Discover the seven steps to kickstarting a successful and sustainable podcast in the B2B sector. We cover how to build your strategy, how to pick the right topic and format that works for you. As well as how to market your podcast successfully.

1. 1
Kickstarting a Successful
Podcast
Napier
September 2022

2. 2
Agenda
• The Seven Steps:
1. Planning and strategy
2. Picking a topic
3. Picking a format
4. Understanding your audience
5. Selecting software and equipment
6. The importance of sound quality
7. Marketing your podcast

3. 3
#1 Planning
and Strategy
• Strategy:
– Why do you want to do a
podcast?
– Why will people listen?
– Why would a podcast be
better than other channels?

4. 4
#1 Planning
and Strategy
• Planning:
– Who will present?
– Who will organise guests?
– Who will edit?
– Where will you record?
– When will you record?
– What are your goals?
– How will you maintain
motivation?

5. 5
#2 Picking a
topic
• This should be easy…
• But…
– Is the topic suitable for a
podcast?
– Is the topic sustainable for many
episodes?
– Will people care?
– Will people subscribe to a
podcast about it?

6. 6
#2 Picking a
topic
• You also need a title…
• Don’t forget SEO
• Ensure you can buy the domain too!

7. 7
#3 Picking a
Format
• Two easy approaches:
– Interviews
– Panel discussions
• Face-to-face or remote?

8. 8
Typical podcast
structure
• Intro music/voiceover
• Introduce and welcome guest
• Interview
• [can have themed
questions/quickfire/etc]
• Ask for contact information
• Thank the guest and the audience
• Outro music/voiceover
• Running time depends on your audience

9. 9
Music
• You really do need music
• At least an intro and outro
– Ideally with a consistent voiceover
• Music during the podcast is hard to do
– We don’t recommend it for new
podcasters
• You can’t use copyrighted music
– Many royalty-free libraries
• Epidemic Sound, Getty Images,
istockphoto, Shutterstock, Audio
Jungle, etc.
• Great music is expensive

10. 10
#4
Understanding
your audience
• Top tip: your audience probably
includes podcast listeners!
• Will your audience download and
listen?
• When will they do this?
• How often?
• How long will they listen?

11. 11
#5 Select
software and
equipment
• Your basic checklist:
• Computer & good internet
• Microphone
• Headset
• Recording software
• Editing software
• Hosting provider

12. 12
Microphone and headphones
• Always use headphones
• Stand-alone mic is best
– More flexible
– Use with pop screen
– Proximity effect (radio DJs talk very close to the
mic)
• Earbuds work OK for mic
• Headsets can pick up breathing too easily
• Same quality requirements for interviewees!

13. 13
Recording software
• Many options for recording
• Teams/Zoom are usually OK (ish)
• Professional multi-track cloud-based
recording is better
– Cleanfeed
– Squadcast.fm
– Riverside.fm
• Consider if you need video
– Useful for promotion

14. 14
Editing
• Editing cannot fix poor sound quality
– Sound quality must be good in the recording
• Multitrack gives more control
– Can eliminate background noises, etc when person not talking
– Can process the audio feeds differently
• e.g. equalise levels
– But more complex to edit
• Editing software – Descript
– Also provides machine transcription
– Can use other editing software, but this is the easiest

15. 15
Podcast hosting
• You need a file host and an XML feed generator
– Lots of options
– We love Podbean
• Podcast listed on different podcast “stores”
– iTunes
– Spotify
– Google Play
• Host can also provide a podcast “home page”

16. 16
#6 The
importance of
sound quality
• Sound quality is critical
– It will sound worse when people listen
– They will hear things you don’t when
recording
• Don’t record if there are audio issues
– Poor sound quality
– Network issues
– Heavy breathing, etc.
• Always use headphones and a good mic
• Practice runs are always a good idea

17. 17
#7 Promoting
your podcast
• It’s hard to get listeners
– Many B2B podcasts have tens of
listeners
– A very small percentage have
large audiences
• Promoting is key
• But consistency is probably more
important
– “20 episodes before traction”
Please
Listen!

18. 18
Bonus tips -
interviewing
• Research and write questions before interview
– But leave things flexible
• Listen to answers
– Don’t make it an interrogation!
• Ask the guest to explain things
– Your audience will know less than you
• Get the guest to do the vast majority of the talking
– Avoid interrupting or talking over each other
• Give examples
– The pictures are always better on radio!

19. 19
Thank you!
Napierb2b.com
mike@napierb2b.com