Are you wanting to start a podcast? Or maybe revamp one that's not creatively fulfilling? Today, we're diving deep into the art of content creation. Whether you're a budding podcaster, a blogger, a YouTuber, or mastering the craft of email newsletters, strategic planning is your golden ticket to success.
In this episode, I'll introduce you to my signature PREP'M Method, the cornerstone of content creation encompassing planning, recording, editing, publishing, and marketing.
We'll journey back to the roots of my first podcast in 2018 and explore how the planning stage, which should account for a good 45% of your efforts, is critical yet often overlooked. Get ready to pick up some insider tips, like why starting with a $20 microphone might be enough and how you can make editing a breeze.
There is no need to go solo on this—interviewing guests offers rich content to explore. Plus, I'll share some of my favorite tools, like Riverside, Camtasia, and Hindenburg, to help you capture and finesse your episodes.
And when it comes to getting your content heard, let's crack the code of podcast marketing together. I also have a special offer for our listeners—a five-minute podcast boot camp and my "Proffitt Podcasting" course and group coaching program—to guide you through every step.
Don't forget, we love hearing from you! Please send in your audio or video questions, subscribe to the podcast, and join us as we build our podcasting community. Let's kick off this episode and turn your vision into a reality!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Speaker 1:
So you're thinking about starting a podcast in 2024 or beyond. I am so excited for you. Hi, I am Crystal Prophet. If we have not met, I figured it'd be fun to do like a quick intro of who I am and what I'm all about, because many of you have been listening or watching my content for a while, but it could have been like at a very like ooh, I just found you on this latest episode about AI or because of this guest that we had on. So I wanted to do an intentional episode that kind of walks you through how I think about starting a podcast and some of the common philosophies that I have. So even people that have been in this audience for years can benefit from these little subtle reminders of exactly what we do whenever we're starting a podcast, a blog, a YouTube channel or your email newsletters for the very first time. Because the way that I think about content is always being strategic. I mean, I'm a content strategist and a podcast coach, and I would not be doing you any favors if I did not share the behind the scenes of how I create my own content using these same principles. So let's get right to it. Welcome to the Profit Podcast, where we teach you how to start, launch and market your content with confidence. I'm your host, crystal Profit, and I'm so excited that you're here. Thanks for hanging out with me today, because if you've been trying to figure out the world of content creation, this is the show that will help be your time saving shortcut. So let's get right to it, shall we? Okay, welcome back.
Speaker 1:
So I did a short intro from the beginning of this episode, but I wanna just go real quickly through some of the things that, if you, like I said you've been around here for a while, you're gonna know some of these things. They're gonna sound familiar. But I also wanna go through some of the things that I would consider if I were starting from scratch today, like several years, like thousands of episodes into my journey, what I would do differently if I were starting a podcast today. So the first thing we need to cover is my five step PREPA method. That's P-R-E-P-M, because the PREPA method is foundational to every single piece of content, whether it's a podcast, a newsletter, a blog post. It's something I'm creating for someone else. I use the PREPA method for everything in my business in and all of my content. So what does PREPA stand for that's plan record, edit, publish and market. It's the PREPA method.
Speaker 1:
I also have a digital program where this is what I teach my students and this is how I really wanna solidify these five steps, and the reason why is because planning, like step number one, is where I spend 45% of my time. I actually have this chart that I use inside the program where I show you exactly how I break everything down, like time-wise. If I were to slap a percentage across, okay, these are the five steps. Where do you spend the most time? 45% of my time is spent in the planning mode. So if you're someone that like flies by the seat of your pants and you're just like, oh well, I'll just figure it out as I go, that's fine, it's what most of us do. And then we're like, oh wait, I should have done some more planning.
