Questions to Answer BEFORE You Start a Podcast
The Big Questions
- Why do you want to do a podcast?
- What audience are you trying to reach?
- Once you reach them, what do you want that audience to do?
- What do you want your first 12 episodes to be about?
- Do you have a budget?
- For how many episodes?
- How would you define success?
- How long are you giving yourself to reach that success?
Format
- Do you have a name for your podcast? Have you checked to see if the name has already been used?
- What format do you want to use? Audio? Video? Both?
- Where and how do you want to record? On-site? On-Line? Pre-recorded? Live?
- How often do you want to publish? Daily? Weekly? Monthly? Sporadically?
- How long will each episode be?
- What style do you want to use? Entertainment? Educational?
- What style do you want to use? Interviews? Panel Discussions? Scripted?
Design
- Do you have a logo (Album Art)?
- Do you want to use music in your intro/outro?
- For video, do you want a video intro/outro?
Technology
- Do you have recording programs chosen?
- Do you have an audio podcast hosting site chosen?
- Do you have editing software chosen?
- What type of equipment are you planning to use? External video cameras? External microphones and headsets? Extra lighting? Green screens?
Marketing
- How are you planning to market your podcast?
- Do you have a website/landing page about the podcast?
- Do you have a YouTube channel set up?
- Do you have social media pages set up?
- Will you need Teaser Clips from your episodes for social media?
Monetization
- Are you looking to monetize the podcast?
- Commercials?
- Sponsorships?
- Paywalls?
- Affiliations?
- Memberships?
Staff
- Who is hosting the podcast?
- Who is recording the podcast?
- Who is editing the podcast?
- Who is publishing the podcast?
- Who is marketing the podcast?
- Who is handling administrative needs (such as finding and scheduling guests, etc…)?
- Who is doing your graphic design (logo, thumbnails, video backgrounds, etc.)?
- Who is handling editorial needs (such as writing show notes, copy editing transcriptions, etc.)