What is the best way to ensure your podcast launch is successful?

As a podcast consultant and podcaster with hundreds of podcast launches under my belt, I can tell you that niche is not the golden Wonka ticket that everyone claims it is. Pat Flynn has a lot to repent for! I don't care if your podcast is the only one of its kind talking about a thing - if nobody knows about it, it's not getting listeners any time soon. Far more important than niche is a marketing plan. How are you going to make these new listeners aware of your podcast's existence. As for format, I think you mean structure, which is far more important. Structure is easy to get wrong but can be simplified into this: 1. What is the listener going to get? 2. Tell it to them. 3. What did they learn and how can they now apply that knowledge?

The most important thing in my opinion is, that you have a suitable length of your "launch runway." Rule of thumb: 6-8 weeks depending on format and what your starting point is.

This is what I’ve learned after 1250 recorded episodes with over 1000 interviews… 1. Pick something you enjoy talking about. 2. Select a date a time you can commit to. 3. Perfect is the enemy’s of done. Just get started and stay consistent. Everything else will fall into place. You can always learn and implement new strategies, topics and formats. Everyone sucks when they start, that’s ok. Keep going, you’ll get better over time! Go make it happen!!

Be clear about your topic and your audience but be flexible with the execution because odds are in the beginning you won't have a clue as to what actually works. Experiment with different styles and determine what your audience responds best to and balance it with what you enjoy/can provide them. We experimented a lot with our podcast and continue to do so today even after 73 episodes.

After having completed around 150 podcast launches with my team at PodLab, I can confidently say that "Done is better than Perfect". Yes, do your best to get everything together. But do keep in mind, that you can always go back and change the intro that you do not like anymore, the podcast thumbnail, or the description that does not resonate with you. If you attempt to do this by yourself, without a production team to help you, it is extremely unlikely that you will get everything right, no matter how much preparation you think you have done. So don't worry too much, do your best, and then slowly go back and correct anything you end up not liking!

Technically, you need artwork, a description, and at least one audio file to launch a podcast. That's the bare minimum. But you can always go back and update all of these elements. Getting a show launched and off the ground is important—and should be a proud moment!—but your journey has only just begun.

When is the last time you listened to a trailer? If you're anything like me it will be "when I made one for my own podcast." Make sure your show blurb clearly shows what your podcast is about but also who it's for. Inject your personality and tone of voice into the blurb so the brand experience of your pod is connected. And once you've got them to click play - reinforce what the show is about and why it's for the listener with a short, sharp intro, then get into the valuable content as quickly as you can. If you haven't delivered value within the first two minutes, you've lost them.

Doing a "perfect" podcast launch is a multi-faceted matter. However, it is important to keep in mind that audio podcasting is essentially a fairly forgiving medium since you can go back and change things you do not like, without losing your listens, downloads, likes, and subscribers. So, do your best but don't wait until everything is perfect, otherwise, you will NEVER launch!

Launching is paramount, but try to have the first 5-10 episodes ready (or at least in the pipeline) especially if you planning to launch a weekly podcast. Otherwise, you will go crazy by week 3.

Perfect is the enemy of the good. We had zero idea how to launch our podcast when we started. Just determine for yourself what your release schedule will look like based on realistic expectations and keep improving on the quality and content. Explore ways to promote your podcast on social media to reach your target audience and don't stop showing up just because your 1st episode didn't beat Joe Rogan.

Your launch strategy should include ways to manage your patience - as it will take time and consistency to see any kind of results, especially if you're not an influencer with an inbuilt social media audience in the hundreds of thousands. PR is everything, be everywhere you possible can be and use ever free / owned media you have, and ask for sharing favours from friends. Consider dropping at least 2 episodes straight off the back, even three, give them something to binge on so they know they love your pod. Just remember how annoying it is when you find a new show on Netflix only to realise you have to wait a whole week for the next 42mins of content (so annoying).

A trailer isn't something you should 'consider' as has been suggested here in the original article. It's a must, as many of the podcast apps (particularly Apple Podcasts) won't accept your podcast submission unless there's audio in the feed. While some skip this step and make their first episode the 'trailer', this means you're missing out on a lot of pre launch marketing opportunity. Far better to send ideal listeners to the trailer and tell them to follow the podcast in time for official launch. This way you may benefit from some early traction. Don't stress about reviews - it's too early at this stage and you'll be wasting a valuable call to action. At this point you want followers and email sign ups.

