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As a marketer, you know how difficult it can be to effectively manage all of your channels. From Instagram to email campaigns, keeping track of your content requires a strategy that ensures your messaging is unified and streamlined. More and more effective marketers are including branded podcasts as an integral part of their strategy to create brand alignment.
Branded podcasts have many moving parts. Between booking guests, writing scripts, and editing, there’s a lot to do, managing your workflow can feel overwhelming!
So, the question comes down to this:
How can you make managing your branded podcast easier so that you can focus on creating the most effective marketing strategy possible?
Here are 5 ways to simplify branded podcast management.
1. Find the Right Hosting Platform
Choosing the right hosting platform for your brand and podcast is key for your management strategy. An effective hosting platform can help you make strategic decisions about where to focus your energy, time, and resources.
Hosting platforms are critical because of the podcast data they provide. You can see what topics perform well, measure your growth, and track which channels are driving downloads. By using this data, you can direct your efforts into areas that need improvement or amplify what’s already working.
Specifically, analytics allows you to measure what aspects of your podcast are performing well with your audience so that you can manage your time more efficiently. Let’s say you have consistent unique listeners, but the number isn’t growing. Now know that your topics are resonating with your audience, but that you need to focus your attention on attracting new listeners.
2. Set Hard Deadlines and Boundaries
Setting deadlines and boundaries when it comes to content creation can be hard. It can feel like there is always something you could add to make it better (trust us- we feel your pain!)
However, if you don’t set boundaries and deadlines, the time you spend on your podcast can quickly spiral out of control. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t dedicate time and effort to your podcast, because well-produced podcasts do take time!
What it does mean is that it shouldn’t consume endless amounts of your time. Decide beforehand how much time you want to spend on each episode so that you can keep yourself and your team accountable. Set deadlines and make sure everyone on your team is aware of them well in advance.
Quick Tip: Track how much time you typically spend on every episode. Use these numbers to create an average that you can use as a benchmark. If you don’t have a reasonable benchmark, managing your podcast can quickly become unsustainable. Some of our recommended tools include Notion, ClickUp, and Asana.
3. Delegate and then Delegate Some More
Delegation can be difficult, but your team is there to support you. Delegating responsibilities lessens everyone's workload, and means that everyone can dedicate the time needed to their task.
It’s easy for things to slip through the cracks when you have too much on your plate.
Here’s an example of how you could break down podcast creation responsibilities among different people:
- Script Research and Writing
- Script Editing
- Sound Editing
- Promotion across channels
This is also an area where you can enlist the help of a podcast agency! A podcast agency’s role is to not only provide valuable guidance and expertise but also take the workload off of you and your team's plate.
4. Develop Clear Messaging and Direction
Nothing is going to make managing your podcast more difficult (or stressful) than not having clear messaging and direction. Scrambling to put together content of any kind is never a fun position to be in, but it can be especially stressful when you have to develop long-form content.
Most listeners of branded podcasts expect a well-developed and reliable show, and having clear themes and messages is key to developing one. If your messaging is incoherent and all over the place, you won’t be considered a thought leader in your niche anytime soon since listeners aren’t finding value in your content.
Remember when developing the messaging of your podcast to consider who your target audience is. This is a perfect opportunity to develop a ‘listener persona’- a fictional representation of your ideal listener.
If you already have your listener persona, it's much easier to plan your podcast around the expectations of that individual and constantly put out content that will have that person coming back for more!
Quick Tip: Much like a ‘buyer persona’ you can get creative with your listener persona. Give them a name, interests, and goals. Listeners want an authentic listening experience, and imaging them as real people instead of numbers is a great way to develop content and messaging that will deliver.
5. Stay Organized
As obvious as it may seem, keeping your podcast creation process as organized as possible is going to make it far easier to manage. As you would when creating any content, when planning an episode clearly set out the steps you need to take, who is responsible for the task, and the deadline. You can use the content management system (CMS) you already use to help you in this process.
Planning your episode topics ahead of time is another organizational tactic that will help you manage your podcast. If your podcast is done in seasons, plan the theme of the season ahead of time and build your episode titles and topics around it. You will never regret planning in advance, and your listeners will appreciate a well-thought-out episode and overall experience.
Quick Tip: You can (and should) use SEO when developing episode topics and titles! Build your episode titles around keywords and themes ahead of time.
By implementing these strategies, you can keep your branded podcast running smoothly and efficiently and focus your time and energy as efficiently as possible.
