How to have a successful podcast

What made you want to do a podcast?
At the end of the summer of 2018, I felt a creative overpressure. I was looking for a challenge that would teach me something new and, at the same time, I could apply everything that I had collected over the years of my creative activities. At that time, I was already actively listening to various podcasts, but on our Czech scene I missed interviews with women who create and live interesting lives. And so at one point, on the grass of Strělecký ostrov, I spontaneously decided that I would film them and I would ask such questions that there is no longer room for in classical media.

What do you most often ask women?

I’m interested in what their creative process looks like, what they puzzle over, what they think about in their spare time or if they had to find their way to each other. I also open topics with them that you simply don’t hear in coffee shops. Whether it’s the loss of an unborn baby, feeling unappreciated, not being able to rest, or the need to compare yourself to male qualities. It is often very powerful, sometimes on the verge of tears.

What is the advantage of a podcast over a blog or making videos?
Not everyone can write legibly and grammatically correctly. Not everyone feels like a fish in water in front of the camera. But absolutely everyone can speak, and in the case of interesting content, many things will be forgiven.

Three advantages of podcasts: Time saving, the microphone is easy to hide in your bag and you can even record in sweatpants because no one can see you.

What can recording a podcast bring to smaller entrepreneurs?
The opportunity to get to know you and introduce your product, service or mission to others in a non-violent way. And since most people listen intently to podcasts with headphones in their ears, you speak to their souls to a certain extent, and thus you can create a very intimate relationship with your listeners, and therefore customers.

What advice would you give to people starting out with a podcast? What to watch out for in the beginning?
Start. Whatever. To get over minor imperfections and not compare too much with the latest works of those who have been filming for a few years. Better to grind back a few tracks and listen to how they started. They, just like you, gradually improve part by part.

Technical solutions, equipment

What technical problems did you face in the beginning?
Sound was a priority for me. A shopify development services  podcast must be a good listen from the very beginning. The train doesn’t go through it. Even if the content is the best, it can turn listeners off and it will probably cost you a lot of effort to get them to give it a second chance. So I spent a lot of time researching how to do it so that no one could tell me that it’s technically impossible to listen to.

And what did you come up with?
That it is much easier than it seems. All you have to do is buy a microphone, even an ordinary knocker from the RODE brand, record the sound on your smartphone and adjust it on the computer, most often the volume.

Practical advice: You can conjure up good technical quality even under quite makeshift conditions, and it’s better to shoot three or four episodes like this than to hit your pocket and find out that it’s not the direction you want to go.

Is it necessary to film in a studio, or can I create suitable conditions at home in the living room?
Shooting in a studio will probably make your work much easier, but suitable conditions can be created almost anywhere. For example, I shoot in the living room, on the couch, and ideally in the morning hours, when everything around is the most peaceful.

What platforms do you recommend having a podcast on?
The basis is definitely Apple Music and Spotify . For me, these platforms make up about 80 percent of the total audience. And then it’s a good idea to ask those around you where they like to listen to podcasts. From my research, it’s Google Podcasts , Overcast , or Pocket Casts , for example .

How to podcast content

What is the optimal podcast length for people to still “listen” to it?
In my opinion, there is  email marketing is a key tool for many companies to communicate no such thing as an “optimal length”. Even twenty minutes can be excruciatingly long when the content is worth a fart. When it comes to my podcasts, I follow my gut feeling, whether I would still enjoy listening to it myself.

Tip: The more complex information your podcast contains, the shorter it should be. After an hour of dense work like this, listeners can feel “ squeezed out “ , and that’s not the impression you want them to associate with you.

How do you choose respondents? Do you have any thematic areas?
Depending on whether the spark jumps. Often these are complete coincidences. Someone tells about someone, I read something somewhere and at that moment I am tempted to get to know the woman a little closer. I don’t even have set thematic areas. Few women are not creative. In the podcast, you can come across various female artists and businesswomen, as well as women who are looking for themselves in their strength and fragility, or who are just not afraid of obstacles in their lives. However, I am very careful to ensure that individual professions or topics alternate continuously. I enjoy the change, and so do my listeners.

How do you prepare your questions?
My preparation process has exactly two phases. The first time I write down everything that comes to mind. The second, when I’m looking for something about a woman and want to ask her about some issues. Anyway, I’m not preparing questions anymore, they’re more like passwords so I don’t forget something important.

Opinion from practice: In my opinion, preparation is the alpha and omega of the entire interview. When the other party feels that I know their background and am not shooting blindly, we get to the bottom of things much faster.

On average, how long does it take you to prepare for an interview?
It depends on what topic the woman brings with her. If it’s something more theoretical, I don’t want to underestimate anything and I like to spend a few hours on it. Freer topics, when we talk about life, for example, do not take up so much time.

How to get your podcast out there

What is the best way to get the podcast to people? What worked best for you?
It has proven to me to be  es phone number in such places where there are also my potential listeners, to be persistent and to create, regardless of the numbers. It seems to me that it is much better to focus on whether what you are doing is worth something, you see the meaning in it and you are happy about it. The numbers will gradually add to it.

Tip: I started by creating an Instagram account for the podcast, which I filled with samples from interviews. It wasn’t until half a year later that I got a website. But I think it works best when people recommend the podcast to each other.

How long do you think it takes for a podcast to find a stable audience?
There is always a place on the market for quality and interesting content, and fortunately, it always finds its listeners. The important thing is to persevere and not give up. In our conditions, it’s actually quite a bargain, the market is still relatively small.