Podcast Launch Pad

As the popularity of podcast listening grows,  professionals are increasingly making their skills available to would-be podcasters.

But what is it that they offer? And if you seek help with fulfilling your podcasting dreams, what should you look for? 
 
There's a long list of jobs they should be able to do for you including:

• Identifying  your ideal listener 
• Working  out a podcasting format 
• Planning  interesting and varied content to fill episodes in the months ahead
• Explaining what recording equipment to buy and how to use it 
• Choosing a podcast, name, music, and artwork for your logo
• Teaching you how to present
• Scripting your productions
• Explaining how to approach guests and how to record them if you can't do it face-to-face 
• Showing you how to audio edit 
• Publishing your podcast 
• Promoting, monetizing and advertising it
• Overcoming the  mindset problems that deter new podcasters from launching in the first place  

Finding podcast consultants who can offer help with podcast creation skills to podcast promotion ones is the tricky bit!
 

About me
Hello, I'm Serena Gay, a BBC-trained journalist and a former international satellite TV presenter.

I have many years of news and audio production experience which I now use to great effect as CEO of a podcast making company called "Made4U Podcasts".

I've  also helped run family businesses in the UK and Germany in the tourism and wine education fields.

So I understand the pressures on businesspeople to perform, promote and reach new and profitable streams of clients.

That's why these podcasts are short, pithy and full of information - not blather!

Contact...

Facebook: @Made4uPodcasts
Facebook Group: @Podcasting Blueprint for Women Business Owners
Website: www.made4u-podcasts.co.uk
Email: [email protected]

Why not download my guide to business podcasting -  it adds a great deal more detail to this podcast’s content.

P.S. I use and recommend podcast host Buzzsprout to new podcasters who want to  get their shows listed on every major podcast platform. You can use this link to sign up. If you choose a paid plan  you’ll get a $20 or a £15 Amazon gift card. This will also help support my show - so thank you!   

Noisy, phlegm-flecked breaths on a podcast are a menace and need to be dealt with!

Frankly, they're an assault on your auditory nerve.

That said, podcast editors do need to leave a gap where a noisy breath has been removed because not to do so will make the speaker sound inhuman.

We all need to breathe and our listeners instinctively expect to hear at least something that passes for a breath between phrases, even if it is silence.

So, this edition lays out how during the audio editing process, you can tackle the problem of sticky breathing.

Tip - stay hydrated and your breaths will be quiet and unobtrusive! 

About me
Hello, I'm Serena Gay, a BBC-trained journalist and a former international satellite TV presenter.

I have many years of news and audio production experience which I now use to great effect as CEO of a podcast making company called "Made4U Podcasts".

I've  also helped run family businesses in the UK and Germany in the tourism and wine education fields.

So I understand the pressures on businesspeople to perform, promote and reach new and profitable streams of clients.

That's why these podcasts are short, pithy and full of information - not blather!

Contact...

Facebook: @Made4uPodcasts
Facebook Group: @Podcasting Blueprint for Women Business Owners
Website: www.made4u-podcasts.co.uk
Email: [email protected]

Why not download my guide to business podcasting -  it adds a great deal more detail to this podcast’s content.

P.S. I use and recommend podcast host Buzzsprout to new podcasters who want to  get their shows listed on every major podcast platform. You can use this link to sign up. If you choose a paid plan  you’ll get a $20 or a £15 Amazon gift card. This will also help support my show - so thank you!  

Find out how to nail your ideal podcast listener and why it's so important.

Your ideal podcast listener is the person you  want your podcast to speak to. They may well differ from your ideal client – or they may not - but you do need to identify them.

Why? 

Well, to launch an effective podcast you need to know who you are speaking to. It's exactly the same as needing to know all about your ideal client.

This is so you can structure your podcast content to suit them.

With increasing numbers of people listening to podcasts, you simply can’t afford to be hit and miss about it.  

Listen to this episode for some clever ways to pinpoint the pair of ears you want glued to your audio production!

To find out more about Serena Gay and Made4U Podcasts – visit  www.made4u-podcasts.co.uk or email [email protected]

About me
Hello, I'm Serena Gay, a BBC-trained journalist and a former international satellite TV presenter.

I have many years of news and audio production experience which I now use to great effect as CEO of a podcast making company called "Made4U Podcasts".

I've  also helped run family businesses in the UK and Germany in the tourism and wine education fields.

So I understand the pressures on businesspeople to perform, promote and reach new and profitable streams of clients.

That's why these podcasts are short, pithy and full of information - not blather!

Contact...

Facebook: @Made4uPodcasts
Facebook Group: @Podcasting Blueprint for Women Business Owners
Website: www.made4u-podcasts.co.uk
Email: [email protected]

Why not download my guide to business podcasting -  it adds a great deal more detail to this podcast’s content.

P.S. I use and recommend podcast host Buzzsprout to new podcasters who want to  get their shows listed on every major podcast platform. You can use this link to sign up. If you choose a paid plan  you’ll get a $20 or a £15 Amazon gift card. This will also help support my show - so thank you!  

