Podcasting is a powerful medium for connecting with your audience, building trust and increasing your impact. Every podcast episode is an opportunity to share your expertise, learn from your guests and make a difference in your listeners’ days. So ensuring that you plan your podcast episode well is really important in achieving your podcast goals.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the essential steps to plan a podcast episode effectively. We’ll share some easy and effective podcast tips for beginners and seasoned podcasters alike, from defining your target audience to promoting your episode. Let’s get started!
How to start a podcast
Starting a podcast can seem daunting and overwhelming, but you’ve come to the right place. To start a podcast you will need to research and define your target audience, choose a niche, plan your content, set up your podcast tools and launch your podcast.
For more about launching your podcast download our free workbook to start your podcast in 6 steps.
Plan a podcast episode
Consider your target audience
Think about your target audience first when planning your episode. From your research and analytics you should know their demographics, interests, and pain points. Keep these things in consideration when you plan your episodes. Remember your target audience is central to your podcast.
Reflect on your podcast goals
When launching your podcast you should have a clear goal of what you want your listeners to achieve from it. Do you want to educate, entertain or inspire?
Remember these goals when you are planning your podcast episode.
Brainstorm ideas
Considering your target audience’s pain points and interests think about some topic ideas that could add value for them. With these in mind research trending topics in your niche before settling on a topic that will entertain, inspire or educate your target audience.
Brainstorm and research trending topics in your niche. Combine these to formulate a content plan that serves your target audience while keeping relevant to what is happening in your niche. You can use a Google search or Google Trends to find trends, as well as keeping your ear to the ground on your social media platforms.
Gather feedback from your listeners as time goes on and continuously adapt your content to suit their needs.
Find and prepare podcast guests
After you’ve decided on your episode topic, research some guests that will help to add value. Podcast guests can add diverse perspectives and expertise to your content. This can help make it more engaging and informative for your audience.
Remember you do not have to have guests on your podcast. Some episodes are solo or co hosted and can work really well too.
If you are having guests, make sure to prepare them ahead of time by having an intro call, sharing any complicated topics ahead of time and doing your own research.
Take episode length into account
Usually each podcast episode in a series will be a similar length. This means your audience know what to expect each time they tune into a new episode.
Keep the episode length in mind when your are planning your podcast episodes. Plan around the length of the episode and don’t try to pack too much in just for the sake of it. If you’re doing an interview that is just going too well to cut off at the allocated time, consider doing a two-parter.
A running order helps to make sure you stay on track with your episode length.
Create your running order
A running order is a structured plan that outlines the sequence within your podcast episode. It helps ensure that your podcast runs smoothly from start to finish.
We have created a free downloadable running order template for our readers. This will help you structure your episode like a professional.
Now, go and make an amazing podcast episode!
Planning a podcast episode is a strategic process that involves understanding your audience, generating compelling ideas, referring to your podcast goals, finding appropriate guests and creating a podcast running order.
Follow these steps to create engaging podcast episodes that resonate with your listeners and make a positive impact on their lives.
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