Speaker 1:
This is what I hear from so many podcasters. I've talked to hundreds of thousands of podcasters and content creators and this is the part where they say I wish I was better at that, I wish I would have spent more time planning, I wish I would have been more strategic, but I just had to get it out there. And hey, I'm not judging you, I've met so many people. I did this myself when I first started my podcast. I had a show back in 2018. It was called the rookie life and this was my very first podcast and I just had to get it out there. I knew I had a message inside of me and I was just like bleh, like let me just get it out. I have to put this out into the world, otherwise I will not feel like I am a complete whole person until I put this message out there. So I get it. I get it. I get just like ripping off the band aid and putting it out there.
Speaker 1:
But after you've done that and you're like gosh, I'm really I'm not seeing the traction that I thought I would, or you know, I don't have as many people interested as I thought would be, or I just needed to get over myself and listen, like hear my own voice enough times to where now, okay, I feel comfortable. I don't feel as awkward or as like weird behind the camera or behind my microphone. To where now, I'm comfortable in actually telling people about this. So this is actually why marketing is the last step in all of the content, creation of the prep and method. So again, it's plan record, edit, publish and market. Marketing is last, because in reality, you are doing little, bitty baby steps of marketing in every of the other four stages of content creation.
Speaker 1:
I want you to baby step into marketing because this is the part that's usually really hard for so many of you. I have people in my audience that are home bakers, they are doulas, they are coaches. They I mean business in and of itself is not the core of their business. So you may not have a degree in marketing like I do, or have had countless of you know online business experience that makes you feel comfortable talking about whatever it is that you're creating. So that's why I want you to spend more time planning when you're starting your podcast, so that you can feel comfortable in all of these other stages.
Speaker 1:
Now I have this quick five minute podcast boot camp that, if you have not done it yet, you absolutely need to go through it. It shows you the prep, a method, but also I go into a lot more of the nuanced details of what it actually takes to publish a single episode and how podcasting works. I mean because, let's be honest, if you have not done this, if you have not created a podcast before you wouldn't know what a podcast host is, or RSS feeds, or how to get listed, and all these directories or dynamic content and outlines and baked in ads and pre-roll versus mid-roll versus post-roll, like all of these words are things that I didn't know. I didn't know any of this back in 2018, whenever I first got started. So I want you to go through this quick five minute podcast boot camp because it will show you at a very high level how podcasting works so you can know what to expect. And I'm going to have the link. If you're watching the video, it's going to be on the screen. But I want you to go to crystalprofitcom podcast boot camp it's all one word podcast boot camp and go check it out again. It's a free five minute podcast boot camp. It will be so helpful in your journey.
Speaker 1:
But when I go back to the things that I wish I would have spent more time on absolutely spent more time planning, because I would have felt more comfortable marketing, which is the very last step. So the more that you feel comfortable planning your episodes whether it's sitting down to write outlines or bullet points or whatever makes the most sense to you like these are things that you're going to have to figure out. This is another thing. I'll have students that come to me and they'll say hey, can you look at my outlines and tell me, are they good? Like, does this look good for an episode? And I kind of just take a step back and take a pause and say is this good for you? Cause you're the one that's recording it. I'm not going to be sitting there holding your hand recording it. I mean, if you want me to be your podcast producer, that's a different conversation. We can have that conversation, but I'm not going to be sitting there with you while you record every single episode, and so you need to be the one that's comfortable with your notes, whether it's a full blown script or it's bullet points or it's. You know one thing that's a title on a you know a Google doc, whatever it is for you. You have to feel comfortable with that. So planning is really where so much of my time and effort is spent.
Speaker 1:
Now let's get into recording, because recording is the piece that a lot of people really want to jump to, because they're immediately like what equipment do I use? What kind of microphone is that Like? What kind of different backdrop should I have? Should I have audio only? Should I have video? Should I do solo? Should I do interviews? Like? There's so many options whenever you bring in recording into the picture, but people often skip the planning step and then they just jump into recording and then months later again they're left spinning their wheels like this isn't as fun as I thought it was going to be, or I'm just I'm not seeing the success that I wanted because they spent so much time on the equipment.