To find out more about Serena Gay and Made4U Podcasts – visit  www.made4u-podcasts.co.uk or email [email protected]

This week, our speaker of the month is a serial podcast guest who knows how to write for every genre under the sun! 

Copywriting expert and best-selling author Sarah Townsend helps us understand what makes your podcast script come alive. 

It's all to do with writing in as conversational a manner as possible because this is what makes you sound totally natural.

Sarah's brand new book brand new book –  The Little Book of Confusables  - is designed to help smart people avoid stupid mistakes with commonly confused words. Find it here:

The Little Book of Confusables: https://amzn.to/3AjqtB4 

You can find also talk to Sarah here:
[email protected]
https://www.sarahtownsendeditorial.co.uk/
And her first book  book is "Survival Skills for Freelancers - Tried and Tested Tips to Help You Ace Self-Employment Without Burnout" 


About me
Hello, I'm Serena Gay, a BBC-trained journalist and a former international satellite TV presenter.

I have many years of news and audio production experience which I now use to great effect as CEO of a podcast making company called "Made4U Podcasts".

I've  also helped run family businesses in the UK and Germany in the tourism and wine education fields.

So I understand the pressures on businesspeople to perform, promote and reach new and profitable streams of clients.

That's why these podcasts are short, pithy and full of information - not blather!

Contact...

Facebook: @Made4uPodcasts
Facebook Group: @Podcasting Blueprint for Women Business Owners
Website: www.made4u-podcasts.co.uk
Email: [email protected]

Why not download my guide to business podcasting -  it adds a great deal more detail to this podcast’s content.

P.S. I use and recommend podcast host Buzzsprout to new podcasters who want to  get their shows listed on every major podcast platform. You can use this link to sign up. If you choose a paid plan  you’ll get a $20 or a £15 Amazon gift card. This will also help support my show - so thank you!  

To listen to find out more about Serena Gay and Made4U Podcasts – visit  www.made4u-podcasts.co.uk or email [email protected]

Link to the FREE 3-Day Challenge April 28-30th 2021
 https://www.made4u-podcasts.co.uk/challenge

Contrary to what you might be thinking - podcasting need not take up more than 2-3 days of your working month.

In this podcast episode I explain how I make it work for me and how advance planning means it all runs so smoothly.

Links mentioned in this episode are to Episode 17 "Editing Podcast Audio - It's a Cinch"
and to Episode 19 "To Script a Podcast or Not To Script a Podcast"

About me
Hello, I'm Serena Gay, a BBC-trained journalist and a former international satellite TV presenter.

I have many years of news and audio production experience which I now use to great effect as CEO of a podcast making company called "Made4U Podcasts".

I've  also helped run family businesses in the UK and Germany in the tourism and wine education fields.

So I understand the pressures on businesspeople to perform, promote and reach new and profitable streams of clients.

That's why these podcasts are short, pithy and full of information - not blather!

Contact...

Facebook: @Made4uPodcasts
Facebook Group: @Podcasting Blueprint for Women Business Owners
Website: www.made4u-podcasts.co.uk
Email: [email protected]

Why not download my guide to business podcasting -  it adds a great deal more detail to this podcast’s content.

P.S. I use and recommend podcast host Buzzsprout to new podcasters who want to  get their shows listed on every major podcast platform. You can use this link to sign up. If you choose a paid plan  you’ll get a $20 or a £15 Amazon gift card. This will also help support my show - so thank you!  

To listen to find out more about Serena Gay and Made4U Podcasts – visit  www.made4u-podcasts.co.uk or email [email protected]

Link to the FREE 3-Day Challenge April 28-30th 2021
https://www.made4u-podcasts.co.uk/challenge

• The likeability of the host 
• Whether a podcast manages to fill you with joy 
• What benefit it provides
• Whether it solves a problem or provides interesting information 
• The production values

In this episode I’m passing on to you some of the lessons I’ve learned while judging the British Podcast Awards. 

The competition is still in the first round and the winners won’t be announced until the summer. 

It’s been fascinating to listen to the cream of British podcasts! 

In short, what marks out the really good ones is:

• Finding a novel twist to your theme
• Finding amazing interviewees (and it might be anyone from a supermarket cashier to someone experiencing bereavement; you just need to choose carefully)
• Podcasts hosted with enthusiasm, care and a good understanding of their subject
• Allowing guests to be the main stars of the show

And by contrast, the disappointing entries committed these cardinal errors: 

• Interviewing celebs for the sake of interviewing celebs
• Failure by the host to keep panel conversations under control 
• Not editing mouth noises out of recorded material or fixing volume level problems
• Making the podcast about the host and not about the listener

About me
Hello, I'm Serena Gay, a BBC-trained journalist and a former international satellite TV presenter.

I have many years of news and audio production experience which I now use to great effect as CEO of a podcast making company called "Made4U Podcasts".

I've  also helped run family businesses in the UK and Germany in the tourism and wine education fields.

So I understand the pressures on businesspeople to perform, promote and reach new and profitable streams of clients.

That's why these podcasts are short, pithy and full of information - not blather!

Contact...

