Emily and Blair's advice to new podcasters
When Blair Quane and Emily Toft started setting up a huge resource website for people starting an online business they needed a sure-fire platform to spread the word. Podcasting seemed the obvious choice.
In 2020, with the pandemic influencing workplaces worldwide, Emily and Blair decided to start a website devoted to providing step-by-step guidance for people wanting to start a business online, in a healthy, non-stressful way. So many people were having to work from home, and many were looking online for a way to make an income. The opportunity to provide guidance and advice to this audience was perfect, given Blair’s experience in running businesses and Emily’s focus on health and well-being.
The problem was that Emily and Blair felt that written advice was not going to be enough, and they knew their audience needed to get to know them better. So, they decided that they would start a podcast because it gave them an outlet to voice their thoughts in real-time and provide their audience with up-to-date information and tips. It also allowed them to better connect with their audience through the power of audio.
They wanted to start podcasting about two months before the launch of their website, to enable them to get some momentum and have a good collection of episodes and topics available for their new audience once the website went live. So, they needed a quick solution and one which was simple to implement without much training.
The issue was, neither of them had any idea where to begin or how to even record a podcast.
Blair did some searching online and came across some great resources for everything podcasting. On The Podcast Host, he went through some step-by-step articles on how to set up a podcast and found all he needed to get started. He subscribed to Alitu, the podcast maker, because it provided him with all the recording and editing features in an all-in-one program without requiring any real technical knowledge. This was ideal because he didn’t want or need sophisticated programs to work with. Blair just wanted to get their podcast underway.
So, back on the 22nd of March 2021, Emily and Blair produced their first podcast episode. This was a pretty rough recording of two people trying to get used to talking into a microphone without too many pauses and ‘ums and ah’s’! They recorded 3 episodes per week for the first few months, which was a big-time commitment. Blair remembers feeling quite tired on the days they did the recordings because of the effort required to produce three episodes per week.
Their plan was to do these 3 episodes per week for a few months to get a lot recorded and out to the world quickly. Their strategy then changed and they reduced the number of episodes per week and started reaching out to people who have experience in business and online, to come on the podcast to add extra value for their audience.
One of the main results they’ve seen from launching their business with a podcast is the ability to tap into a specific audience who are hungry and seeking the audio advice they provide.
Another massive benefit has been the ability to connect with other businesses and entrepreneurs. Not only does the podcast give them credibility but it provides the ideal platform to connect and talk with others in the industry.
The podcast has improved over the months in terms of audio quality and content structure, and both Emily and Blair have gotten more used to talking into a microphone. Emily said one of the biggest success factors was the replacement of their podcast microphone, which greatly improved the audio quality.
They learned that having guests on the podcast is a great way to boost your audience growth because not only do you promote an episode on your social channels, but the guest normally does the same on theirs. This helps to expand the reach of your episode and your show.
As a footnote, another channel they considered, and are planning to jump into next year is video, as this is a popular way to launch products and promote right now. They felt that video was a step too far for them, but they are planning on doing more with video moving forward, now that they are comfortable with podcasting.
Alitu helped us get going immediately when we had very little understanding of how to record and edit our podcast. It’s an easy-to-use platform that makes the process simple to get up and running.
They use Buzzsprout as their podcast host and Alitu connects seamlessly with it to make the uploading of recorded episodes very simple. They also love the way they can record and then reuse intro’s and outro’s on every episode automatically without needing to do any set up.
“A neat new feature is the ‘call recording’ option which allows us to share a link with anyone whom we want to come on the podcast, and they simply click it to join in on the episode from wherever they are in the world. This was a critical feature for us because we are based in New Zealand, so all of our interviewees are overseas”.
Elevating Business; Emily and Blair’s Podcast
Emily and Blair’s Facebook Page
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