Over the last five years, podcast listenership has skyrocketed (175 percent!). In any given conversation, you may hear someone say, “Well, I heard on a podcast…” Business owners across the world (not just on Krepling) are leveraging podcasts as a marketing technique to grow their business.

In this blog, we’ve put together a guide that will help get your podcast off the ground. Let’s get started.

Why Start a Podcast

Most journeys start with the WHY. There’s a lot of value in creating content for your business or brand. This comes in a variety of forms. More people are familiar with blogging or creating videos. However, podcasting has become a more popular way to create content in the past few years, and it also allows you to reach a brand-new audience. You’ll also establish yourself as an authority in the industry by becoming a podcaster.

 Finally, if done correctly, you can drive traffic back to your website or store with your podcast. All you have to do is put links in your podcast description and have cleverly incorporated promotion for your products or services.

How To Start A Podcast

1 Create a concept.

What’s your podcast going to be about? If you own and operate a running shoe company, then odds are you’re not going to start a podcast exclusively about running shoes. There won’t be enough content for multiple shows. However, you could start a podcast on athletics, running in general, marathon running, or some other related topic. When you brainstorm the topic of your podcast, you’ll want to make it specific enough to appeal to your audience, but general enough that you’ll have enough content for numerous episodes. Once you’ve decided this, you should also brainstorm:

1. Name of the podcast
2. Target length of the podcast
3. Format of each episode

2. Design artwork for your podcast.

Even though podcasts are all audio, you still need to have a certain degree of branding when you start one. You’ll want to have cover artwork for people to see on the podcast app, so they can easily recognize your podcast name and brand. How “pretty” your podcast cover art is will also determine how many people randomly decide to try your podcast. While it may be unfair to judge a book by its cover, you’ll want every chance you have to draw potential customers to your podcast.

3. Write a podcast description.

What do you do before you watch a movie? You watch the preview. What do you do before you listen to a podcast? You read the podcast description. This description should give a nice overview of the content, tie back to your brand, and include any additional information like website, social media, etc.

4. Record and edit your audio files (i.e. MP3s).

You may need to invest in certain podcasting equipment. A microphone is recommended to ensure you have quality audio. If you’re operating on a low budget, start with a microphone and add to your equipment later.

5. Find a place to host your files.

This is a file host that specializes in podcasts because shared web hosts and websites won’t have the bandwidth or speed required for downloading and streaming MP3s. Examples include Libsyn and Podbean.

6. Syndicate your audio files into an RSS feed so they can be distributed.

Once your media host is configured (and you have one or more episodes uploaded), you’ll be provided with an RSS feed by your media host. An RSS feed contains all of your episodes as well as the title, artwork, description, and MP3 file location. Krepling also allows you to integrate your episodes directly with your website if you are on Spotify!

Don’t worry if you get a little lost during this part of the process. Your media host will handle this. However, it’s a good step to know because this is what you’ll submit to podcast directories in the next step. The good news is that you’ll only have to submit the RSS feed once. After that, the feed will automatically update, and you’ll be good to go.

7. Submit your podcast to the right channels.

There are a number of directories that can list your podcast. These include Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, YouTube, Spotify, SoundCloud, and more. You’ll need to have your name, artwork, description, and category on hand when submitting it. Because Apple Podcasts is the largest podcast directory, we recommend you start there first and then move on to the others.

Step 4. Find A Clothing Manufacturer

Some designers start businesses where they personally sew every garment. Yet, these business models are impossible to scale, which means finding a manufacturer is your best bet in learning how to start a clothing brand. Reach out to manufacturers with the following in mind.

• Have a realistic budget. When you start your fashion brand, you may not have a surplus of funds. Don’t overcommit resources.
• Learn about the manufacturing timeline. This can help you with planning.
• Prepare your design resources. You’ll want to provide your clothing manufacturer with fabric swatches, sewn samples, etc.

Final Thoughts

Podcasts are a popular way to consume content because they’re easy. They’re easy to consume, and they’re easy to engage with. You don’t have to spend time scrolling on your phone reading or watching a video. People often listen to them at the gym, in the car, or at work. Podcasts are on-demand, which means you can listen to it whenever you want, and you can often listen on 1.5 or 2-time speed if you’re in a rush.

Starting a podcast to promote your business or even to build a closer relationship with your customer base is effective. Once you get up and running with a free podcast, you can even start monetizing premium podcast episodes, create a website (if you don’t already have one), or design merch for your brand. It’s all part of the grand plan to expand your business.