Speaker 1:
Let's be real Like equipment is just a tiny, tiny piece of the podcasting journey, because once you have your equipment picked out, you don't have to make that decision again. You don't? It's not something you're going to sit down every week and say do I need to buy any microphone? Do I need to make sure I have the perfect setup? No, you're going to get your setup going and be like on your way and this is actually something that I teach inside my program, where it's like do you want to fix set up or do you want to be mobile? And what I mean by that is like are you going to record in the same place every single week, where you walk into your office or you walk into your closet, wherever you're recording and you're like okay, it's podcast time, I know I have my mic here, I can put my laptop here and I can have a boom arm like completely connected to my desk and then that way, I just know when I sit down, I'm in the headspace to record, or you could be someone that's like no, I want to be on the go. I want to be able to do this when I'm in the car with you know, waiting on my kids to be done at the orthodontist appointment, or whenever I'm hiking up in the mountains, and I want to have something that doesn't require internet service, because I won't have it for several days on end. Or I just want to be able to record right on my phone and, like you know, put in a cool microphone where it drowns out all the road noise or whatever else you have to worry about. These are things that I want you to think through before you just jump into. Oh, I watched this one YouTube video and they said this is the recommended equipment. I should just go buy this.
Speaker 1:
Another piece, too, that I always tell people is budget is important, and the reason why budget is important is because I didn't have one. Okay, let me throw that out there. I did not have one when I started. So when people I see people like, oh you have to be ready to invest at least two grand to start a podcast, I'm like hang on, hang on, wait, wait a second. Because if you're watching on the video always pointed out, I have my $20 microphone that I got on Amazon. It has no settings, it has no buttons. You literally plug it in, it's a USB and you just start talking and that is all I could afford.
Speaker 1:
Because I was like I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know if I'm going to like this podcast thing. So I don't want to invest hundreds or thousands of dollars in something that I'm not going to know that I'm going to enjoy in a few weeks or even in a few months. So I'm not going to invest heavily. So what I always recommend people doing is you can get started right from your phone. You could buy a cheap, you know a microphone on Amazon or wherever you're going to get it. But don't think like that once you have this perfect piece of equipment that all of a sudden you're going to be a podcaster and be able to talk into it. Because I know people that have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on their equipment and they still don't have a great podcast because they don't plan. They don't think about what they're going to say, they don't really put the time, effort and energy into the content piece. They just want to have some sexy equipment that they could show off to the people that we're going to be listening or watching to their content. So that's all I'm going to say about recording. There's so many other things that we can absolutely dive into, but we got to move on to editing because editing is the other piece. So, remember, we're talking about prep them. So P R E, p, m, plan, record.
Speaker 1:
Edit is the third step and editing is another place where a lot of people get hung up. Oh, I have to edit out all of my ums. I have to make sure that I don't say the word like so many times. Or I caught myself going off on these tangents and I'm like what is she even talking about? You're sitting there where you get your headphones on and you're editing and you're just like well, I, why was I even saying that? Like land the plane already. What are you trying to say? So if you're in the stages of trying to figure out your editing. This is another place where I don't want you to make it so complicated. The thing that I guess it's the hard truth that I always tell people that they don't really want to hear is you will get better over time. Now, as an in-person patient myself like in-person no, I said that wrong. In-person patient, no, in-patient person there we go. That's an in-patient person myself, I get it. You don't want to wait. You don't want someone to tell you oh, you'll be good in a few months or a few years, are you joking me Like I wouldn't be good right now. But the truth is, the more you keep showing up to record, the better you will be.
