Arguably the biggest myth about podcasting is that it’s quick and easy. All it takes is recording some audio and uploading it- right? 

If you’re a podcast creator or marketer, you know that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Podcasting, and all the moving parts associated with it, is time-consuming. It’s easy to spend hours putting together a twenty-minute show, and as a marketer, you have enough on your plate as is. 

Luckily, there are solutions that can transform podcasting into an efficient process. That being said, keep in mind that unless you decide to outsource the entire process,  creating a great podcast will take time no matter what. 

Plan your entire season in advance

There is nothing like creating a great first few episodes of your show and then realizing you’ve run out of steam. Part of creating a great topic, theme, or concept for your podcast is ensuring that it can continue throughout the season without becoming dry or running out of content. 

Have a dedicated brainstorming session with the entire team that will be working on the show to ensure that everyone is on board with the concept, format, and process of creating your podcast. If not, you’ll find yourself scrambling to put together episodes, which ultimately takes more time and effort, and is also more stressful for everyone. If you plan everything in advance, you can create episode plans, an upload schedule, and marketing assets ahead of your launch. 

Planning your season in advance also means you can work ahead of schedule, creating a content runway. This way if a guest needs to reschedule, you have tech issues or a team member is sick, you have enough content that your schedule won’t be thrown off course.  

Another aspect of planning the season means having episode titles, show notes, and upload dates planned well in advance. Scrambling to come up with a title last minute or hastily writing show notes will not only result in a worse final product, but it will also decrease efficiency and disrupt consistency. If your team knows well in advance what needs to be done, and when, they can plan accordingly and ensure their other tasks aren't impacted. 

Insider Tip: Download our Ultimate Podcast Starter Pack for a selection of 10 templates to help you in your planning and distribution process. 

‍

Get ahead of guest scheduling 

Anyone who has created an interview-based podcast knows that scheduling guests for interviews can feel like running the gauntlet. Organizing everyone’s busy schedules to find a time that works can be difficult. That's why along with content creation and planning, you also need to plan ahead when it comes to guests. 

Reach out to them well in advance through a concise email explaining what your podcast is about, why they should come on, and suggest some possible dates. 

Having the copy for the email done ahead of time, and proactively suggesting dates, will save you from emailing back and forth as often and means whoever is doing outreach has a template to pull from. 

Here’s an example of a podcast guest outreach email: 

Dear X, 

I am reaching out to inquire if you would be interested in being interviewed for Big Tech’s Podcast, ‘Tech in the Wild.’ The podcast features business leaders in the world of tech to gain insight into tech leadership. 

The interview would last about 30 mins and would be between you and our CEO, John Smith. Some previous guests on our show include XX, XX, and XX. 

If you are interested, I have provided some potential dates and times. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or additional information on our show. 

Insider Tip: Your company likely has a CRM up and running for your sales team. If this is the case, create a pipeline for podcast guest sourcing so you can keep track of who you’ve reached out to, if they’ve responded, and if you’ve set an interview date.

‍

Leverage AI in podcasts

There are some great ways to leverage the power of AI and automate your podcast production process. You’ve likely heard of ChatGPT, but there are a wide array of AI programs that you can integrate into your podcast process to increase efficiency. 

AI streamlines processes that are time-consuming and tedious for team members so that they can focus their time and energy on more high-value tasks.

Here are a few of our favourite AI's to use in podcast production:

• Trint: an AI transcription tool for quick and easy transcriptions
• Descript: an audio editing tool that makes editing simple for beginners and saves time
• Jasper: Jasper writes marketing copy for you so you can save time on promotional material for your podcast
• Grammarly: Run scripts, content, and copy through this writing assistant. It can catch grammatical mistakes, make sure you’re using an appropriate tone, and more! 
• And of course, Chat GPT: A podcaster can leverage Chat GPT in various stages of their production process such as episode titles, descriptions, shownotes, blogs, promotional materials, or ideas for future content. 

When it comes to AI, it’s important to experiment with different solutions to find out what works best for you. Automating your process is one of the best ways to save time and become efficient, currently, 80% of marketing industry experts integrate AI into their processes and podcasting is a fantastic medium to use it in. 

AI isn’t going anywhere, so implementing it early on to learn the best ways to leverage it is going to be key to marketers in podcasts, but also in other areas of their industry. If you don’t look at implementing AI solutions now, you and your team will fall behind. 

‍

Delegate tasks and communicate efficiently 

Creating a corporate podcast is a group effort that takes the collaboration of a team of people. As with most team projects, ensuring that everyone is on the same page about expectations and deadlines is key. 

Here’s an example of how you can break down tasks between team members:

‍Team Member #1: Scripts, shownotes, and social copy

Team Member #2: Guest outreach and booking 

Team Member #3: Graphic design of cover art and socials

Team Member #4: Editing and mixing 

There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to putting together a great podcast, which is why ensuring that everyone has a clear role and understanding of their responsibilities will make sure that everything gets done. 

Use a task management system so your team can clearly see what their responsibilities are and when they need to have things completed. 

Some project management tools we recommend include: 

• Trello
• Asana
• Monday.com

‍

Outsourcing your podcast process

Ultimately what will really make your podcast process more efficient is outsourcing the parts of the process that your team either struggles to complete on time or that you don’t have expertise in. 

You can outsource any part (or the entirety) of your podcast process. Full-service agencies will take care of everything, while you can hire freelancers to take on parts you may not be familiar with, like sound editing. 

If you’re planning on outsourcing, it’s always a good idea to reach out to an agency to see if they can take on part of the production. Maybe your team wants to take control of content writing and marketing, but you want an agency to do guest outreach and editing, most agencies will make you a tailored plan to fit your team best. 

Here are a few podcast agencies we recommend:

• Quill
• Content Allies
• JAR Audio

‍

Good podcasts take time 

No matter how efficient you make your podcast process, it’s important to remember that a high-quality podcast takes time no matter what. Just because you’re making your process more efficient doesn’t mean you need to be sacrificing quality. All of these strategies should be implemented to streamline your process, not to cut corners. 

If your team doesn’t have the time to dedicate to creating a great show, outsourcing to a podcast agency is likely your best option.