How to start your own podcast | Consumer affairs
EEveryone, it is said, has a story to tell and increasingly, those stories are being told straight into the ears of podcast listeners – who, according to Ofcom, represented around 25% of the UK adult population in 2021. If You Have Something Podcasting offers a simple, accessible, and inexpensive way to say it.
Start with your idea
“The most important thing is the idea,” says Martin Bojtos, co-founder of podcast creators and producers Podmasters. “You can have the best microphone, the best mixer, the best audio editor, the best music – it doesn’t make a good podcast.”
So how do you choose? Start with what you know. “Great podcasts come from passion, expertise, or experience,” said Vic Elizabeth Turnbull, founder and CEO of MIC Media, a social enterprise for podcast production and training. “Think about what you feel strong about. What have you done?”
Ian Sanders, creator of Cold War Conversations adds, “Choose a topic that you can be passionate about for 20 episodes or more and one that doesn’t lack angles.”
Define your audience
It’s all about the storytelling, says Sam Shetabi, UK content director for podcast hosting company Acast.
“Ultimately, every story has a beginning, a middle and an end, and it’s important to think about how you’re telling that,” he adds.
One way is to imagine who the listener is. “Decide on your ideal listener,” says Turnbull. “When you can define your audience, everything becomes clearer.”
For Sanders, that ideal is a history buff with an interest in the Cold War. “I wanted to capture the full range of stories, from the military, from spies, from factory workers, from dissidents, from anyone who experienced it,” he says. He speaks to many history buffs. To date, Cold War Conversations has had 2.3 million downloads.
It doesn’t have to be perfect. “I support the idea of podcasting occasionally and learning as you go,” says Shetabi. “Part of the process is not being so constrained in making the idea perfect to the point where you don’t record anymore. Your listeners have a direct connection to you as a host, so they can fail loudly and learn from them.”
Don’t overspend
Mark Asquith, CEO and co-founder of podcast hosting platform Captivate.fm says, “As a new podcaster, it’s easy to think gear makes the difference when in reality a decent mic is just as good as a great mic.”
Turnbull says, “I strongly believe that you should only buy what you need. People buy the whole kit and clutter, with a fancy microphone, an interface, a new laptop. But there’s no point in being “all gear and no idea”. You only need four things, and you probably already have three: a microphone, something to record and store your recordings, headphones, and something to edit.”
In theory, everyone is equipped with a smartphone.
If you’re looking to upgrade, Bojtos says, “The first piece of equipment you need to get is a good microphone, and you can get it for around £50-60.” The Samson Q2u USB, which Asquith recommends, costs around £80 , while Bojtos mentions the Blue Yeti USB, which costs around £100.
Look for used equipment on sites like eBay or Facebook Marketplace, or at thrift stores. “I bought my first mic from Cash Converters and I still use it,” says Turnbull.
Asquith adds, “Sounding great depends on the microphone technique. Get close, within fist’s breadth of the mic, and adjust the input volume so that it stays within the green in your recording software.”
hold it tight
“I was a professional broadcaster and I still ramble on. But you have to get to the point,” says Elinor Hamilton, who makes Tales from the Tannoy, about the stories behind the automated voices in our everyday lives. (She knows a thing or two about it — Hamilton is the voice that announces stations on the London Underground.)
Cut out excess waffles with free editing tools like Audacity or podcast one-stop shop Podcastle, while a popular subscription service, Adobe Audition, costs £19.97 a month. “You have to know what you’re doing,” says Bojtos. “Often people go to YouTube and learn everything; It’s not impossible. But people are busy and you can only keep so much in your head, so a lot of people hire an editor.”
It’s an option that fits Sanita Guddu, a fundraising consultant and trainer who presents Legacy Fundraising Chat, a podcast for charity professionals. She wrote and recorded all of her podcast episodes in just four months, but says hiring a freelance editor is a more efficient use of her time.
Know that it takes time
The financial and technological hurdles to starting a podcast are very small, but one thing many people underestimate is the time it takes to put a podcast together.
Sanders says, “If people listen to maybe a 45-minute episode or an hour-long episode, they might think, ‘Well, you know, all he did was make a recording.’
“But you need to do research so you can be knowledgeable about a topic and ask relevant questions. Then there’s the cut, which can be three or four times the length of the actual shot.”
Sanders estimates he devotes 10 to 12 hours to each episode.
Get your picture right
“Artwork is the only real window you give your podcast. You have a very small, thumbnail-sized part that can convey everything about your show,” says Shetabi.
“There are a lot of free design tools like Canva, which makes designing something like this a lot easier.
“But if I were really serious about podcasting, that’s exactly what I’d invest in. It could cost between £100 and £300 but is a pretty good investment.”
Choose a hosting provider
To make your podcast available you need to use a platform like Captivate.fm, Acast, Anchor (owned by Spotify), Libsyn, Audioboom or Buzzsprout.
Some offer basic plans for free, and monthly fees increase based on how often your podcast is downloaded.
The platform allows distribution to Apple, Spotify, Google or any other place people get their podcasts from.
Tell everyone about it
Hosts will pull it out, but more often than not, that’s where it ends — and the hard work begins.
It’s all about knowing your listener — and finding out where people are who share your passion — on Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, or anywhere you can speak up.
One effective method is to “make friends with other podcasters,” says Turnbull.
Find those in your area of interest and invite them to your show, be a guest on someone else’s podcast, or create a short trailer and then swap trailers with other podcasters so you can promote each other’s work.
Don’t give up your day job (yet).
“With Acast, you can literally make money from the first listen. From day one, you can say, “I want to enable monetization,” and Acast ads will populate your podcast, and you can choose where to place them,” says Acast’s Shetabi. Revenue is based on a cost per thousand (or CPM) basis – the more thousands of listeners you have, the more money you make. If your listeners are in the hundreds, you would make pennies.
Other models include subscriptions, recurring payments through sites like Patreon, and per-podcast listener fees. But whichever model you choose, making a living is anything but a matter of course; Even with 2.3 million downloads and a loyal following of paying Cold War Conversations subscribers, Sanders isn’t giving up the day job, at least for now.