Crafting a Podcast that Resonates and Endures | EP226

Ever felt the itch to start your own podcast but found yourself frozen by the pursuit of perfection? Join me, Donna Eade, as I guide you through the 'Seven Steps to Successful Podcasting,' a roadmap that promises to kick those doubts to the curb and fire up your podcasting journey. Drawing from the trenches of my own podcasting escapades and the success stories of Catherine and Julie, my clients, this episode is a treasure trove of insights on embracing your starting point, no matter how humble, and growing your audience through sheer consistency and persistence.

Podfade is an all-too-common foe, claiming the ambitions of many podcasters within the first few episodes. Yet, in this episode, I explore the antidotes to this creative ailment: a rock-solid 'why' to anchor your efforts, realistic goal-setting to curb disillusionment, and a stronghold of systems to streamline your content production. Hear firsthand how I navigated the choppy waters of podcasting, learning the hard way so you don't have to, and get the inside scoop on the strategies that kept me afloat where many others have sunk.

Perhaps you're wrestling with the technicalities—what equipment to use, which platforms to trust, or how to ensure your sound quality doesn't become a listener's pet peeve. Fret not! This episode demystifies the choices, from the microphone that transformed my audio to the recording software that’s best for you. Plus, take notes as I break down a structured launch strategy that's helped clients rocket past the three-episode slump, ensuring your podcast doesn't just start with a bang but continues to resound across the airwaves.

Get access to all my equipment and software recommendations HERE

Apply for one of my spring Cohorts HERE

www.donnaeade.com

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:51

You're listening to the Mindset in Action podcast, the place to be to grow and streamline your business. I'm your host, donna Eade. Let's jump into the show. Ambition is the first step to success. The second step is action. Mel Robbins, welcome back to the podcast.

Speaker 1: 1:17

Everybody, I am so glad to have you here today and I absolutely loved that quote from Mel because I am a huge believer in taking action. I believe that nothing has to be perfect. You just have to get it going, improve as you go and keep taking action. So I absolutely love that quote. And today we're going to be talking about the seven steps to successful podcasting. So I recently did a masterclass on this. This is going to be shorter than the masterclass, so if you missed out on the masterclass, this is going to give you the cliff notes of what you missed, but I thought it was important to bring this to you and share with you these seven steps to successful podcasting and, of course, one of those is taking action getting out of your own way and making it happen.

Speaker 1: 2:08

So in the mini mindset episode this week, I spoke about success not being something that we can time. I told you about my YouTube channel and how I consistently uploaded for over a year and that didn't work. And would it have worked if I'd carried on, if I'd have maybe done less than 140? And I have to say I did do Vlogmas, which is why the number was so high, because I vlogged every day in December. However, if I'd have done less but been consistent over a longer period of time, would I have had success? And I will test that theory for you. I want to get my channel back up and running so I can test it. I'll come back in a few years and we'll see what's going on with it. But I gave up early on that because I was burnt out with it. But I have consistently uploaded my podcast for four years and I do see the successes, I do see the opportunities and I do see where that has got me. But you might be thinking but Donna, that's taken you so long, why bother? And I want to talk about that and I mentioned this on Monday's episode, that I would talk further about this because it is important to kind of understand that everyone is different and everybody's journey looks different For me and for those of you who are ride and die for the podcast.

Speaker 1: 3:25

You'll remember this podcast started out as the Society of Professional Wedding Vendors podcast back in 2020. It was aimed at a completely unique hyper niche market. It was to do with the wedding industry, and now it's something different. It has evolved over time for varying reasons, but it means that although I've been podcasting for four years, my audience wasn't the same for the entire four years and I also made some very big mistakes when I started my podcast that I teach my students not to make so that they can have the success that I didn't. Would my success have been better if I had not made those mistakes? Yes, it would.

Speaker 1: 4:11

The other thing that makes a difference is the size of the audience you go in with. I started with an audience of zero, and I have said this so many times in my classes and on the podcast. But starting from zero is a lot harder than starting from 50. If you want to get to 100. Yeah, so I always give the mountain reference of pushing a boulder up a mountain to 100. Yeah, so I always give the mountain reference of pushing a boulder up a mountain. If you start from the bottom, it's an awful lot harder to get to the top than it is if you're already halfway up. So I started with an audience of zero and I want to just bring in a couple of comparisons for you to just show you the difference that that can make.

