Professionally Produced Podcasts Make The Difference

Anyone can start a podcast - the tools for creators are abundant, accessible, and affordable. That’s probably why there are now over 2,000,000 podcasts, with over 48 million episodes. But, it’s also why most podcasts don’t survive beyond a dozen or so episodes.

Strategic and Logistical Support

If you are creating a podcast as a hobby, you may not be overly concerned if you stop producing episodes because it’s too time-consuming or you have not attracted a sizeable audience. But, if you are starting a podcast for your organization, you can’t afford to fail when you have an important mission to accomplish.

One of the best ways to improve the odds that your podcast will succeed is to hire an experienced podcast production company to produce your podcast.  Why?  An experienced producer can improve your content, your audio quality, and your production efficiency — setting you up for success.

Improved Content 

You know the content that you need to deliver. You may know the people who you want to deliver that content. And you may know the target audience. That, however, is only the beginning of the process of creating a podcast that people actually enjoy

A good producer can help you improve the overall quality of your content delivery.

1. Shaping your story

2. Structuring the arc of each episode

3. Helping the speaker to deliver the key messages clearly and effectively

Each podcast episode, even a corporate training session, is essentially a story - with a narrative arc. But it is not just a story— it has to be adapted to the medium of audio. And it has to engage the listener, particularly in today’s multidimensional environment where listeners are busy and have many competing demands during their workday, their time with family and friends, and their personal leisure time.

A good podcast engages the listener within the first 30 seconds.

A producer can guide you to the best way to deliver a compelling beginning for each episode of your podcast. Their experience can guide your creation of a structure and format that lets the story unfold in the most effective way (perhaps with different speakers or different segments). And, the producer can help the speakers to optimize the clarity, modulation, and expressiveness of their voices. Most importantly, a producer can add an objective perspective to the process, delivering helpful pointers and insights to each participant in the recording, particularly in situations where other members of the organization may be reluctant or hesitant to deliver feedback.

Superior Audio Quality

Podcast listeners are generally sophisticated. They notice the difference between a professionally produced podcast and one that has inferior, or even distracting, audio quality. Professional podcast producers use specialized equipment that adjusts for common audio issues and delivers uniformly high quality sound. Producers can provide the right microphones for each of the podcast participants. They can create separate audio (and video) tracks for each participant, allowing focused attention to the sound quality of each participant. They can smooth-out the speaking volume of the participants, screen out distracting background noises, and compensate for poor WIFI connections in the location where the recording occurs. The audio files can be saved, even if someone's computer crashes during a recording session, thereby avoiding the need to re-record the content. Experienced producers can edit the recordings to provide just the right amount and type of musical interludes,if any, and to eliminate awkward pauses, too many  “ums”, and repetitive or inappropriate content.

Greater Efficiency

Creating and producing a podcast yourself can be inefficient and time consuming due to lack of prior experience, improper tools, or simply not enough time. A producer can manage time-consuming administrative tasks such as scheduling (and rescheduling) podcast guests. The producer can efficiently edit the recording on professional equipment, quickly produce written transcripts, and make last minute edits or additions within a short time-frame. The producer can deal directly with various teams within the organization (such as legal, compliance, or human resources) and facilitate the smooth completion of each episode in line with the organization’s time constraints, objectives and internal guidelines.

Professional Delivery

Professional producers can provide advice on the best way to deliver content and reach your internal audience. This can range from a proprietary app, to a password protected stream, or an embedded player within an intranet site. Your producer will be able to walk you through solutions, pitfalls, and security considerations as you plan your content strategy. 

Podcast production is both an art and a skill set. It requires the right combination of experience, talent,  good equipment and dedicated attention. Hiring an experienced podcast producer to create and produce your internal podcast will ultimately save you both time and money - and you are much more likely to end up with a very successful podcast.

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July 27, 2021
by Lois Herzeca and Rob Sanchez