As JAR Audio’s Business Director, I see a lot of agencies reach out to us given our Branded Podcast Production experience. Some are media teams, but most are from integrated agencies. We’re happy to work with both.
Coming from the agency world myself I’m surprised that agencies haven’t taken up podcasting as quickly as I would have expected, but this is slowly changing.
Perhaps it’s a lack of education on how to market the shows? Or there’s a concern overproduction (ie. equipment, talent, editing)?
No matter the reason we are always open to having a conversation with an agency to explore what a relationship with JAR could look like.
When is the right time to engage with JAR?
Some agencies engage with us during their campaign planning. However, most brands roll out their podcast outside of a campaign (after all, the podcast should not contain any marketing messages). The podcast topic should not be specific to a campaign but can compliment it.
How JAR works with agencies:
Here’s a broad overview of our process for working with an agency:
1. Strategy Call
Just like we offer all of our prospective clients, we always start off with a 1-hour (no charge) strategy call to discuss:
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The client and the brand
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The objectives for starting a podcast
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The audience
We then brainstorm ideas with one another. It’s important that we explore ideas together to ensure there is a show idea that would be interesting to listen to, has enough content/runway to produce a season (or multiple seasons), and that isn’t just a long ad disguised as a podcast (we’ll tell you if it is).
This call typically includes the creative team and a project manager.
2. Collaboration
We work with you and your team to explore these ideas further, ultimately culling the list down to 3 concepts. We then flesh out these concepts further, expanding on the show premise and developing a season arc. This season arc consists of potential episode topics. We develop this so that we are all comfortable that there is an actual show to produce, but also so that key stakeholders can see what a season’s worth of episodes could cover.
3. Concept presentation
Depending on your relationship with your client we can help you to present the concept to them. Of course, at this stage, we take your lead so if you would like to present it without JAR that is completely fine with us.
4. Yay! We have a podcast to produce
With an approved concept, JAR gets to work. JAR’s team handles the following tasks for you:
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Concept development – Comprehensive meetings with agency and client team to develop overall podcast concept and rollout strategy.
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Executive production – Start-to-finish supervision of podcast production process, ensuring adherence to the agreed-upon schedule, budget, creative goals, and company values.
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Technical production – Professional-level recording, mixing and editing of the podcast. Including original music composition and technical integration with your digital platforms.
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Chase production – Finding, prepping, and booking interviews with guests according to the agreed-upon production schedule.
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Research & Writing – Topic area research, interview question lines, individual episode script development, narration script, sound effects and creative scene treatments.
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Casting – Sourcing voice talent most suitable to the project goals.
…we take all this off your hands.
We do, however, schedule a series of check-in conversations during production to ensure we are staying on the same page, answer any questions and troubleshoot any challenges.
We also schedule presentations of our audio versions, at which point (after the agency has provided feedback) the rough cut is sent to the client by the agency.
Who handles the hosting (software) of the show?
JAR handles all of the hostings of the show including pushing the show out to the most popular podcatchers (including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher etc.). We will also write titles and show notes for each episode, if required, or consult with your team on this.
What about analytics?
The data gathered from the show’s analytics are vital to producing a great podcast. Through our host server, we are also able to access all of the show analytics and report back to the agency so we can calibrate as we produce episodes.
What about podcast artwork (show artwork)?
The only thing that we do ask our agency clients to take the lead on is the show artwork. Our experience shows that your team is best suited to develop the artwork. But again, we are happy to consult on best practices.
What about promoting the podcast?
JAR will also advise the agency on how best to roll out and promote the show. This process is scalable depending on the needs of the agency – we are happy to lean in fully or just be there to answer any questions you might have.
Roger Nairn is Co-Founder and CEO of JAR Audio