Speaker 1:
I had a daily show for three years. For three years from 2020 to 2023, I ran a podcast called the Potty Report and I published episodes every Monday through Friday. Every episode was five minutes or less and it was the thing that I needed to feel very comfortable speaking to myself in a room by myself with just my microphone. Those first few episodes were not great let's just call it what it is and I had already done some solo episodes, but knowing that there was a clock just sitting there counting down saying this has to be five minutes or less. It was a lot of pressure I mean it was self-induced pressure, but it absolutely helped me feel more comfortable in a solo episode setting. But it took time. It took time. I recorded over 900 episodes of that podcast and I can tell you today I feel perfectly fine, I feel really comfortable being in a room by myself with just a microphone. But that took time, it took energy, it took consistency.
Speaker 1:
So I want you to think it, because you're like Crystal. What does this have to do with editing? Well, I want you to only edit out the big mistakes or those chunks of audio where the dog starts barking and all of a sudden it's inaudible, because people will turn your stuff off if they can't listen to it, or it is way too loud, they're bleeding from their ears because it is so loud in their car, or they put in their earbuds and they're just like oh, I absolutely can't. Yeah, for sure, we can't have audio that sounds like that. But if you're just talking and you're trying to find your groove, it's okay to sound like you're not a professional, because guess what, unless you're a professional before you started this, you're not a professional. Let's just get really honest with it and I think it's okay to say that because you will get better If you keep showing up consistently. You will absolutely get better speaking into a microphone, doing interviews with guests and I mean let's just be like full transparency.
Speaker 1:
Interviewing people is a much easier place to get started with a podcast, because solo podcasters will come to me and they'll say it's so hard, it is so hard to get this show off the ground. It is so hard to keep coming up with new ideas and pretending like I'm talking to someone when I'm really not Like. It gets super awkward and yes, I'm going to agree with you, it is. It is 10 times easier to go on a conversation and do some storytelling with someone else, where you're riffing, you're having an actual conversation and your audience is just there to witness it and be a part of it. It is so much easier to do that. So I'm not going to say it's impossible to start a successful solo podcast. I'm just going to let you know that you do have a higher heel to climb, a bigger battle to fight, especially if you aren't already a confident speaker and you're trying to figure out so many of the other nuances of podcasting. So give yourself some grace and allow for that learning curve to really take some time. You'll get there. You'll get there, and maybe you're an impatient person I said it right that time like me, but you will absolutely get there.
Speaker 1:
So, when it comes to editing, I know, because people are going to be like Crystal you're talking about editing, but you didn't mention any software, you didn't talk about any of your techniques, so I will give you some of the high levels. So today, right now, the products, the services that I recommend for editing are going to be very simple and they're going to be ones that I use to this day. So one thing that I'm using I'm using Riverside, so Riversidefm. I use this for recording my solo episodes, I use it for recording interviews. I want you to go check it out because it is a fantastic tool and it is one that can help you really up your game. The other one that I like for editing so, once everything is recorded, I have my audio, I have my video, I use Camtasia to do any of the other like major editing pieces that I need to have happen, and then I use Hindenburg. So Hindenburg is the software editing tool that you can also use if you are doing audio only. So I use Camtasia for video editing and I use Hindenburg for audio editing. These are fantastic tools to get started with. If you are a Buzzsprout user, this is even better for you. You can go check out the resources where they have special codes and special discounts for all of the tools that I just mentioned, so you can go check out if there's any editing software that you want to try or any of the other cool things. So crystalprofitcom, forward slash, buzzsprout I love them. I've been using them since day one. They are my podcast host and they're fantastic. They just have the best resources out there. So editing software that I use.
Speaker 1:
Now let's talk about techniques. So one of the things that I have learned that I wish I would have done in the beginning, because it would have made my life so much easier. It is a very simple technique. When you are recording whether it's audio or video I want you to pause. Okay, I always make it really awkward. That's about how long you should pause. You could pause for longer than that if you make a mistake. So if you're talking and then all of a sudden you say something and then you make a mistake, just take a two to three second pause. It doesn't have to be 10 seconds long, but it needs to be something where you know when you go back to edit it, oh that's where I messed up. Like I get to the point where I mean I do this today Again.
