If You Work In The Business Of Podcasting, You Need A Podcast

Podcasting's purveyors of picks and shovels—the myriad service providers that make our space an actual industry—are filled with smart people. But smarts only gets you so far. What's needed is experience.

Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.

I'm breaking a cardinal sin of podcasting today because I'm going to be talking to an audience other than my primary one. Because I follow many of the best practices I put forth on the show, I know who I'm for, the serious podcaster, and why they are here. I also know that many people who work in the business of podcasting either listen to my episodes, watch the videos, or read my words, either on the site or in the newsletter I send out.

People at the top of the companies that make the podcast ecosystem happen, but plenty in the middle of those organizations, as well, in the business of podcasting. And that's who I'm talking to today, those of you who work in the business of podcasting. And I have a single message for you. And it's a message I'm confident my primary audience will get behind completely. And here it is.

If you work in the business of podcasting, you need to be a podcaster.

A controversial take, I know, which is why I wanted to take today's episode to really help push you in the right direction, or what I feel is the right direction.

Now, if you're feeling called out right now, relax, I'm not advocating for your immediate dismissal, nor do I think your employment should be predicated on you having an active, growing podcast. That is not my position at all.

My position is that you should want to have your own podcast, either a solo show or a group effort, because it will make you better at your job. It will accelerate your career trajectory. It will increase your value, present and future. And it will make you all the more resilient and able to withstand the upheaval our industry faces every single day.

By becoming a person who works in the business of podcasting and is a podcaster, you'll gain an appreciation for the role you play in the podcast ecosystem at your job that no amount of training can ever provide.

By becoming a person who works in the business of podcasting and is a podcaster, you'll have more than just an appreciation of the effort it takes to put out a podcast, you'll gain empathy for those that do. And that empathy will lead to understanding, and understanding will make you more efficient and more effective because you'll know the crux points faced as a podcaster because you faced them.

That's the why. Here's the how.

Before the how, let me be clear, I do not care what kind of podcast you make, where you host it, or whom you  collaborate with, or even how big you can grow it. I mean, you may care about some of those aspects, depending on your own goals and objectives, but for me, it's enough that you start podcasting. And then keep podcasting, ideally.

So go ahead and start on Anchor or some other free hosting platform if you want. Though, I would recommend keeping your employer's relationships in mind. If they have a, or perhaps they are their own, preferred podcast hosting company, you'd probably be seen as a model employee if you use that same service. Likewise, if your company has an antagonistic relationship with a hosting company, that's probably one you want to avoid.

But look, podcasting hosting companies range in price from free to cheap. So don't let that stop you.

And when you podcast, I mean, you know, going through the actual motions of making a podcast, I think you should do as much as you possibly can on your own. And yes, that's scary and a lot. So I'm not going to fault you if you establish a team of people, hand off as many  moving parts to others.

There's a lot to podcasting and you're not going to grok it all, probably, if you just simply show up and talk into a microphone with your friends for thirty minutes and then bug out while they do all the work. But hey, at least you'll understand some of the process.

But I think you should try your hand at everything, even like audio editing and engineering. And I don't care if you use a free tool like GarageBand or Audacity. You can even use Descript if you want. You don't have to use professional tools like Hindenburg Pro, my tool of choice, Adobe Audition, or Pro Tools.

You'll learn so much about this industry just by editing audio tracks, sweating over things like softening plosives, EQ, and whether or not to leave in that sharp intake of breath. Riveting, I know, but also very crucial to what it is that we do here.

And if you can, I think you should work on your episode outline. You should write up the episode details. You should send the audio file off for transcription and then correct that transcription. You should fret over just the right title for the episode. You should create episode cover art in Canva or some other tool.

You should research guests, invite the guest to a recording session, conduct the interview, and then pull the files from the recording system. You should make social media assets, whether those are static images or audiograms, and even video formats. And you should then publish those assets to see what resonates.

You should try to get people to listen to your show. You should work on collaborations with other podcasters and participate in various Twitter spaces and even answer newbie questions in places where newbie podcasters hang out.

You don't have to have a hit podcast to gain this experience. You don't have to attract advertisers or sponsors to your show. You don't have to vie for the biggest celebrity guest.

All you have to do is learn what it truly means to make a podcast. And I assure you that doing so will make you that much more valuable to the podcast-related company you work for today, as well as podcast-related companies you might work for tomorrow.

With that, I shall be back next week with yet another Podcast Pontifications.

Cheers!

Podcast Pontifications is written and narrated by Evo Terra. He's on a mission to make podcasting better. Links to everything mentioned in today's episode are in the notes section of your podcast listening app. A written-to-be-read article based on today's episode is available at podcastpontifications.com where you'll also find a video version and a corrected transcript, both created by Allie Press. Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media. Find out more at Simpler.Media.