I’ve launched my first ever podcast. “The Funnily Enough Show” I wanted to share the journey to launching, how I’ve done it, some of the things that I’ve learned, and some of the cool things that have happened as a result!
Why did I decide to launch a podcast?
Let’s face it, there are lots and lots and lots of podcasts out there already! And don’t I already have enough stuff to do, creating videos, creating Academy workshops and content, doing calls with clients, running client accounts?
But I’ve always loved the idea of having my own podcast. In fact, I did have a mini side project podcast called, “The Scotland Show,” that I used to run a couple of years ago. I just really enjoyed the medium of creating content through voice.
When you’re creating a piece of video, you have to make sure that the background looks all right, that you’ve got the right audio, the camera and lighting is all set-up, which is fun and I really enjoy doing it but sometimes it’s not the most convenient!
With podcasting, all you really need is a microphone and I’ve just always really enjoyed just sitting down and chatting so podcasting’s perfect for that.
The idea to launch the podcast has been in the making for the last four or five months. I’ve wanted to launch a podcast for much longer than that but the time was never right.
At the beginning of the year I was focusing on trying to rebrand and get the Mr Gavin Bell brand the way I wanted it to, and then we were focusing on creating video content and getting that content process nailed.
But now just feels like the right time ?
Asking my audience what they wanted
I didn’t want to ask the same questions to the same people, so I went on to my Instagram stories and I asked everybody, “What is your favourite thing about the podcast that you listen to?” Two things came from that.
First, they loved the shows that just felt like two friends having a conversation in a pub, they really enjoyed the chemistry.
Second was actionable advice, things that they can learn and then go and implement.
So I said to myself, “Okay. Let’s try and create a short show because business owners and entrepreneurs are relatively short on time. And let’s create something that feels like it’s two friends having a chat, but also give the listener something to take away.”
So I wanted to come up with a show that was fun, engaging, but informative at the same time. And I feel like “The Funnily Enough Show,” that pun, kind of does everything. It’s related to the business which means I can use it to grow the business, the brand, and to get potential customers and clients.
By asking people on my Instagram what they like the most about podcasts was really important because, without that feedback, I wouldn’t have had anything to steer the way that I wanted the show to go.
The equipment
Now, for a podcast you actually don’t need anything other than your phone. There are lots of products and software out there on the market like Anchor, that allow you to just record a podcast, record something into your phone, and upload it, and then it will automatically just send it to Apple Podcast, Spotify and all the other different platforms but this is the equipment I’m using:
I’m using the Rode Podcaster microphone. Now this wasn’t actually bought for the podcast specifically but it’s a really good mic.
Finding a podcast host
There are lots of different hosts out there. I had the option of going on Anchor and doing it for free. But I have decided to go for Captivate.fm. It’s $9.00 a month, and it’s just a really nice platform for hosting a podcast.
I record the interviews, send them to an editor, the editor sends it back and then we upload the audio file to Captivate. It’s just a really simple and nice platform that walks you through creating your podcast, and then creating each episode.
It makes it easy for me to add the title, create a specific image for a specific episode, to add the show notes, to add URLs.
It walks you through everything that you need to know which is vital for me as someone that’s never really had a proper podcast show before, I don’t really know what I’m doing! But Captivate has made that journey so much easier for me.
Getting into New and Noteworthy on i Tunes
One of the things that I really wanted to do is to rank highly in the charts on iTunes, and hopefully get into New and Noteworthy, to get lots more people seeing my podcast for the first time when I launched.
So what I did was I launched the podcast last week with a trailer episode. It’s a one minute episode, which basically tells them what the podcast is all going to be about.
Now this is really good for two things. It means that I can get my podcast on to iTunes faster because I can create the podcast in iTunes without releasing the shows, and this is important because iTunes takes four, five days, sometimes longer, to approve your podcast.
So it got me there first. And it means that I can also do pre-marketing on the podcast before it actually launches.
I can say to people, “Look, listen to this one minute trailer. If it’s interesting to you, then you can subscribe to this show here.” And that means I’ve got subscribers waiting for it when I officially launch.
So I launched that trailer last week and we’re already ranking something like 15th in the marketing charts in Apple Podcast which is amazing! And so on launch day, rather than just launching one first episode, I was able to launch five episodes.
I wanted to try and drive as many people to my podcast in the first few days as possible so iTunes sees that spike in traffic, they see lots of people checking the podcast out, and hopefully then add me to New and Noteworthy, meaning, more and more people come to the podcast and it triggers the algorithm to show it to more people… therefore, we get more listeners!
If you’re interested in listening to the show, head over to Apple Podcasts or any of your favorite podcasting platforms and just type in, “The Funnily Enough Show.” You’ll see my face there with a nice pinky, red background, and go there and hit subscribe ?
