GRACE
LANNI
Branding Influencer
The Coolest Things About Having a Podcast
For me, launching a podcast was a
way to crank out content on a
regular basis and engage with the
new tribe (audience) I was creating
around personal branding. I’ve
written several blog articles and
many presentations over the years
with good feedback & engagement,
but to crank out weekly or biweekly
articles, not for me. Podcasting in
an interview format with an
interesting person is FUN!
I had lots to say, however, I wasn’t
yet convinced anyone was
interested. I decided to interview
smart branding folks and business
owners who had a branding
experience (good or bad).
I joined a platform with ~35
podcasters and invested lots for a
year on their platform. What I got
was a gal who had years of
experience on podcasting and
pushed me to launch. VALUE
received.
Thanks for reading/listening to my
podcast journey – hope it inspires
you!
podcastinsights.com
The coolest things from launching
my audio podcast include:
➢ Finding my authentic radio
voice;
➢ eMails/ calls from people
around the world who want to
be a guest on my podcast;
➢ eMails/ calls from people who
want me on their podcast,
stage, online summit, online
magazines;
➢ Having people sponsor my
podcast for $$;
➢ An international award;
➢ Building my confidence to go
video in 2020!
Steps to Launch Your Podcast

What’s the goal of your podcast?

Your brand profile? / your tribe? / your offering?
 Research the podcasts your tribe is already listening to and
determine how you’ll be unique.

What’s your favorite format & length?

Make a list of topics (hashtag strategy)/guests for your first
10 shows & outline the format of the show.

Determine your hosting platform & syndication strategy
 Write out your intro, breaks, outro – will you have an
announcer? What’s your logo, cover photo, description?

Determine the hardware you’ll be using.

Determine your production platform.

Determine your show frequency

Record the first 3 shows

Produce the first 3 shows

Upload the first 3 shows to your hosting platform
 Market the first 3 shows over time while you schedule
shows 4,5,6. Create your marketing process.