Facebook: @Made4uPodcasts
Facebook Group: @Podcasting Blueprint for Women Business Owners
Website: www.made4u-podcasts.co.uk
Email: [email protected]

Why not download my guide to business podcasting -  it adds a great deal more detail to this podcast’s content.

P.S. I use and recommend podcast host Buzzsprout to new podcasters who want to  get their shows listed on every major podcast platform. You can use this link to sign up. If you choose a paid plan  you’ll get a $20 or a £15 Amazon gift card. This will also help support my show - so thank you!  

There are definitely two schools of thought as to whether you should write out a podcast script word for word or wing it from bullet points.

I'm firmly in the script it word for word camp.

Too often, I've been turned off a production by a presenter who thinks they can talk for England without  much time spent preparing.

The art of reading your script naturally and sounding as if you've just had brilliant and lucid thoughts off the top of your head is what this episode is all about.   


About me
Hello, I'm Serena Gay, a BBC-trained journalist and a former international satellite TV presenter.

I have many years of news and audio production experience which I now use to great effect as CEO of a podcast making company called "Made4U Podcasts".

I've  also helped run family businesses in the UK and Germany in the tourism and wine education fields.

So I understand the pressures on businesspeople to perform, promote and reach new and profitable streams of clients.

That's why these podcasts are short, pithy and full of information - not blather!

Contact...

Facebook: @Made4uPodcasts
Facebook Group: @Podcasting Blueprint for Women Business Owners
Website: www.made4u-podcasts.co.uk
Email: [email protected]

Why not download my guide to business podcasting -  it adds a great deal more detail to this podcast’s content.

P.S. I use and recommend podcast host Buzzsprout to new podcasters who want to  get their shows listed on every major podcast platform. You can use this link to sign up. If you choose a paid plan  you’ll get a $20 or a £15 Amazon gift card. This will also help support my show - so thank you!  

Your can make your business podcast stand out with imaginative use of sound. 

This episode explains how easy it is to introduce voice or sound effects to jazz things up a bit!

Here are some of the ideas discussed:

1. Pay an actor to voice your intro
2. Find an actor to impersonate a famous personality and voice a sentence or two 
3. Choose music that reflects the tone of your a podcast
4. Play with the voice settings on your software to alter the sound of your voice (just a bit, not too much!) 
5. Go to the BBC Sounds Archive and download any number of funny sound effects 

I'd love to know if you make use of any of these ideas. Contact me using the details below.

About me
Hello, I'm Serena Gay, a BBC-trained journalist and a former international satellite TV presenter.

I have many years of news and audio production experience which I now use to great effect as CEO of a podcast making company called "Made4U Podcasts".

I've  also helped run family businesses in the UK and Germany in the tourism and wine education fields.

So I understand the pressures on businesspeople to perform, promote and reach new and profitable streams of clients.

That's why these podcasts are short, pithy and full of information - not blather!

Contact...

Facebook: @Made4uPodcasts
Facebook Group: @Podcasting Blueprint for Women Business Owners
Website: www.made4u-podcasts.co.uk
Email: [email protected]

Why not download my guide to business podcasting -  it adds a great deal more detail to this podcast’s content.

P.S. I use and recommend podcast host Buzzsprout to new podcasters who want to  get their shows listed on every major podcast platform. You can use this link to sign up. If you choose a paid plan  you’ll get a $20 or a £15 Amazon gift card. This will also help support my show - so thank you!  

Editing podcast audio is definitely one of those skills that fill podcasting newbies with trepidation!

But there’s no need.

All that’s required is to master a few basic steps. 

The whole key to making it easy for yourself, is to make sure you record in a nice quiet environment with good quality equipment in the first place.

This podcast edition talks you through my podcast editing workflow. 

This includes:

• The editing equipment I use or recommend (Adobe Audition, Descript , OcenAudio and Audacity) 
• How to sort out volume levels
• How to edit using simple copy, delete and paste commands
• Lowering background noise 
• Multitrack mixing 
• Match Loudness settings 
• Converting WAV to Mp3  

If you’re producing a podcast for your business you can outsource the audio editing side (although you might enjoy it – it’s really creative!) 

If outsourcing is the route you choose – please contact [email protected] for information on how we can help you.   

About me
Hello, I'm Serena Gay, a BBC-trained journalist and a former international satellite TV presenter.

I have many years of news and audio production experience which I now use to great effect as CEO of a podcast making company called "Made4U Podcasts".

I've  also helped run family businesses in the UK and Germany in the tourism and wine education fields.

So I understand the pressures on businesspeople to perform, promote and reach new and profitable streams of clients.

That's why these podcasts are short, pithy and full of information - not blather!

Contact...

Facebook: @Made4uPodcasts
Facebook Group: @Podcasting Blueprint for Women Business Owners
Website: www.made4u-podcasts.co.uk
Email: [email protected]

Why not download my guide to business podcasting -  it adds a great deal more detail to this podcast’s content.

P.S. I use and recommend podcast host Buzzsprout to new podcasters who want to  get their shows listed on every major podcast platform. You can use this link to sign up. If you choose a paid plan  you’ll get a $20 or a £15 Amazon gift card. This will also help support my show - so thank you!