How to Start a Podcast

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:00:00]:

You been thinking of hosting your own podcast, but it feels like such a daunting task? So you keep putting it off again and again. Or maybe you feel like you missed the podcast boat, and there's no room for you or your show. Well, today, I wanna walk you step by step to start your own show or rebrand your current show for download success, and why not start using your podcast as your very own stage to share your story, message, and solution. Let's get on to the show.

Are you a coach, consultant, or service provider who's frustrated with the growth of your business? You're in the right place. I'm your host, Laurie-Ann Murabito, and you're listening to be in demand, where I talk about how to leverage speaking opportunities to grow your business, get positioned as the expert, and monetize your expertise. Let's get on to the show. Podcasting is not dead, and it's not oversaturated.

As a matter of fact, there is such a huge percentage of podcasts that don't make it to episode number 5. Like, 90% of podcasts don't make it past episode 5. And then there's another alarming staff, which is pretty close to 90. It's, like, 80 to 85%. Don't even make it past episode 20. And I have to be honest, my very first one was actually like a blog talk radio show, and I probably did maybe under 10 episodes. But the funny thing about those episodes, I would do solo episodes, but also guest episodes. And my solo episodes actually had more downloads.

Now had I continued podcasting or blog talk radioing, today I couldn't even imagine where I would be. Now the funny thing about this blog talk radio show was that I accidentally clicked some button that sent it over Apple, and it was actually on Apple for years. So I am here today to walk you through what do you really need to know to get your podcast started. I have helped several clients with their podcast, either rebranding or getting started because it's been something that they've they knew was good for them. It would be fabulous for their brand. It would be great for their audience and their visibility, but they just didn't know how to actually get out there. And it's not as big of a task or undertaking as you may be thinking. So I wanna walk you through this.

First thing, you have got to choose Elaine. What's your topic? What is your show going to be about? What do you want to be sharing with people? So this is really important. This is picking a lane. Not I wanna be in this lane, but I also wanna be in that lane and maybe that lane over there. Choose a topic.

Choose a theme. My podcast is all about how to use speaking as your best form of marketing. So I talk about writing and delivering a speech, how to find bookings, how to create your own stage. And this, having a podcast, this is your own stage, and this is my own stage. And I'll share a few tips on how I use my own stage, 1, to get more bookings, 2, to help other people understand what it's like to work with me when they book me as a speaker or even hire me as a coach. And, also, what are some of my speeches? So those are just a couple of the things that I leverage my podcast, my stage, so that I get more bookings and clients from this as well. So you're going to pick a lane. You're gonna choose a topic, and you're going to commit to that.

What information are you going to share in your lane? So this is also kinda goes in conjunction with the next step, which is who do you want to attract? Who is it that you want to be speaking to? What are the demographics of that person? For me in my show, it is coaches, consultants, and service providers, not necessarily professional speakers. There are lots of podcasts that are out there that they are for the professional speaker, but I am here to help coaches, consultants, and service providers write and deliver an amazing presentation that they can use over and over again that positions them as the expert in the room and attracts clients for them. So they use this speech as their best form of marketing. So those are my people. And I could go a little bit more in-depth into the demographics and the psychodemographics of these people. They're just not getting seen. They're not getting visible. They're not getting out there.

They feel like their industry is so saturated. So those are the things that I want you to start writing down. Who is it that you want to attract to listen to your show? Who is on the other end? Who has their earbuds on and is listening to you? So, hopefully, these are all nice and easy questions because the next one, which is number 4, is what kind of a show do you wanna do? You wanna do a solo show? You wanna do a dramatic demonstration? Do you wanna do a discussion format? And to me, a discussion format is more than 2 people. So it's almost like a panel. I have done a guest episode where I've been a panel on somebody else's podcast, and I was one of 5 people that was on this particular show. Do you wanna do interviews? Interviews being 1 on 1, or maybe you wanna do a combination of all of those, and that's legit. You can do whatever you want, but what I want you to do is to decide what that is. When I hit episode 200, I changed the format of my show.