Speaker 1: 4:49

So when I first uploaded my podcast, I had no audience. I was working with a hyper niche, so I was working with UK wedding vendors only, so that was about 400,000 people, and it was an industry that was decimated by the pandemic at the time. So this, you know, I had people who were in the industry but weren't even working in the industry at the time because they couldn't. So you know there was a lot of things working against me is what I'm saying Now. Compare that to my beautiful clients, catherine and Julie, who have both been in their respective industries for many, many years and both got an audience that they work with clients that they've worked with over those years. They started their podcast with that audience behind them and the difference was that they more than 10x'd my downloads in their first week, 10x'd. So it's a huge difference, right? And here's another one for you.

Speaker 1: 5:53

You know I started in that situation that I've just described to you there. A friend of mine, nicola, who came on to my launch ready system back in February, she launched her podcast. She has been in her niche for many years. She's got lots of clients, lots of connections etc. And she launched with very similar numbers to Catherine and Judy in her first week of podcasting. But the other thing is and I hope she doesn't mind me sharing this she's just secured her first sponsor for the podcast. Oh my days. So super proud of her and what she's achieving. But that is the difference that starting with something behind you and starting from zero can make.

Speaker 1: 6:38

So looking at four years before I'm starting to see opportunities for myself with the podcast is very different to somebody who has got a different beginning to me. So I just want to remind you of that. And I also want to remind you that I see podcasting as a long tail marketing tool. Ok, so podcasting for me is something that I'm looking at as a long term thing. It's not something like, in my head, the YouTube channel. I was hoping that, you know, if I was consistent at it for like six months, I'd start to see some big traction and things would start changing. No, I didn't think that with the podcast. I saw it as just this is what I'm going to be doing and I'm just going to keep doing it, which is what I did, and now I'm seeing things come in, and to me, it is this constant tool for being able to market my business and myself, and that's the reason that I continue to do it. It's not because I want to get hundreds and thousands of downloads on the podcast. It's because I want to be able to talk to my audience and share with them what I'm going through, what business looks like, bring on fantastic guests for them, etc.

Speaker 1: 7:50

So that is something else to keep in mind is, when you're looking at what success is for you, don't look at it as a quick fix, because there are no overnight successes. We've heard it before. We've heard people talk about this. How you know. Oh yeah, my overnight success took me 10 years to to create, and I think this is something that we're almost ingrained in our head when we see it online these people that have just seemed to have come out nowhere and suddenly have got these massive audiences, and we're like how on earth did they do that? Well, the fact is that they've probably taken a lot longer to do it than we even realize. So, um, something to just bear in mind when you're thinking about these things, because I don't want you to be somebody who is like going like I was with the YouTube channel, just forcing myself to keep doing it, thinking it was going to make big impact, and then realising that it wasn't going to make the impact that I wanted. Okay, with that being said, let's hop into the seven steps to successful podcasting.

Speaker 1: 8:52

Now I like to break it down into two sections. The first section is the things I see podcasters doing wrong and that, I believe, often leads to them quitting in the very early stages. And you may have heard the stats before from me, but 90% of podcasters will give up when they've recorded just three episodes. Put three episodes out and they quit, and then from there, the 10% that continue to podcast. 90% of that 10% will quit after episode 21. So if you make it to episode 22, you are in the top 1% of podcasters.

Speaker 1: 9:33

Okay, so this is why we see the big number of like. There's like over 5 million podcasts out there, but the actual number of active podcasts is under a million. It's more around 500,000. And that is because of these people who have given up, you know. So the potential for your podcast to stand out in the world of podcasting is great. There is still so much room it is not a saturated market when it comes to those standout podcasts there is still so much room for movement, so much room for growth, because there are so many people that, for whatever reason, give up. And I have three reasons why I think that people end up giving up. So we're going to jump into those and then we're going to talk about the practical steps. So number one and we spoke about it on Monday and I spoke about it a little bit earlier, but it is your why Having a strong enough why for your podcast.

Speaker 1: 10:35

It's like for your business, you know, and it almost could be the same as your business why, to be honest with you, but I don't know your business, I don't know what you're looking to podcast on but having that strong enough why you're doing it? Because I am proof that the potential, the opportunities don't come overnight. You know they don't necessarily come overnight and you might be in a position where you're very well established in your business and therefore you have got a nice size audience or you've got people that you can call on and that you're in a niche that is just waiting for a podcast. So when you start, you could see success a lot quicker than I could. But you might be in a genre that is more general, that maybe you're not as well established in your business and it may therefore take more time. But regardless of the time it takes for you to see the success in the way you want to see success for your podcast, you need to have that strong why to keep you going. So a strong why is really important. Then we have got expectations.

