The 4 Biggest Mistakes We Made When We Launched Our First Podcast
November of 2020, I tested positive for COVID-19. Quarantine at this point in the pandemic was a full 14 days. During this time I spent a lot of time on social media and started to notice a trend. This trend was not in regards to a TikTok or fashion statement, but one of a emotional nature. I noticed that there was so much negativity circulating throughout social media. It was a nasty frenzy that continued to consume me until I finally realized that it was becoming toxic. Then came the idea of my podcast all about positivity. So, I did like any enthusiastic person did and started diving into coming up with idea and the means of how to do that. I ordered my first microphone, I subscribed to a recording/editing software all in one, and started to look at how to upload my episodes to all of the major platforms. Then came mistake number one.
Mistake number one started with the equipment I was using. My first microphone was a Blue Yeti USB. It is an okay microphone, but if I would have done more research I would have found better ones out there. To start with, there are two types of microphones (carotid and dynamic) and two different primary inputs (USB and XLR). My current set up includes a Shure SM7B - which is one of the best dynamic XLR microphones that can be bought on the market. The biggest restraint I had at the time was the cost, but you have to treat your podcast like a business and think of money spent on it as an investment. Having the equipment I wanted to start podcasting, which now lead me to mistake number two.
Mistake number two was my niche. Any good podcaster will tell you to understand and know your niche. This may seem easy, but it is a lot harder than it appears. Your niche has to be something specific so you can market your podcast to the correct audience. My original niche was too broad in this case, and was trying to target people seeking motivation and positivity. Well that could be anyone and everyone, so it makes it hard to target a specific audience. My solution at the time was to find guests from all different backgrounds that had empowering stories in the hopes to appeal to a great audience. Then that brings us to mistake number three.
Mistake number three is one that can easily be fixed, but takes time and effort to put into. One of the easiest ways to attract and maintain a following is to be consistent in posting your content. Whether that is every day, once a week, or once a month - regardless of the frequency, it has to be consistent. This can easily be fixed by creating certain “work days” for your podcast where you create content and have it ready to publish ahead of time. This leads us to mistake number four.
Mistake number four is all about time. Podcasting takes time. It may seem as easy as sitting down with a microphone and recording an episode, but there is so much more to that. You have to create and manage social media accounts, arrange guests, worry about editing the audio, and the list goes on. A quick fix for this is to not do any of that and just hope that your show grows on its own, another fix is to take the time to do it all yourself. A third viable solution is to hire a company to alleviate some of the background work so you as the host can focus on other tasks that can be considered more important.
One of the biggest lessons I have learned about podcasting is that I have and will have failures. At first that was a hard truth to face, but after I did it changed my ability to work. I continue to learn from my failures and build on them to make my successes even more rewarding. Podcasting is a rewarding experience, it helps give you a platform to share your voice and build your brand. What are you waiting for? Start your podcast today!
