Making a podcast: where to start

Many people want to start a podcast in 2022 and it’s clear to see why. The benefits you get from podcasting as a medium is far outweigh those you get from other content formats.

And it’s bloody good fun.

But by far the biggest barrier for people starting their podcasts is understanding how to get it off the ground. So here I’m going to give you everything you need to start a podcast, today.

This article is split into 3 categories, with 3 sub-categories in each to get started.

Where do you get started with podcasting? Coming up with your idea, of course. That will lead you nicely to your format which you can then brand.

A concept or premise for a show is what makes your podcast unique. It goes hand in hand with format but we’ll touch on that in the next paragraph. Here’s a few ideas:

Your format is the type of show you do. It could be a news show, co-hosted, narrative, solo. Also think about length and frequency here. Will it be a 15 minute weekly show, or will you have 3 hour long monthly episodes.

If you don’t want to commit to a regular frequency (monthly or weekly) you can opt for a limited series. Then you only have to do 6-8 episodes to see how it goes. Buffer created a series called Breaking Brand which was a narrative documentary podcast series with just 6 episodes.

There are three parts to podcast branding; name, visual and audio. Visual can be boiled down to your podcast art and audio can be your theme music.

Your podcast art doesn’t have to be complicated. You can write the name of your podcast in big text with a nice colour or illustration, you can add the faces of hosts. I’m no designer, so maybe ask your designer friends to help out here. Or head to your podcast app and scroll through shows you’re subscribed to and note down which ones catch your eye.