I went from an episode once a week to 2 episodes a week. Now my Monday episodes are either my solo episodes or I have a guest episode during the month. And the second episode that comes out later in the week, on Thursdays is a speaker breakthrough session. And that speaker breakthrough session is a dramatic demonstration. It's me doing coaching. It's essentially live coaching that was recorded. You do get to be like a fly on the wall to learn from the coachee, and also it shows people what would it be like to work with Laurieann. So I do it for two reasons, so that people understand what it's like to work with me and also to help more people because there's a lot of people out there who they just don't know that they can actually get booked to be a speaker.

They don't know what to do after the speech. I see so many different questions that are coming up during these speaker breakthrough sessions. And then I also have these more of these discussion formats, but those are the community calls where I'm doing a little training, q and a, and then everybody gets to go around the room and share what they do. The second episode each week is actually my audience participating in the podcast. So I have come up with a format, and that's what I want you to do. Come up with a format, a format that you can commit to. Now if you feel like, oh my god. I I can't do all of those.

Just do solo and interviews. Start small. You can always change. My podcast is very different today than it was when I first started. And news flash, everything on your podcast is changeable from your intro and outro music, to your intro and outro commercial, to your graphic, to your name. I mean, you name it. I have just about changed everything. So the good news is everything is changeable.

So start small and add from there. The next thing you wanna consider is your name. The name of your podcast is very important and needs some attention. What do you wanna name your podcast? Is it something that people are gonna be searching for? So what I mean by that is I want you to put keywords in your title. The name of my podcast is be in demand, because that's what I started with. But then shortly after I started my podcast, I thought my name needed to be in the title, so that it became be in demand with Lori Ann Mirabito. Then I looked at my podcast on Apple and also Spotify and saw that it said the host of the show is Laurie and Murabito. So why did I need to have it in there twice? If somebody's going to be searching for something, what is it that they're going to be searching for? Chances are they're gonna be searching for visibility, organic marketing, marketing, public speaking tips.

So I did change my name a little bit more, but that only happened, 170. I just want you to know, like, I modified my name again. So, again, everything is changeable. What I lead with is that my podcast aim is be in demand. The next thing to consider is your graphic. Now when I first started my podcast, it was a big picture of me. And the script of be in demand was actually a little hard to read. I have since changed it.

As soon as I hit the 200th episode, my podcast got a makeover. So, again, everything is changeable. But what I want you to do, I want you to learn from my mistake is my picture didn't have anything to do with public speaking. I wasn't even holding a microphone. So I want you to consider what your podcast looks like, the graphic, Because if somebody types in, in my case, public speaking tips, and if mine did come up, because once upon a time, it would not have come up, my podcast graphic didn't look like it had anything to do with speaking. Now it does. So I want you to take that into consideration. Make sure your podcast looks like your topic, the lane, what you've decided to speak on.

You know, if it's landscaping, maybe you want a picture of a lawn and a lawnmower. If you're about banking, you've got dollar signs on there or different currency symbols. Look up your competition. One of the things that I did was I went and typed into Apple public speaking tips, and I looked at all the different podcasts that were coming up. So now I know what my competition is, even though they may not have anything to do with coaches and consultants, they may be public speaking tips for professional speakers, but I just wanted to see what I was up against and get some ideas. So now if you were to type in to Apple or Spotify, public speaking tips, my podcast will most likely come up, and it looks like a podcast on public speaking because there's a graphic of a microphone on there. Take that into consideration. Look up your competition.

See what your graphic will look like on Apple and Spotify. Now Spotify's background is black. Apple's podcast background will change. It's white during the day, and it gets darker at night. Well, at least that's the way that I have my my phone set up. And other people may have their phones set up that way also, but just consider that one is black and one is white. And I have a solid color background on my podcast. And maybe all of this is like, oh my goodness.

