Category Archives: Podcast

Building Your Podcast Brand

Posted by on June 1, 2011 No comments

Building your brand may sound to you like a phrase that belongs in a corporate boardroom and doesn’t apply to your podcast. This could not be further from the truth. As much as you may feel like a small-time independent podcast creator, the fact remains that there in order to build your podcast audience you are going to have to market your podcast.

Part of that marketing scheme should include building your online brand and figuring out how to market it.

If you are like me then you were born, tragically, without a single marketing bone in your body. So here are the basics of creating a brand for your podcast.

Podcast Name

This may come easily for some of you, the name of your podcast may have been the first thing that you created when you decided to do a podcast. If you haven’t chosen a podcast name yet, here are a few recommendations to consider.

Your podcast name should tie into your podcast topic somehow. If you are podcasting about quilting it makes no sense to call your podcast the SuperNova Podcast. That may sound like common sense to some of you, but I have seen some crazy podcast names out there.

Don’t make your podcast title something obscure that you will appreciate but others will find confusing. You want a name that is easily identifiable and relatable for your podcast audience so that they will remember you. Sometimes you can take a gamble and give your podcast a bizarre name and hope to be memorable because the name is so different, this is a big gamble and sometimes you gotta know when to fold ‘em.

If you plan on having a website, and I highly recommend you do, then you should bring your website into consideration as well. If you are going to register your own domain for your website then you will want to pick a name for your podcast for which the website domain is still available. If your podcast is titled The SuperNova Podcast but that domain is already taken and so you register AstronomyCast.com you are going to confuse your audience and there will be a disconnect there. It would be a better option just to rename your podcast AstronomyCast.

Tagline

Having a tagline is optional, there are a lot of successful podcasts that don’t have a specific tagline but sometimes they are nice when rounding out a brand. Sometimes taglines can be used to elaborate on a podcast title that you had to shorten because it was too long.

Call your podcast AstronomyCast, and have your tagline be – SuperNovas, Black Holes and More…

Color Scheme

I can’t stress enough how important the color scheme for your podcast is. It will translate across the board to all of the marketing you do. If you rush to make a decision on color and then you change your mind later on, it will make for a lot of work as you have to go back and re-design your website, logos, business cards, everything else. If you aren’t color coordinated, surf the web and check out the sites you frequent. See what kind of color schemes they are using and try to get an idea of what works and what doesn’t work for you, then translate that into what you think fits your podcast. Also pay attention to what colors people use for backgrounds text etc. For a lot of people having a black background and white text is difficult to read, look for trends like that and steer clear from them if at all possible.

Make sure that you have spent enough time selecting a color scheme that you are going to be happy with it for the long haul. If I were to change the color scheme on my site without any warning, many people who frequent the site daily would wonder if they had landed on the wrong site, simply because of the drastic change in appearance. You never want to confuse or surprise your audience that way.

I talk about color schemes a lot because this was one of the areas that I failed in miserably when I started my first podcast. That podcast went through at least 4 different color schemes and site re-designs before I finally found one that I liked. Every time I changed the design, my website traffic to a dip and it took a while to bring those people back in. If I had just spent more time in the preparation of my brand and website I wouldn’t have had to work so hard to rebuild the audience that I had lost.

Logo

The logo is important because it will often times be your Avatar as well. It will be your image in the iTunes directory, will be displayed on your website, on business cards, everywhere. If you are not a graphic artist I recommend finding one to create a logo for you. This needs to look professional, a logo that looks homemade will not give the first impression that you want for your podcast. You are going to want one that looks a little more polished.

If you can afford to hire someone to do this for you, there are a number of agencies that do logo design. If you are on a tight podcasting budget then I would recommend one of two options:

· Ask a friend who is a graphic artist to do the design for you

· Go to your local college and post an ad in the art department asking for help for a minimal fee. Art students are often looking for ways to expand their portfolio. Offer to link back to their website if they have one and mention them in your podcast.

Website

In regards to your brand, think of your website as the face of your podcast. This is what listeners will see on a daily basis that relates to your podcast. Once again, spend some time thinking about what impression you want to give with your website and then plan your content accordingly.

Podcast Description

You should develop a brief description for your podcast, shoot for 160 characters or less. This description will be used in a number of places, on your website, in iTunes, you will also use this description when submitting your podcast to directories for listing. Keeping your podcast description to 160 characters or less will also ensure sharp looking search results when people find your page in the organic search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Sign off

Another optional element of your brand is your sign off for your podcast; a quick farewell that you say at the end of every podcast episode that signals the end of the show. It should be short, catchy and memorable. Having a clever sign off leaves your audience with a familiar phrase (branding element) that they can associate with you and your podcast.

Some of the greatest broadcasters in media have had their signature sign off, this is no coincidence, and here are a few examples of some of the more famous ones.

“And that’s the way it is” – Walter Cronkite

“Good night and good luck” – Edward R. Murrow

“Good day and may the good news be yours” – Les Nessman from WKRP for you old-schoolers

As you build your brand you are establishing a platform that will allow you to be successful with not just your podcast; but your website as well. A podcast that is has an established is easier to market and has better potential for making money as a podcaster. It is the brand your audience remembers, the brand that the audience can identify with that will achieve the most success. So spend some time planning, brainstorming and building your brand.

