In the great big year of 2024, there truly is a podcast for almost every niche and need you can dream up. There’s a podcast on celebrity’s dream dinner menus, destinations and deaths. If you want a podcast on parenting, you’re able to choose if you want to hear from the perspective of the dads or the mums, parents new or experienced. You’ve got has-been stars revisiting their 00s sitcoms right down to unheard-of names only just establishing themselves in the world, and plenty and plenty of podcasts where it’s just two friends yapping. And then you’ve got the plain ridiculous, like the girl who said “Hawk Tuah” creating her own podcast that’s somehow topped the Spotify charts.

Creating a Successful Marketing Podcast in 2024

The long and short of it is, if you’re going to create a marketing podcast in 2024, it’s got to be something that’s going to cut through the noise, or else it’s not worth your time. Even the world of marketing podcasts is fairly saturated, with titles like “Uncensored CMO”, “Working Hard, Hardly Working”, “Marketing and Margaritas”, and of course, the juggernaut “The Diary of a CEO” with Manchester’s own Steven Bartlett.

If you fancy your chances, we’re here this International Podcast Day with a step-by-step guide on how to create a podcast that will set you up for success and stand out in a busy crowd.

1. Find and Define Your Target Audience

The first and most crucial step in creating your podcast is simply to define its purpose. As with any kind of product (and whether you’re making money off of it or not, your podcast is your product), you need to identify who wants it, what needs it fulfils for them, and why they would come to you and not someone else.

Before you plug in and record that first episode, who do you expect to be listening on the other side? And what value will you provide for them when they listen?

You could be catering to small business owners, entrepreneurs or fellow marketing professionals. Maybe you want to keep your audience broad, with specific episodes focusing on different types of marketers rather than the entire podcast, but you have to make sure that there is an audience that would be interested in what you have to say, otherwise you might as well be playing dead air.

If you have any amount of experience in marketing, you should already know the benefits and pitfalls of casting the net too wide when it comes to audience, as well as making your product too specific.

2. Choose a Niche

As we’ve already established, there are thousands of marketing podcasts available to stream online right now. You need to find the niche that sets you apart from everyone else out there. What makes you special? What will make you stand out from the crowd?

Maybe you want to focus on one particular aspect of marketing, like paid media marketing, content creation or SEO. You could even keep it specific to an industry – maybe focus on the fashion industry, or food and beverage.

Just make sure you know enough about your niche to keep the podcast informative and packed with purpose. Specialising in one aspect, especially one you’re well-versed in, can prove your expertise as well as foster trust in your audience.

3. Develop a Strong Content Strategy

Preparing your podcast in advance of its debut is imperative to getting off to a strong start. Make sure that you’re building a solid strategy from the beginning.

Some pointers to get you going:

• What will each episode be about? It could be that each episode focuses on a different theme within your niche, or you could just do a roundup of what’s gone on since the last episode. Remember, keep it different from what everyone else is doing!
• How often should I post episodes? Stats show that 38% of podcasters post episodes every 8-14 days, while 34% post every 3-7 days. While we would recommend prioritising that you have enough interesting content to post every episode. That being said, many people like the routine of listening to an episode once a week, and posting at the same time every week encourages your listeners to return. From experience, we notice when one of our favourite podcasts takes a break!
• How long should each episode be? This one is more of a piece-of-string question rather than an exact science. If you think a quick info burst of 15-20 minutes is right, go for it - especially if you’re planning on doing multiple episodes a week. If you’re uploading weekly, maybe a half hour catch-up is perfect for your audience and not too consuming of your time and resources. If you think your audience will be listening on a commute, we’d recommend a 45-60 minute podcast to give them some real in-depth discussion to chew on.‍
• Will I have special guests and contributors? Now’s the chance for you to call in all your favours with any fellow marketers in your contact list. Having a guest on your show will keep the podcast fresh and add variety, but will also allow you to build your listener base by collaborating with other creators. Search out other digital marketing podcasters and work together to combine your audience for these episodes.

4. Invest in Quality Podcasting Equipment

One of the worst experiences for an avid podcast listener is when the sound quality is poor. Even if you’re dedicated to listening to a series week after week, one episode with a dodgy microphone or bad mixing can put you off going back for more. Make sure you start as you mean to go on by investing in good quality sound equipment – and that doesn’t mean it has to cost you too much.

