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Podcasting is absolutely booming, and with this growth comes a whole host of podcast production services that exist to make your podcast sound professional — and to help you break through in an increasingly crowded market.
Recording a podcast in your bedroom is still possible. But let’s be clear. With millions of podcasts on the airwaves, podcast listeners are increasingly expecting a slick, well-produced podcast production. One that tells a story, or answers questions. One that educates and entertains. One that has a neat little jingle to kick off and some striking, on-brand artwork to make your pod stand out while scrolling for something to listen to.
Not just your rambling thoughts with crackling audio. Hiring professional podcasting services helps you avoid the pitfalls of podcast production and get your message heard.
So, what are the trends in Podcast Production?
Around 40% of Australians (about 10 million people) listened to podcasts in 2022, and this audience listens to an average of 7 podcast episodes a week! The average time spent listening to podcasts also surged up to over seven hours, from 5 hours in 2021.
Takeaway: For those of you on the fence about starting a podcast: just do it! The whole world is going podcast-crazy, and Australians are leading the charge.
Maybe it’s because of how most of us take in podcasts —often while we’re cooking or cleaning, driving or walking, but it seems that podcast listeners are much more tolerant of ads than someone who is watching a screen. Not only more tolerant, but more likely to buy! According to research out of the US, almost 90% of podcast listeners have a positive attitude towards podcast ads — and over 60% chance that they’ll consider buying the product if it’s being spruiked on their favourite podcast.
Takeaway: Having a slick, well produced podcast vastly increases your chances of getting advertisers and monetising your podcast.
It’s interesting to visit early shows of successful podcasts and see how terrible the audio quality often was. In the early days of podcasting, there was some level of forgiveness for people who recorded a chat in a cafe, or with audible traffic noise in the background. It was new, people were still finding their way. Those times are gone. Now, many listeners will just navigate away from your pod the minute the audio gets a bit crackly or buzzy — let alone if there’s a barking dog in the background or someone talking with a pasty mouth.
Good audio quality is the basic expectation of podcast listeners, and one you can’t afford to get wrong. But recording your audio in a professional podcast studio and using the right podcasting production service will ensure that your podcast quality is tip-top.
They may have started out with largely a young audience looking for a new way to take in media, but podcasts are now being devoured by all age groups. The older section of the audience is growing with one in four listeners now over 55, as that age bracket discover how easy podcasts are.
Takeaway: Know who’s listening. Know your audience and your target market. And don’t forget that there might be a whole new audience out there waiting. Spend time doing the research about who you want to reach. Get your messaging right.
Ever fancied yourself as the host of a live radio show? Well live podcast recording is exactly that. This type of live podcasting is on the rise, with listeners apparently getting a real kick out of hearing the unfiltered, unedited version of their favourite podcasters.
Takeaway: Live podcasting is probably only for the experienced podcasters among you. There’s a real risk in just winging it when you go live on air — whether you make a factual error, say something you really shouldn’t have, or more likely, go off on a bit of a tangent that ends up not being very interesting to your listeners! The beauty of recording a podcast then letting us edit and produce it for you is that you get to relax and get into the flow of speaking, knowing we can edit out any mistakes or stumbles later.
Ok, so comedy and true crime are still the blockbuster podcasts, along with health and lifestyle. But there’s an explosion of other topics chasing at their heels, from popular history or writing podcasts to the ultra-niche. There are a multitude of podcast subjects to choose between. What is vital is that you are expert in the topic matter and that you have a way of making it interesting.
Takeaway: Choose a topic that you are expert in, and that you have enough knowledge and interest in to run for an entire season or longer. Your network will also help here: the marketability and reach of podcasts grows when you invite a range of interesting people to participate. One podcasting service that might be of use if you are struggling with the structure of your podcast is hiring a podcasting company to loosely research and/or script your podcast topics so that you have a clear storytelling arc to follow and know that you’re consistently hitting your main themes and messages.
When someone’s looking for a new podcast, they’re probably doing to do it in a couple of ways. Most likely they’ll either Google something like ‘best new podcasts’ or ‘popular true crime podcasts’, or they’ll make it even easier by just asking Siri! They might even be looking for the answer to a specific question — and now that Google indexes audio content, that means that your podcast can come up as the answer to a question someone types into Google. Pretty cool. SEO research is also super important to find out what your audience wants to know.
All of this means that you MUST optimise your show’s online presence for SEO.
Takeaway: SEO is painful but essential. As a bare-bones approach, you need to be doing a couple of things: running keyword analysis to find out what your ideal audience wants to know + using keywords in show titles and show notes. If SEO isn’t your thing, we suggest outsourcing to a podcast production company who also has SEO expertise. (Hint. That’s us.)
We mentioned earlier that your network is important when it comes to inviting guests on to keep things interesting and grow your pod’s reputation for expertise. But don’t stop there. Offer yourself as a guest on other podcasts, and share other people’s podcasts on your socials and ask them to share yours. Talk about other podcasts on your show, and build a big, happy network of podcasters who might expand your audience in new and interesting ways.
Remember, Aussies are obsessed with podcasts. We’re listening to over 7 hours a week, and we’re always hungry for new content. There’s enough ears to go around, is what we’re saying. Don’t jealously guard your listeners. Recommend other great podcasts and see what comes back.
So, there’s 8 trends in podcasting services to think about. At Clearshot Digital, we offer the complete range of podcasting services, from recording in our podcast studio to all facets of scripting, hosting, marketing, SEO, and post-production. Give us a call if you’re interested in any element of podcast production, or just want to hire our cost-effective podcast studio.
Happy podcasting.
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