What is a Podcast?

A podcast is a radio or television broadcast that a user can download from the internet by prior subscription and listen to on either a computer or a portable player.

This video will help explain:

Although podcasting started as a format used mainly by users, today a multitude of brands use it as a tool (and a very effective one) to connect with their audience. All kinds: big and small. Radio stations, TV stations, comedians, even churches deliver their message through podcasting.

One third of Americans have listened to a podcast in the last month.

Okay, it's the United States, but the figure in Europe is still very interesting, with Spain being the second country in the world in listeners according to a study by Business Insider.

What we like most about a podcast is that there is no recipe for success. We are tired of magic formulas and in podcasting we find all kinds of models: from 1 minute to 1 hour, thousands of different styles, expensive and cheap productions. Anything goes, and having a studio doesn't guarantee absolutely nothing.

The clear benefits of a Podcast:

• The opportunity to connect much more closely with your audience (now, listeners).
• Diversifying formats will help you bring in an audience that doesn't want to read or watch, but listen.
• By having less competition, your message will be able to reach further (a priori). Be careful, with the volume of growth in the industry, this will not always be the case.
• If you don't write well or don't like the camera, it opens a new opportunity to shine.

A podcast is usually distributed in episodes that are hosted on one of the various podcast hosting platforms, such as:

• Buzzsprout
• Podbean
• Transistor
• Castos
• Blubrry
• Spreakr
• Simplecast

Have I convinced you? Are you thinking about recording a Podcast? We recommend you to be clear about these steps before embarking on your first episode:

1. Choose a topic appealing enough for you to engage with it (and your audience).
2. Define your visual (and non-visual) identity.
3. Choose your team correctly. (We recommend you this post with 11 setups for all budgets)
4. Create a detailed schedule for each episode.
5. Start recording.
6. Edit and publish each episode.
7. Release your podcast to the general public.

If after this you are still curious about what a podcast is, you’ll find the best way forward is learning by doing.