Speaker:How are you going to get
Speaker:word out about the show?
Speaker:If you're not active anywhere, then
Speaker:it's something that is going to be
Speaker:harder for you to promote because you
Speaker:don't have leverage anywhere else.
Speaker:It doesn't mean it can't happen,
Speaker:but it does mean You need to
Speaker:repurpose your content in more ways
Speaker:so that you can spread it further.
Speaker:Like having LinkedIn articles,
Speaker:writing for medium, doing
Speaker:podcast swaps and having kind
Speaker:of decent enough guests on that.
Speaker:Maybe you can collaborate a little
Speaker:bit, but I need you to think about
Speaker:before you get going, how am I
Speaker:actually going to get this message out?
Speaker:Because if it's just relying on
Speaker:people searching the words that
Speaker:you talk about, It's not going
Speaker:to go very far very quickly.
Speaker:It will take a lot longer,
Speaker:doesn't mean it won't.
Speaker:Like, word of mouth is one of the
Speaker:biggest parts of the podcasting industry.
Speaker:But just know, it's good to
Speaker:think about before you get going.
Speaker:Next up, I want you to look at
Speaker:your calendar and I want you to
Speaker:block out a day every month that
Speaker:you devote to podcast recording.
Speaker:That's so that you can batch
Speaker:your content and you will see
Speaker:the rewards of doing that.
Speaker:It's just such a good way to
Speaker:actually keep the momentum going.
Speaker:So it means that I want you to
Speaker:actually look at your calendar and
Speaker:go, I'm going to do it on this date
Speaker:in July, this date in, you know,
Speaker:August, this date in etc, etc.
Speaker:Block out a date, nothing else
Speaker:is happening on that day, and
Speaker:you're recording podcast content.
Speaker:If you can batch, if you can get
Speaker:yourself sorted, then you will be
Speaker:a consistency king slash queen.
Speaker:So do that.
Speaker:Next up, I don't want you to skimp
Speaker:on your podcast cover artwork,
Speaker:your artwork design, the thing
Speaker:that people see when they search
Speaker:for you and the artwork comes up.
Speaker:Look, this is a really good
Speaker:way to turn people off or
Speaker:turn people on for your show.
Speaker:If your podcast artwork has a picture
Speaker:of a microphone in it, Delete that.
Speaker:If it has a pair of
Speaker:headphones, delete that.
Speaker:It doesn't need that stuff.
Speaker:It needs to be branded well, high
Speaker:quality podcast cover artwork that makes
Speaker:sense for the show that you're doing.
Speaker:People judge podcasts by their
Speaker:cover artwork, just the way people
Speaker:judge books by their covers.
Speaker:Don't skimp on it.
Speaker:It's definitely something
Speaker:that is worth investing in.
Speaker:Next up, I would love for you to at least
Speaker:get help with the launch of your podcast.
Speaker:Full disclaimer, We have podcast
Speaker:launch packages that you can do.
Speaker:It's a one off thing.
Speaker:It helps you like distribute your show.
Speaker:We do your intro, outro.
Speaker:We find theme music.
Speaker:We put it all together.
Speaker:We do your trailer.
Speaker:We write your episode description.
Speaker:We get you up on the podcast hosting.
Speaker:We shoot you a tutorial on
Speaker:how to use that hosting.
Speaker:Something like that just takes that
Speaker:whole guess work out of that whole
Speaker:first bit, you know, there's actually
Speaker:courses that are launched just to help
Speaker:you launch your show You could spend
Speaker:money and find out how to launch your
Speaker:show or you could just get someone
Speaker:else to do it Really easily for you.
Speaker:That's a really good investment
Speaker:and you then have someone holding
Speaker:you accountable to go Hey, have
Speaker:you got this thing for me yet?
Speaker:When are we launching this show?
Speaker:Come on.
Speaker:Hurry up do the things.
Speaker:You will be scared.
Speaker:You will probably be scared.
Speaker:You will probably be nervous.
Speaker:You will probably be
Speaker:second guessing yourself.
Speaker:If you have someone and it doesn't
Speaker:have to be us, whoever it is.
Speaker:Someone that's in your corner, that's
Speaker:like, yeah, you're doing a good job.
Speaker:You don't sound terrible.
Speaker:We're going to clean you up.
Speaker:It's going to be great.