Speaker 1: 11:43

I think a lot of people come in looking for that overnight success like oh, podcasting is new. Podcasting is not new, guys. Podcasting has been around for 20 years, but it is really new in the UK as a form of communication for people. So in the UK it is a lot younger in the sense of you know how many people have known about it and have been listening and it is definitely growing in popularity right now here in the UK. But a lot of people seem to think that it's a brand new thing and that people are just starting podcasting and seeing all this success and that's what I get. I want too. So I'm just going to start a podcast and they do a couple of episodes and they don't get the downloads they're expecting, you know, because they hear all these bigger podcasters talking about millions of downloads and they're disappointed so they quit. It's just's just like. Well, what's the point? You know I'm only getting 10 people listen.

Speaker 1: 12:39

This isn't what I wanted. I thought this was going to be easier than creating a YouTube channel, because you know views have gone down on those, so I thought podcasting would be the answer. I thought I would get instant results. It's not going to happen, so you have to maintain those expectations. And again, if you've got a strong enough, why? So you have to maintain those expectations? That again, if you've got a strong enough, why then you are able to give yourself more time to realise what it is that you can get from your podcast and what it's going to look like place and I spoke about this on Monday, I speak about it a lot but having those systems in place where you know exactly the steps it takes for you to create and get a published episode up, and that you follow that formula each time and that you batch create, so that you're not sitting there on a Sunday night, like I was a few weeks ago, going, oh my goodness, I haven't got the podcast ready for tomorrow.

Speaker 1: 13:36

What am I going to do and rushing and creating something that maybe isn't the best quality, and I don't think my quality failed for it. I did have the episodes recorded. Actually, I just hadn't edited and uploaded them, so the quality wasn't an issue, it was just like oh my god, I haven't done it. So you know, having those systems in place and sticking to those systems and creating the space in your diary for those systems to take place is going to really stand you in good stead and put you well above other people who are in the podcasting space. Okay, so, moving on to the practicalities of podcasting.

Speaker 1: 14:15

So number four you need to choose the right software and platform for you for your podcast, and that is all going to be dependent on you. Really, it is a personal choice. So software is the way you're going to record your podcast. So what are you going to use to record your voice? So is it going to be a online platform, like Riverside or StreamYard, is it going to be an offline platform, like Zoom or Audacity, or is it going to be your internal recorder for your computer, garageband or the PC voice recorder? You know what are you going to use to record your voice. You need to make that decision and it's got to be something that works for you.

Speaker 1: 15:05

And then the platform. So a lot of people mistakenly think that iTunes, apple Podcasts is a platform. It's not. It's a directory. So how a podcast works is that you will upload your podcast to a platform and then that platform will allow you to send your podcast out to the directories. Okay, so that's how it happens and there are many, many different platforms out there. I have links to my software and platforms etc. In the show notes of this podcast if you want to go and check those out.

Speaker 1: 15:43

But there are many different platforms that you might want to use for many different reasons. So, for example, if you were a corporate client that wanted to create a podcast just for your employees maybe you've got a really big company and you wanted a private employee only podcast. That you know disseminated messages like nicer than having an email you did a weekly update for people interviewed employees maybe you know whatever that is. You could host it on a platform like Hello Audio, which is a private platform. So you pay for that one and it gives you the ability to have a private podcast. So people can only access it if they have the link for it and it doesn't show up in the directories.

Speaker 1: 16:32

There are paid platforms and there are free platforms that you can host and a lot of people go oh well, you know, I want it to cost the least amount possible. I'm going to go for the free platform. I would just urge against jumping to that conclusion, because I have tested one of the free platforms and I didn't like it. It was very restrictive, it doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles, which I guess if you're just starting out is great, but it is awkward to move it. So I would always urge on going for the platform that you can grow into, rather than a platform that is just really basic to get you started, because it is a bit of a tech nightmare to move your podcast, depending on how you've got it set up as well. So if you've got it linked to your website and you've got it on there, if you change it, you've got to change the stuff on your website. It can be a bit of a faff. So I am personally all for going for the one that's going to allow you to grow.

Speaker 1: 17:34

The next one so this is step five is choosing the right equipment. I am a big believer in start with what you've got. I started mine with my laptop and my headphones for my phone. So I had a microphone on it, got my headphones, plugged them in and away I went, and that was my first. I can't remember, I think, 20 episodes. No, maybe it was less than that. Maybe it was when I got to 50 downloads, I can't remember. I set myself a little target way back then on. You know, getting a microphone if I got to a certain milestone. But I think I definitely was three months in before I upgraded to the microphone that I now use.