A good quality USB microphone is the first step towards a slick-sounding podcast. A Blue Yeti is the classic choice and usually comes to around £100, but you could find alternatives for a little more and a little less that will have their own benefits. It’s also important that you get a pop filter or microphone cover that will reduce plosive sounds (think hard ‘p’ and ‘b’ sounds) being picked up in your recording.

To further minimise unwanted noise, particularly background noises, we’d recommend investing in a good pair of over-ear headphones so you can monitor audio levels. You should also consider soundproofing to improve acoustics, especially if you’re planning on starting up your podcast in a busy office or from your own home.

Finally, consider what recording software you want to use. There are plenty of free options, and our free pick would be Audacity. It’s open source, meaning that anyone can modify the programme to suit their needs, as well as create new tools and presets. The downside is that this can make the programme a little bit overwhelming and confusing at times, as so many people have had a hand in its creation. Still, for simple editing and mixing, it’s a perfect starting point.

5. The Key to Branding Your Podcast

Much like your business, or how you present yourself online, your podcast needs to have a clear brand identity that’s different and memorable.

The most important element to think about here is the name. The name gives the first impression to a potential listener, so choose something that will have an impact. Imagine a fan talking about your podcast to their friends: “I’ve been listening to this really great podcast called ________” – what sort of name would make you think “I’ve got to listen to that!”? What sort of name will stick around in your mind and make you search for it later?

Speaking of searching, you’ll also want to come up with a name that is SEO-friendly and is easy to find in a sea of other podcasts. A generic name, or a name that’s hard to search for (too much punctuation or too many symbols, for example) will knock out a large portion of potential audience members.

The next priority is your artwork. Such an aural form of entertainment has very limited opportunity to showcase itself in a visual format, so it’s important that the artwork matches whatever vibe you’re going for. Making it eye-catching is just as important as giving it an interesting name, as this will appear on search listings across different podcast platforms.

Episode titles are also an opportunity to boost organic search results, as well as entice new listeners with anything that makes one specific episode pop. If you’ve got a special guest or an important topic, make sure you’re adding it into the episode title. Descriptive, enticing, and succinct are all big points to focus on here.

6. Promote Your Podcast

Simply creating captivating content isn’t good enough. These days, you need to be investing in getting it out there, especially at the beginning of your journey.

For starters, make sure your podcast is available on all the major platforms. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and Stitcher are the four you want to focus on. You’ll want to host your podcast somewhere first, and then from there you can submit it to the various platforms through those channels.

As with any business or product, you’ll need to leverage social media to your advantage. Use your own following or create dedicated social accounts for the podcast, and work on building your base through these avenues. If you have the budget, we’d recommend boosting your organic posts to get more eyes on them. If you’re lost on where to go with social media, we’re always here to help with the day-to-day management of your social media platforms.

A huge part of the process is engaging with your audience at as many touch points as possible. Responding to their emails, social media messages, and encouraging them to rate and review the podcast in order to build trust and encourage other listeners to give your show a listen.

Cross-promotion is also hugely pivotal to getting your name out there. As previously mentioned, featuring guests from other podcasts and appearing as a guest on others can be hugely beneficial to you, but there are other methods of cross-promotion. If you have any form of existing marketing materials, like a blog or email newsletter, you should be shouting about the podcast to increase your listenership as much as possible.

7. Measure Your Success & Learn to Grow

Once you’re live, make sure you’re tracking performance and adapting and optimising as much as possible. No one ever sets out with a perfect project, and there should always be room to change what isn’t working and try out new things. Through listening to your audience, you’ll find what works best and what needs a little tweaking.

Most podcast hosting platforms allow you to measure metrics like downloads, listener demographics (location, age, gender, etc), engagement and retention rate (who is sticking around for the entire episode), and this will allow you to see where you’re going and what can be improved. Use these metrics to refine your strategy - what’s proving the most popular? If people are dropping off mid-episode, should you make them shorter? If people are sticking around, could they be longer?

Adjusting your content will lead you to improve your output and, if all works out, increase your listenership.

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Creating a successful, fresh and disruptive marketing podcast takes time and effort, blending thoughtful strategy and quality production with consistent promotion and attention to detail. It’s not an easy ride, especially with the saturation of the podcasting market in its current state, but with the right moves and dedication, a niche that fits, and an engaged audience, you might be the next big thing to hit the podcast charts!

If you’re interested in any additional marketing help, we offer a range of services across the funnel, from paid social to paid search, email marketing and web dev as well as managing your social media. Why not get in touch with us for more info?

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Featured Image by Jonathan Velasquez on Unsplash

Header Image by ConvertKit (Soon to be KIt) on Unsplash