Measure your success.
The Goal of Your Podcast?
Your Brand Profile?
It’s always a good idea to have a goal for
a project prior to jumping in. My goal
was outlined in the prior section. Here’s
a list of goals for you to consider:
This bonus .pdf is included with the Canvas
Your Talent© online course. The eight sessions
within will support you defining your brand
profile & tribes.
➢ Provide interesting content to my
audience
➢ Position me as a thought leader
➢ Provide a vehicle to acquire sponsors
➢ Platform to express opinions
➢ Educate
➢ Curate and synthesize
➢ Entertain - humor
➢ _____________________________
Your offering is the knowledge or product your
tribe is willing to consume from you. It can be
free or for a price. The course is one of my
paid offerings.
Your podcast is an offering – free content
provided to your audience. Write out the
description and share it with likely listeners.
Take note on their feedback.
podcastinsights.com
18MONTHS IN TO A
WEEKLY PODCASTAWARD-WINNER!
Research
Formats
Formats include:
Take time every day to listen to other
podcasts in your subject matter. Also
– start asking your tribe which
podcasts are their favorites and
WHY. Some things to note:
➢ Subjects
➢ Stats (subscribe/download)
➢ Where they promote/market
➢ Format
➢ Length
➢ Air day/time
➢ Frequency
➢ Type of guests
➢ Type of music
➢ Intro/outro
➢ Ads / Offers
The fact that you’re the host will be
part of your unique offer. What
else?
➢ Conversational interview – the host may ask a few
questions – and the goal of this interview is to get
into a conversation on the topic. More
opportunity for dynamic discussions.
➢ Repurposed Content – reworking an existing
podcast to a new audience or rework a blog or
video to a podcast
➢ Formal interview – think of a TV news show where
the host asks a question and the guest gets a
chance to respond.
➢ Solo commentary – the podcast host is speaking
the entire time on a particular topic.
➢ Panel – 2 or more individuals responding to similar
questions.
➢ Nonfiction narrative story-telling – host shares the
details of an actual event and often includes their
opinion of the impact.
➢ Fictional story-telling – host tells a fictional story
to illustrate and interesting point
➢ Hybrid story-telling – a combination of nonfiction
& fictional storytelling
Topics
Hopefully in your research section above,
you’ll have identified a long list of topics
you did/didn’t like.
The next piece to consider relative to topics
is keywords – what are the keywords
people are typing into search to find the
solutions you want to offer? These
keywords will be listed at the foot of your
podcast in your hosting platform – along
with your social posts.
I have standard keywords I’m using now.
#BrandStory and #ZoneofGenius are fresh
hashtags I’ve added because my tribe is
clicking on and engaging with these terms.
#Personalbranding, #professionalbranding,
#brandstrategist, #branding, #gracelanni,
#allaboutthatbrand, #careercoach,
#sidehustle, #brandstory, #zoneofgenius
Guests
Ideally, your initial guests are already
comfortable speaking on podcasts – either as a
guest or host.
Feel free to practice with local friendly
connections to get your sea legs with being a
podcast host. So long as you’re providing
valuable content to your tribe, you are on the
right track.
As you get more comfortable, and your
following gets more solid, you’ll start to look
for guests that:
1) Have a social following on a relevant
platform that will promote their guest
spot on your podcast – hoping for you to
get new followers.
2) Have interest in being a sponsor on your
show or introducing you to other sponsors
& guests
3) Have a great freebie you want to provide
to your listeners
4) Have a recent accolade you aspire to (i.e.
Personal Branding Blog’s top personal
branding speaker award.
TOPICS / GUESTS
TOPICS
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
GUESTS
Determine Your Hosting Platform
Podcasting is a hot topic! New apps are
launching all the time. Search for the best
hosting platforms and then consider :
➢ Know how many hours/mo you need.
Some of the free programs are limited;
➢ Consider signup, free offers, and
renewal price points;
➢ Though most of the top platforms have
99.x% uptime guarantees – be aware of
the SLA (service level agreements)
provided for the hosting service you
choose.
➢ Consider the features (syndication,
analytics, video, etc) and what you
need for your podcast.
I originally launched on Blog Talk Radio
because the program I purchased included
it. Then, BTR merged with Spreaker and I
moved all my shows over to Spreaker.
<$20/mo, it supports syndication, social,
and other features. I’m looking at
Captivate for audience growth … we will
see.
Where Do You Syndicate?
Syndication is sharing your podcast from your
host out to other channels. It’s a word coined
from old school radio & TV – very relevant
here.
The top directories today which push new
shows out to their audience are:
➢ iTunes
➢ Google Play
➢ tunein
➢ STITCHER
➢ Spotify
I recommend having 10 podcasts uploaded to
your hosting platform prior to syndicating.
The images/logo files you created for hosting
platform may need to be resized for these
other platforms. It’s likely your description will
be able to be shared as is.
Adding video to the show will mean for us that
we’ll post audio on the current podcast
channels as before and then on youtube,