Speaker:Stop, you know, getting in self doubt
Speaker:mode, having someone else launch
Speaker:your show, having a company, someone
Speaker:help you with that bit will make it
Speaker:a really smooth transition for you.
Speaker:Now, I have a article, video, podcast
Speaker:episode that goes into, like, I have
Speaker:a whiteboard where I go, okay, guys,
Speaker:launch plan is this, do this, then
Speaker:this, then this, follow something like
Speaker:that so that you can get the most out
Speaker:of your launch and you don't have to do
Speaker:everything that it says, but having an
Speaker:understanding of how you would launch
Speaker:your show is going to be important.
Speaker:I also want you to think about
Speaker:how is your message, how is your
Speaker:podcast, how are your episodes
Speaker:different to other people's?
Speaker:There are so many podcasts, okay?
Speaker:So many flippin podcasts at this point.
Speaker:How is yours worth it to my ears?
Speaker:You gotta sell me on it.
Speaker:What makes it good?
Speaker:Look at a few things in your
Speaker:industry, maybe in your category.
Speaker:What are they doing?
Speaker:Why do you find those ones boring?
Speaker:Why do you think yours
Speaker:is going to be better?
Speaker:Write those things down.
Speaker:It's kind of like your mission
Speaker:statement that will be integral
Speaker:to creating a successful show.
Speaker:On that as well, decide who
Speaker:the podcast is actually for.
Speaker:This seems like a bit of a no
Speaker:brainer, I suppose, but who,
Speaker:who are you doing this for?
Speaker:For you?
Speaker:No, it's probably not.
Speaker:It's, I mean, it's indirectly for you.
Speaker:Like you're wanting to help grow
Speaker:your services, build your thought
Speaker:leadership, sell some courses
Speaker:or some products or whatever.
Speaker:It's, it's indirectly in service of you.
Speaker:It's part of your marketing plan
Speaker:for some other purpose, I would
Speaker:say, but who is it actually for?
Speaker:What's the target audience?
Speaker:And when you've built that person
Speaker:up, you've got that kind of avatar
Speaker:or those few different avatars that
Speaker:you're catering to, make sure that
Speaker:when you're structuring your episodes,
Speaker:you're talking to that person.
Speaker:This one is something that people
Speaker:forget to do, or they don't think about.
Speaker:Have an offering almost at day one.
Speaker:So when you first launch a show, I mean,
Speaker:I see this all the time where they'll go,
Speaker:yeah, we're going to launch the podcast.
Speaker:And then later on, we'll have something
Speaker:to offer, whether that's a freebie or
Speaker:some merch, a course, some product, but
Speaker:when they launch, they have nothing.
Speaker:They don't have anything.
Speaker:And that could even just be consults,
Speaker:coaching services, doesn't matter.
Speaker:What have you got?
Speaker:What have you got that almost from day
Speaker:one, you could talk about in your show?
Speaker:And I'm referring mostly to B2B.
Speaker:If you've got merch, that's really cool.
Speaker:If it's a more entertainment based
Speaker:podcast, you can sell merch straight
Speaker:away, but you probably wouldn't do that
Speaker:without a community kind of built up.
Speaker:But for a more B2B person.
Speaker:What, what are you trying to sell?
Speaker:Make sure you have something and it can
Speaker:be completely free and I would suggest
Speaker:it's free and I would suggest you're
Speaker:not talking about it in like your first
Speaker:five episodes or something like that.
Speaker:But the point of the podcast
Speaker:is to generate some sort
Speaker:of income for you, yeah?
Speaker:Most people want to generate some
Speaker:form of income from the podcast,
Speaker:whether indirectly or directly.
Speaker:So what have you got that you are
Speaker:going to be offering at some point?
Speaker:Next up, outsource your editing.
Speaker:I'm biased.
Speaker:I fully admit I am biased, okay, because
Speaker:I run a podcast production company.
Speaker:We have audio editors.
Speaker:We produce shows every week.
Speaker:What I see is, is that when you outsource
Speaker:the editing, especially if it's not
Speaker:something that you're interested in
Speaker:learning, It just frees you up to just
Speaker:be creative, to just produce quality
Speaker:content and not go, Oh, okay, cool.
Speaker:I've recorded this thing now.
Speaker:That was awesome.
Speaker:Now I have to spend six hours editing it.
