We all know how amazing podcasting can be for your reach. It is a unique way to connect with your audience and build the know, like, and trust factor that is so crucial in business these days. As amazing as it is, we all have to admit- it’s time-consuming, to say the least. Creating and producing a professional quality podcast takes serious time and effort. It could literally take multiple hours per episode. With the norm being one episode per week, it can be hard to keep up with if you don’t have a system to optimize your productivity. That is why it is crucial to know and practice the best productivity tips for podcasters.
Writing and recording your content is the first step. It can take a few hours of your time to just get to this part. Then it comes to editing for professional sound quality, writing in-depth show notes to increase your SEO, and marketing each individual episode. Each of these tasks could take a couple of hours on its own.
If you don’t have a system set up to optimize and simplify the podcast process, it can lead you to be overwhelmed quickly and in turn, cause unwanted burnout.
Let’s talk about some ways you can increase your productivity and simplify your podcasting process for maximum efficiency and increase your chance of success. Here are some of the best productivity tips for podcasters.
Commit to Deadlines
Things come up, we all get that, but setting a schedule and committing to it can make a huge impact on how you are viewed by your listeners. Even if you have the best intentions and a close bond with your audience, if you don’t show up when you say you will, they will view you as unreliable and may fall out of listening every week because they learned to stop counting on it. Plan to have your episodes done in advance, this way when the inevitable life events happen, you are still showing up for your people the way you promised you would. This will also prevent you from feeling rushed when it comes to release day and help you stick to your schedule.
Batch Record
Trust me, you will be so happy you decided to batch record. As mentioned above, life happens. No matter how professional we strive to be, things still come up. Setting a day ahead of time to record all of your episodes for the month will eliminate you from having to worry about it every week and possibly letting your listeners down. Try it out, you’ll thank us later!
Use a Scheduler for Guest Booking
Booking guests to come on your show has so many benefits. Your audience gains increased value and you gain additional marketing from your guest sharing the episode with their audience. It’s a win-win, but taking the time to find the perfect guests to give your audience the most value and scheduling a time that works for both of you can be even more time-consuming. As a podcaster- your time is precious. Using a scheduler can cut this time in half. Find the right people, send them a nice pitch, and send your scheduler. They can look at your schedule and find a time that coincides with their schedule without all of the back and forth, easy peasy. Great schedulers we recommend are Calendly, Acuity, and ScheduleOnce.
Keep Your Files Organized
It may not sound like much but a good organizational system can go a long way. You never know what you’ll need to look back on or reference, and having your files organized in a way that is simple and easy to understand can save future-you so much time and confusion. Google Drive and Dropbox are both easy ways to organize your files in a clean and efficient way. Some folders to include are Episode Media, Episode Show Notes, and Graphics. You can, of course, personalize and adjust these as needed.
Outsource
This is the biggest and possibly the best time-saving tip there is. Outsourcing the time-consuming tasks in your podcast can make a huge impact on whether your podcast is sustainable or not. A good podcast editor or manager can take care of editing, show notes, scheduling, graphics, social media posts, email marketing, and more. This gives you time back to focus on the other aspects of your business that may have taken the back burner.
Running a successful podcast can be overwhelming, but only if you let it. You can make it easy and simple with these productivity tips for podcasters. My team and I offer all of the services listed above to our clients to make their podcast more sustainable and increase their chances of finding new listeners. If you are ready to take your podcast to the next level, you can book a free discovery call to see if we are the right fit for your podcast and your mission!