This sounds so daunting. I I need to warm up my voice and my interviewing skills and my speaking skills, and maybe you want to just guest on some shows first. Guesting on on shows is not something that's ever gonna go away. It's a great thing to do if you host your own show. It gets you in front of OPA, other people's audiences. But maybe before you start your own podcast, you want to I'm just gonna guess. This is what I did for years until I was ready to start this current podcast. And if you wanna be a guest, I want you to be a great guest.

And you can learn more about how to be a great guest at beagreatguest.com. This is a program that Steve Gamlin and I put together. It will help you go through the 7 different phases, steps to being a great guest. The type of guest that gets asked to come back and that also gets referred to other podcast hosts to be on more shows. You've probably heard me say, if you want to be that referred speaker, you've gotta be outstanding on the stage. If you wanna be that referred podcast guest, you've got to be outstanding as a guest. So that link is down below. It is be a great guest dot com.

A couple of other things that most people may not tell you about when starting a podcast, but what are the 1 or 2 call to actions that you are going to be asking or offering your listeners? Just having an idea of what those things are now as you start your podcast is really gonna help you in the long run. So for example, do you have any lead magnets? Let's think about those lead magnets. I have been using the directory of places to speak for years. I update it yearly with new places that are constantly looking for speakers that always book speakers on the regular. So that's one of my calls to action. If I'm not promoting a certain program or a product, get the directory of places to speak. If you don't know where to start speaking, grab the directory of places to speak. Besides that, I also have in demand, which is a monthly membership, and, also, the start anytime in demand signature speech.

You wanna get started? You wanna be an outstanding speaker? You want to have a great speech, an in demand signature speech. So I will point people to, here's the start anytime. You can do this at your pace as fast or as slow as you want, but be outstanding on the stage so that you step off the stage and you have people handing you their business cards, sending you emails saying we need to hire you for our meeting. So just to summarize and clarify that, I want you to decide on 1 or 2 different calls to action. You're not gonna use them both in the same show. You can alternate them. And maybe one of your other calls to action is to follow you on some other form or platform of social media. Maybe you have a Facebook group follow you on link, Instagram, or threads, or whatever the latest and greatest social media platform is that you enjoy being on.

Or maybe it's to follow the show, leave a review. These are all different calls to action that you can actually use. And the last one is, I want you to brainstorm a list of 30 different episodes because I don't want you to be part of that large percentage of people who don't make it past 5 or make it past 20 episodes. If you have a list of 30 episodes and you are committed to doing this at least once a week, well, there you go. Like, that's half the year. And in those 30 episodes, you might decide, hey. I'm gonna have a few guests as well. So write down the people that you are going to ask to be a guest on your show.

And remember, it's okay to repeat topics, to speak about them a little bit differently, to dive into them differently, deeper. And again, I'd wanna reiterate that everything is changeable. Do not wait for perfection with a podcast. Get out there and build your stage, use your stage strategically, and share your story. Share your message. Share your solutions with your audience. A podcast is a great way to actually be pulling in people 247, 365 days a year. Because even though we have a holiday here, in another part of the world, there isn't a holiday.

People are listening to podcasts. Just because it's summer here, it's winter someplace else in the southern hemisphere, and etcetera. And I think one of the things that I love the most about podcasting, it is it's your own stage. It's evergreen. It's gonna be out there. Unless you stop your show, it'll be up there on Apple for years Because that blog talk radio show that I did have originally, well, I noticed that it was on Apple for years. I don't know how long Apple waits to decide, like, hey, this is a dead show after yay, many years of no new episode. They're the ones that got rid of it.

So remember, your podcast is your stage, and it's a great way to pull in people from around the globe, find new clients, build your audience, and it's a great industry. You're gonna meet some great people by being a host and also being a guest. So remember, everything is changeable. Let's not wait for perfection. Get your message out there. Build your podcast stage, and let's start using it. This episode is brought to you by be a great guest dot com. This is the program that is very nice on the wallet, I will add.

I'm gonna go let you go take a peek at that program. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to myself, DM me over on LinkedIn, or on Instagram. And that link again is be a great guest dot com, and it's got special pricing this month only. So be a great guest dot com, and let's get you on more shows. Until next week, I want you to be in demand.