The Podcast Launch Checklist

On this episode I’m going to give you the my podcast launch checklist essentials to get your podcast live! Use this podcast launch checklist to make sure your show is accepted to the podcast apps the first time you submit!

1. An Intro and Outro

If you want a professional sounding podcast that immediately showcases your effervescent personality, the first thing you’re going to want to do is record an intro and an outro with some super sweet music.

Your intro should be short and sweet, no more than 30 seconds (remember you’re going to be putting this on every episode) so that people don’t get bored and skip through it. It should include the name of your show, your name, and what people can expect to hear about. Something like this:

“This is The Ultimate Creative Podcast with your host Emily Milling – a show about designing your own creative career and the different ways you can earn money with your amazing creative skills!”

Your outro can be longer – full disclosure though, some people may just totally skip it. This is where you want to give listeners a call to action, such as “if you like the show, please rate, review and subscribe – it helps more people like you find our show!” or “don’t forget to follow us on Instagram at @the_ultimatecreative!”

2. Podcast Artwork

Your podcast artwork should be a minimum of 1400px by 1400px in order to get into the iTunes library. This has become the standard for podcasts. It’s ok to make it bigger though!

The artwork should be very easy to read, and eye catching. A headshot of you with clear text showing the title of the show works great. It should be uncomplicated because people will be scrolling through on their phones, and the image will be teensy tiny.

Your artwork should be clear, be uncomplicated, and most importantly, be recognizable.

3. A Podcast Host

Not you, silly! A podcast host is a platform like SoundCloud or Libsyn where you upload the audio files for your show. The host will create a unique URL (a.k.a. an RSS feed) that will automatically tell the audio apps like Spotify and iTunes that there’s a new episode. These will run you around $20+ per month. There are mannnny different options out there, and it all comes down to how much you want to spend and how many analytics you want to see.

4. A Podcast!

Yeah I know that sounds pretty dang simple, but you do need to have a recorded episode ready to go before you submit anything anywhere. Not just a five minute trailer either – a full episode! For a while it was popular to start your podcast feed with a trailer because it would give you enough time to make sure your show was accepted on all the major platforms. iTunes notoriously takes several days for approval. Then, iTunes decided that it didn’t want trailers, and it would only accept podcasts that had an actual episode in the feed!

Obviously it would be ideal to have a soft-launch with a trailer while your feed is being approved, but it is important to know that you need a full episode ready to go so that you can plan to make your big launch announcement AFTER the show is approved.

5. A Marketing Plan

There’s nothing worse than releasing your podcast to crickets! Even if your podcast is going to be a part of your marketing mix, it still needs planning and a strategy to get people to download and listen to it. Your marketing plan should include a SMART goal, and clearly defined tactics to implement it. Here’s more on how to create a marketing plan.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Podcast Rocket – A complete guide to launching your totally successful podcast! – http://theultimatecreative.com/podcast-rocket/

Sounds Like An Earful – https://soundslikeanearful.com/