Speaker 1:
I've been doing thousands of episodes. I've edited so many pieces of content, but I can look at a waveform. You know the squiggly line whenever you're recording or you're looking in an audio file. I can look at it very clearly and say, oh, that's where I messed up, oh, that's where there was a break. Oh, this is where I need to insert this other music file, because I know where it needs to go, because I've been looking at it. I've been doing this, but it's going to take you a while to get there.
Speaker 1:
So if you're editing, I want you to make sure that you take a pause anytime you make a mistake, or if you need to know when there's a break in, like a segment, or you need to add some music, or maybe you have some sponsored content that you need to know oh, where am I supposed to drop this? Just stop talking for a few seconds and then resume. So it makes editing so much easier, but you don't have to go through every single second of everything you've ever said and cut out every single um or a deep breath or weird mouth sound. It's not worth the stress that you put on yourself because, trust me, when I asked podcasters why did you quit your podcast, why are you not doing your show anymore? And they say I was overwhelmed. Editing was way too much, it was too stressful for me and I thought, man, there's people missing out on their message just because this person didn't want to take the risk of leaving some of those things in and just accept hey, you're going to get better at those over time. I promise you will get so much better if you just keep showing up. All right.
Speaker 1:
So we covered the first three steps of the prep and method. I'm holding up four fingers. Yeah, the first three steps. So plan record edit. The next one is publish. So if we were to break down the percentages of how I do everything, then publishing is definitely one of the lowest ones, because this is just you pushing the piece of content out to be live. So this is me going into Buzzsprout, scheduling it, doing the title and description, putting the episode number, like all the things that I do in Buzzsprout you can watch. I'm going to link to a playlist where you're watching or listening to this all of my Buzzsprout videos on YouTube, because I have a ton. If you're like, she keeps talking about Buzzsprout, I want to know where can I find more? I have a ton of Buzzsprout resources and tutorials, but that's what it is.
Speaker 1:
The publishing step of the prep and method is just putting out your podcast episode. It's scheduling it out or making it go live. It's also putting out show notes If you're doing those, or it's if you're doing a YouTube video. Then it's the same. It's your title, it's your description, it's your thumbnail, it's scheduling it to go live, it's your subtitles or whatever pieces are involved in that publishing step. But it is, of the five steps, the one where I spend the least amount of time Just throwing it out there. It is still important. You absolutely have to have the publishing step, otherwise you would just have a bunch of recorded content that is not pushed out into the world. Very important, just not the most important.
Speaker 1:
But the fifth step is marketing I love. I already told you I'm a marketing nerd. I love to talk about marketing. The reason why I love to talk about it is because a lot of people will go through the first four steps. They play and record, they edit, they publish their stuff, but then they forget to market it. They're just like no one's listening to my show. I don't have any new listeners, I don't have a new audience. What's happening? I said, well, where are you talking about it? Where are you telling people to go find you or learn more about you? Or have you created some soundbites or reached out to guests to have them promote the episode? And they say, well, no, okay. Well, this is, it's okay. We just have to work on this.
Speaker 1:
And marketing is the piece that I love to talk to people about. I actually have a ton of resources on marketing your podcast, marketing your content, and it's something that's ever evolving. And I love talking about this piece because people will tell me well, I've done this for so long and it's not working anymore. And I say that's fantastic because now you've been doing this thing, you've been trying it, you have data to back it up, like how much did this work in the past? Or you know what are the numbers, what are the metrics that you can use, and then what is the next thing that can springboard you into the next evolution of your show. So maybe you haven't done any marketing up to this point. You've already started your podcast and you're like okay, you know, I want to get better recording or maybe I want to rebrand it. Because this actually happens is, people will start their podcast and then they're about three months in and they say I think I chose the wrong title or I think I want to talk to a different audience. Perfectly fine, this happens to a lot of people.