Bryan Curry is a writer for PodcastingTips.com. PodcastingTips.com is a ‘How To’ site for podcasting. Creating a podcast, designing a website, making money podcasting, everything you need to know completely free. PodcastingTips.com is a collection of free information on how to podcast.

bryan@podcastingtips.com

http://podcastingtips.com


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Professional Podcasting Recording Studio – 3 common problems a professional podcast studio could solve

Posted by on April 26, 2011 No comments

Professional Podcasting Recording Studio

Podcasting has become a popular way for companies, specialists, and educators to share their message and services with the world. Some podcasts are made by individuals making commentary on society, doing movie reviews, or sharing their personal views on politics. Whatever topic an individual or organization wants to share information about, audio/video podcasts can be a user friendly, popular, delivery system. Many products exist that make podcasting fairly inexpensive and approachable to the average user. However, a gap exists between owning the equipment, knowing how to use that equipment, and even how to produce a top quality production for your podcasts. Podcasts are essentially on demand radio, or TV broadcasting. Wether the podcast is for profit, or just for fun, aside from advertising and distributing your podcast, making sure the quality and content of the podcast is the most important consideration in making a podcast. For this reason, the individual or organization that wants to do a podcast may need a higher production quality than what a 0 USB microphone and Apple’s Garage Band software can provide.

Not all professional recording studios understand the goals and needs of a podcast. Additionally, not many recording studios are considered affordable. Considering the idea that podcasts are generally delivered to the end user free of charge, low budget restrictions discourage individuals from considering a commercial option for podcasting. Just because podcasts are free to the user, doesn’t mean they need to sound “free”.

So what makes a recording studio a “Professional Podcasting” recording studio? Lets first analyze the 3 main production problems that are commonly found in many podcasts. Understand that a professional podcasting studio will directly solve these issues.

First, basic audio quality. Popular USB podcasting microphones are not meant to be of the highest quality, they are generally meant to be the most approachable price point. While this is understandable, this is the reality of the microphones that are advertised for podcast creation. Professional recording studios stock a variety of top quality microphones, top quality microphone preamplifiers and high quality analog to digital converters. All of this equipment is relevant in recreating a optimal, pleasant listening experience. You want people to listen to what you have to say, that means that you should eliminate all the factors that would keep them from listening. You audience will not want to hear a brittle vocal quality, harsh “S’s” or sibilance, muddy or muffled sound quality, or any other vocal quality that is undesirable. A good studio with good equipment can fix, or rather eliminate, these production issues altogether.

Recording studios are also treated acoustically in such a way that room reverberations are controlled. The goal of your podcast, to some extent, is to brand yourself or your organization as an expert or relevant voice on the subject matter. Good acoustics can be the difference between a respectable presentation, and a recording that leaves an individual wondering if they are listening to some nut job sitting at their laptop in their bedroom or basement. For example, if your podcast is about how to achieve financial success, you need to sound like you are a proven individual experiencing enough financial success to afford a good recording, not a con man sitting in their mothers basement selling unproven material. People generally listen to podcasts on .mp3 players/iPhones/iPods which means they are most likely listening on headphones. Headphones expose many potential technical and acoustical flaws as the sound source is placed as close to their ears as possible. A professional podcasting studio understands the considerations and challenges that arise from this common delivery system for podcasts.

Second, audio bed/background music. I love Apple’s Garage Band software and the standard audio loops and background tracks that come with the program. They work good to introduce and close pod casts, so good that everyone uses the same songs. I hear the same loops from that program on several other podcasts. If your podcast is part of how you wish to develop your product or service identity do you want to be the same as everyone else? Or are you different; are you unique? A professional podcasting recording studio understands this challenge and has a library of audio samples, or has the ability to compose and record an original intro/conclusion audio bed that is used to help define your podcast as unique.

Third, (applies to video podcasting only), Video quality. Webcams, those little cameras placed above computer displays are not bad, but they are not professional. If you want to join the army of nut jobs that record themselves rambling about this and that and post it on youtube, fine. But, if you are to position yourself as an expert in your chosen field, if you are to be taken seriously, your video podcast requires something more, something professional. This doesn’t mean that you need to have a full blown TV studio for this to happen. If you want that to be the case, more power to you, but for a majority of individuals looking to promote themselves through podcasting, their business or information does not require a full blown hollywood production. A professional podcast studio can not only accomplish outstanding audio quality, but also understands the needs of the video podcast as well. This means being able to edit video clips, power point or keynote slides at the appropriate times and lengths. Remember, with a video podcast, individual branding becomes even more important. It is difficult to instill confidence in those whom subscribe to your podcast that you are worth listening to if your video is grainy, pixilated, and if your dirty laundry is featured in the background of your bedroom webcam podcast.

With the technology for podcasting so widely available to the masses, the best way to stand out from the oceans of mediocre podcasts, seek to increase your quality and presentation by employing the services of a professional podcasting recording studio.

Nick Galieti is the owner/engineer at Studio 5.1, a professional podcast recording studio in Salt Lake City Utah. Nick Galieti has been recording music, spoken word, and soundtracks since 2000.


Article from articlesbase.com

How To Create A Podcast

Posted by on April 14, 2011 25 comments

This video will show you how to create a podcast and distribute it. We will use Audacity (audacity.sourcforge.net) to edit the podcast and then use one of these programs to upload it to the web: Podango – www.podango.com Podpress – www.mightyseek.com/podpress MyPodcast – www.mypodcast.com Then we will distribute the podcast by submitting to Podcast search engines found at Podcast411 (www.podcast411.com).