The actual physical location where the podcast recording is done is a critical aspect often overlooked by many. First, consider acoustics. Recording in a quiet, sound-treated space ensures clarity and minimizes background noise. This enhances the overall listening experience, crucial for retaining and attracting new audiences. Second, convenience and consistency are key. Having a dedicated recording space eliminates setup hassles, leading to more efficient and frequent episodes. In short, where you record impacts the quality, branding, and efficiency of your podcast.

This is where having a podcast coach comes into its own. But if you don't have the benefit of that, here's a method for critical listening. Record the content. Walk away from it for at least a week. Then come back to it and listen again. You might find you'll hear a very different recording because now you're listening as a listener not a creator. If your podcast episode isn't of a high enough quality that you yourself would enjoy listening to it, investigate why, and fix.

One of the best ways to promote a new podcast is to create short video reels with interesting snippets from an episode and post these on social media. These should be 30-60'' long and include subtitles so that people who are watching with the sound off can still get interested in the subject.

Promote, then promote some more. Short vids are a fantastic discovery method, yes, but they're not the only method. Is there something about your episode that's PR worthy? Write an article around it and pitch it to a publication. My other advice is to not fall into the "New Episode Out Now" promotion loop, where all your posts say this exact thing with no story telling. Show why people should listen, and don't be afraid to keep promoting old episodes - people won't jump on something just because you told them about it once.

Every single podcast expert on the planet suggests the same thing - repurpose your content into short video clips. Nope. Unless your podcast is video first (in which case you're better getting advice from YouTube experts!) then you're dealing with a different modality. So you need to promote where your ideal listeners ARE! This is most likely to be in podcast apps, or on niche blogs where people are researching the same topic. This is how we help our clients get new listeners at Podknows Podcasting. That, and we're great with Facebook ads too!

Make sure you check out the new developments by Spotify. Even though it is not my platform of choice for hosting podcasts, Spotify is certainly leading the way when it comes to creating an infrastructure of feedback, reviews, and general connecting with the audience of the podcast, down the individual episode level. Each episode can have its own comments, feedback form, and questionnaire for the listeners and the list is getting longer! This is fast becoming a new standard in making podcasting much more of a two-way, interactive communication between the host and the audience.

In my experience, it's been helpful to have a group of ~5 "trusted listeners" who you can ping periodically for feedback. These folks should be honest and tell you like it is. Negative feedback isn't always bad. In fact, it can be the best kind of feedback if it helps you make positive changes.

This is where building an email community comes into its own. Ask your listeners directly for feedback! Don't apply guesswork. You have no idea what they want, even if you're studying your retention data. You've not really any more of a clue why one episode got listened to longer than another unless you ask!

First you need to set: what's success for you? I've got a tiny podcast, no big follower base nor viewers but, for me and my co-host, success is to learn. We got into it wanting to learn with new people and "pop our bubble", so, I'd say now, with the second season going on and being a 6 episode season, we're more than successful.

Definitely use a premium podcast hosting provider to host your podcast. All reputable hosts have several different hosting tiers so that you can invest as your podcast grows. You will have peace of mind and access to several extras, like a free podcast website or automatic uploading to YouTube and dynamic audio insertion to promote your events and offers on ALL your episodes at the same time. Currently, I use Transistor.fm for my clients' needs, but other platforms have similar offerings.

Have realistic expectations. According to Buzzsprout's stats for January 2024, this is how many episode downloads podcasts get on average in 7 days: Top 1% of podcasts: 4,988 Top 5%: 1,120 Top 10%: 480 Top 25%:120 Top 50% (Median podcast): 31 It's important to put this into perspective as many people get into podcasting thinking they'll reach millions of people overnight, but the reality is that even the top 1% are only averaging 5000 downloads in the first 7 days.

Create accounts on all podcast platforms and use automated distribution - so when you publish a new episode, it is available across platforms.

Care. About. The. Industry. You're. In. Listen to other podcasts, and not just on topics you love, listen to podcasts about podcasting, read industry news, attend all the Spotify masterclasses. It's not just another medium to add to your list of content creation, it's a media format (and it's beautiful!).