Speaker 1:
So what I would recommend for you is figuring out how are you going to market this new evolution of your show to a new audience, or maybe to the same audience, but in a different way. You're slightly changing things, but when it comes to marketing, it's always evolving. It's always changing, especially in the online space. There are tools and resources available today that, oh my gosh, I wish I would have had in 2018, when I first got started even just Canva. Can we talk about Canva for a second? Because Canva in 2023, 2024 and beyond is so much different than the Canva of like 2015, 2016, when I first got started with the tool. I mean, it sounds crazy to say like I've been using Canva almost for a decade and I've seen the evolution of it. So the tools that we have are they're available to us, but they're going to keep changing. So Look at all of the resources that you have to help you market your podcast and, again, if you need other additional tools and resources, go check them out. I'm going to link to a ton in the show notes for today's episode because I think it's so important that you realize if you need help with marketing, go get help with marketing.
Speaker 1:
If you don't know these things innately like, don't beat yourself up about it. If you don't have a previous life or tons of previous experience with marketing, how would you know these things? This is the piece where I feel like I have to coach so many of my students and clients and members of my community is why are we wasting time beating ourselves up on all of these things that we didn't know? I didn't know how to podcast Before I started podcast, I didn't know how to do it. I no longer say, oh, you should have known what equalization and compression was because you were an audio engineer in another life. No, I didn't know any of that and, honestly, I still don't focus too much on the technical pieces of audio engineering, because I have friends that do that and I like to bring them onto the show and have them teach you how it works, because that's how I roll. That's the kind of coach I like to be.
Speaker 1:
I like to be the coach that's going to help you create your show with confidence and create things that you're proud of, so that you can put your message out into the world and you do feel good talking to other people about it. You do feel comfortable marketing it, because you have taken the time, the appropriate strategies to help you reach an audience that will love every single thing that you put out. So let's just wrap all this up with a pretty nice bow real fast, because the prep and method again is plan, record, edit, publish and market. We covered all of those. I also told you about the five minute podcast boot camp, so go check that out if you are listening to this in real time, because that will absolutely help you have a clear understanding of how podcasts works at a very high level, but also how an individual episode can be produced and the nuances that go into that.
Speaker 1:
But the other thing that I want to say is, if you want someone to just show you like, literally hold your hand and take you step by step through everything of the podcast journey, not just picking your audience or choosing the name of your podcast, but also how do I get sponsors for this? How do I monetize my show, how do I take it from something that it's kind of okay to something that I love and I'm passionate about? Then I encourage you to check out my program. It's called profit podcasting and it is the only step by step program for online business over owners that will help you start, launch and market a podcast in 30 days or less. So, once you go to crystalprofitcom course to learn more about it and this is the thing that could help you set you on the right trajectory this year and I have group coaching that we do every single month. So, depending on when you're listening to this, we could have a group coaching session right around the corner and you could say, oh, crystal, I watched your video, I listened to your podcast and I have so many questions. Bring your questions to those group coaching sessions.
Speaker 1:
We just recently had one talking about giveaways, and then we talked about rebranding, we talked about sponsorships, we talked about SEO, like all the different nuances of podcasting and the questions that you have. That is a perfect time to bring them up and I am happy to answer all of your podcast questions. But that's all I have for you today. So if you have questions you're watching on YouTube, you have questions? Then please reach out.
Speaker 1:
I know in the comments what questions you have about starting a podcast in 2024. And then I want you to go over to our pod inbox page, because this is where you can leave an audio message for the profit podcast. So if you want me to answer one of your questions on the podcast or on our YouTube channel, then please go over to the pod inbox page for the profit podcast. I will link it in the show notes and I cannot wait to hear from you. I always love it when our community submits audio questions or video questions because it is so fun to see your face and hear your voice and support other creators in this community. But that's all I have for you today. So make sure that you hit that subscribe or follow button wherever you're listening or watching to this today and, as always, remember, keep it up. We all have to start somewhere.
