These tips will help you kickstart your own awesome podcast

While half of the US population is a dedicated listener, many Pakistanis are yet to be familiarized with the term, ‘podcast’.

The reason podcasts have made their way into the lives of Americans and have the potential to do the same in Pakistan is that you can listen to them anytime you want. You can catch up on your favorite podcasts while you commute and even when you are working out or doing household chores.

So, being a Pakistani if you plan to start your own, you have an edge as this segment has a lot of potential and is still untapped. You can be an early bird and catch the worm. The biggest advantage of launching your own podcast is that it requires minimal capital investment. All you need initially is a mic and a good laptop.

You can keep it as a side hustle initially and let it acclaim substantial listeners before you can start giving it your full time. Here are some tips to start your own podcast.

1. Plan ahead

Think about the theme. A theme podcast will revolve around. It can be based on political discussions or you may want to give life hacks. Also, decide whether you would like to have it entirely scripted or improvised. When you select the theme then you can choose similar podcasts and listen to them and you can have an in-depth understanding and better guidance to run your own podcast. You will know how you have to create a difference and engage your audience.

2. Be consistent

Once started you will have to be very active to keep the users engaged or you will lose the attention of your listeners. When Instagram had only 100 users, the founders of the app were more interested in retaining those 100 users rather than enticing new customers. So, if you do not post regularly, you will lose your users. The best way to go about it to set a deadline and make sure you meet the deadline and post a new podcast when it is due.

See also 6 must-follow podcasts for all startup enthusiasts

3. Keep a track of your audience

You can check the feedback of your audience on your social media pages and build your podcast, on top of that feedback. If you want to grow your user base and keep the existing listeners hooked, you need to check analytics information. You can check the hosting platform such as Blubrry (https://www.blubrry.com/) in this regard and analyze listener demographics.

4. Do not lose your focus

When your target audience is niche, you need to understand that you cannot lose your track as they are hooked to your podcast due to your focused content. For example, if your podcast is about how students can make money through side hustles then you must not divert your attention to any other popular podcast that has mass audience and start posting podcasts focused towards latest fashion updates.

5. Keep a relevant name

If your podcast is about startup success stories then you can decide on a name that is related to the content you produce. Because initially, it helps users spot your podcast without having to go through the detail and then decide to listen. If the title of your podcast does not give listeners a clear idea of the topics you cover in your podcast then they might just skim through the list and never choose to click on your podcast. Keeping a very specific name is the best marketing strategy.

6. Give your audience the best listening experience

Podcasts are all about listening hence it is important that the audio quality is sharp. In order to create a podcast you need, microphone, microphone stand, USB box, compressor, and headphones. You need to ensure that they are of the top quality. You can take guidance from Tim Ferris who unveils his podcast set up in this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRxVEcbh-Dk).

If you are just beginning, you can use your smartphone for recording voice. Don’t worry! these days smartphones come up with kickass microphones and can do the job very well.

7. Unravel the astonishing details of the story

If you are looking to create a difference, you need to pry out the most unknown facts about the story you are telling your listeners. Famous Podcaster Guy Raz tells his guests that if they dig into their past and tell experiences that are not known before, people will relate to them better and would want to communicate with them.

8. Get feedback before you launch

Ask your parents and your sincere friends or mentors. And if you are still in college, ask your professors to listen and provide you with their worthy feedback. This will help you make final changes and honestly, you can treat them as your listeners and use their feedback to make changes when required. Of course, you are the decision maker here, so you can decide which advice to ignore and which one to implement.

Always remember that overnight success is a myth and you really need to have a lot of patience to develop and refine the podcast that you dream of creating. Go ahead and leave your mark in the podcast world. Best of luck!