Speaker 1: 18:18

So equipment, you do not have to have all of the fancy stuff and this doesn't make you a great podcaster, you know you can have all the fancy equipment, but if you don't know how to use it, then what's the point To me? Start with the basics and then start to improve it as you go, set yourself milestones and improve, like I did. So, you know, for me I'm four years in now. Now I'm thinking well, when I get to my next big download milestone, maybe I'll treat myself to a new microphone, just an upgrade. It's not because I don't like the sound of this one or I think this one isn't any good. I absolutely love this podcast mic and it will stay my backup mic forever I think. But I do fancy maybe a little bit of an upgrade. So you know that's something I'm contemplating. But I'm four years in now.

Speaker 1: 19:07

So the equipment you do not need to have fancy switchboards and software and all of this jazz, you don't need it all A microphone and your laptop, a way to record, and you're good to go. But even then, you know you can start with your headphones if that's what you need to do. And to be honest with you, I say, the platform I use gives you 90 days free hosting so you can host your podcast on their platform for 90 days before you make the decision whether you want to pay or not. And to me that is a good sort of metric to go for. And that's what I did. I used it and I used it for 90 days free and I that gave me three months of podcasting and at that point I was like, okay, yeah, I'm committed to this, I'm going to do it. And so that's when I'm like, okay, I'm going to pay for my hosting and yes, okay, I'm going to look at upgrading my microphone.

Speaker 1: 19:58

So giving yourself that ability to upgrade, um, and not jumping to buying all the bells and whistles and spending all the money, because you could spend thousands and thousands of pounds. But if you're going to give up, uh, because you haven't got your systems in place, you haven't got strong enough, why, um, you don't really know the strategy that you're going to use for it. It could all come tumbling down and then that's a waste of money. So definitely something where you can grow with your podcast when it comes to the equipment and what you're using, and it's not going to be detrimental to your podcast as long as you're making the best of it. And that leads me nicely into number six, which is your sound quality. So for me, this is a biggie. If you listened to the Monday episode, you know I said I'm a bit of a sound snob. To me, making the best of what you've got makes a huge difference.

Speaker 1: 20:47

And on my web class, where I went over this, this was really apparent and I felt so bad. And you know when tech stuff goes wrong, it goes wrong. It's live class that I did, so there was nothing I could do about it. But it was when I was talking about sound and equipment that I realized that my microphone wasn't plugged in and I plugged it in live on the class because I wanted to show them the difference that a dynamic microphone makes. So I did this thing and I said you should be able to hear that difference. And then I realized it wasn't plugged in and so I plugged it in and they were like, oh my goodness, and they got to hear the difference in sound quality from whatever microphone my computer was using. I have no idea whether it was using my camera microphone or whether it was using my laptop microphone, so I don't know, but the difference it made. When I plugged my podcast mic in, they could hear that difference.

Speaker 1: 21:46

And that is that makes so much difference when it is your only sense that you're using. So if somebody is listening to you on headphones, they've got you in their ears and the sound quality is not great. It's just going to be not the best experience. But if you can give them a better sound quality, then it makes a huge difference to them and they're going to enjoy it more. So, yes, that is the difference between microphones, which makes a big part of the sound quality, but you can do other things in your space. That is going to help and one of the big things is creating deadening in the room that you're in.

Speaker 1: 22:25

So I podcast in a very small room. It's about two meters by three meters. It's not very big, um, probably one and a half meters, actually by two and a half. It's not very big. It's my office space now. There are hard surfaces everywhere and for those of you who don't know about sound and I'm sure if you go back to school science classes you'll remember this but basically sound bounces off of hard surfaces. So tables, walls, windows, laptop screens you're going to have sound going out of your mouth. It is going to go out and you can imagine it in your head, where you see like the sound waves coming from somebody's mouth goes out, it hits the surface and it bounces off and that creates echo and you want to reduce that as much as possible. Now, if you think about a musician recording an album, you will see them in those sound booths where it's black foam all over the place to create that deadened sound. You can do the same thing at home without having to plaster your walls in black foam. If you've got the space to do that, then my goodness, go for it. You will have a great sound quality.