allaboutthatbrand.tv and .com.
Intro, Breaks, Outro, Announcer
After listening to several podcasts, I had
some understanding of how I wanted my
show to go. As a member of a network, I
was required to put bumpers on the front
and end of the show – along w/ ads.
Initially, my shows were 20-30 minutes, and
I didn’t break in the middle for an
offer/sponsor. Today, the shows average 45
minutes with interesting guests, and the
offers and breaks provide cool products for
my listeners.
Take the time to write out the pieces that
will be repeated on each show.
You can also use a teleprompter – just
search and try what looks interesting.
These days, I just use big font in MSWord
with double spacing and scroll w/ my
mouse wheel to ensure no sound is picked
up.
Logo, Cover, Description, Music
As a branding person, you can imagine that
these components weren’t easy for me initially.
I’ll tip my hat to my initial producer who helped
me create my logo (my face with
AllAboutThatBrand) above and the green
tomatoes with the one red – illustrating
“differentiation” and my love of all things
Italian.
I recommend getting support for these
branding elements – upwork.com,
freelance.com, or others you know personally
can help.
I initially had an announcer and music that was
very jazz room chill. Recently, we rev’d it up
with an amazing Jamaican announcer (a
personal friend) and new funky music sourced
on premiumbeat.com
Enjoy being creative here!
Hardware
Production Platform
Hardware was a big challenge for me
initially – not knowing what to use or not.
Production is largely dependent upon the
computer platform you’re using.
Here’s my entire rig:
As a PC user, I was told to use Audacity – which
was not intuitive to me.
PC (Microsoft Surface – allows me to easily
bring my show anywhere there is internet
access.)
Blue Yeti microphone – USB plugged into
surface.
Zoom – allows me to record audio only or
video & audio.
I’ve even used Zoom on my iPhone w/
apple headset to record on the road – not
100%, and, adequate!
I was turned on to Hindenburg.com by another
podcast host and am SO grateful. For $99 onetime purchase, I and my producer have access
to this application.
It did take a day to get acclimated to the app
and upload my music, intros, bumpers, etc.
Now, it takes about 15m longer than the
podcast to review/ remove bloopers, etc.
This year, I have a team member (found on
Upwork.com) that does the production work
for me!
Show Frequency
Show Frequency is one of those things that
needs to work for you.
I was under contract to deliver weekly. I’m
so glad I was – and – it was very difficult to
deliver on a regular basis.
It was recommended to schedule (4)
podcasts the same day so that a month’s
worth were done at the same time.
Today, I’m hosting every 2 weeks. Once I
have a team member who can research
and schedule guests, I’ll roll back to weekly.
OR – according to several podcast experts,
they have multiple shows each week
because each podcast is an income stream
for them.
Up to you -
Record & Produce Your First 3 Shows
Jump in and schedule your first 3
podcasts. Listen to each following
to consider what you do and don’t
like about your show.
Producing and putting your first
shows together can be challenging.
After the first few, you’ll find your
groove.
I wish I had searched for a person to
produce shows for me. Expect to
pay ~$50/show to produce.
Publish Your First 3 Shows on Host
As mentioned before, I host on Spreaker.
I listen to each show when it returns from
production. While I’m listening, I craft:
Title
Description
Hashtags
Then, I upload the audio file, and add in the
title, description, hashtags and select the
day/time the show is to go live.
I go live on Friday’s 8a.
Market Your First 3 Shows
Using Canva.com, I created a social cover photo
for posting. It has the title and show details on
the cover photo.
Next, I upload the photo and 1minute
interesting audio clip from the show to
waave.co This allows me to create a short
video w/ wavy audio graphic for social – a bit
more interesting than a static graphic.
Using Buffer, I share the waave video on
LinkedIn on Tues, Facebook on Wed, IG on Thrs
– at times known to be good on each platform.
This allows me to see what the show natively
produces for listens and downloads over the
weekend, and then from each individual
channel daily the following week. I also send a
broadcast on the show to my email list.
Marketing is the most challenging part of the
process! I’m on my 3rd marketing person for the
show – to date, my repeatable process has
produced more than any other marketer.
Measure Your Success-
Data to Measure Monthly
Ok – check back in with your goals for your
show on a monthly basis. I allowed the
network I launched with to market for me
for the first 6 months and had little to no
growth in metrics.
Opt-Ins – are people listening and then
downloading your opt-ins?
On month 7, I started the marketing
process I mentioned earlier – adding the
waave and IG in the last few months.
Affiliate Sales – are you selling affiliate
products from your show?
Sales – are you selling your products from
your show?
Sponsorship dollars & delivery
In month 18, we won our award which only
elevates our credibility as a show.
Downloads & Listeners – Feedburner &
Feedblitz can help track all these metrics
where you syndicate.
Monitor your ranking and reviews on your
director syndicates.