Podcasts can be an excellent way to get ideas and points of view out to the world. The presence of podcasts online has been growing since they first gained popularity in the early 2000s. Podcasts have a wide range of topics and features and can be customized to the content you want to share. One of the biggest obstacles to generating a podcast is the budget required to produce it and finding the time to maintain that budget. Looking for the answer to “How to get a podcast budget approved?” Here are five tips from Backtracks to develop and maintain a podcast budget to make sure your ideas get heard.
1) Clearly articulate your goals for the podcast
Why do you want to have a podcast? If you are making or requesting a budget to produce a podcast, you need to have a clear set of goals in mind. Knowing the goals and scope of what you are creating and the end outcome that you desire is a key starting point to the planning stages of your podcast.
- Do you want to communicate directly with your fans, customers, and potential customers without other people filtering your message or content?
- Do you want to create content with high engagement from a particular audience without the time and expense of video?
- Do you want your audience to have a deeper connection with you or your brand?
2) Make a realistic budget
Creating a podcast often requires fewer expenses and resources than video. It is not without costs though. If you are self-producing a podcast you will need hardware like microphones, cables, and mixers as well as software like audio/visual editing software and plugins. Keep in mind it will be more cost effective than producing video content. The reason you want to have quality equipment and sound recordings simple, listeners will be more inclined to listen to your podcast if it sounds professionally produced.
Tip: Consider contracting or outsourcing the production and editing of your podcast that may save time as well as give you access to the expertise of people and teams that produce podcasts and edit audio for multiple clients.
If you are producing the podcast in-house, buying professional level “high-end” equipment is a worthwhile investment at the beginning of the project for consistent sound and to achieve a professional sound. Be sure to include recurring expenses like SaaS (Software-as-a-Service).
Tip: Use time management skills effectively
Time management is important when undertaking any project and podcasts are no exception. When you have stakeholders that approve a budget or other stakeholders like advertisers, sponsors, and a faithful audience… They are going to anticipate a cadence of content like weekly or monthly content. If this is not your only project, using time management will be crucial in ensuring you meet deadlines to meet your content calendar of releases.
3) Determine how you will measure success
Knowing how you will measure success will keep you on track in multiple ways. Having a clear set of goals and putting metrics in place to have the ability to measure if you are meeting or exceeding your goals (and course correcting if you are not) is key.
- Do you want audience members to spend more time on your site (consider using the Backtracks player on your site)?
- Do you want to reach an audience in particular geographic locations?
- Are there particular growth metrics you want to achieve with each episode or by period of time (e.g N% growth over X period of time)?
- Are there absolute numbers you want to hit in terms of audience size (e.g. 500 downloads a month)?
- Do you want to communicate a particular message and direct the audience to respond in a particular way (i.e. visit website X, complete survey Y, etc.)?
- Do you want to track conversions of actions?
4) Measure your progress and audience with Backtracks
Backtracks provides innovative data analytics that allows podcasters to truly see the audience they are reaching. This data is useful in measuring your success as well as maintaining and growing the support of current and future stakeholders (advertisers included). Whatever your podcast needs are, Backtracks has the platform to meet them.
Backtracks can provide you with in-depth analytics of your podcast built on Open Podcast Analytics (OPA). We’ll be able to tell you if those who downloaded your podcast actually played your podcast as well as data on the profile of your audience including who, what, where, and when. This data can be incredibly helpful for growing your podcast brand in a way that listeners actually appreciate. Using a third-party service shows your stakeholders real, verifiable data points. This is helpful for everyone. Partnering with Backtracks is just one of the ways to grow your podcast audience using innovative analytics and metrics that tell the story of your content.
If you have any questions or need help with a new or upcoming podcast project, schedule a call or demo with the Backtracks team or try Backtracks for free.