Speaker 1: 23:32

But for me, I bring in cushions from my sofa. My sofa has big removable cushions. It has like seven of them that sit along the back and the side. It's an L-shaped sofa. They all removable. Throw them around, change them up, turn them over, do all of the things. I take two of those cushions and I bring them into this office and I put them either side of my microphone. I also have a small fluffier cushion that I have and I have a blanket that I put underneath my microphone to help the sound stop dead where it lands, and that's what these items do. So instead of the sound bouncing off of it, the sound will be absorbed into it and it makes such a difference on the ear. So even for those people that attended my class live or listened to the replay class live or listen to the replay If you're listening to this now, you should be able to hear that there is a difference again in that sound, because I have all of that cushioning around me today, whereas I didn't have that for the class on Thursday. So having good sound quality is going to help you have a more successful podcast, because if they can rely on you being a nice, easy listen, then they're more likely to come back and listen.

Speaker 1: 24:47

And number seven and this is a big one, guys, this is like the most important one for me for getting you over that three episode hump and that is having a good launch process in place, a launch system. So I have my launch ready system. It's available on my website to buy as a separate training, three video training that will help you set up your launch runway for your podcast. So if you wanted to go and get that, you can, but it is also included in my eight week program and because it's so important, it makes such a huge difference. So, going back to my clients again, I spoke about the beginning. Catherine and Julie. They used my launch process. So did Nick. They both use my launch process for their podcasts and I didn't have any kind of launch process in place for the beginning of my podcast Because, as you remember, I had no audience.

Speaker 1: 25:44

I was starting from absolutely zero. I didn't have a business until the day I launched my podcast. You know I wasn't even there with it. So their podcasts both got over 100 downloads in their first, I don't know 24 hours or something. It was crazy, whereas I didn't get that for weeks on my podcast because I didn't do a launch and, yeah, I didn't have an audience either.

Speaker 1: 26:11

And I would say that a launch will still make a difference if you haven't got an audience, because you're starting to build that audience for the podcast initially for you to continue with. So definitely will make a difference compared to my launch, but you might not get the numbers that Nick and Catherine and Julie got if you haven't already got an audience. So it's just to be, you know, mindful of these things the genre that you're podcasting in the audience that you have the launch that you do these three things make a huge impact on your numbers and I'm a big one for saying, you know, don't focus on the numbers, because the numbers lie. Your podcast download numbers do not indicate how many people have listened to your podcast episodes, because people can listen to your podcast without downloading it and all of the different directories register downloads and listens in different ways. So when it all comes back to your host, you're not even getting something that is showing you the exact same thing across the board. So it's very hard to kind of judge it by that. So something to really keep in mind.

Speaker 1: 27:21

But, yes, a launch is really really big, important part of creating a podcast. And, as I say, that is available. My launch system is available in my eight week program as a bonus for you. So if you are interested in starting a podcast and you want to have a successful podcast and you want to, you know, avoid all the missteps and create something that is great from day one, I would love to invite you to come and join me in my start your podcast program, which is open for enrollment right now for three dates in the spring cohort. So we have the 29th of April, we have the 29th of April, we have the 16th of no, the 13th of May and the 27th of May. So those are the start dates.

Speaker 1: 28:10

If you want to sign up for any of those, I am only taking six people per cohort maximum. So you can go over to donnaeedcom forward slash apply and that will allow you to fill in the application form. And if you fill in this application form before midnight tomorrow, so friday at midnight if you fill in the application by then, you will go into a draw to win a microphone which is the same one that I'm using right now. So if you want to be in with the chance to win my microphone, then do go and apply today, before 12 o'clock midnight, should I say on Friday, and that's UK time. Then you will be in with a chance to win that microphone and you can choose any of those three dates for your start date. Now, obviously, the 29th is next Monday. You do need to make your first payment if you're on the payment plan or pay for the program before we start. So if you are looking to start on Monday, then make sure you fill in your application today so that you can get your payment done before Monday. You can obviously catch up. If you want to start on the 29th and you don't get it in and you're happy to just start a couple of days later, then that's absolutely fine. But just to let you know about that, okay. So that is it for me today.

Speaker 1: 29:32

Guys, I am really excited about the guests and the topics that we've got coming up for the next 12 weeks. So make sure you are subscribed where you listen. If you haven't yet left a review for the podcast, I would be so grateful if you would head over to Apple Podcasts and leave a review there. If you don't have access to Apple Podcasts or you just want an easier place to do it. Then head over to podchasercom and search Mind and action, or search my name, donna Ede, and you'll be able to fill in the reviews over there. I would be so, so grateful. It means the world to me to hear from you, so do reach out on social. I am Donna underscore Ede underscore on Instagram. Come and let me know your biggest takeaway from this episode. Come and let me know what you think about the podcast. I would love to hear from you and I will see you in the next one. Bye for now.