5 Tips and Tricks for Podcasting

January 24, 2018
Annette Maggi
Communications

In last week’s article, 4 Reasons You Should be Podcasting, we discussed this tool as an effective way to reach your shoppers with in-depth education.  If you’ve added podcasting to your communications plan for 2018, here are five tips and tricks to ensure it’s successful.

1. Define your Niche.  Health and wellness or nutrition as a category are just too broad to attract a target audience.  You need to define a theme for your podcasts within the broader category of your retail RD programs and services.  Regan Jones, RD, and host of This Unmillennial Life shares her insights on narrowing your focus. “I felt like there was a void of content aimed at women my age. The concerns of unmillennial women are different than those of their younger or older peers.  This Unmillenial Life tackles those concerns in a way that resonates specifically with an almost ‘counter culture’ narrative to the more mainstream millennial voice online today.”  Whether it’s a key demographic or a health topic, defining your podcast niche is essential for success.
2. Plan to Prevent Podfade.  Similar to blogs and e-newsletters, you may start out strong with the frequency of your podcasts but later let them drop off due to struggles with topics or time to tape the segments.  Before you begin, plan out a realistic frequency for release of podcast segments and establish an editorial calendar of topics.  If you have a team of RDs, determine how you can share the responsibility across the group to ensure consistency in your segment release schedule. Amber Pankonin MS, RD, LMNT, who started Healthy Under Pressure in 2017, joined a podcasting mastermind group to prevent podfade.  “It’s very motivating when you have others who are willing to keep you accountable,” comments Pankonin.
3. Understand the Slow Build.  ROI of healthy living programs is a key issue for managers of retail health and wellness programs, and shopper engagement is one element of this measurement.  It’s essential to communicate that new podcasts take time to build subscribers and listeners, and that a promotion strategy is needed with the role out of the podcasts.
4. Make it Professional.  Script writing and sound quality are just two of the elements to consider to ensure your podcasts are professional.  If you’re company doesn’t have an in-house studio for use, consider local radio stations that often offer recording and production services.  If you will be conducting interviews as a part of your podcasts, always test sound quality prior to the live taping.  Amber Pankonin advises, “Do not settle for mediocre audio. Do what you can to get the best sound quality. Invest in good equipment or rent time in a local recording studio.”
5. Consider Monetization.   Regan Jones indicates her podcast is built with a commercial break for sponsorships and that she is in the process of negotiating those spots at present.  Retail relationships with vendors may present options for monetization.

Podcasting can be an effective way to extend your reach to a greater number of shoppers and community members.  These tips will help make your podcast a success!