Speaker:And then it just dampens your
Speaker:spirits and it makes you sad.
Speaker:And then you stop releasing as
Speaker:frequently because the editing
Speaker:is taking too long and it's not
Speaker:as good as you want it to be.
Speaker:And, and I know there are budget
Speaker:constraints that you can't
Speaker:always outsource your editing.
Speaker:It might be something that you
Speaker:look to do, okay, in the future.
Speaker:I'm saying outsource your editing
Speaker:because I've seen the shows that we
Speaker:work on, they keep releasing because
Speaker:someone else is doing the editing.
Speaker:They've taken that out.
Speaker:That off their hands, off their
Speaker:plate to allow them to do the
Speaker:other things in their business
Speaker:that actually make them money.
Speaker:An important one for you to think about.
Speaker:And if you can't outsource due to budget
Speaker:or whatever else reason, Descript is
Speaker:probably the easiest software to learn.
Speaker:And I have a free course that
Speaker:you can do to learn Descript.
Speaker:That does need updating though.
Speaker:I'll get to that at some point,
Speaker:but it is free at this moment.
Speaker:It may not always be free.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So do the free one if you want to.
Speaker:Then I want you to pick a
Speaker:quality podcast hosting platform.
Speaker:I'm going to suggest Captivate.
Speaker:We've used Buzzsprout, OmniStudio,
Speaker:Transistor, Simplecast, Podbean,
Speaker:Anchor when it was Anchor, you
Speaker:know, all these different platforms.
Speaker:Captivate wins.
Speaker:Because it has the most versatility, the
Speaker:customization, you can embed different
Speaker:attribution links, you can get your
Speaker:guest bookings all through there.
Speaker:It's this all in one hosting
Speaker:platform that I really enjoy.
Speaker:So I'll put a link to the
Speaker:Captivate platform in there.
Speaker:We are affiliated with them, but
Speaker:that's only because they're awesome.
Speaker:So that would be my suggestion there.
Speaker:Pick a quality podcast host.
Speaker:Once you've done all that,
Speaker:actually release the podcast.
Speaker:Oh my god!
Speaker:Actually release it!
Speaker:That should be the easiest thing you do.
Speaker:You hit launch as in you
Speaker:schedule in a release date and
Speaker:you actually release the show.
Speaker:And then while you're there, while
Speaker:you're releasing, don't check your stats.
Speaker:Don't check them!
Speaker:I'm going to say it again.
Speaker:Don't check your stats for like at least
Speaker:three months because it's not important.
Speaker:It's not really important.
Speaker:What is important is quality
Speaker:content with hundreds of thousands
Speaker:of active shows, active podcasts.
Speaker:It's so easy for your show to suck.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:It's so easy for your show to
Speaker:just get squashed down amongst
Speaker:all the other garbage that is out
Speaker:there in the podcasting realm.
Speaker:Don't make yours suck.
Speaker:Make it good.
Speaker:So don't check your stats.
Speaker:Focus on your content.
Speaker:Is your content good?
Speaker:Are your episodes quality?
Speaker:Will people want to come back?
Speaker:These are the important things in
Speaker:the podcasting space, because they
Speaker:can get this knowledge anywhere.
Speaker:How is yours different?
Speaker:Is it quality content?
Speaker:Don't check your stats.
Speaker:As soon as you're checking your
Speaker:stats, you're thinking, uh, okay,
Speaker:I've got to do more of these, or
Speaker:this is, why am I not getting enough?
Speaker:Now I'm going to have to change
Speaker:the way I'm doing things because
Speaker:I'm not getting enough downloads.
Speaker:No, no, no, none of that is
Speaker:really important to begin with.
Speaker:Your content needs to be good.
Speaker:If your content is good, people will
Speaker:talk about you, you'll have word of
Speaker:mouth, you'll start to spread properly.
Speaker:If you've got some sort of plan around
Speaker:how you're repurposing, you've got some
Speaker:good video sort of snippets at least.
Speaker:All of these things
Speaker:will be so much easier.
Speaker:So much better if you have
Speaker:quality content and you're not
Speaker:thinking about your downloads.
Speaker:So don't check them for a while.
Speaker:And then after a while, you
Speaker:can start to check them.
Speaker:They are my key things.
Speaker:That is what I would say to
Speaker:someone who's wondering how
Speaker:to launch a podcast in 2025.
