Hello and welcome to the bottom up skills podcast. I'm Mike Parsons the CEO of Qualitance and today we've got a special little entre mall, a little episode around. Uh, very, uh, dear topic to me, which is podcasting. And I just want to share with you four thoughts around how to start a brand new podcast.

Come on. It's 20, 21. It's a new year. And a lot of people have been asking me recently, you know, For micro recommendations, uh, for any sort of advice on creating a podcast. So I thought I would give you four essential tips. Now these four tips are built out of actually a brand new course that I've. Um, made.

So if you have a look in the show description, you'll find the link to that [00:01:00] course. Or if you head over to bottom up, uh, dot IO, check out the blog and you'll see the links to the podcasting course, but let's get into four essential tips for creating a new brand new successful podcast. Now tip number one is all about the topic that you choose.

To make your podcast about, and my advice here is avoid being too general, avoid being too generic in the topics that you cover. I think here being specific. You might even say picking a niche really well is a really key thing. Now, without a doubt, podcasting is not as big as blogging. So the truth is you can jump in and find that there's not nearly as much competition in podcasting as blogging, but here's the key thing.

Yet because podcasting is taking off like crazy. And [00:02:00] I really believe that you're actually really want to start very small. I want to start with a small group of people who are insanely interested in particular topic. So a great example I gave of how to be specific in Nash, how to pick your niche. Well, uh, would be, uh, around the idea of creating a podcast around running.

Now, if you just went in called it, the running podcast, you will be presented with an let's be honest. It's not so much presented. You're going to be buried in hundreds and hundreds of other running podcasts that have been going for a long, long, long time. So my advice would be is to make it more specific and to make it more niche.

So in the case of running. I would do a little build, I would say, pick the topic running, but then maybe try picking a qualify like marathon running. But even that [00:03:00] might be a little too general. So you might say I'm going to do a podcast on a marathon running for beginners, and it's actually, once you get to that sort of niche, you'll find that you will not have many competitors and.

In an area like running your shorter, find thousands of listeners who are, if you produce some great content, who'd be really compelled by what you have to say. So lesson number one, avoid being too general in the topics you cover. Lesson number two is all about just thinking where your show is on display.

And my advice here is create colorful, iconic eye-popping brand for your podcast. And a special caveat, make sure it works in a small format. Many of the podcast artworks that you will see have small texts, which [00:04:00] when blown up full screen. On your laptop, they look fine when they compressed into like 40 or 50 by 50, uh, on a phone, you can't read the text and again, make sure you choose a really vibrant, uh, relevant, fresh set of colors.

Have a great palette. Use some bold, iconic symbols. Words or photography. So you can really stand out because actually, you know, people are just flicking through the carousel on iTunes or Spotify paps, and you have a job, you got to stand out, you've got to grab their attention. You've got to be memorable.

Uh, Really important because people forget that it is like a, it's like a store shelf. There's literally an aisle full of products and you've got to jump out and get their attention. So make sure you stand out. Okay. So that's the first two tips. Don't be too general in your topics [00:05:00] and be super colorful and stand out in your artwork.

Now the third one is we kind of moving a little bit more now into production is work with simple show structures and make sure that like any good story, you have a start middle. And, and, and this structure is really important because if you're chatting, whether it's by itself or more importantly, when you have co-hosts or guests, that you can keep the show on track.

So make sure you have an introduction, an outro summary, and maybe three, five, six points you want to make in the middle. And this structure is really important. If you want to get a little advanced, you might want to put, um, time markers, you might say three minutes, four minutes per topic. Very important to have those simple structures for the show, because it makes the information, um, very easy to digest for the listener [00:06:00] and part of this show structure.

A lot of people will ask, Hey, like how long should a show be? My sincere advice. Keep talking only. As long as you're creating some value only talk. If there are new or clear compelling ideas being shared, once you're into rambles and tangents, unless they're wildly exotic, are you going to lose your listeners pretty quickly?

So only talk if you're creating value and don't be scared to be short. Sharp and concise. Okay. So that's working with simple structures for your show. Last one, number four. It's all about getting on the same page now, um, depending on whether you're producing most of the show yourself, or whether you are working with guests, co-hosts is really important to have a run sheet of how the show's going to run.

What is the start middle and [00:07:00] end? What are the topics? Are there links? Are there reference materials, but be it either visual audio that you need to reference throughout the show? It's so important. Now, if you stick to your podcasting, it's really going to be important to have those run sheets, because somebody might say, Hey, what was that thing you talked about and show 38 and you'll need a good run sheet structure.

So you can go back and grab that information. Okay. So let's recap. Four points. Don't be too general. Be colorful. Simple structures and get on the same page with a run sheet. If you're about to start launch a brand new podcast, this is the essential advice that I have for you do these four things and you'll be well on your way.

Now, what I intend to cover down the track is how to record and sound like a real professional. And lastly, how to sustain, how to grow your [00:08:00] efforts. Once you've launched out into the world. And how to build an audience. So there's lots to cover there and it's really worthwhile because what's so powerful about the podcasting medium is that it's really, really personal.

Uh, people have a really strong relationship with their shows because it's in there is it's very sensorial. And the great thing is you can connect to other groups of people who are talking about really specific things that you're into. So it's really great for your interests, your passions, the things that consume you, you can get them on demand.

You can make them part of your commute, ritual, your gym ritual. That's why podcasting has taken off so much. It really is the 2021 media format. Of choice. All right. Well, that's it. For this episode of the bottom-up skills podcast, we've talked a lot about how to start and launch a successful podcast. Make sure if you're interested in learning more head over to [00:09:00] bottom-up dot IO, go over to the blog and you'll see the links Podcasting course. 

I hope you've enjoyed it. That's a wrap.